{14} But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of {s} one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

(14) Adam and Christ are compared together in this respect, that both of them give and yield to theirs that which is their own: but the first difference between them is this, that Adam by nature has spread his fault to the destruction of many, but Christ's obedience has be grace overflowed to many.

(s) That is, Adam.

People's New Testament

5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. While Adam is a type of Christ, there is a great difference. One kills, the other makes alive. If through the sins of the one the many (the world of mankind) died, through the gracious gift of God, through one man, Jesus Christ, life has been given to the many. All will be raised at the last day.

Wesley's Notes

5:15 Yet not - St. Paul now describes the difference between Adam and Christ; and that much more directly and expressly than the agreement between them. Now the fall and the free gift differ, In amplitude, Rom 5:15. He from whom sin came, and He from whom the free gift came, termed also the gift of righteousness, differ in power, Rom 5:16. The reason of both is subjoined, Rom 5:17. This premised, the offence and the free gift are compared, with regard to their effect, Rom 5:18, and with regard to their cause, Rom 5:19.

Scofield Reference Notes

Margin one many

the one the many died.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. But-"Yet," "Howbeit."

not as the offence-"trespass."

so also is the free gift-or "the gracious gift," "the gift of grace." The two cases present points of contrast as well as resemblance.

For if, &c.-rather, "For if through the offense of the one the many died (that is, in that one man's first sin), much more did the grace of God, and the free gift by grace, even that of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many." By "the many" is meant the mass of mankind represented respectively by Adam and Christ, as opposed, not to few, but to "the one" who represented them. By "the free gift" is meant (as in Ro 5:17) the glorious gift of justifying righteousness; this is expressly distinguished from "the grace of God," as the effect from the cause; and both are said to "abound" towards us in Christ-in what sense will appear in Ro 5:16, 17. And the "much more," of the one case than the other, does not mean that we get much more of good by Christ than of evil by Adam (for it is not a case of quantity at all); but that we have much more reason to expect, or it is much more agreeable to our ideas of God, that the many should be benefited by the merit of one, than that they should suffer for the sin of one; and if the latter has happened, much more may we assure ourselves of the former [Philippi, Hodge].

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:15-19 Through one man's offence, all mankind are exposed to eternal condemnation. But the grace and mercy of God, and the free gift of righteousness and salvation, are through Jesus Christ, as man: yet the Lord from heaven has brought the multitude of believers into a more safe and exalted state than that from which they fell in Adam. This free gift did not place them anew in a state of trial, but fixed them in a state of justification, as Adam would have been placed, had he stood. Notwithstanding the differences, there is a striking similarity. As by the offence of one, sin and death prevailed to the condemnation of all men, so by the righteousness of one, grace prevailed to the justification of all related to Christ by faith. Through the grace of God, the gift by grace has abounded to many through Christ; yet multitudes choose to remain under the dominion of sin and death, rather than to apply for the blessings of the reign of grace. But Christ will in nowise cast out any who are willing to come to him.