Abounding Sin & Super-Abounding Grace | Romans 5:18-21

AT A GLANCE

Though our sin abounds, God’s grace super-abounds! We may feel that we’ve out-paced God in our

sin but thanks to be God, we are justified by one man’s act of righteousness – namely Jesus’

sacrificial act of obedience even to death on the cross. As Christians it is our sacred mission to

ensure the nations hear this good news!

INTRODUCTION

18  Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of

righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.  19  For as by the one

man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many

will be made righteous.  20  Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin

increased, grace abounded all the more,  21  so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might

reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

18  Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of

righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. We return to the statement initiated in

Romans 5:12, the sentence Paul began but did not complete. “Therefore, just as sin came into the

Romans 5:12

world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned–”

Paul rephrases the first part of the comparison statement Therefore, as one trespass led to

condemnation for all men. For Paul, condemnation is synonymous with sin and death.

Just as Adam’s one trespass brought sin & death which led to condemnation for all men, so

one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. What is the one act of

righteousness?

When Paul says one man’s act of righteousness, he’s referring to what F.F. Bruce calls the

“crowning act of Christ’s lifelong obedience when he yielded up his life.” And why did He offer His

life? To provide a basis for our justification. The bible says without the shedding of blood there is

no atonement for sin.

This is our last Sunday in the section of Romans that deals with justification. Like Paul, I want to

ensure we’re ready to move on to sanctification next week. That is to say building our lives on the

foundation of our identity in Christ. Many Christians get these backwards. They try to be better

people in order to be acceptable to God. That’s not how it works. We are justified, or made

acceptable to God, by faith alone! Then we strive to live acceptable lives by the power of the Holy

Spirit.

Here’s what Paul is telling us as he brings the theme of justification by faith alone to a climax.

Everyone who believes the Gospel is no longer condemned on the basis of their many sins against

Him but instead are legally declared by Him “not guilty.” We stand now and forevermore in the

righteousness of Christ.

Paul says Jesus’ one act of righteousness leads to life for all men. But does that mean every single

person? No, this is not teaching universal salvation. To take one or two verses and contradict an

entire section (chapters 1-5) is intellectually dishonest and foolish. Paul has argued extensively that

sin brings God's wrath, and our only escape is by faith in Jesus.

In verse 19 Paul uses the phrase the many and I’ll argue he must be referring only to those who

have been united to Jesus by faith as opposed to every single person.

Verse 19 says For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the

one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 

In Adam’s sin, the disobedience to God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of

good and evil, the many applies to all. Paul has already said, “all sinned.” He’s already said in

Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

Romans 3:23

They were made sinners because of imputation. All the offspring of Adam were given his corrupt,

sinful nature. We are all born sinners. So by the one man’s obedience, and that being Christ’s, the

many will be made righteous.

Paul contrasts Christ’s obedience and Adam’s disobedience. Kent Hughes makes a great connection,

“Adam in disobedience grasped for equality with God. But Christ, in obedience, “...though he was in

the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a

servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient

to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6-8

Philippians 2:6–8

Now you might wonder, if the many in relation to Adam refers to every human being without

exception, how is it that the many does not refer to every human being without exception in

relation to Christ.

The question is for whom does it count as righteousness? For whom does it lead to justification?

Who are the many?

Let’s begin with the many that belong to Adam. Why does the many in relation to Adam refer to

all mankind without exception? Whom does Adam represent? All those who are born with his

nature are represented by Adam. All who are born of Adam. Who is born of Adam? Everyone,

without exception.

Who does Christ represent? All those who are born with His nature are represented by Christ. All

who are born of Christ. Who is born of Christ? Only those born of the Spirit of God. Only those

who receive a new birth. Those who are born again of the Spirit.

“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God...That

which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’” John 3:3, 6

John 3:3

We were dead in sin in our fallen nature, being the offspring of Adam. But we were made alive

together with Christ, receiving His nature, His righteousness.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our

trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—” Ephesians 2:4-5

Ephesians 2:4–5

When we are born physically, we are born in sin and into sin. We are alive physically and dead

spiritually. We are condemned already, Jesus said in John 3:18, because our nature is corrupt. That is

John 3:18

why we must be born again spiritually. We must be made alive.

This is why we have the term “born again Christian.” The many in reference to Adam means all

because all are in Adam. The many in reference to Christ does not refer to all because not all are in

Christ. Those who by faith believe the Gospel are justified, given life and peace with God. This is

the invitation today. Believe the Gospel and be made right with God. Right here, right now. Believe

the Gospel!

We need to move on to verse 20,   Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin

increased, grace abounded all the more...

The law increases the trespass by revealing the extent to which man is fallen, corrupt, far from

God. You may think you can shoot a gun until a sniper shows up. You think you can run until

Michael Johnson hits the track. You think you can sing until Whitney Houston takes the stage. You

think you can paint until da Vinci picks up the brush.

The point is you think you’re a pretty decent person until you read the Law with any seriousness at

all. You give it your best shot but when it’s compared to the righteous standard of God, it’s like

going to toe to toe in the boxing ring with Mike Tyson.

You may be able to shadow box. You might have gotten the footwork down. You may feel pretty

strong. But when you get punched in the mouth, and it’s all over. You realize how far you have to

go and how inadequate you really are. That’s what the Law reveals to us. It’s a punch in the mouth.

Paul’s point is that bad guys break the law and we’re all bad guys. The law doesn’t save anyone. Jesus

saves. The Law was given to convince us how wicked our hearts really are.

It’s in our nature to rebel. We’re rebellious people with rebellious spirits. You can’t tell me what to

do! The Law shows us our rebellious spirits toward God.

Matthew Henry says the law reveals the abounding sinfulness of our nature – like a magnifying glass

that reveals the spots or a light that reveals the dust on the cabinet.

But it’s not like the Lord was wrong to give us the Law. He wasn’t being mean. His giving the Law

to show us how sinful we are is an act of love because it reveals to us how badly we need His grace,

which He has made abundantly available!

Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Where sin abounds, grace super-abounds!

That’s the literal translation. R.C. Sproul nails it, “It is not a comparative; It is a superlative. There

really is no comparison.” In Christ, your sin is so far outweighed by grace that it’s not even worth

comparing. This paints the picture of “an unending, overflowing grace” says Kent Hughes.

I think of the Niagara Falls. The amount of water that flows over the falls is super-abundant. The

flow is much more than even the strongest diesel-powered boats can push against. Like the Niagara

Falls, God’s grace is an unending current of love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Verse 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness

leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

How did sin reign in death? It reigned in death completely. It reigned in death effectively. It

reigned in death unstoppably...powerfully.

As sin reigned in death, so grace reigns through righteousness. Not our righteousness, but

through Jesus Christ our Lord. And Christ’s righteousness leads to eternal life.

Eternal life is the hope of the Christian. It’s what Paul means when he says we have hope that will

not put us to shame. We have hope that even though we die, we’re gonna live forever with Him in a

real place called Heaven!

Daniel Doriani offers us a great thought on this the reign of super-abounding grace. “Grace reigns

when God instills a hunger and thirst for Jesus’ righteousness, imputed and bestowed by faith. It

reigns when He also prompts a hunger for personal righteousness. Grace also reigns when the

forgiven, heirs of life, forgive others.”

Last week I spoke of how in Christ we are made new creations and we have the ability to sin or not

to sin. And one of the means of grace the Lord has given us to help us resist sin and defeat its grip is

the body of Christ. Part of our function as a body is to aide in one another’s righteous living. But

that’s only effective when we obey Jesus’ instructions to go to a brother or sister in love and deal

with sin to help them pursue righteous living.

Today there’s another principle that, according to Doriani, causes grace to reign in the world – that

of a willingness, no an eagerness, to forgive those who have wronged us.

Imagine being the recipient of God’s super-abounding grace and then determining in your heart that

you’re going to withhold grace from a brother or sister, that you won’t deal with a fellow believer the

way our holy Father has dealt with you.

This is the scenario Jesus painted in the parable of the unforgiving servant. Peter approached Jesus

and asked, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’   Jesus said

to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.’” Matthew 18:21-22 He might as well have said

Matthew 18:21–22

a billion times!

Then Jesus told a parable about an unforgiving servant. A servant who was forgiven a debt he could

never repay but he demanded that a fellow servant repay him a miniscule debt and had him thrown

in prison for failing to do so. Imagine the irony. The tragedy. The wrongfulness.

Jesus’ point is that it is inconceivable that a person who has received God’s super-abounding grace,

who truly understands the enormity of their sin against God and has come to experience His

liberating grace, would withhold forgiveness.

There is nothing anyone has ever done to you that is more grievous than what you have done to

God. Why? Because God is infinite and infinitely holy and infinitely other than you. Any

transgression against Him is an infinite transgression.

Think about what God’s holiness requires of us. Have you perfectly honored the Sabbath and kept it

holy today? Have you come here with a heart completely submitted in worship? Or have you

pondered your lunch plans while singing a worship song? Thought to yourself, it’s too loud, or the

guy next to me is pitchy? Have you exercised perfect control of your thoughts? How about your

tongue?

The Law was given to show us how wicked we are in our flesh and to make us abundantly grateful

for the gift of eternal life. And not just so we would have warm fuzzies as we leave the worship

center but so we would love our neighbor as ourselves!

That we would be distinct in the Quad Cities as forgiven people who radically forgive people. People

who obey Jesus in dealing with sin in order to maintain a right relationship with one another so that

the body can be most effective in its God-given mission, that it would build itself up in love and

work properly together.

That we would be so bent on proclaiming this message of eternal life through Jesus Christ that

nothing could possibly distract us. Aren’t we prone to get distracted from that which has eternal

priority?

Aren’t we prone to pursue comfort and avoid conflict?

To isolate instead of invest?

Aren’t we prone to get caught up in the temporal at the expense of the eternal?

Earlier in my sermon I read Philippians 2:6-8. Jesus was obedient even to the point of death on the

Philippians 2:6–8

cross. Because of His obedience, “...God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above

every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every

tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11

Philippians 2:9–11

Our Savior, our Lord, the Head of this church is high and lifted up. And one day every knee is going

to bow before Him and confess that He is Lord. Most people will do so as those who stand

condemned, having never done so in this life. They will bow as those conquered and defeated and

doomed to hell forever.

It is our blessed opportunity, our highest responsibility, and our most sacred mission to make

heaven crowded, to make Jesus famous, and to proclaim His glory to all the nations! So that no

person on earth can say, “but I never heard the gospel.” That’s on us, church! That’s our job. It’s

why we exist. It’s what we’re here for. We make missionaries who take the gospel across the street

and around the world. The gospel of abounding sin and super-abounding grace.

Sadly, some Christians add no one to the kingdom because they’ve lost sight of who and what they

are. They are completely distracted from Christ’s mission in the world. They’ve forgotten the gospel

of Christ’s righteousness. They’ve forgotten the super-abounding grace of our God because they’ve

forgotten their abounding sin.

In what way do you need to remember your abounding sin and God’s super-abounding grace? What

steps do you need to take today to course correct? Believe the gospel? Forgive others?

I invite you to turn your eyes to Jesus. See who He is and what He has done for you. Remember that

He met your abounding sin with super-abounding grace!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Doriani, D. M. (2021). Romans. P&R Publishing.

Hughes, Kent R. (1991). Romans – Righteousness from Heaven. Crossway.

Kruse, Colin G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans. W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Longenecker, Richard N. (2016). The Epistle to the Romans. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

MacArthur, John. (1991). Romans 1-8. Moody Publishers.

MacArthur, John. (1991). Romans 9-16. Moody Publishers.

Moo, Douglas J. (2018). The Letter to the Romans, Second Edition. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Mounce, Robert. (1995). Romans. B&H Publishing.

Schreiner, Thomas R. (2018). Romans, Second Edition. Baker Publishing Group.

Sproul, R. C. (2019). The Righteous Shall Live By Faith – Romans. Ligonier Ministries