14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses , even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam , who is a type of Him who was to come . 15 But the free gift is not like the transgression . For if by the transgression of the one the many died , much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man , Jesus Christ , abound to the many . 16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned ; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation , but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification . 17 For if by the transgression of the one , death reigned through the one , much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One , Jesus Christ . 18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men , even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Romans 5:14-18
Commentary on Romans 5:12-14
(Read Romans 5:12-14)
The design of what follows is plain. It is to exalt our views respecting the blessings Christ has procured for us, by comparing them with the evil which followed upon the fall of our first father; and by showing that these blessings not only extend to the removal of these evils, but far beyond. Adam sinning, his nature became guilty and corrupted, and so came to his children. Thus in him all have sinned. And death is by sin; for death is the wages of sin. Then entered all that misery which is the due desert of sin; temporal, spiritual, eternal death. If Adam had not sinned, he had not died; but a sentence of death was passed, as upon a criminal; it passed through all men, as an infectious disease that none escape. In proof of our union with Adam, and our part in his first transgression, observe, that sin prevailed in the world, for many ages before the giving of the law by Moses. And death reigned in that long time, not only over adults who wilfully sinned, but also over multitudes of infants, which shows that they had fallen in Adam under condemnation, and that the sin of Adam extended to all his posterity. He was a figure or type of Him that was to come as Surety of a new covenant, for all who are related to Him.
Commentary on Romans 5:15-19
(Read Romans 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.