‘And not as through one who sinned, so is the gift, for the judgment came of one unto punishment after sentence, but the free gift came of many trespasses unto justification.'

Again Paul's ‘not as' emphasises the superiority of the gift, this time the contrast being between Adam's one act of sinning resulting in punishment following sentence, and the free gift of righteousness (possibly seen as inclusive of many acts of righteousness in the life of Christ) which covers many trespasses, and results in many being ‘declared righteous'. In the one case punishment following sentence came for many as a result of the one trespass (because that one trespass permeates all men), in the other the free gift of His righteousness covers many trespasses with a declaration of righteousness. When we recognise that the ‘many trespasses' covers both ‘the sins done aforetime' of Romans 3:25, the sins of all God's Old Testament people who found salvation, and the sins of all who have become God's people since, we recognise its huge coverage. And all these people have been covered with His free gift of righteousness, so that they have been accounted as righteous by God.

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