Romans 5:15

"But not as the trespass, so also is the free gift. For if by the trespass 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 unto the many"."But not as the trespass, so also is the free gift": "But the free gift is not like the transgression" (NASV) It is more contrast than parallel (Robertson p. 359). The gift through Christ was not merely, as some have said, "coextensive in application with the ruin wrought through Adam," (Whiteside p. 122). "Much more: The contrast doesn't exist in the number saved by grace as opposed to those dead through sin (Matthew 7:13). The expression much more stresses the superiority of grace over law; faith and righteousness over sin and death. However, the superiority doesn't exist in the number saved as opposed to the number lost. It lies in things like these: Life is better than death and grace brings life while sin brings death. Sin can kill with. single-sting (transgression) but grace can give life even after sin has "stung" again and again and again (assuming repentance follows each sin, 1 John 1:8). Grace has more than enough power and adequacy to offset all that sin is able to do. No matter how sin triumphed over men, grace had the antidote for it. Sin couldn't work so much havoc as grace couldn't set right" (McGuiggan pp. 172-173). "Abound to the many": The benefits of Christ's death are available to all mankind (2 Peter 3:9; Mark 16:15; 1 Timothy 2:4). And yet man must choose to accept this salvation (Acts 13:46; Acts 2:40).