The Triumph of Grace – Romans 5:20-21
Bethel Baptist Church – David Rising
Romans 5:20-21; September 20, 2026 Sunday AM
The Triumph of Grace
We have been studying Romans 5 and most recently starting in verse 12 we have seen how Paul compares and contrasts Adam and the Lord Jesus Christ.
What Adam did by his disobedience caused sin and death to enter the world. Death has had its way since that time over the children of Adam.
However, God in His infinite grace and mercy sent to us His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. He did one act – bearing our sin, dying on the cross – and He reversed the work of Adam for those who belong to Christ. Adam brought to all men judgment; Christ brings to those who trust in Him righteousness.
In our study today, we will see three points as it relates to law and grace. Pray.
These two verses will conclude the discussion about Adam and Christ, and will introduce chapter six which is crucial for our Christian lives as we battle sin each day.
What we will see today is the relationship between the law and sin, between law and grace, and see once again the superiority of Christ over Adam.
1. The Law Increased the Offense (5:20a)
20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.
20νόμος δὲ παρεισῆλθεν, ἵνα πλεονάσῃ τὸ παράπτωμα·
In verse 12 we see that sin entered (εἰσῆλθεν < εἰσέρχομαι) the world and as a result brought death. That verb means that sin happened. People began to sin.
Now we see another verb (παρεισῆλθεν > παρεισέρχομαι) describe the law’s entrance. In English they are both translated “enter” and they are similar. This word in verse 20 refers to something that slips in, often with a devious intent. The law came in, but in the end the law is not the focus. God used it, but it was not the main thing.
Paul’s reference to “the law” (νόμος) is probably the law God gave to Moses for the nation of Israel.
What Paul says here of the Law seems shocking.
The law entered that the offense might abound? That sounds like a nefarious intent. That does not seem to square with how we perceive the Old Testament scriptures present the Law.
We think of a Psalm like 119 for instance and the entire Psalm, all 176 verses, elevate God’s Law.
Psalm 119:9–16 (NKJV)
9 How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, O Lord!
Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I have declared
All the judgments of Your mouth.
14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways.
16 I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
Of course, within Psalm 119 there are 9 different words used to describe God’s Word, and Torah is just one of the 9. Law, Testimony, Way, Precepts, Statute, Commandment, Judgment, Word (davar, imrah).
Paul seems to be emphasizing the idea of law as a demand from God. Students of the OT have cataloged the commands, and they categorize them as positive or negative commandments.
Jewish rabbis and scholars have determined there are 613 laws: 248 positive, and 365 negative. (Visualize with 2-volume set of Chavel’s rendering of Maimonides.)
That’s a lot of commands to remember!
In verse 20, Paul refers to the “offense” (παράπτωμα) abounding as a result of the law entering.
This links back to verse 15 where Adam’s disobedient act is described as an offense, the offense. This could be translated as a trespass, a misstep, a false step. The next phrase in verse 20 shows that the word “offense” is synonymous with sin (ἡ ἁμαρτία).
We might argue with Paul and say: are not laws established to restrain people from committing sin? Are not laws established to help us do what is right and thus be righteous?
Does not the conservative right work very hard to get Washington and Albany to pass righteous laws? Would not that be a good thing if laws were established to stop sinful actions?
On a practical level, we would say – sure. I know schools establish rules to streamline things. There is a practical nature to law in that sense.
But the context of Paul’s argument here is about getting right with God. Laws can help order society and protect people, but their purpose is only that.
Listen to what Schreiner says about law:
Paul, who once held this very view as a zealous Pharisee (cf. Gal. 1:13–14; Phil. 3:4–11), now proposes a shockingly different alternative. Instead of curbing sin, the law was given by God in order to increase transgression. Thereby the good law of God (Rom. 7:12) is allied with the evil powers of sin and death, in that it yields sin, which in turn results in death (5:12). Instead of restraining the reign of sin (v. 21), the law actually promotes its rule.[1]
As we read this, we should recognize that God’s purpose for giving the law was not just so that the offense might abound, to increase transgression. We see in other places that believers are exhorted to keep the Law by the power of the Spirit (Romans 8:4; 13:8-10, per Schreiner), as well as in Romans 7:10 we see that the law was to bring life, though it just ended up bringing death.
And of course in the end, the problem is us and our sin problem. The law will never fix that.
A major purpose of law is noted in 3:20:
…for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Paul is not giving an expose here in verse 20 on every reason for the law, but his concern in this chapter at this point is to show the effect of God giving the law within a world that was tarnished by sin and death.
He says here that the law entered so that the offense might increase. This is, of course, not the end of the story, as the rest of the verse makes clear.
The law entered this world so that the offense might abound. The law defines the appropriate or inappropriate action, and when one does the opposite it is a transgression.
We already know from earlier verses in Romans that we are never going to be justified before God by keeping the Law. That has been established.
In a sinful world, the law does not bring to us life, but rather it brings to us death. This discussion of the law comes to us in the middle of a discussion about the work of Adam and how sin entered the world. We see now that when the law came, it enhanced the work of Adam so that sin abounded. The law is tied with sin and death and brings humans into bondage. When law enters, then violations increase.
This is the problem when legislators keep passing laws and do not enforce them. We end up having more and more violators, but the inability to keep up with all the violations. When laws can’t be enforced, they become a joke and end up being meaningless. That is the reality of governments run by flawed people.
But this is a far more serious aspect of law because this is life lived within the view of a perfect God who sees and knows everything.
We already know that sin existed in the world before the law came. 5:13 told us this, and 5:14 proved it was true because death was always there. When Cain murdered his brother Abel, it was a sin even before the Law was given that announced it as a command. Once the law was written, it was not abundantly clear that it was wrong.
Notice the language here in verse 20 speaks about a singular offense, “the offence,” which some take to mean that the point here is to increase the seriousness of any offense. Cain knew that murdering his brother was wrong, but if he also had the commandment of God before him, he would have known in a more profound way that he was in big trouble.
We can also understand the singular “offense” as a generic term that sin in general increased as a result. Either perspective fits the context.
What we see in verse 21 and also in the next chapter is the emphasis upon sin being king and reigning. Sin is a power that the law does not tame even though it tries.
And so Paul makes this shocking claim so that we might understand a major purpose for the law entering: the offense abounded.
The law increased the offense. But Paul did not stop there. Notice the second part of verse 20:
But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
οὗ δὲ ἐπλεόνασεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ὑπερεπερίσσευσεν ἡ χάρις,
Yes, the offense abounded, but …
2. God’s Grace Increased Much More (5:20b)
Just as Adam did something that was devastating to mankind, now we see the better ministry of Christ in the face of an abounding offense.
When God gave the law, did the people of Israel become more righteous or more sinful?
If you trace the nation of Israel from its beginning you discover they were sent into exile by God in judgment. Why? They had disobeyed His law. They refused to do what He instructed them to do. And so the offense increased.
The law did not have the power to address their sin, and it gave the opportunity for God’s grace to abound much more – more than how sin abounded. God made provision for sin in the Law, and that was given by God’s grace.
Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve. It is the help that we need when the law demands perfection and leaves in a pit. Grace is the forgiveness of sins when we really deserved our judgment and resulting death.
It is interesting to me that when Judah was at her lowest we see in the writing of Jeremiah the words of God about a New Covenant. This New Covenant would be unlike the Old one. God would write this new covenant on the hearts of His people rather than on stone tablets.
Jesus connects the dots when he transformed Passover into the Lord’s Supper that celebrated not an exodus from Egypt but the forgiveness of sin by His blood.
And so we have here the comparison of Law and Grace. This is an important comparison.
There is much discussion over the years about the relationship between the two and I am by far not the expert that can sort it all out.
But I think it is clear in this verse that grace is the superior emphasis we need. Grace is bound up in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that is the message we should be proclaiming.
To be sure, God’s Law is very good as it reveals His perfections and expectations (as chapter 3 notes). However, we are not able to gain from the law the necessary power to keep it and so we fall short.
It is only by God’s grace that we can do any of what God requires of us. And even there we fall short. But as we have learned so far in Romans, our righteous standing before God is not based on our law-keeping track record but on the righteousness of Christ which comes to us by faith.
The more diligent we seek to keep God’s Law, the more we recognize our inability to keep it faithfully.
As sin increases, grace increases even more.
God’s grace points us to the finished work of Christ.
When Law enters, sin increases, but so does God’s grace. And that brings us to the third point as we see here in verse 21:
3. Grace Reigns through Jesus (5:21)
20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
21ἵνα ὥσπερ ἐβασίλευσεν ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ, οὕτως καὶ ἡ χάρις βασιλεύσῃ διὰ δικαιοσύνης εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν.
If you feel as though you are getting lost in all of this, just keep your eyes on Jesus. Paul is making the case in this letter that our attention should be all upon Jesus.
Because everyone dies, Paul has argued in this letter that sin has enjoyed a long reign over humanity. Sin reigned in death.
Sin had the upper hand, just as a king has in his realm. Kings demand and they get their way. Sin has done that.
In Adam’s world, sin is king and brings about death.
But, praise God, this is not the end of the story. Paul is making a comparison here by using the word “as” – as sin reigned in death, even so – by comparison – grace now might reign.
How does grace reign? Through righteousness. What Adam’s race needs is righteousness to overcome the sin and death that is inevitable.
How do we acquire this needed righteousness? By faith. It is a gift as he has told us in verses 16-19.
Grace manifests its rule by conquering sin so that people are no longer condemned before God but stand in the right before him … The reign of grace produces righteous living. The gift of righteousness inevitably involves a changed life. [2]
God’s grace comes to us, and we are fundamentally changed. This change comes because we are granted the righteousness of Christ, chapter 4. We receive it by faith.
Where does this all lead? In 5:1, it was peace with God. Here in verse 21 it is to eternal life. In Romans 6:23 we will hear it again in a similar way. God’s gift to us is eternal life, and notice here in verse 21 that it is comes to us through Jesus Christ our Lord.
For Paul, everything was about Jesus.
This discussion continues in chapter 6 as we enter the ever-important discussion about grace versus the power of sin. What Paul has said here in chapter 5 is important, but questions remain and we will see Paul raise and answer those as we move forward.
Application
1. Focus on Jesus. Remember, the Law does not make us righteous. Adding more and more rules to our Christian walk will not make us holy. This is a tendency for some who have a strong desire to please God. God has given to us His Word, and there are exhortations, yes, and we should seek to do them. But we should also be aware that by keeping the law we do not make ourselves right with God. No, that right standing first comes by being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We receive that by faith. The way to please God is first to trust in Christ as Savior and be justified.
As we ponder the law, look to Christ. We recognize our inability to keep it perfectly, and draws us to His abounding grace.
When we fail, look to Christ knowing that His grace abounds and triumphs over death. The victory has been won. We will see this more clearly after a discussion in chapters 6 & 7, especially when we enter chapter 8.
Next week we begin chapter six and will probably cover the first five verses.