For if by one offence death reigned through one man, much more those who are receiving an abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ.
Truth to Learn
We will reign with Christ because of what He has done for us.
Behind the Words
“Offence” is from the word paraptōma, which we saw a couple verses back meaning “a falling by the wayside.”
“Death” is a word we haven’t looked at yet. It is from the Greek word thanatos, which is based on the verb thaneskō, meaning “to die.” Thanatos is actually an adjective in form but it is a noun in usage. It is used to refer to physical death (the death of our physical bodies) as well as spiritual death (exclusion from the presence and favor of God). The base meaning of this word implies separation. Regarding physical death it is the separation of the soul and spirit from the body. With respect to spiritual death is the separation of the spirit from the presence and favor of God.
The word “receiving” is translated from the Greek word lambanō, meaning “to take, to accept, or to receive.” It is expressed here as a participle (who are receiving). We are continually receiving the abundance of God’s grace.
The word translated “abundance” is perisseia, which is based on the verb perisseuō, which we also saw a couple of verses back. Perisseia roughly means “more than enough” or “an overflowing.”
Meaning Explained
Paul now combines and summarizes the previous two verses in a single statement. He starts off with, “For if by one offense death reigned through one.” This is another first class conditional phrase as we saw two verses back, so we can read it as, “For since by one offense death reigned through one (man).” Paul says death has reigned as a result of one offense by one man.
The next phrase starts out with “much more.” In other words, this phrase is of even greater impact than the previous phrase. This phrase, “those who are receiving an abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness,” is talking about those of us who have been saved by grace through faith.
He now makes a play on words in the midst of this very difficult passage. In the first part of this verse, Paul talked about death reigning over all of mankind as a result of sin. Now he says that we who are saved will reign in life; that is, in heaven we will reign with Christ in a state of eternal life. And that reign of ours, with Christ, will be as a result of one man, Jesus Christ.
Now let’s read this entire verse: “For since by one offense death reigned through one man, much more those who are receiving an abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ.”
Application
Death reigns over us because of what Adam did, and no matter how much good we try to do, we cannot earn our way out of it. Our eternal reign with Christ, however, is God’s overflowing gift to us because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.
In God's service, for His glory,
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