For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Just before this verse, Paul has compared and contrasted the trespass of Adam to bring sin into the world and the gift of Jesus to bring life to the world. Here in this verse, two things come to notice:
The mentions of grace prior to this verse now crescendo into abundance of grace.
The trespass of sin through Adam allowed death to reign; the gift of Jesus Christ allows His people to reign.
Let’s address these in reverse order:
We must not miss the significance of the work of Christ (which cannot be fully discoursed in this devotional). One might expect the reversal of the failing of Adam to result in the reign of life. Meaning, Adam allowed death to reign over all of humanity, so one would logically assume that the work of Christ on the cross would result then in the restoration of the reign of life over all of humanity who believe in Him.* This however, is not the case.
The work of Jesus Christ is more. It is ever so much more. Christ does not just reestablish life, He reestablishes the people of God to reign in life.
What does this mean for us? It means that through Christ, we are not longer under the authority and rule of death, but we ourselves become rulers with Christ in life!
This leads back to the first point: this is an abundance of grace. The grace of of God is not given with stinginess or hesitancy.* The grace of God is given with much generosity through the work of Jesus Christ to do more than what we could imagine.* God has done more for us than we know.
C. E. B. Cranfield sums it up in this way:
The effectiveness and the unspeakable generosity of the divine grace are such that it will not merely bring about the replacement of the reign of death by the reign of life, but it will actually make those who receive its riches to become kings themselves.
All of this, God does not through the efforts of men seeking to please through law, but through the miraculous, generous gift of Jesus Christ.
Because of Christ, death may have been our past, but reigning in life is our future.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to see your present from the future hope of reigning in life. Maybe God wants you to breathe easier today knowing that the reign of death has been broken over humanity (which includes you and me). Perhaps God wants you to marvel at His generosity and remember that He does not hold out on His children.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.
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*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 249–250). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 143–144). InterVarsity Press;
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 236–238). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 184). Zondervan Publishing House.