Romans 5:20Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Why, then, did he not say, “the law was given,” but, “the law entered”? It was to show that the need for it was temporary, not primary or most essential. He says the same in the Epistle to the Galatians, though he expresses the thought differently: “Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which was to be revealed” (Gal 3:23).

Therefore the law guarded the flock not for its own sake, but for another. Since certain Jews were envious, lax, and negligent toward their own gifts, the law was given to them for this reason. It would rebuke them more strongly, show clearly what state they were in, and by increasing the accusation restrain them more firmly.

But do not be afraid. All this served not for greater punishment, but for the manifestation of greater grace. Therefore he added: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” He did not say, “abounded,” but “abounded much more.”

Grace not only freed us from punishment, but also granted forgiveness of sins, life, and the other good things of which we have often spoken. It is as if someone not only delivered a fever-stricken man from disease, but made him handsome, strong, and honored.

Or it is as if someone not only fed a hungry man, but made him master of many estates and raised him to the highest rank of authority.

How, then, did sin abound, you ask? The law gave countless commandments. Since men transgressed them all, sin abounded. Do you see the difference between the law and grace? The law served to increase condemnation, while grace served to increase the gift.

Having spoken of God’s ineffable generosity, the Apostle again examines the beginning and root both of death and of life. What, then, is the root of death? Sin. Therefore he said, Rom 5:21: “That as sin reigned unto death, so grace also might reign through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Therefore let us turn to the saving tree of the Cross. It, precisely it, destroyed all the calamities introduced by that tree. Or rather, that tree did not introduce the calamities, but man did so entirely. Christ later destroyed them with great abundance, granting good things far greater than those evils.

For this very reason Paul says: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,” that is, the gift is greater than the sin.

Yet while sin abounded through the law, through Christ the grace of God appeared in exceeding abundance. It not only freed us from sins, but also justified us, made us heavenly, and adopted us to God. Therefore he did not say “abound,” but “abound exceedingly,” thereby showing its great abundance.

What, then, was the benefit of the laws given through Moses, as if by necessity?

It is almost against this that the divine Paul rises when he says, "Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound."

"Entered" is said in the sense that it was introduced in the interval between condemnation in Adam and justification in Christ.

As for the benefit one may suppose from this entering of the law, let them hear it plainly from his words: "that the offense might abound."

What are you saying, Paul? Did the law even become an accomplice of sin, and did transgression abound because of it? By no means.

Therefore it is necessary to set forth this teaching more broadly.

David said, "They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one" (Ps 13:3).

For all who live on earth corrupted their way after the transgression in Adam.

For this reason punishments overtook them, both all together when they underwent the flood as a common punishment for all, and individually at different times in different lands and cities.

Although there was no law, human nature was nevertheless trained by God toward the knowledge of the good through its innate movements.

When those living on earth had fallen into so miserable a state, God had compassion on them. In His love for mankind, He purposed to free them from the sin oppressing them.

Yet He judged it necessary, and most justly, first to reveal to them that they were gravely sick. In this way the extreme necessity of justification in Christ's coming into the world would at last be visible.

For we say that the one justified is not someone already righteous, but someone guilty of sins.

How, then, should it first be shown that those living on earth need grace in Christ?

The law entered so that the offense might abound. That is, transgression might become most evident to those under the law.

For there was certainly no possibility of being justified because of the infirmity of nature. Rather, all seemed to fall under charges of transgression.

Thus the law was laid down as a kind of accuser of this universal infirmity. It showed that what is human needs healing through Christ alone.

For this reason the apostle says, "But when sin abounded, grace abounded much more."

It had to be shown that grace is stronger than the law that condemns.

Grace acts in such a way that those who formerly did evil begin to do good works. It does not allow them to remain in evil, and it teaches them to believe that good will come to them in return.

Just as what has begun to live dies away if it receives no nourishment, so the beginnings of natural righteousness do not easily develop if there is nothing to look to and reverence. Instead, they sicken and retreat under the assault of sin.

The habit of sinning does not allow the fruit to grow, and it becomes choked. Therefore, by providence, the law was given for help, as the prophet testifies. Yet men, following their old habit, increased sin. They even began to sin more than before.

It happened that, when the law was given, sin did not decrease but increased. Here the Apostle showed what happened when the law was given, not what the law did.

It is clear that when sin abounded, grace abounded much more. The gift of God came according to the promise and bound the sins of all, so that the envy of the devil might gain nothing for itself.

For when the law was given for the benefit of men, the devil acted so as to distort it by urging them toward what was improper. What had been given for the future was thus made to lead to the opposite, contempt for the law. From the law came not benefit, but condemnation.

Then the just and compassionate God, in order to trample down the devil’s glory in his triumph over man, appointed His Son to come for the forgiveness of all sins (cf. Mt 9:6; Mt 28:18; Mk 2:10; Lk 5:24; Jn 17:1-2). Thus the joy of the gift of grace would be greater than the sorrow of sin.

The joy of the gift of grace is also appointed for those over whom Satan was unable to triumph.

Although it communicated a more exact knowledge that sin is evil, it did not have the power to stop sin. On the contrary, it increased it to the utmost, because the more commandments were given, the more transgressions there were.

But the divine Apostle added a brief solution: “For where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” That is, it did not diminish God’s generosity, but rather showed the abundance of His goodness.

The expression “and thus” was used by the Apostle not in the sense of cause, but because he wished to say, according to his custom, that even in former times God did not leave men without care. He gave the law to the Jews, and through His care for them showed the other nations the light of piety (cf. Isa 42:6-7; Isa 49:6; Isa 60:3).

"The law entered, that the offense might abound."

"The particle that here does not indicate the cause. Rather, according to this apostle's manner of speech, it points to the consequence" (Theodoret and Theophylact).

One may read it: the law came, and offenses abounded; see Oecumenius.

"The law," he says, "not only brought no benefit," that is, not the sort after which no other saving remedy would be needed. "It also provided no help; rather, with its appearance the sickness grew stronger.

Yet the law itself was not the cause of this. It was only disclosed this way in experience. For the law was given not to multiply sin, but to lessen and destroy it.

If the opposite happened, this was not because of the nature of the law. It was because of the negligence of those who received the law" (Chrysostom).

"Or he said this as a rebuke to the Jews, because he addresses his speech to them, and they thought too highly of the law.

Therefore, instructing them, he suggests here that they boast in the law in vain.

For judging by your deeds, one must say that the law entered so that offenses might abound.

He said this because he had mentioned destruction in Adam and deliverance from it in Christ. Thus, so that no one would attribute anything in this respect to the law, he says: the law was not given for this.

He takes glory away from the law in order to ascribe all of it to Christ" (Oecumenius).

The apostle said, "the law entered," to indicate that in the ordering of our salvation it is something additional, established for a time.

It "was a temporary necessity, not the principal and most important thing" (Chrysostom).

"The end of the promise given to the patriarch was Christ. For it was said to him, 'In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed' (Gen 22:18).

But in the interval between Abraham and Christ, the law entered.

Although it communicated a more exact knowledge that sin is evil, it did not have power to stop sin. On the contrary, it multiplied it exceedingly.

For the more commandments there were, the more transgressions there came to be" (Theodoret).

Here the same thing was done that some physicians do. First they give a medicine that more fully exposes the illness and drives it outward. Only afterward do they destroy it.

Under the law the illness of sin broke out externally. It became clear to all how powerfully sin possesses us.

But this very thing drew grace. Either it hastened its manifestation, or it indicated the appointed moment for its manifestation.

"Do not fear that sin has multiplied. All this served to reveal greater grace" (Chrysostom).

"But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more."

"Where" means as soon as, or when. When sin abounded in this way, grace abounded much more. It appeared in superabundance, or as superabundant grace.

It was always present and covered our race, but now it was poured out in superabundance, or in its predestined fullness.

There was no longer anything to wait for. The head of the serpent had to be crushed, as had been promised.

"When sin was multiplied through the law, through Christ the grace of God appeared superabundantly.

It not only freed us from sins, but also justified us, made us heavenly, and adopted us to God.

Therefore he did not say, 'abounded,' but 'abounded much more,' thereby showing its great abundance" (Theophylact).

It was not only now appointed to be such. In its very essence it is such, and from eternity it was destined to be such.

Only now has it been shown in deed. Since it is superabundant in itself, it is also seen as superabundant.