Understanding Romans 5:18
by Tom Logan
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Rom 5:15-21
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (KJV)

In this passage we see two opposing complexes:
 


Starting at verse 15 we see that "the many" (hoi polloi-gr) be dead trough the offense of Adam. We also see that the grace of God has abounded to the same group "the many."

This term Hoi Polloi has a summarizing effect:

b. w. the art. hoi polloi the many, of whatever appears in the context Mk 6:2 (the many people who were present in the synagogue); 9:26b (the whole crowd).  Opp. oJ eis" Ro 5:15a, c, 19a, b; the many who form the one body 12:5; 1 Cor 10:17.
Bauer, Walter, Gingrich, F. Wilbur, and Danker, Frederick W., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) 1979.

In this particular usage the term hoi polloi refers to all mankind. Remember however context determines extent.

Thus we see that the free gift of grace has abounded (aorist tense - past time) to all men.

This defines the extent of the atonement. Christ has died for all men and the free gift comes upon or is offered to all men.

Verse 16 shows this free gift results in life. Later we will se this is eternal or eonian life.

Yet though this gift is freely offered to all it requires reception. Verse 17 shows they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

This free gift in itself does not result in life but must be received.

Scripture confirms this:

I Jn 5:11-13
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (KJV)

verse 18 again reiterates the fact that this gift is for all men:

Rom 5:18
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (KJV)

This verse is difficult for much of the text is left unsaid. For example there are no verbs in the verse and the terms "free gift" and "judgment" are not part of the text.

However as this verse is a summary verse and all the elements of the verse as translated appear previously in the text it is a good summation of all that was stated previously, thus the verb came (aorist tense - past time) used both of the condemnation which "came" upon all men and the free gift with also "came" upon all men is an accurate representation of what is actually stated in this text.

The free gift came upon all men. We have seen this includes all mankind, i.e. all men in an all inclusive sense

Yet we see that this gift requires reception as only they which receive the gift receive life.

verse 19 once again uses the phrase "the many" hoi polloi-gr) We have determined it has a summarizing effect.

In verse 15 context determined the many referred to all mankind.

In verse 19 however "the many" refers to those who receive. For one thing we have already seen that only those who receive the gift enter into the complex of righteousness justification and life for another the verb tenses point to this difference.

In verse 18 we have two aorist verbs condemnation came and the free gift came. If there were any automatic impartation of life based solely upon Christ obedience we should expect to see another aorist verb in verse 19b.

We do not however;  what we do see is so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (future tense)

This points us back to verse 17 and the future tense verb will reign.

Remember the complex here is that of  Christ righteousness, justification which is a forensic  righteousness and life.

They who receive the free gift will ultimately reign in life having been made righteous.

Confirmation of the analysis comes from verse 21:

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

It speaks of eternal life. In the bible only the believer has eternal life:

John 3:15-18
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (KJV)

John 3:36
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (KJV)

I Jn 5:11-13
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (KJV)

The unbeliever does not have this life.