Observations:
We start off, finishing Paul's complicated thought from before, "Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come." (v 14) So we see that sin is still being considered and punished by death, even among those who did not sin as Adam did, men like Joseph or Job. (I'm not saying they were perfect and did not sin, but that they did not blatantly act in contradiction of an edict from God)
From there, Paul segues into talking about Christ. He makes the obvious comparison, that, just as death came to man through one man, so life came to man through Christ. However, that is where the similarity ends. Paul makes some important contrasts between Adam and Christ.
- In Adam, many died through one sin. In Christ, the free gift of God's grace has abounded for many.
- In Adam, the judgment of one sin brought condemnation. In Christ, the gift, given after many sins, brings justification, that is, absolution.
- In Adam, death reigned. In Christ, those who receive the grace of God reign in life abundantly
This draws Paul to the conclusion that just as one sin led to the condemnation of all men, so did one act of righteousness, love, and grace lead to absolution and life for all men.
He then returns to the idea of the law with this thought: "Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." What he's saying is that, because of the law, sin became defined and grew in magnitude from a corruption of man to direct disobedience of God's commands. Because of that, however, it also increased the magnitude of the grace given to man.
Consider it this way: One of your coworkers offends you in a way that violates your internal, unvoiced boundaries. Still, you forgive him or her. Shortly thereafter, another of your coworkers offends you, crossing a boundary you've clearly expressed from day one. Again, you choose to forgive him or her. Which forgiveness required and gave more grace, the offence which was done in innocence and ignorance or the offence which was made known previously to be an offence?
Similarly, then, despite our sin, our offence against God, God's grace reigns through the righteousness of Christ, redeeming us from death and placing us instead under life.
God's forgiveness is given in grace. He would have been perfectly justified to condemn mankind to death in punishment for the sin that, thanks to Adam, reigns in us, but, instead, because of his love for us, took upon himself the punishment and consequence of our sin, an act enabled only by his perfect righteousness and, taking on the form and nature of man, he offered himself as the pure, unblemished sacrifice, fully God and fully man, sufficient where mere animal sacrifice was not to atone for the sin of all men for all time.
How great, then, is the grace and forgiveness of God, that He would take upon himself the punishment due to us for the purpose of enabling us to come to him in righteousness, having communion with him once again?
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