Romans 5:20 · Bible study
Romans 5:20 Commentary: Study: Grace Overabounds Where Sin Increases
Greek · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Why did God give the law if it causes sin to increase? Romans 5:20 answers: grace overabounds. Study the meaning, Greek, and purpose of this paradox.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The law was added alongside the sin of Adam so that trespass might multiply, and wherever sin multiplied, grace overflowed even more.
- Key words: Παρεισῆλθεν (came in beside), πλεονάσῃ (may abound), ὑπερεπερίσσευσεν (overabounded).
- Main debate: Whether the law's purpose was to increase actual transgression or only to increase consciousness of sin; both are defended within the commentaries.
- Theological theme: The law exposes and provokes sin, but only to magnify the superabundance of God's grace in Christ.
- Best use: To show that salvation is entirely by grace; the law has no power to justify, only to diagnose sin and drive us to the Savior.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
WEB World English Bible 2000
The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly,
KJV King James Version 1769
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly:
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And law came in, that the offence might abound, and where the sin did abound, the grace did overabound,
Darby Darby Bible 1890
But law came in, in order that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded grace has overabounded,
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Now the law entered in that sin might abound. And where sin abounded, grace did more abound.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
La ley empero entró para que el pecado creciese; mas cuando el pecado creció, sobrepujó la gracia;
A Lei veio para que a transgressão aumentasse; mas onde o pecado aumentou, a graça superabundou;
Or, la loi est intervenue pour que l’ offense abondât, mais là où le péché a abondé, la grâce a surabondé,
Das Gesetz aber ist neben eingekommen, auf daß die Sünde mächtiger würde. Wo aber die Sünde mächtig geworden ist, da ist doch die Gnade viel mächtiger geworden,
Maar de wet is bovendien ingekomen, opdat de misdaad te meerder worde; en waar de zonde meerder geworden is, daar is de genade veel meer overvloedig geweest;
Or la legge è intervenuta affinché il fallo abbondasse; ma dove il peccato è abbondato, la grazia è sovrabbondata,
A zakon przytem nastąpił, aby obfitował grzech; lecz gdzie się grzech rozmnożył, tam łaska tem więcej obfitowała.
Закон же пришел после, и таким образом умножилось преступление. А когда умножился грех, стала преизобиловать благодать,
律法 本是外添的，叫 過犯 顯多；只是 罪 在哪裡 顯多，恩典 就更顯多了。
And the law came in addition, to make wrongdoing worse; but where there was much sin, there was much more grace:
Verse in Context
Original Language (Koine Greek)
New Testament · Koine Greek · Romans 5:20
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that in Romans 5:20 Paul is not giving a full theology of the law but addressing a specific question: if God's plan centers on Christ, what was the purpose of the law? The answer, they say, is that the law entered alongside the existing situation of sin, it was not the main act but an addition. Vincent's Word Studies highlights the Greek verb pareiserchomai, meaning "came in beside" (as if an afterthought). Calvin explains the purpose: it was needful for men to see their ruin more fully so that grace might have a wider entrance. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown adds that the law's subordinate purpose was to reveal the evil caused by Adam and the glory of the remedy in Christ. Gill emphasizes that the law exposes sin, takes away excuses, and thereby shows that justification cannot come from the law. The united claim of these commentators is that the law's role in this passage is to make sin appear more clearly, so that grace, the real point, might be seen as overwhelmingly abundant. The verb for grace's abundance, hupereperisseusen, literally means "superabounded" or "overflowed beyond measure," a word Paul uses only here and in 2 Corinthians 7:4.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Law increases consciousness of sin: Calvin, Wesley: the law's main effect is to make already existing sin more visible and more guilty, which prepares the heart for grace.
- Law increases actual transgression: Vincent, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown: the law provokes rebellion, resulting in more actual sinful acts, such as the desire for what is forbidden (Romans 7:7-8).
- Subordinate purpose to magnify grace: Cambridge Bible: the abounding of sin was not the chief aim of the law but a means to illustrate how much more grace abounds.
What is clear: Christians across traditions agree that this verse teaches that wherever sin multiplies, God's grace in Christ superabounds—it is always greater than the worst trespass.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of the law in this passage | The law was not given as the primary means of salvation; it served a subordinate role in relation to grace. | Some commentators (like Vincent) emphasize that the law increased actual sinful acts, while others (like Calvin and Wesley) stress that it increased the awareness and guilt of sin, not necessarily the number of transgressions. |
| Meaning of 'that the trespass might abound' | The Greek conjunction <em>hina</em> links the law's entrance to the increase of the trespass as part of God's design. | Some read <em>hina</em> as indicating purpose (God intended for sin to increase to prepare for grace), while others read it as result or consequence (the increase happened but was not God's ultimate goal). |
| Which law is meant | Most commentators identify the law with the Mosaic law given at Sinai, though it may also refer to moral law in a broader sense. | Gill includes the ceremonial law as part of the reference; others (like Adam Clarke) see the moral law as the primary referent, with its rites and ceremonies as a temporary addition. |
| How grace 'much more abounds' | The compound verb <em>hupereperisseuō</em> guarantees that grace surpasses sin in extent and power. | Some interpret the 'much more' as quantitative (grace covers more sins), others as qualitative (grace brings a higher kind of life, including holiness and eternal life, not just forgiveness). Wesley and Gill both point to the infusion of holiness as part of the superabundance. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The verse sits within Paul's argument that Jesus Christ is the second Adam, a comparison that spans Romans 5:12-21. Paul has just shown that sin and death entered through one man, Adam, and that justification and life come through one man, Christ. A natural question for a Jewish reader was: where does the Mosaic law fit in? The law, given centuries after Adam, was the central gift of the covenant at Sinai. Its commandments were cherished as the path to life. But Paul repositions it. He uses the word pareiserchomai, which carries the sense of "coming in alongside" or "entering as a side issue." The same word appears in Galatians 2:4, where it describes false brothers slipping in. Here, though, it suggests that the law was added to an existing plan, not as the main storyline but as a temporary measure. Paul had already argued in Romans 3:20 that "through the law comes the knowledge of sin." Now he sharpens the point: the law does not merely reveal sin, it causes sin to increase. This increase is not God's ultimate desire but a consequence he uses. The law provokes transgression by forbidding, by stirring the sinful nature, and by taking away the excuse of ignorance. In the ancient world, a physician might first provoke a wound to show its depth before applying the cure. Paul's Jewish contemporaries would have been shocked: they saw the law as the cure, not the provocation. But for Paul, the law's diagnostic role is essential. It drives people to despair of self-help and to receive grace as the only remedy. This is why he ends the verse with a cascade of compound verbs: where sin "multiplied" (epleonasen), grace "overabounded" (hupereperisseusen).
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Romans 5:20. The Greek text is stable across manuscript traditions. The only minor variation is in the placement of connecting particles (de and hina), but these do not affect the meaning of the verse.
Reception History
This verse has been a focal point in the Christian understanding of law and grace. In the early church, it informed the debate between Augustine and Pelagius, with Augustine using it to argue that the law reveals sin's depth and that grace alone saves. During the Reformation, Luther and Calvin made it a cornerstone of the law-gospel distinction: the law serves to convict, the gospel to save. In the Methodist tradition, Wesley stressed that grace not only pardons sin but also imparts holiness, grace does more than remove the penalty; it transforms the person. Across traditions, the verse has been quoted to assure believers that no sin is beyond the reach of God's grace, a comfort sung in hymns of refuge and preached in evangelistic calls to repentance.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The law entered as a side issue. It was not God's primary purpose. The verb pareiserchomai means "came in beside", the law was added to a plan already centered on grace through Christ.
- The law multiplied the trespass. By forbidding, it provoked sin; by defining, it removed excuses. Sin did not become more frequent in God's sight, but it became more visible and more guilty.
- Grace overabounded. The Greek hupereperisseusen means to overflow beyond measure. No matter how far sin spreads, grace spreads farther, not just equally, but royally more.
Five-point outline
- The question: Why was the law given if the plan is Christ?
- The answer: It came in alongside to intensify the trespass.
- The purpose: To expose the disease so people would seek the cure.
- The contrast: Sin abounds, but grace superabounds.
- The result: Grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life (v.21).
Illustration hooks
- A medical diagnosis. A patient feels fine until a scan reveals a serious condition. The bad news feels like a disaster, but it points to a treatment that saves the patient's life. The diagnosis (law) is not the cure, but without it the cure (grace) would never be sought.
- A financial audit. An audit uncovers hidden debts. The discovery is painful, but it allows the owner to see the full problem and then accept an offer to have the debts paid in full. The audit is not the payment, but it makes the payment meaningful.
- Light in a dusty room. When sunlight streams through a window, it reveals every speck of dust floating in the air. The dust was always there, but the light makes it visible. The law is like that light, it does not create the dust, but it shows how much there is, and then the cleaning (grace) can begin.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Did God cause sin to increase? Does he want us to sin more so he can forgive more?
- If the law multiplies sin, why do we still teach and follow the Ten Commandments?
- How do I know if I am relying on the law or on grace to be right with God?
Leading a Discussion
This verse is part of Paul's argument that the work of Christ is far greater than the damage of Adam's sin. Paul knows someone might think: if the law was given by God, why did it make things worse? The answer is that the law was never meant to solve the problem, only to expose how deep the problem really is. That exposure, painful as it is, prepares us to receive a grace that goes far beyond anything we could ask or imagine.
Discussion questions
- Read Romans 5:20 in two or three translations. What differences do you notice in how the word “abound” or “increase” is used?
- The Greek word for “entered” is pareiserchomai, which means “came in beside” or “came in additionally.” Why is that nuance important for understanding the role of the law?
- Does this verse teach that God’s purpose in giving the law was to cause people to sin more? Why, or why not? How do other passages (like Galatians 3:19-24) help answer this?
- Paul uses two different verbs: “abound” (pleonazō) for sin, and “abound more exceedingly” (hupereperisseuō) for grace. What does this word choice tell us about the relationship between law and grace?
- If the law reveals and even multiplies sin, why do Christians still value the Old Testament law? How does the law function in your own life of faith?
- This verse ends with a promise of grace that overflows. In what area of your life do you most need to hear that grace is greater than your sin?
- How does knowing that the law has a subordinate purpose (to expose sin) change the way you read commandments or moral instruction in Scripture?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| II Chronicles 33:9 | Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel. |
| II Chronicles 33:13 | He prayed to him; and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God. |
| Psalms 25:11 | For your name’s sake, Yahweh, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. |
| Isaiah 1:18 | “Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. |
| Isaiah 43:24 | You have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities. |
| Isaiah 43:25 | I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins. |
| Jeremiah 3:8 | I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, had no fear, but she also went and played the prostitute. |
| Jeremiah 3:14 | “Return, backsliding children,” says Yahweh, “for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke sees the law as having been quietly introduced into every human conscience to make the full extent and deformity of sin visible. Only by applying this straight rule of right can people recognize their countless deviations from God's standard, leading them to abandon self-salvation and flee to the gospel.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes argues that Romans 5:12-21 is widely misread because interpreters force it into a philosophical theory about sin. He insists the passage has a straightforward purpose: to exalt Christ's work by showing that the grace released through justification superabounds beyond all the evil Adam introduced.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin argues the law entered as a temporary intervention between Adam and Christ. Its purpose was not to save but to make human sin more obvious, so people would fully recognize their ruin. This clearer exposure of sin was necessary to prepare hearts for receiving God's mercy.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note explains that the law was given specifically to make sin more evident and increase human awareness of it. Yet where sin increased through the law’s exposure, God’s grace overflowed even more abundantly. Grace does not just match sin—it far surpasses it.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill emphasizes that the law entered not to save but to make sin appear in its true magnitude. The law exposes sin's extent, removes all excuse, and leaves sinners without hope in themselves. Yet where sin abounds most, grace superabounds even more, fully overcoming it.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB stresses that the law was never God's main plan; it came in incidentally to reveal how Adam's single first offense multiplies into every human sin. For JFB, each personal transgression is that original disobedience working itself out, and grace superabounds to meet that multiplied evil.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange argues that Paul does not teach a
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry's central point is the contrast between Adam and Christ as two representative heads of humanity. He emphasizes that the grace and free gift through Christ far exceed the damage done by Adam's offense, bringing not merely restoration but a far greater abundance of justification, reconciliation, and joy in God.
Vincent's Word Studies Evangelical 1887
Vincent highlights that the Greek word for the law entering means it came in alongside sin, as part of God's plan. The law was not the main event but an occasion for grace to overflow even more. The phrase "did much more abound" literally means abounded over and above, emphasizing the superabundance of grace.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley stresses that the law entered not to reduce sin but to increase it, a consequence rather than God's design. Grace then overflows far beyond, covering both Adam's sin and our own, infusing holiness, and granting eternal life far greater than what Adam lost.