In Greek verse 15 begins with the clause rendered by the Good News Translation because God’s free gift is not like Adam’s sin. However, in order to make clear the relation between this verse and the preceding sentence, and at the same time to show that the contrast is between the two persons (Adam and Christ), the Good News Translation introduces verse 15 with but the two are not the same.
In many instances it may be preferable to say “but the two are different” rather than but the two are not the same. The use of “different” is often a more effective way of indicating the contrast.
In verses 13, 14, and 15 Paul uses three different words for “sin.” In verse 13, there was sin in the world, he uses the more generic term, while in verses 14 and 15 he uses words which are almost synonyms and which are generally taken to mean something like “an act of sin.”
God’s free gift translates a word which in other contexts may mean simply “gift” (so Moffatt) or “free gift” (so Revised Standard Version), but in the present context the reference is to “God’s gift” (so An American Translation*). There is a certain aspect of Paul’s usage of the word “sin” and of the word “gift” in this passage which is difficult to explain. Both of these have the same ending in Greek (-ma), and this ending often carries the force of effect or result. That is, a “sin” in this context is the effect or result of the disobedience to a command, while a “gift” is the effect or result of God’s grace. If that is the case, then this part of verse 15 may be rendered: “but God’s act of grace is not like Adam’s act of sin” (see New English Bible). In some languages one may translate as “for the way in which God gives freely to men is not like the way in which Adam sinned” or “but God’s manner of showing grace is different from the manner in which Adam sinned.”
Paul next uses an “if” clause (“for if…”), but the force of this clause is to state that the condition is true, and so the Good News Translation translates it is true that. It is agreed that where Paul uses many men in this verse the equivalent is “all men” (see verse 12, the whole human race, literally “all men”).
It is true that is rendered in some languages as “you may certainly know that” or “it is a fact that.” On the other hand, one may take the following clause, which states what is true, and place it at the beginning of the sentence, followed by the qualification—for example, “the fact that many men have died because one man sinned is true.”
In verse 14b Paul made the statement that Adam was in some way like the one who was to come. Now Paul qualifies that statement by affirming that God’s grace and the one who brought it are both greater than Adam’s sin.
The second word for free gift in this passage is different from the word used earlier; its meaning is essentially the same, though it does not have the formal contrast to the word which Paul used for “sin” in the earlier part of the verse.
But God’s grace is much greater may be rendered as “but the way in which God shows his grace is much stronger.”
The last clause of verse 15 also presents a number of complications, since the expression and so is his free gift to so many men through the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ is essentially an elaboration of what has just been said, God’s grace is much greater. One may, therefore, translate this final clause as “this is the way in which God has given so freely to so many men by the way in which the one person, Jesus Christ, showed grace.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .