What Does Romans 5:16 Mean?
And not as through the one who missed the mark, so also is the gift. For the judgment is from one into condemnation, but the gift of favor is from many stumbles into an act of alignment.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The gift’s reach is measured by how many failures it carries toward alignment, not by how few failures remain.
THE MEANING
Judgment from one offense runs toward condemnation; the gift moves from many offenses toward alignment. Your failures are not the boundary of what favor can reach: the verse carries the movement through them and toward restored standing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that enough failures place you beyond the reach of alignment. Here, the gift moves from many offenses toward justification.
THE ROOT
χάρισμα
charisma
GROWS FROM
χαρι-
chari-
favor; freely given kindness
“gift of favor” in this verse is charisma. English can make “gift” sound like something added after failure, but χάρισμα (charisma, favor-gift) belongs to the same word-family as favor itself. The gift comes out of many failures and moves toward alignment.
ALSO GROWS
charis: favor
χάρις
This is the favor at the heart of the favor-gift in the verse.
charizomai: grant as a favor; give freely
χαρίζομαι
This verb shows the same family of giving as favor, illuminating the gift’s movement toward the reader.
δικαίωμα
dikaiōma
GROWS FROM
δικαι-
dikai-
what is made right; an act or result of alignment
“an act of alignment” in this verse is dikaiōma. “Justification” can sound like a verdict alone, but this word-family also carries the sense of being set right. Alignment is the gift’s destination, not a status reached by first eliminating every failure.
ALSO GROWS
dikaioō: set right; justify
δικαιόω
The related verb shows the movement toward being put in right standing.
dikaios: just; right
δίκαιος
This related adjective describes the state toward which the gift moves.
παραπτωμάτων
paraptōmatōn
GROWS FROM
παρα- + πιπτ- (para- + pipt-)
a falling beside; a lapse
“stumbles” in this verse is paraptōmatōn. English “offences” names violations, while the Greek preserves an image of falling aside. The verse says the gift reaches not one such fall but many, and carries the movement toward alignment.
ALSO GROWS
parapiptō: fall aside; lapse
παραπίπτω
This related verb makes the falling image in “offences” visible.
piptō: fall
πίπτω
The underlying verb supplies the image carried by the word for offences.
THE PATTERN
Divine favor reaches beyond failure and moves the person toward restored standing.
He does not deal with us according to our shortcomings, nor repay us according to our crookedness.Come now, and let us lay it out together, says the LORD. Though your falling short be as scarlet, it shall be whitened as snow. Though it be red like crimson, it shall be as wool.For by favor you have been delivered through leaning your full weight, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God.THE THREAD
Now the instruction slipped in beside, so that the stumble might multiply. But where falling short multiplied, favor overflowed far beyond.“Offence” here is the same Greek word-family as the “offences” in Romans 5:16, and “grace” is χάρις (charis, favor), from the same stem as χάρισμα (charisma, favor-gift). This makes the movement of verse 16 clearer: where failures abound, favor reaches further.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us