Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
All Commentaries on Romans 5:20 Go To Romans 5
Ambrosiaster
AD 400
An objector might say: “If the law merely served to increase sin, it should never have been given. If there was less sin before the law came, there was no need of the law.” Obviously the law was necessary to show that sins, which many thought they could get away with, actually counted before God and so that people might know what they ought to avoid. How could the law have increased sin, when it warns people not to sin? … The law began to show an abundance of sins, and the more it forbade them the more people committed them. That is why it is said that the law was given so that sin might increase…. In order to nullify the pride of Satan, who rejoiced in his victory over man, the just and merciful God decreed that his Son would come to forgive every sin, so that there would be more happiness from the gift of grace than there had been sorrow from the coming of sin…. Therefore grace abounded more than sin. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
