Andrew,
I think you need to understand Romans 5 in the context of his audience. Paul is exhorting the Roman Church to understand that God's intention is to save them to the uttermost. He notes to them that God saved them while they were His enemies and now, how much more will He save them that they are His friends.
His point of bringing up Adam is to note that all humanity is plunged into Sin and death by the first Adam - that all Sinned in Adam and are fallen and under judgment. But the sacrifice is not like the offense. For, in addition to Adam's Sin that we bear in guilt with him, we are also guilty of our many
sins. Yet, Christ not only atones for Sin but
sins as well.
The point of the Adam and Christ comparison is to show, in large measure, that were sin abounded, grace abounded much more. If you're wondering about the power of Christ's atonement to save you to the uttermost then STOP - Paul's point is that grace SUPERABOUNDS more than grace.
Paul is not applying a symmetrical point about the mass of humanity in this passage. All of humanity fell with Adam, including us but Christ's sacrifice atones for the
many that includes us but not the whole world. It's not that Christ's sacrifice is insufficient to do so but it is because the atonement is only efficient for those it is applied to.
Thus the passage is designed to give you confidence to see that grace abounds where sin once reigned and this leads naturally into the next line of thinking that Paul needs to guard against - If God is glorified by showing mercy to sinners by showing them grace, why don't I sin even more so that He can be more and more gracious? But, of course, Paul's point is to show that grace abounds above sin but not that God wants us to sin or redeemed us from slavery to sin that we should continue to walk in it.
If you desire, you can listen to my teaching on Romans 5 at
Central Baptist Church, Okinawa, Japan
