NOTES for Rom 5:12-21
While explaining in detail how all are saved through Christ's death, the apostle Paul also touches on the question of how our world is ordered. Death entered the world because, regardless of how we imagine the universe, we are all connected with one another invisibly yet unmistakably. Every deed and every free choice inevitably affects not only my own life and those close to me, but also people far away and the life of the entire world. Awareness of our responsibility for our lives is important not only because we are answerable to God, but also because everything in the world is interconnected. This was the reason for the Old Testament legislation which at first sight seems excessive and cumbersome.
This does not mean that, for fear of upsetting the existing balance, we may allow ourselves to sit idle. Christ's coming into the world completely changed our situation. Now that, through His righteousness and His sacrifice, grace has come to reign in the world, we have been given the opportunity to receive “the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness” and thus to obtain the Kingdom.