---
title: Romans 5:16
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-5-16/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-5-16.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Romans 5:16
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Romans 5:16

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Again, the gift is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment that followed one sin brought condemnation, but the gift that followed many trespasses brought justification.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "the judgment after one trespass was condemnation, but the gift after many trespasses was a declaration of righteousness"

## JW Usage

Watchtower commentary takes Romans 5:16 as describing the comprehensive scope of Christ's ransom — the gift addresses not only Adam's single trespass but the many trespasses that followed. The corresponding-ransom doctrine reads this as saying the ransom price is precisely calibrated to balance the cumulative debt; the verse confirms the mathematical adequacy of Christ's perfect-human sacrifice.

## Protestant Usage

Read v15-17 as a unit. Paul's argument is that the gift is NOT like the trespass: "it is not the same with the free gift as with the way things worked through the one man who sinned" (v16, NWT). The gift exceeds the debt. One trespass brought condemnation; the gift addresses MANY trespasses and brings a declaration of righteousness. The mathematics is asymmetric: one offence produced ruin for all; one gift produces declaration of righteousness despite many offences. This destroys the Watchtower's "exact equivalent" ransom doctrine. If the ransom were a balanced-ledger swap, Paul would say the gift exactly matches the trespass. He says the opposite three times in this passage.

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders dikaiōma as "a declaration of righteousness" rather than "justification" (consensus ESV/NASB/NIV). The expansion is forensic and accurate as far as it goes, but it loses the result-noun nuance — dikaiōma is the verdict itself (the actual just-act-of-God), not merely its public declaration. The translation is interpretive but not dishonest; consensus translations preserve the technical Pauline term "justification."

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Corresponding Ransom Chain](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/ransom-chain.md) — Romans 5 — Not Like the Trespass [Salvation]