Romans5:17

“sin” means “a deviation, a misstep, an offence, a fall, a failure, or a sin.”  The word is constructed using the preposition  meaning “beside,” or in this case “from beside,” which shows movement away from a previous position of closeness, and adding on the verb which means “to fall.” We end up with “to fall away from.”  This is not the primary word for “sin” in the New Testament; the nuances are different, but this one has the same force as the other one.

“overflowing abundance” comes from the joining of a preposition and a noun. The preposition peri, from which we get words like peripheral, perimeter, etc. means “around, all around,” is added to the noun meaning “abundance.” So it means “all around abundance,” or “encircled by abundance.” It can also be translated as “overflowing abundance, or extreme surplus.”  Here it used in an attempt to describe grace, obviously God’s grace, and also to describe the gift of justification that has been given to us, whereby we are considered righteous.

This is a contrast between the reign of death and the reign of life. Death previously ruled over us because of Adam’s sin, but we will rule because of Jesus’s sacrifice, and it will be characterized by life, meaning a total freedom from guilt and condemnation. It is debated whether this refers only to heaven, where we will somehow reign under God’s ultimate authority, or if it can also, at least partially, refer to aspects of our life on earth where we are expected to exercise God’s authority over sin and evil in our lives and our homes, and to a lesser degree, our communities. The main point here is the contrast between death and life. Adam sinned and it brought guilt and death; Jesus gave His life as a perfect sacrifice on our behalf, bringing us forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and freedom from guilt. This together spells meaningful life in contrast to just surviving. How and when we will reign is not explained here, for it is not the purpose of the passage.