"the many" and "all men"

"But in the framework of this argument it is Israel’s many trespasses against the law of Moses, which have brought condemnation on the nation, that need to be remedied, not the uncounted sins of the rest of humankind, whose sins are not ’after the likeness of the transgression of Adam’."

It seems that only those who have sinned in the context of an already-existing relationship with God are under moral condemnation, both individually and collectively. The rest of humankind sins, but their sins aren’t imputed to them as the basis for condemnation (v. 13).

The transgression of Adam precedes the formation of Israel and the Mosaic Law. However, Adam received a command directly from God, a command to which God attached a curse in the event of transgression ("you shall surely die"), and Adam disobeyed that explicit command. As a consequence, says Paul, "all men" inherit the curse of death on Adam, even those who never knew God or received any commands from Him.

You said in your interpretation of Rom. 5:14 that "there is a general human condition in which sin and death hold sway." As Paul says,

until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam. (Rom 5:13-14)

Presumably then, "sinning in the likeness of Adam’s sin" means acting contrary to God’s explicit command, whether that command is a personal one (like God’s command to Adam in the Garden) or a codified one (like the Law God gave to the Jews through Moses). The Gentiles have no relationship with God, so they face neither a personal nor a codified command of God against which they might transgress. Being excluded a priori from a relationship with God, the Gentiles do not incur the wrath and judgment thrust upon those who transgress. In Paul’s words, sin is not "imputed" to those who sin outside a law-governed relationship with God. Nonetheless, all humans inherit death from Adam’s sin, even if neither his sin nor their own sins are "imputed" to them as the basis for condemnation. To this general human condition the Mosaic Law adds a supplement of national blessing and accountability. Sinning under the Law brings not just death, which is the Adamic consequence, but God’s judgment and punishment on the nation and on the individual as a member of that nation. Using Paul’s term, sin is "imputed" to those under law.

So now the question is this: does Jesus’ death and resurrection eliminate only the condemnation and punishment attached to those who sin under law, "in the likeness of Adam’s offense" — in particular the descendants of Abraham? Or does Jesus also eliminate the universal curse of death that all men inherit from Adam, Jew and Gentile alike, whether they sinned in the likeness of Adam’s offense or not?

One would expect that Paul would consistently contrast "all men," who inherit the curse of death through Adam, with "the many," who benefit under law from the atonement of Christ. But Paul’s words don’t conform to this expectation:

For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. (Rom. 5:15b)

Here Paul describes the impact of the one man — Adam first, then Jesus — on "the many": same word for both predicates. If our understanding of the Adamic curse is correct, then when Paul says that "the many" died through Adam, he really means"all men," as he said in verse 12. Or is Paul saying that "the many" — that subset of "all men" who under God’s law — inherit the universal death sentence along with the moral condemnation that applies to them alone through their collective law-based association with Adam? It’s hard to say.

A few verses later Paul changes predicates:

So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. (Rom. 5:18)

Here, instead of "the many," Paul speaks of "all men" as recipients both of condemnation through Adam and of justification through Christ. Andrew, you infer that Paul here is referring to justification of life to all "who are subject to the Law of Moses" — i.e., by "all men" Paul really means "the many." But should we then infer that only "the many" who are subject to the Law receive condemnation through Adam? If condemnation refers to moral judgment, then yes, but if it refers to the curse of death, then no.

Then, in the very next verse:

For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. (Rom. 5:19)

Here "the many" actually seems to mean "the many;" i.e., those under law. But it’s hard to be sure. And throughout this passage Paul never explicitly states that Christ lifts the Adamic curse of death, either for "the many" or for "all men." Or does he?

so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 5:21)

Over whom did "sin reign in death": the many, or all men? Sin was in the world and spread to all men, and so too did death spread to all men, even to those whose sins were not imputed to them (v. 13). So does eternal life spread through the one man Christ to all men? Or did sin reign in death only over the many who were condemned under law, so that only the many benefit from eternal life? I don’t think it’s possible on strictly exegetical grounds to make a consistent distinction between "the many" and "all men" in this passage, such that the curse of death is universal whereas eternal life is granted only to the descendants of Abraham.