TEXT. that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judg : PARAPHRASE. before the positive law of God by Moses, men from the beginning of the world died, all as well as their father Adam; though none of them, but he alone, had eaten of the forbidden fruit and thereby, as he had committed that sin, to which sin alone the punishment of death was annexed, by the positive sanction of God, denounced to Adam, who was the 15 figure and type of Christ, who was to come. But yet though he were the type of Christ, yet the gift, or benefit, received by Christ, is not exactly conformed and confined to the dimensions of the damage received by Adam's fall. For if, by the lapse of one man, the multitude, i. e. all men died, much more did the favour of God, and the free gift, by the bounty or good-will which is in Jesus Christ, exceed to the 16 multitude, i. e. to all men. Furthermore, neither is the NOTES. 14 In this verse St. Paul proves that all men became mortal, by Adam's eating the forbidden fruit, and by that alone, because no man can incur a penalty, without the sanction of a positive law, declaring and establishing that penalty; but death was annexed, by no positive law, to any sin, but the eating the forbidden fruit; and therefore men's dying, before the law of Moses, was purely in consequence of Adam's sin, in eating the forbidden fruit; and the positive sanction of death annexed to it an evident proof of man's mortality coming from thence. 15 • Οἱ πολλοὶ, and τοὺς πολλοὺς, I suppose may be understood to stand here for the multitude, or collective body of mankind. For the apostle, in express words, assures us, 1 Cor. xv. 22, "That in Adam all died, and in Christ all "are made alive:" and so here, ver. 18, All men fell under the condemnation of death, and all men were restored unto justification of life, which all men, in the very next words, ver. 19, are called of woλλol, the many. So that the many in the former part of this verse, and the many at the end of it, comprehending all mankind, must be equal. The comparison therefore, and the inequality of the things compared, lies not, here, between the numbers of those that died, and the numbers of those that shall be restored to life; but the comparison lies between the persons by whom this general death, and this general restoration to life came, Adam the type, and Jesus Christ the antitype; and it seems to lie in this, that Adam's lapse came barely for the satisfaction of his own appetite, and desire of good to himself; but the restoration was from the exuberant bounty and good-will of Christ towards men, who, at the cost of his own painful death, purchased life for them. The want of taking the comparison here right, and the placing it amiss, in a greater number restored to life TEXT. ment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. PARAPHRASE. gift, as was the lapse, by one sin. For the judgment or sentence was for one offence, to condemnation: but the gift of favour reaches, notwithstanding many sins, to justification 17 of life. For if, by one lapse, death reigned, by reason of one offence, much more shall they, who receiving the sur NOTES. h by Jesus Christ, than those brought into death by Adam's sin, hath led some men so far out of the way, as to allege, that men, in the deluge, died for their own sins. It is true they did so, and so did the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Philistines cut off by the Israelites, and multitudes of others: but it is as true, that by their own sins they were not made mortal: they were so before, by their father Adam's eating the forbidden fruit; so that what they paid for their own sins, was not immortality, which they had not, but a few years of their own finite lives, which, having been let alone, would every one of them in a short time have come to an end. It cannot be denied, therefore, but that it is as true of these as any of the rest of mankind before Moses, that they died solely in Adam, as St. Paul has proved in the three preceding verses. And it is as true of them, as of any of the rest of mankind in general, that they died in Adam. For this St. Paul expressly asserts of all, "that in Adam all died," 1 Cor. xv. 22, and in this very chapter, ver. 18, in other words. It is then a flat contradiction to St. Paul to say, that those whom the flood swept away did not die in Adam. 16 févòs áμapthμaros, "by one sin," so the Alexandrine copy reads it, more conformable to the apostle's sense. For if is, "one," in this verse, be to be taken for the person of Adam, and not for his one sin, of eating the forbidden fruit, there will be nothing to answer πολλῶν παραπτωμάτων, σε many offences" here, and so the comparison, St. Paul is upon, will be lost; whereas it is plain, that in this verse he shows another disproportion in the case, wherein Adam, the type, comes short of Christ, the antitype; and that is, that it was but for one only transgression, that death came upon all men : but Christ restores life unto all, notwithstanding multitudes of sins. These two excesses both of the good will of the donor, and the greatness of the gift, are both reckoned up together in the following verse, and are there plainly expressed in wepiooslav Tñs xápitos xal τns dwpeas; the excess of the favour, in the greater good will and cost of the donor; and the inequality of the gift itself, which exceeds, as many exceeds one; or the deliverance from the guilt of many sins does exceed the deliverance from the guilt of one. Zwns, "of life," is found in the Alexandrine copy. And he that will read ver. 18 will scarce incline to the leaving of it out here. 17 "Surplusage," so posla signifies. The surplusage of xápiros, favour, was the painful death of Christ, whereas the fall cost Adam no more pains but eating the fruit. The surplusage of dwpeãs, the gift or benefit received, was a justification to life from a multitude of sins, whereas the loss of life came upon all men, onlyf or one sin; but all men, how guilty soever of many sins, are restored to life. TEXT. 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men, unto justification of life. PARAPHRASE. plusage of favour, and of the gift of righteousness, reign in 18 life by one, even Jesus Christ. Therefore as, by one k offence, (viz.) Adam's eating the forbidden fruit, all men fell under the condemnation of death: so, by one act of righteousness, viz. Christ's obedience to death upon the cross', 18 NOTES. i "Therefore," here, is not used as an illative, introducing an inference from the immediately preceding verses, but is the same "therefore," which began, ver. 12, repeated here again, with part of the inference, that was there begun and left incomplete, the continuation of it being interrupted, by the intervention of the proofs of the first part of it. The particle "as," immediately following "therefore," ver. 12, is a convincing proof of this, having there, or in the following verses, nothing to answer it, and so leaves the sense imperfect and suspended, till you come to this verse, where the same reasoning is taken up again, and the same protasis, or the first part of the comparison repeated: and then the apodosis, or latter part, is added to it; and the whole sentence made complete: which to take right one must read thus, ver. 12, "Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men," &c. ver. 18, I say, therefore," as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life." A like interruption of what he began to say may be seen 2 Cor. xii. 14, and the same discourse, after the interposition of eight verses, began again, chap. xiii. 1, not to mention others, that I think may be found in St. Paul's epistles. That ivòs waρanтúμатos ought to be rendered “one offence," and not the "offence of one man ;" and so ivòs dinxiwμatos" one act of righteousness,” and not the "righteousness of one," is reasonable to think; because in the next verse St. Paul compares one man to one man, and therefore it is fit to understand him here (the construction also favouring it) of one fact, compared with one fact, unless we will make him here (where he seems to study conciseness) guilty of a tautology. But, taken as I think they should be understood, one may see a harmony, beauty, and fulness, in this discourse, which at first sight seems somewhat obscure and perplexed. For thus, in these two verses, 18, 19, he shows the correspondence of Adam the type with Christ the antitype, as we may see, ver. 14, he designed, as he had shown the disparity between them ver. 15, 16, 17. That this is the meaning of di' ivòs dinαiwμatos, is plain by the following verse. St. Paul every one may observe to be a lover of antithesis. In this verse it is ἑνὸς παραπτώματος, “ one perverse act of transgression,” and ἑνὸς δικαιώματος, "one right act of submission :" in the next verse, it is rapaxon," disobedience," and tax), "obedience," the same thing being meant in both verses. And that this daiwa, this act of obedience, whereby he procured life to all mankind, was his death upon the cross, I think nobody questions: see ver. 7-9. Heb. ii. 10, 14. Phil. ii. 8; and that Sixdμara, when applied to men, signifies actions conformable to the will of God, see Rev. xix. 8. TEXT. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. PARAPHRASE. 19 all men are restored to life". For as, by one man's disobedience, many were brought into a state of mortality, which is the state of sinners"; so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous, i. e. be restored to life again, as if they were not sinners. NOTES. m By dinalwois (was, “justification of life," which are the words of the text, is not meant that righteousness by faith which is to eternal life. For eternal life is nowhere in sacred Scripture mentioned as the portion of all men, but only of the saints. But the "justification of life," here spoken of, is what all men partake in, by the benefit of Christ's death, by which they are justified from all that was brought upon them by Adam's sin, i. e. they are discharged from death, the consequence of Adam's transgression; and restored to life, to stand or fall by that plea of righteousness which they can make, either of their own by works, or of the righteousness of God by faith. 19 "Sinners." Here St. Paul uses the same metonymy as above, ver. 12, putting sinners for mortal, whereby the antithesis to righteous is the more lively. SECTION VI. NO. 2. CHAPTER V. 20, 21. CONTENTS. ST. Paul, pursuing his design in this epistle of satisfying the Gentiles that there was no need of their submitting to the law, in order to their partaking of the benefits of the Gospel, having, in the foregoing eight verses taught them, that Adam's one sin had brought death upon them all, from which they were all restored by Christ's death, with addition of eternal bliss and glory to all those who believe in him; all which, being the effect of God's free grace and favour to those who were never under the law, excludes the law from having any part in it, and so fully makes out the title of the Gentiles to God's favour, through Jesus Christ, under the Gospel, without the intervention of the law; here, for the farther satisfaction of the Gentile converts, he shows them, in these two verses, that the nation of the Hebrews, who had the law, were not delivered from the state of death by it, but rather plunged deeper under it, by the law, and so stood more in need of favour, and indeed had a greater abundance of grace afforded them for their recovery to life by Jesus Christ, than the Gentiles themselves. Thus the Jews themselves, not being saved by the law, but by an excess of grace, this is a farther proof of the point St. Paul was upon, viz. that the Gentiles had no need of the law, for the obtaining of life, under the Gospel. TEXT. 20 Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound: but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: PARAPHRASE. a 20 This was the state of all mankind, before the law, they all died for the one wagárтwμa, lapse, or offence, of one man, which was the only irregularity that had death annexed to it: but the law entered, and took place over a small part of mankind, that this waρánтwμa, lapse, or offence, to which death NOTES. 20 There can be nothing plainer than that St. Paul here, in these two verses, makes a comparison between the state of the Jews and the state of the Gentiles, as it stands described in the eight preceding verses, to show wherein they differed or agreed, so far as was necessary to his present purpose of satisfying the convert Romans that, in reference to their interest in the Gospel, the Jews had no advantage over them by the law. With what reference to those eight verses St. Paul writ these two, appears by the very choice of his words. He tells them, ver. 12, "that death by sin sloλe entered into the world," and here he tells them that the law (for sin and death were entered already) wapen, entered a little, a word that, set in opposition to sicλ0, gives a distinguishing idea of the extent of the law, such as it really was, little and narrow, as was the people of Israel (whom alone it reached) in respect of all the other nations of the earth, with whom it had nothing to do. For the law of Moses was given to Israel alone, and not to all mankind. The Vulgate, therefore, translates this word right, subintravit, it entered, but not far, i. e. the death, which followed, upon the account of the Mosaical law, reigned over but a small part of mankind, viz. the children of Israel, who alone were under that law: whereas, by Adam's trans. gression of the positive law given him in paradise, death passed upon all men. "Ia, "that." Some would have this signify barely the event, and not the intention of the lawgiver, and so understand by these words, "that the offence might abound," the increase of sin, or the aggravations of it, as a consequence of the law. But it is to be remembered that St. Paul here sets forth the difference which God intended to put, by the law which he gave them, between the children of Israel and the Gentile world, in respect of life and death; life and death being the subject St. Paul was upon. And, therefore, to mention barely accidental consequences of the law that made the difference, had come short of St. Paul's purpose. |