Page images
PDF
EPUB

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.

f

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.

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.

f

16 évòs àμaρthμaros, "by one sin," so the Alexandrine copy reads it, more conformable to the apostle's sense. For if òs, "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 πολλών 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 περισσείαν τῆς χάριτος nal Ts Swpeas; 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 hec

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 dwpeas, the gift or benefit received, was a justification to life from a multitude of sins, whereas the loss of life came u pon 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',

NOTES.

18"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.

[ocr errors]

That ivòs waρanтáμатos ought to be rendered "one offence," and not the "offence of one man ;" and so ivòs dixaiwμatos “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' évòs dixaiwμatos, 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 apaxon," disobedience," and axon, "obedience," the same thing being meant in both verses. And that this xaiwμa, 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 dinara, 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.

[ocr errors]

NOTES.

By dixalwσis (wns, "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 wagárтwua, 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 waρáптwμa, 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 els entered into the world," and here he tells them that the law (for sin and death were entered already) wapenλbev, entered a little, a word that, set in opposition to eiλe, 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. b", "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.

PARAPHRASE.

was annexed, might abound, i. e. the multiplied transgressions of many men, viz. all that were under the law of Moses, might have death annexed to them, by the positive sanction of that law, whereby the offence, to which death was annexed, did abound, i. e. sins that had death for their punishment were increased. But, by the goodness of God, where sin, with death annexed to it, did abound, grace did

NOTES.

All mankind was in an irrecoverable state of death by Adam's lapse. It was plainly the intention of God to remove the Israelites out of this state by the law; and so he says himself, that he gave "them statutes and judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them," Lev. xviii. 5. And so St. Paul tells us here, chap. vii. 10, that the law was ordained for life. Whence it necessarily follows, that if life were intended them for their obedience, death was intended them for their disobedience; and accordingly Moses tells them, Deut. xxx. 19," that he had set before them life and death." Thus, by the law, the children of Israel were put into a new state and by the covenant God made with them, their remaining under death, or their recovery of life, was to be the consequence, not of what another had done, but of what they themselves did. They were thenceforth put to stand or fall by their own actions, and the death they suffered was for their transgressions. Every offence they committed against the law did, by this covenant, bind death upon them. It is not easy to conceive that God should give them a law to the end sin and guilt should abound amongst them, but yet he might and did give them a law, that the offence which had death annexed should abound, i. e. that death, which before was the declared penalty of but one offence, should to the Jews be made the penalty of every breach by the sanction of this new law, which was not a hardship, but a privilege to them. For in their former state, common to them with the rest of mankind, death was unavoidable to them. But, by the law, they had a trial for life accordingly our Saviour, to the young man who asked, “what he should do to obtain eternal life," answers, "keep the commandments." The law, increasing the offence in this sense, had also another benefit, viz. that the Jews, perceiving they incurred death by the law, which was ordained for life, might thereby, as by a schoolmaster, be led to Christ, to seek life by him. This St. Paul takes notice of, Gal. iii. 24.

с

Пapánтwμa is another word, showing St. Paul's having an eye, in what he says here, to what he said in the foregoing verses. Our Bibles translate it "offence;" it properly signifies "fall," and is used in the foregoing verses for that transgression, which, by the positive law of God, had death annexed to it, and in that sense the apostle continues to use it here also. There was but one such sin before the law, given by Moses, viz. Adam's eating the forbidden fruit. But the positive law of God, given to the Israelites, made all their sins such, by annexing the penalty of death to each transgression, and thus the offence abounded, or was increased by the law.

"Sin." That by "sin" St. Paul here means such failure as, by the sanction of a positive law, had death annexed to it, the beginning of the next verse shows, where it is declared to be such sin as reigned in, or by death, which all sin doth not all sin is not taxed at that rate, as appears by ver. 13. See the note. The article joined here both to wαpánтwμa and άuaprla, for it is rò xαpánтwμα, and άμagría, the offence and the sin, limiting the general signification of those words to some particular sort, seems to point out this sense.

And

« PreviousContinue »