TEXT. them 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. vertheless, we see that, in all that space of time, which was 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 caten 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 figure and type of 15 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 16 to the multitude, i. e. to all men. Furthermore, nei the law of Moses in particular, in which sense he commonly joins the article to ; this is plain, that St. Paul's notion of a law was conformable to that given by Moses, and so he uses the word ou, in English, law, for the positive command of God, with a sanction of a penalty annexed to it; of which kind there never having been any one given to any people, but that by Moses - to the children of Israel, till the revelation of the will of God by Jesus Christ to all mankind, which, for several reasons, is always called the gospel, in contradistinction to the law of Moses; when St. Paul speaks of law, in general, it reduces itself, in matter of fact, to the law of Moses. 14 d 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 ο Οἱ πολλοὶ, and τὲς πολλές, I suppose may be understood to stand here PARAPHRASE. ther is the 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 NOTES. 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 oi wool, 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 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 f Ai ivès aμaptuaros, 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 πολλών παραπτωμάτων, “ 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 καὶ τῆς δωρεᾶς; the excess of the favour, in the greater good-will and cost of the donor; and the inequality of the gift itself, which ex• ceeds, as may exceeds one; or the deliverance from the guilt of many sins, does exceed the deliverance from the guilt of one. 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. 18 Therefore as, by the offence of one, judgment came upon all PARAPHRASE. 17 sins, to justification of life. For if, by one lapse, death reigned, by reason of one offence, much more shall they who receiving the surplusage of favour, and of the gift of righteousness, reign in life by one, even Jesus 18 Christ. Therefore as, by one* offence, (viz.) Adam's NOTES. Zang, "of life," is found in the Alexandrian copy. And he that will read ver. 18, will scarce incline to the leaving of it out here. 17 Surplusage," so pa 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 Supras, the gift, or benefit received, was a justification to life from a multitude of sins, whereas the loss of life came upon all men, only for one sin; but all men, how guilty soever of many sins, are restored to life. 18 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 condemna❝tion, 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 ivos apartμar ought to be rendered "one offence;" and not the "offence of one man:" and so vòs dixαiúμat, "one act of righteous“ness,” 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 TEXT. men to condemnation: even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men, unto justification of life. 19 For, as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners: so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. PARAPHRASE. 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', all men are 19 restored to life". For as, by one man's disobedience, many were brought into a state of mortality, which is the state of sinneis"; 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. 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 divos diapar, is plain by the following verse. St. Paul every one may observe to be a lover of antithesis. In this verse it is ἑνὸς παραπτώματα, "one perverse act of transgression," and in Sixaiwμazos, "one right act of submission:" in the next verse, it is rapaxse, "disobedience," and inaxon, "obedience," the same thing being meant in both verses. And that this dixaiwμa, this act of obedience, whereby he procured life to all mankind, was his death upon the cross, I think no-body questions, see ver. 7-9, Heb. ii. 10, 14, Phil. ii. 8, and that dizaiμata, when applied to men, signifies actions conformable to the will of God, see Rev. xix. 8. By dina wors (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 no-where, 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. SECT. VI. N°. 2. CHAP. 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 this is a farther proof of the point St. Paul was upon, grace, 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. 20 This was the state of all mankind, before the law, they NOTE. 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 |