Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Romans Capítulo 5

Romans 5:1. The Apostle, having proved in the former chapter, that the believing Gentiles are justified in the same way with Abraham, and in fact are his seed, included with him in the promise or covenant, he judged this a proper place (as the Jews built all their glorying upon the Abrahamic covenant) to produce some of those privileges and blessings in whichthe Christian Gentile could glory, in consequence of his justification, or his being pardoned, and taken into the covenant and peculiar kingdom of God by faith. And he chooses to instance in three particulars, which above others were adapted to this purpose; namely, first, the hope of eternal life, in which the law wherein the Jews glorified, ch. Rom 2:17 was defective, Romans 5:2. Secondly, the persecutions and sufferings to which Christians were exposed, Rom 5:3-4 and on account of which the Jew was greatly prejudiced against the Christian profession: and here, having shewn that tribulations have a happy tendency to establish our hearts in the hope of the Gospel, he wisely adds, to alleviate the frightful aspect of tribulation, some weighty reasons to prove, that the glorious hope of the Gospel will certainly be made good to faithful souls in their eternal salvation by Jesus Christ, Romans 5:5-11. Thirdly, an interest in God, as our God and Father; a privilege upon which the Jews valued themselves highly above all other nations. See ch. Romans 2:17. These three are the singular privileges belonging to the Gospel state, wherein we Christians may glory, as really belonging to us, and greatly redounding, if duly understood and improved, to our honour and benefit. See Locke.

We have peace with God— That is, we Gentiles, who are not under the law. It is in their names that St. Paul speaks in the last three verses of the foregoing chapter, and so on to Rom 5:11 as is evident from the illation here,—therefore, being justified by faith, we, &c. it being an inference drawn from his having proved in the former chapter, that the promise was not to the Jews alone, but to the Gentiles also; and that justification was not by the law, but by faith, and consequently designed for the Gentiles as well as the Jews. We have peace with God, is thus paraphrased by Dr. Doddridge: "Our guilty fears are silenced, and we are taught to look up to him with sweet serenity of soul, while we no longer conceive of him as an enemy, but under the endearing character of a friend and father."

return to '

Romans 5:2. By whom also we have access, &c.— By whom we have been introduced, by means of faith, into that grace, &c. The Greek word προσαγωγη, is often used as a sacerdotal phrase, andsignifies being with great solemnity introduced, as into the more immediate presence of the Deity in his temple; so as by a supposed interpreter, thence called προσαγωγευς, the introducer, to have a kind of conference with such a Deity. St. Paul uses the same word rejoice or glory for the convert Gentiles, which he had used before for the boasting of the Jews; and the same word he applied when he examined what Abraham had found, ch. Romans 4:2, &c.: which plainly shews us that he is here opposing the advantages which the Gentile converts to Christianity have by faith, to those which the Jews gloried in with so much haughtiness and contempt of the Gentiles. See Locke, Raphelius, and on chap. Romans 2:17.

return to '

Romans 5:4. Experience— Full proof. The Greek word δοκιμη, has this signification, and is a metaphor taken from gold proved by purifying fire. See 1 Peter 1:7. Sir 2:5 and Saurin's Serm.

return to '

Romans 5:5. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts— Is poured out into our hearts. The original word εκκεχυται, is commonly used, as Whitby remarks, when the effusion of the Holy Ghost is spoken of. Wherefore, as the Apostle, in this passage, had in his eye the gifts of the Spirit bestowed on the Gentiles, as proofs of God's love to them, he adds for their comfort and encouragement, that the love of God was poured out into their hearts along with the spiritual gifts.

By the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.— The spiritual gifts bestowed on the first Christians were clear proofs, especially in the case of the Gentiles, of the love which God bare to them, and of his will that they should be saved. And therefore, when the Jewish believers, whoreproved Peter for preaching the Gospel to Cornelius and his friends, heard that they had received the Holy Ghost, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life, Acts 11:18. Farther; the ordinary influences of the Spirit, bestowed on believers, by renovating their nature, afford them the fullest assurance of pardon and acceptance through faith: hence they are said to be sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which it the earned of our inheritance, Eph 1:13-14 and is said, Romans 8:16, to bear witness with their spirit, that they are the children of God.

return to '

Romans 5:6. In due time Christ died, &c.— Christ seasonably died in the stead of the ungodly. See Albert. Observ. Sacr. p. 304 and Raphel. Annot. ex Xenoph. in Rom 5:8 where he has abundantly demonstrated that the phrase υπερ ημων απεθανε, signifies, he died in our room and stead. Nor does it appear, that the phrase αποθανειν υπερ τινος, has ever any other signification than that of rescuing the life of another at the expence of our own. And the very next verse, independent on anyauthority, shews how evidently it bears thatsense here, as one can hardly imagine any one would die for a good man, unless it were to redeem his life by giving up his own.

return to '

Romans 5:7. For scarcely for a righteous man, &c.— Now scarcely, &c. for γαρ cannot have the forceof an illative particle here. He may in common speech be called a just or righteous man, who gives to every man what is by law his due; and he a good or benevolent man, who voluntarily abounds in kind and generous actions, to which no human laws can compel him. There may possibly be some allusion here to a rabbinical distribution of mankind into three classes, good men, righteous men, and sinners. See Gonwin's Jewish Antiq. lib. 1:100: 6.

return to '

Romans 5:8. But God commendeth his love, &c.— St. Paul gives them here another evidence of the love of God towards them.—The ground they had to glory in the hopes of eternal salvation is the death of Christ for them while they were yet in their unconverted Gentile state, which he describes by calling them, Romans 5:6. ασθενεις, without strength;— ασεβεις, ungodly; αμαρτωλοι, sinners; Romans 5:8.: and εχθροι, enemies; Romans 5:10. These four epithets are given to them as Gentiles, they being used by St. Paul as the proper attributes of the unconverted Heathen world, considered in contradistinction to the Jewish nation. What St. Paul says of the Gentiles in other places will clear this. The helpless condition of the Gentile world, in the state of Gentilism, signified here by ασθενεις, without strength, he terms, Colossians 2:13 dead in sin; a state surely, if any, of utter weakness. And hence he says to the Romans converted to the Lord Jesus Christ; yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and yourselves as instruments of righteousness unto God, ch. Romans 6:13. How he describes ασεβειαν, ungodliness, mentioned ch. Rom 1:18 as the state of the Gentiles in general, we may see Romans 1:21; Romans 1:23. That he thought the title αμαρτωλοι, sinners, belonged peculiarly to the Gentiles, in contradistinction to the Jews, he puts past doubt in these words, We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Galatians 2:15. See also ch. Romans 6:17-22. And as for εχθροι, enemies, you have the Gentiles in general before their conversion to Christianity so called, Colossians 1:21.

If it were remembered that St. Paul, all along through the eleven first chapters of this epistle, speaks nationally of the Jews and Gentiles as it is visible he does, and not personally of single men, there would be less difficulty and fewer mistakes in understanding this epistle. This one place that we are upon, is a sufficient instance of it. For if by these terms here we shall understand him to denote all men personally, Jews as well as Gentiles, before they are savingly ingrafted into Jesus Christ, we shall make his discourse disjointed, and his sense mightily perplexed, if at all consi That there were same among the Heathen as holy in their lives, and as far from enmity to God as some among the Jews, cannot be questioned. Nay, that many of them were worshippers of the true God, if we could doubt of it, is manifest out of the Acts of the Apostles: but yet St. Paul, in the places above quoted, pronounces them all together, ασεβεις and αθεοι, ungodly and without God (for that by these two terms applied to the same persons, he means the same, that is to say, such as did not acknowledge and worship the true God, seems plain). He therefore uses the terms ungodly and sinners of the Gentiles, as nationally belonging to them in contradistinction to the people of the Jews, who were the people of God, while the other were the provinces of the kingdom of Satan: not but that there were sinners, heinous sinners among the Jews; but the nation, considered as one body and society of men, disowned and declared against and opposed itself to those crimes and impurities which are mentioned by St. Paul, ch. Romans 1:24, &c. as woven into the religious andpoliticconstitutions of the Gentiles. There they had their full scope and swing, had allowance, countenance, and protection. The idolatrous nations had by their religions, laws, and forms of government, made themselves the open votaries and were the professed subjects of devils. So St. Paul, 1Co 10:20-21 truly calls the gods which they worshipped and paid their homage to. And suitably hereunto, their religious observances, it is well known, were not without great impurities, which were of right charged upon them, when they had a place in their sacred offices, and had the recommendation of religion to give them credit. The rest of the vices in St. Paul's black list, which were not warmed at their altars and fostered in their temples, were yet by the connivance of the law cherished in their private houses, made a part of the uncondemned actions of common life, and had the countenance of custom to authorize them, even in the best regulated and most civilized governments of the Heathens. On the contrary, the frame of the Jewish commonwealth was founded on the acknowledgment and worship of the only true invisible God, and their laws required an extra-ordinary purity of life and strictness of manners.

That the Gentiles were styled εχθροι, enemies, in a political or national sense, is plain from Ephesians 2:0 where they are called, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant. Abraham, on the other side, was called the friend of God, that is to say, one in covenant with him, and his professed subject who owned God to the world: and so were his posterity, the people of the Jews, while the rest of the world were under revolt, and lived in open rebellion against him, Isaiah 41:8. And here in this epistle St. Paul expressly teaches, that when the nation of the Jews, by rejecting of the Messiah, put themselves out of the peculiar kingdom of God, and were cast off from being any longer the peculiar people of God, they became enemies, and the Gentile world were reconciled. See ch. Romans 11:15. Hence St. Paul, who was the Apostle of the Gentiles, calls his performing that office the ministry of reconciliation, 2 Corinthians 5:18. And here in this chapter, Rom 5:1 the privilege which they receive by theaccepting of the covenant of grace in Jesus Christ, he tells them is this, that they have peace with God, that is to say, are no longer incorporated with his enemies, and of the party of the open rebels against him in the kingdom of Satan, being returned to their natural allegiance in their owning the one true supreme God, in submitting to the kingdom that he had set up in his Son, and being received by him as his subjects and children. Suitably hereunto, St. James, speaking of the conversion of the Gentiles, says of it, that God did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. Act 15:14 and Rom 5:19 he calls the converts, those who from among the Gentiles are turned to God.

Besides what is to be found in other parts of St. Paul's epistles to justify the taking of these words here, as applied nationally to the Gentiles, in contradistinction to the children of Israel, that which St. Paul says, Rom 5:10-11 makes it necessary to understand them so. We, says he, when we were enemies were reconciled to God, and so we now glory in him, as our God. We here must unavoidably be spoken in the name of the Gentiles, as is plain not only by the whole tenor of this epistle, but from this passage of glorying in God, which he mentions as a privilege now of the unbelieving Gentiles, surpassing that of the Jews, whom he had taken notice of before, ch. Rom 2:17 as being forward to glory in God as their peculiar right, though with no great advantage to themselves. But the Gentiles who were reconciled now to God by Christ's death, and taken into covenant with God, as many as received the Gospel, had a new and better title to this glorying than the Jews. Those who now are reconciled, and glory in God as their God, he says, were enemies. The Jews, who had the same corrupt nature common to them with the rest of mankind, are no where that I know called εχθροι, enemies, or ασεβεις, ungodly, while they publicly owned him for their God, and professed to be his people. But the heathens were deemed enemies, for being aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise. There were never but two kingdoms in the world, that of God, and that of the devil; these were opposite, and therefore the subjects of the latter could not but be in the state of enemies, and fall under that denomination. The revolt from God was universal, and the nations of the earth had given themselves up to idolatry, when God called Abraham, and took him into covenant with himself, as he did afterwards the whole nation of the Israelites; whereby they were re-admitted into his kingdom, came under his protection, and were his people and subjects, and no longer enemies; whilst all the rest of the nations remained in the state of rebellion, the professed subjects of other gods, who were usurpers upon God's right, and enemies of his kingdom. And indeed if the epithets given by St. Paul to the heathens, as mentioned above, be not taken as spoken of the Gentile world in this political and trulyevangelical sense, but in the ordinary systematical notion applied to all mankind, as belonging universally to every man personally, whether by profession Gentile, Jew, or Christian, before he be actually regenerated by a saving faith and an effectual thorough conversion, the illative particle wherefore in the beginning of Rom 5:12 will hardly connect it and what follows to the foregoing part of this chapter. But the first eleven verses must be taken for a parenthesis, and then the therefore in the beginning of this 5th chapter, which joins it to the 4th with a very clear connection, will be wholly insignificant, and, after all, the sense of the 12th verse will but ill connect with the end of the 4th chapter, notwithstanding the wherefore which is taken to bring them in as an inference. Whereas these first eleven verses being supposed to be spoken of the Gentiles, makes them not only of a piece with St. Paul's design in the foregoing and following chapters, but the thread of the whole discourse goes on very smooth, and the inferences (ushered in with therefore in the first verse, and with wherefore in the 12th verse) are very easy, clear, and natural, from the immediately preceding verses. That of the first verse may be seen in what we have already said, and that of the 12th verse in short stands thus: "We Gentiles have by Christ received the reconciliation, which we cannot doubt to be intended for us as well as for the Jews, since sin and death entered into the world by Adam, the common father of us all. And as by the disobedience of that one, condemnation of death came upon all; so by the obedience of One, justification to life came upon all."

return to '

Romans 5:9. From wrath— See on chap. Rom 1:18 and 1 Thessalonians 1:10.

return to '

Romans 5:11. And not only so— These words join this verse to the third. The Apostle in the second verse says, "We, the Gentiles who believe, glory in thehopes of an eternal, splendid state of bliss." In Rom 5:3 he adds, "And not only so, but our afflictions are to us matter of glorying:" which he proves in the seven following verses; and then, returning to his subject, adds, "And not only so, but we glory in God also as our God, being reconciled to him in Jesus Christ:" and thus he shews that the convert Gentiles had whereof to glory, as well as the Jews, and were not inferior to them, though they had not circumcision and the law, wherein the Jews gloried so much, but with no ground, in comparison of what the Gentiles had to glory in, by faith in Jesus Christ now under the Gospel. The verse may be paraphrased; "It is true, we Gentiles could not formerly glory in God, as our God; that was the privilege of the Jews, who alone, of all the nations, owned him for their King and God, and were his people in covenant with him. All the rest of the kingdoms of the earth had taken other lords, and given themselves up to false gods to serve and worship them; and so were in a state of war with the true God, the God of Israel: but now we being reconciled by Jesus Christ, whom we have received and owned for our Lord, and therebybeing returned into his kingdom, and to our ancient allegiance, we can truly glory in Godas our God; which the Jews cannot do, who have refused to receive Jesus his eternal Son for their Lord, whom God hath appointed Lord over all things." As our translators have rendered the Greek verb καταλλασσω, by reconcile in the foregoing verse and in all other places, and the Greek word καταλλαγη, in all other places, by reconciliation; it should certainly have been so rendered here.

return to '

Romans 5:12.— Here the Apostle advances his third and last argument, to prove the extensiveness of the divine grace, or that it reaches to all mankind as well as to the Jews. His argument stands thus: "The consequences of Christ's obedience extend as far as the consequences of Adam's disobedience; but those extend to all mankind; and therefore so do the consequences of Christ's obedience." Now if the Jews will not allow the Gentiles any interest in Abraham, as not being naturally descended from him, yet they must own that the Gentiles are the descendants of Adam, as well as themselves; and being all equally involved in the consequences of his sin, that is to say, temporal death and its concomitants, from which they shall all equally be released at the resurrection, through the free gift of God, respecting the obedience of Christ,—they could not deny the Gentiles a share in all the other blessings included in the same gift. This argument, besides proving the main point, serves to shew, 1st, That the grace of God in the Gospel abounds beyond, or very far exceeds, the mere reversal of the sufferings brought upon mankind by Adam's one offence, as it bestows a vast surplusage of blessings, which have no relation to that offence, but to the many offences that mankind have committed, and to the exuberance of the divine grace. 2nd, To shew how justly the divine grace is founded upon the obedience of Christ, in correspondence to the dispensation that Adam was under, and to the consequences of his disobedience. If his disobedience involved all mankind in death, it was proper that the obedience of Christ should be the reason and foundation, not only of reversing that death to all mankind, but also of any other blessings which God should see fit to bestow upon the world. 3rdly, It serves to explain, or set in a clear view, the difference between the law and grace. It was the law, which for Adam's one transgression subjected him and his posterity, as included in him when he transgressed, to death, without hopes of a revival. It is grace, or the favour of the law-giver, which restores all men to life at the resurrection; and, over and above that, has provided a gracious dispensation for the pardon of their sins; for reducing them to obedience; for guarding them against temptations; for supplying them with strength and comfort; and, if faithful to the grace of God, for advancing them to eternal life. This would give the attentive Jew a just notion of the law which himself was under, and under which he was fond of bringing the Gentiles.

The order in which the Apostle handles the argument is this: First, he affirms, that death passed upon all mankind by Adam's one offence, Romans 5:12. Secondly, He proves this, Romans 5:13-14. Thirdly, He affirms that there is a correspondence between Adam and Christ, or between the offence and the free gift, Romans 5:15. Fourthly, This correspondence, so far as the two opposite parts answer each other, is fully expressed, Romans 5:18-19.; and there we have the main or fundamental position of the Apostle's argument, in relation to the point which he has been arguing from the beginning of the Epistle; namely, the extensiveness of the grace of the Gospel, that it actually reaches to all men, and is not confined to the Jewish peculiarity. Fifthly, But before he lays down this position, it was necessary he should shew that the correspondence between Adam and Christ, or between the offence and the gift, is not to be confined strictly to the bounds specified in the position, as if the gift reached no farther thanthe consequences of the offence, when in reality it extends greatly beyond them, Romans 5:15-17. Sixthly, Having settled these points as previously necessary to clear up hisfundamental position, and fit it to his argument, he then lays down that position in a diversified manner of speech, Rom 5:18-19 just as in 1Co 15:20-21 and leaves us to conclude from the premises laid down, Rom 5:15-17 that the gift and grace, or favour of God, in its utmost extent, is as free to all mankind who are willing to accept of it, as this particular instance, the resurrection from the dead. Seventhly, Having thus shewn the extensiveness of the divine grace, in opposition to the direful effects of the law, under which Adam was, that the Jew might notoverlook what he intended he should particularly observe, the Apostle puts him in mind, that the law given to Adam, transgress and die, was introduced into the Jewish constitution by the ministry of Moses; and for this end, that the offence, with the penalty of death annexed, might abound, Romans 5:20. But to illustrate the divine grace, by setting it in contrast to the law, he immediately adds, where sin subjecting to death hath abounded,—grace hath much more abounded; that is to say, in blessings bestowed, it has stretched both far beyond Adam's transgression, and the transgressions under the law of Moses; Romans 5:20-21. Upon this argument the two following general remarks may be made: First,

As to the order of time, the Apostle carries his arguments backward, from the time when Christ came into the world (chap. Rom 1:17 to chap. 4:) to the time when the covenant was made with Abraham, chap. 4: and to the time when the judgment of condemnation pronounced upon Adam came upon all men; chap. Rom 5:12 to the end. And thus he gives us a view of the principal dispensations from the beginning of the world. Secondly, In this last case, as well as the two former, he uses law or forensic terms; judgment for condemnation, —justification,—justify,—made righteous; and therefore as he considers both Jews and Gentiles at the coming of Christ, and Abraham when the covenant was made with him, so he considers Adam and all men as standing in the court before the tribunal of God; and this was the clearest and concisest way of representing his arguments.

Wherefore, as by one man, &c.— The sense and connection of this verse seems well kept up, if the και, and, in the second clause be considered as redundant, which it frequently is, 1 Corinthians 14:27. 2 Corinthians 1:6. As by one man sin entered,—so, or even so, death passed upon all men. And thus the positions in each clause aptly, and regularly answer each other. All other interpretations of the verse seem greatly to embarrass the construction and the sense. Wherefore, δια τουτο, frequently signifies in relation to the affair going before, not by way of inference from it, but to denote a farther enlargement upon it, or the advancing of something which enforces or explains it. For that all have sinned, is rendered by some unto which all have sinned; that is, "all are so far involved in the consequences of Adam's first transgression, as by means of it to become obnoxious to death." St. Paul is here evidently speaking of that mortality to which all men became subject in consequence of Adam's transgression. Volumes have been written to prove, that the death inflicted upon all mankind, as a punishment for that transgression, was not only natural, but spiritual and eternal; but after all that has been controverted on the subject, it appears a mere strife of words. That in Adam all die, or become subject to temporal death, is a fact which we too fatally experience: that this death was the consequence of sin is equally certain; and if there be any meaning in the words, sin is certainly the spiritual death of the soul: the spiritual death therefore introduced the natural; and that the sinful soul dying to this life cannot be admitted into the life of glory with God, is a fact equally certain, upon the authority of revelation, with those already advanced. If therefore it be allowed, that byone man sin entered into the world, and natural death by sin, it must be allowed that from the same source proceeds the spiritual and eternal, as well as the natural death. With all this I do not on any account mean to assert, that this death is inflicted upon all mankind as their punishment for Adam's transgression. The plain fact stands only thus:—that we are subject to sin and death, in consequence of sin and death introduced into the world by Adam.

return to '

Romans 5:13. For until the law, sin was [counted] in the world] The Apostle's doctrine, that all have received the reconciliation through Christ, being founded on the fact, that all have been subjected to sin and death through Adam, he immediately enters on the proof of that fact, by appealing to the death of infants and others, who, not being capable of actual sin, cannot be thought to die for their own transgression. But to see the argument in its full force we must supply the word counted or imputed in the first clause, which is inserted by the Apostle in the second: sin was counted in the world to all men: that is, all men without exception suffer death, the punishment of sin.

But sin is not imputed, when there is no law— By law Mr. Locke understands a revealed positive law threatening death for every offence. But on that supposition, no sin could be punished before the law of Moses was given, contrary to what happened to the antediluvians. And after it was given, none but the sins of the Jews could be punished. Whereas the Apostle affirms, chap. Rom 1:32 that the Gentiles know, that they who sin against the law written on their heart, are worthy of death. I therefore think that the expression, Where there is no law, is general, and means, where no law of God is known; and that the Apostle had in his eye the case of infants and idiots, to whom certainly there is no law, as they are not capable of the knowledge of law; consequently they are not capable of sinning actually like Adam. Wherefore since death reigns over them, equally as over others, it is evident, that, having nosin of their own, they die through Adam's sin alone.

return to '

Romans 5:14. Who is the figure of him that was to come— Adam is said to be the figure of him who was to come, that is, of Christ the Messiah; for this is one of the marks or names by which the Jews signified the expected Messiah. See Luke 24:21. Joh 6:14-15; John 11:27. Hebrews 10:37. In the Greek it is τυπος, the type of him that was to come. A type signifies such a mark or impression as is made by a stamp or a seal. It is used, Joh 20:25 to signify the mark which the nails made in our Saviour's hands when he was nailed to the tree, and it is rendered the print of the nails. See also Acts 7:44.Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 8:5. A type therefore is arelative word, signifying a thing to which another is to answer or agree, as the figure upon the wax answers, is like to, and agrees with, the figure upon the seal; or as the thing which is made, answers to the pattern after which it is made. Hence St. Paul several times applies it to moral action, under the notion of an example, namely, when the behaviour of one man is made the seal or stamp to be impressed upon another man; or when one man's actions are made a pattern to be copied after by another man, as Philippians 3:17. 1 Thessalonians 1:7. 2 Thessalonians 3:9. 2 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 2:72 Timothy 2:7. In the place before us, when Adam is said to be a type of him that was to come, no doubt can be made that St. Paul intends thereby to denote, that there was something with reference to Christ which was to bear a correspondence or to answer to something with reference to Adam; or that he draws a comparison between something which Adam did, and the consequencesthereof,and something which Christ did, and the consequences thereof. This comparison he begins at Rom 5:12 and carries on to the end of the chapter; and itconsistsofthreeparts,—twoaffirmativepropositions,and the connection or relation between them, thus:—PROPOSITION I. "By Adam's disobedience death came upon all men." CONNECTION: Adam in this was a type or figure of Christ; or in respect to this, Christ is the counterpart to Adam. PROPOSITION II. "By Christ's obedience life is restored to all men." The attentive reader will observe how methodically the Apostle proceeds in clearing the first proposition and the connection, before he advances to the second proposition. It may be proper just to remark, that this and the preceding verse form an instance of the perspicuous brevity for which St. Paul was remarkable. One shall hardly find in any other author an argument so justly managed, so fully established, attended with such a variety of instructive sentiments, in the compass of thirty words:—for, setting aside the articles, there are no more in the Greek. It is by this unparallelled art that the Apostle has brought such a variety of arguments, instructions, and sentiments, all stated, proved, and sufficiently guarded, explained, and defended, within the limits of this Epistle, as have made it a magazine ofthe most real, extensive, useful, and pleasant knowledge.

return to '

Romans 5:15. But not as the offence— This evidently shews that the Apostle in this paragraph is running a parallel, or making a comparison between the offence of Adam and its consequence, and the opposite free gift of God and its consequences; and in these three verses he shews, that the comparison will not hold in all respects, because the free gift bestows blessings far beyond the consequences of the offence, and which therefore have no relation to it; and this was necessary, not only to prevent mistakes, concerning the consequence of Adam's offence, and the extent of Gospel grace; but it was also necessary to the Apostle's main design; which was, not only to prove that the grace of the Gospel extends to all men, so far as it takes off the consequence of Adam's offence; but that it likewise extends to all men with respect to the surplusage of blessings, in which it stretches vastly beyond the consequence of Adam's offence; for both the grace which takes off the consequence of Adam's offence, and the grace which abounds beyond it, are included in the same χαρισμα, free gift, which should be well observed; for in this I conceive lies the connection and force of his argument. The free gift, which stands opposed to Adam's offence, and which appears to have been bestowed immediately after his offence (Genesis 3:15.), includes both the grace which answers exactly to the offence, and also that part of the grace which stretches far beyond it. And if the one part of the gift be freely bestowed upon all mankind, as the Jews allow, why not the other? especially considering that the whole gift stands upon a reason and foundation, in excellence and worth vastly surpassing the malignity and demerit of the offence; and consequently capable of producingbenefits vastly beyond the sufferings occasioned by the offence? This is the force of the Apostle's argument; and therefore supposing that in the letter of Rom 5:18-19 he compares the consequences of Adam's offence and Christ's obedience, only so far as the one is commensurate to the other; yet his reasoning, Rom 5:15-17 plainly shews, it is his meaning and intention that we should take into his conclusion the whole of the gift, so far as it can reach to all mankind.

Many be dead—unto many— The many died—unto the many. I suppose, says Mr. Locke, that the phrase οι πολλοι, and the other τους πολλους, may stand here for the multitude or collective body of mankind: for the Apostle in express words assures us, 1Co 15:22 that in Adam all died, and in Christ all shall be made alive; and so here Rom 5:18 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, Rom 5:19 are called οι πολλοι, 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, lie not here between the number of those who died, and the number of those who 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 seem 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 bountyand good-will of Christ towards men; who at thecost of his own painful death purchased life for them. I may add to what Mr. Locke has advanced, that since all mankind were made mortal for Adam's sin, the Apostle by οι πολλοι, the many, certainly means all mankind. Besides, Christ, in speaking of this very subject, used the word in that extensive sense (Matthew 26:28.); This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed (περι πολλαν ) for many; that is, for the collective body of mankind. And as the many who died, are all mankind; so the many in the end of the verse, to whom the gift by grace is said to have abounded, are all mankind. For the abounding of the gift by grace, as is plain from Rom 5:19 means only that, by the gracious gift of God, all mankind, for the sake of Christ's obedience, are allowed a short life on earth, and a trial under a better covenant than that under which Adam fell; and that all are to be raised from the dead at the last day, to receive according to their deeds. Hence we are told, 1 Corinthians 15:22. As by Adam all die; so by Christ all shall be made alive. See also the following, Rom 5:16 where many offences signifies all offences.

By one man Jesus Christ— The Apostle calls the Lord Jesus Christ a man, to shew that in comparing him with Adam, his actions in the human nature chiefly are considered.

return to '

Romans 5:16. And not as it was by one that sinned, &c.— The Apostle here manifestly enters upon another respect, in which the gift reaches beyond the offence: και, and, has nearly the same force as also. See on chap. Rom 1:17 and the introduction to the present chapter.

return to '

Romans 5:17. Much more they which receive, &c.— The abounding of grace here, is without all doubt the same as the grace of God which hath abounded to many, Rom 5:15 and the gift of righteousness or justification, is the same as the gift by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, Romans 5:15. There, the grace and the gift are considered simply and absolutely,—as free to the many, or to all mankind: here, they are considered as received, or duly improved by some of the many, or some part of mankind, in order to their eternal happiness. Grace is the favour or good-will of the donor; the gift of justification is one of the great benefits that he has bestowed. Instead of reigned by one,—in life by one, we may read through one.

return to '