When he says, by the offense of one, etc., understand him as meaning this, — that corruption
has from him descended to us: for we perish not through his fault, as though we were blameless;
but as his sin is the cause of our sin, Paul ascribes to him our ruin: our sin I call that which is
implanted in us, and with which we are born.
The grace of God and the gift of God through grace, etc. Grace is properly set in opposition to
offense; the gift which proceeds from grace, to death. Hence grace means the free goodness of God
or gratuitous love, of which he has given us a proof in Christ, that he might relieve our misery: and
gift is the fruit of this mercy, and hath come to us, even the reconciliation by which we have obtained
life and salvation, righteousness, newness of life, and every other blessing. We hence see how
absurdly the schoolmen have defined grace, who have taught that it is nothing else but a quality
infused into the hearts of men: for grace, properly speaking, is in God; and what is in us is the effect
of grace. And he says, that it is by one man; for the Father has made him the fountain out of whose
fullness all must draw. And thus he teaches us, that not even the least drop of life can be found out
of Christ, — that there is no other remedy for our poverty and want, than what he conveys to us
from his own abundance.
Romans 5:16
- Et non sicut per unum qui peccaverat, ita
donum; judicium enim ex uno in condemationem,
donum autem ex multis delictis in justificationem. - And not as it was by one that sinned,^170
so is the gift: for the judgement was by one to
condemnation, but the free gift is of many
offences unto justification. - This is especially an explanation of what he had said before, — that by one offense guilt
issued in the condemnation of us all, but that grace, or rather the gratuitous gift, is efficacious to
our justification from many offenses. It is indeed an expansion of what the last verse contains; for
he had not hitherto expressed, how or in what respect Christ excelled Adam. This difference being
settled, it appears evident, that their opinion is impious, who have taught that we recover nothing
else by Christ but a freedom from original sin, or the corruption derived from Adam. Observe also,
that these many offenses, from which he affirms we are freed through Christ, are not to be understood
only of those which every one must have committed before baptism, but also of those by which
the saints contract daily new guilt; and on account of which they would be justly exposed to
condemnation, were they not continually relieved by this grace.
to all; for though this is true, it yet cannot be the meaning here. Hence “the many” and the “all,” as to Adam, are all his descendants;
and “the many” and the “all,” as to Christ, are those who believe. — Ed.(^170) Many copies have μ μ — sin; but it is a reading deemed by Griesbach of less authority than the received text, μ
— sinning: yet there being good MSS. in its favor, and several versions, especially the Syriac and the Vulgate, and the passage
requiring it, this reading is to be preferred. Then the rendering would be the following, —
And not as through one sin, is the free gift — ( μ ;) for judment was indeed from one sin to condemnation, but the free
favor ( μ ) is from many trespasses to justification.
It is the character of the Apostle’s style to change his words, while the same idea is often intended. The comparison here
is between the one sin which issued in condemnation, and the many trespasses or offenses, from which a justification is the favor
obtained. — Ed.