Continuing his reflections on the Torah, righteousness, and grace, Paul considers what...
Continuing his reflections on the Torah, righteousness, and grace, Paul considers what the sin of the first human being became for humanity. For the apostle, as we can see, sin is not simply a violation of moral norms. For him it is defilement in the sense in which the Torah and the Bible as a whole speak of it, that is, something that destroys a person's relationship with God and deprives him of the fullness of communion with God, and together with that of life, making fallen humanity mortal. That is precisely why Paul speaks of the sin of one person spreading to all humanity (v. 12): the consequences of sin, which affected the quality of spiritual life and the dynamic of humanity's relationship with God, touched everyone, as is usually the case with sin, whose consequences practically always affect not only the sinner himself but also his surroundings to one degree or another. The scale of the catastrophe was universal for humanity, but there is nothing unusual in the mechanism by which the consequences of sin spread: as always, it turned out to resemble purely natural processes, such as atmospheric pollution or the spread of pathogens during an epidemic. This is not surprising: having lost the fullness of spiritual life, humanity thereby gives itself over to some extent to the power of purely natural, elemental processes; therefore the consequences of the fall come crashing down on people like natural disasters. In this case the Torah is by no means a panacea, since it only allows one to distinguish sin from righteousness, but does not free a person from the power of sin and death.
Still, with the appearance of the Torah in the world, the situation changes radically. Before its appearance, death, which had become the consequence of the fall, reigned without division in the world; the apostle defines this time as the period "from Adam to Moses" (v. 14). But to speak of sin in the sense in which the Torah speaks of it, that is, as the violation of a commandment given by God, was of course not possible then (v. 13). A person lived in a world defiled by sin, but did not understand what sin was or how the path of righteousness differed from the path of wickedness. Obviously, with the appearance of the Torah the situation changes; death is no longer all-powerful, for the Torah points out the path of righteousness to everyone who wants to walk it. But the Torah enters a world already stricken by sin, and it reveals, as the apostle has said more than once, not human righteousness but human sin and transgression (v. 20). The Torah points the way into the Kingdom, but it does not replace the Kingdom. The One had to come into the world who could radically change the state of things by bringing the Kingdom where no one was ready to receive it (v. 15).
This appearing of the Kingdom in the world changed the situation in principle and objectively, just as in its own time the fall had changed it no less fundamentally and no less objectively (vv. 17-19). The point was not to punish someone or, conversely, to reward someone, but to solve a task of extraordinary importance to God, changing at once the balance of forces in the world in favor of the Kingdom (v. 17). The Torah pointed out the path to the righteous; the Messiah-Christ sent by God became the One who first walked this path to the end, revealing to the world not only the fullness of righteousness available to a human being, but also the fullness of the Kingdom available only to God.
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5:12 Therefore - This refers to all the preceding discourse; from which the apostle infers what follows. He does not therefore properly make a digression, but returns to speak again of sin and of righteousness. As by one man - Adam; who is mentioned, and not Eve, as being the representative of mankind. Sin entered into the world - Actual sin, and its consequence, a sinful nature. And death - Withall its attendants. It entered into the world when it entered into being; for till then it did not exist. By sin - Therefore it could not enter before sin. Even so - Namely, by one man. In that - So the word is used also, Co2 5:4.All sinned - In Adam. These words assign the reason why death came upon all men; infants themselves not excepted, in that all sinned.
5:13 For until the law sin was in the world - All, I say, had sinned, for sin was in the world long before the written law; but, I grant, sin is not so much imputed, nor so severely punished by God, where there is no express law to convince men of it.Yet that all had sinned, even then, appears in that all died.
5:14 Death reigned - And how vast is his kingdom! Scarce can we find any king who has as many subjects, as are the kings whom he hath conquered. Even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression - Even over infants who had never sinned, as Adam did, in their own persons; and over others who had not, like him, sinned against an express law. Who is the figure of him that was to come - Each of them being a public person, and a federal head of mankind. The one, the fountain of sin and death to mankind by his offence; the other, of righteousness and life by his free gift.Thus far the apostle shows the agreement between the first and second Adam: afterward he shows the differences between them. The agreement may be summed up thus: As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so by one man righteousness entered into the world, and life by righteousness. As death passed upon all men, in that all had sinned; so life passed upon all men, (who are in the second Adam by faith,) in that all are justified. And as death through the sin of the first Adam reigned even over them who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression; so through the righteousness of Christ, even those who have not obeyed, after the likeness of his obedience, shall reign in life. We may add, As the sin of Adam, without the sins which we afterwards committed, brought us death ; so the righteousness of Christ, without the good works which we afterwards perform, brings us life: although still every good, as well as evil, work, will receive its due reward.
5:15 Yet not - St. Paul now describes the difference between Adam and Christ; and that much more directly and expressly than the agreement between them. Now the fall and the free gift differ,
5:16 The sentence was by one offence to Adam's condemnation - Occasioning the sentence of death to pass upon him, which, byconsequence, overwhelmed his posterity. But the free gift is of many offences unto justification - Unto the purchasing it for all men, notwithstanding many offences.
5:17 There is a difference between grace and the gift.Grace is opposed to the offence; the gift, to death, being the gift of life.
5:18 Justification of life - Is that sentence of God, by which a sinner under sentence of death is adjudged to life.
5:19 As by the disobedience of one man many (that is, all men) were constituted sinners - Being then in the loins of their first parent, the common head and representative of them all. So by the obedience of one - By his obedience unto death; by his dying for us. Many - All that believe.Shall be constituted righteous - Justified, pardoned.
5:20 The law came in between - The offence and the free gift.That the offence might abound - That is, the consequence (not the design) of the law's coming in was, not the taking away of sin, but the increase of it. Yet where sin abounded, grace did much more abound - Not only in the remission of that sin which Adam brought on us, butof all our own; not only in remission of sins, but infusion of holiness; not only in deliverance from death, but admission to everlasting life, a far more noble and excellent life than that which we lost by Adam's fall.
5:21 That as sin had reigned - so grace also might reign - Which could not reign before the fall; before man had sinned. Through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord - Here is pointed out the source of all our blessings, the rich and free grace of God. The meritorious cause; not any works of righteousness of man, but the alone merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. The effect or end of all; not only pardon, but life; divine life, leading to glory.