Therefore, &c. Here the apostle compares Christ and Adam together again, as he began to do Romans 5:12, with which this verse seems to be connected, (all the intermediate verses coming in as a parenthesis,) and he makes the comparison full in both members; which there, by reason of intervening matter, was left off imperfect. As if he had said, On the whole you see, as I began to observe to you before, that as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation Or, the condemnatory sentence was passed upon all men; even so, by the righteousness of one The obedience of Christ, the free gift Or gift of grace; came upon all men Is provided for, and offered to, the whole human race, and is actually conferred on all the spiritual seed of the second Adam, on all true believers; unto justification of life Unto that justification by grace through faith, whereby we have a right and title to eternal life. Or, leaving out the words in Italics, which are not in the original, the verse may be paraphrased thus: “As the consequence of one offence on the one hand extended to all men, to bring condemnation upon them; so also, on the other side, the consequence of one grand act of righteousness extended to all men, who receive and embrace it; securing to them that justification which will be crowned with the enjoyment of eternal life.” For, as by one man's disobedience many That is, all men; were made, or constituted sinners Being then in the loins of their first parent, the common head and representative of them all, and became obnoxious to death; so by the obedience of one By his obedience unto death, by his dying for us; many Namely, all that believe with a faith working by love; shall be, or are, constituted righteous That is, pardoned, justified, and sanctified, and shall be treated as such in the day of God's final account; though they have no perfect righteousness of their own to plead, in consequence of which they should stand before God and claim the reward. With respect to Dr. Taylor's scheme of interpretation, it is justly observed here by Dr. Doddridge, that although “to become liable to death for the offence of another is indeed being thereby constituted, or rather treated, as a sinner, since death is in its primary view to be considered as the wages of sin, or the animadversion of a righteous God upon it;” yet, “simply to be raised from the dead is not being made righteous, or treated as a righteous person; since it is a very supposable case, and will in fact be the case of millions, that a sinner may be raised in order to more condign and dreadful punishment. The whole interpretation, therefore, which Dr. Taylor has given of this text, in this view, appears to me destitute of a sufficient foundation.”
Romans 5:20 , Moreover the law entered Made a little entrance, as Dr. Doddridge translates παρε ισηλθεν; the sense also given it by the Vulgate, sub intravit. Thus the partial and limited entrance of the law is distinguished from that universal entrance of sin which passed on all. Others, however, as L'Enfant and Wesley, render it, The law intervened, or came between Adam and Christ, 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, but of all our own sins; 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. That as sin hath reigned unto death In the wide and universal destruction made of those whom it had brought under that fatal sentence; so grace might reign Which could not reign before the fall, before man had sinned; through righteousness Imputed, implanted, and practised; through the justification of men's persons, the renovation of their nature, and their practical obedience to God's holy law; unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord Here is pointed out, 1st, The source of all our blessings, the rich and free grace of God. 2d, The meritorious cause; not any works or righteousness of man, but the alone merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. 3d, The effect or end of all; not only pardon, but life, divine life, leading to glory.