Moreover, the law, &c.— But the law, &c. There can be nothing plainer than that St. Paul, in this and the next verse, makes a comparison between the state of the Jews, and that of the Gentiles, as it stands described in the eight preceding verses; to shew wherein they differed or agreed, so far as was necessary to his present purpose, of satisfying the convert Romans, that in reference to their interest in the Gospel, the Jews had no advantage over them by the law. With what reference to those eight verses he wrote this and the following, appears by the very choice of the words. He tells them, Romans 5:12 that death by sin entered (εισηλθε) into the world; and here he tells them, that the law, (for sin and death were entered already,) παρεισηλθε, entered a little; a word which set in opposition to εισηλθε, gives a distinguishing idea of the extent of the law, such as it really was; little and narrow as were the people of Israel whom alone it reached in respect of all the other nations of the earth, with whom it had nothing to do; for the law of Moses was given to Israel alone, and not to all mankind. The Vulgate, therefore, rightly translates the word subintravit; it entered, but not far: that is to say, the death which followed upon the account of the Mosaical law, reigned over but a small part of mankind, viz. the children of Israel, who alone were under that law; whereas, by Adam's transgression of the positive law given him in Paradise, death passed upon all men. The Apostle, as we have observed, uses the word law in various senses; sometimes for a rule in general, chap. Romans 3:27.; sometimes for the whole Jewish code, or the Old Testament, chap. Romans 3:19.; sometimes for a rule of action, chap. Romans 3:20.; sometimes for a rule of action with a penalty of death annexed, as here and chap. Romans 6:15 Romans 7:4, &c. Such a law Adam was under;—On the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die: and such a constitution the law of Moses was, subjecting those whowere under it to death for every transgression. For observe, it is the very nature of law, whether divine or human, (for law in its nature and properties is the same, whether enacted by God or man,) never to remit the penalty or forfeiture. The law of England makes felonydeath. The criminal, when convicted, is dead in law; and when executed, should he come to life again, the law slays him again that very moment; and orders him again to execution, and so on for ever. The everlasting language of law to every one that breaks it, and consequently for every breach and transgression of it, is, Thou shalt die, or thou shalt be punished. Law never does, nor can pardon; but all the world knows and allows that it is the prerogative of every law-giver to pardon or remit the penalty, as he sees fit: and therefore the language of law, dying thou shalt die, though it may also be considered as the language of the lawgiver, yet it is not to be understood of the event, as if thethreatening must and would certainly and eventually be executed, but of the demerit of transgression; reserving to the wisdom of the governor liberty to execute, mitigate, or totally remit the penalty, as he shall judge proper. Shall die, in the language of lawgivers enacting laws, must be understood not as the language of private persons, but as implying and including a reserve in favour of the governor's prerogative to mitigate or remit the penalty. Were it not so, all mankind must have perished in Adam, and all the Jews under the law had been lost for ever; and every felon in England must have been actually executed. Now, when the lawgiver or governor mitigates the penalty, or suspends the execution,—granting the sinner the benefit of repentance, and promising pardon and life; this is Gospel; then he is not under law but under grace or favour; not under law, subjecting to death for every transgression, but yet under law as a rule of action which he is as much as ever obliged to obey, though every act of disobedience does not bring him under unpardonable wrath and condemnation. This is the dispensation, in greater or lesser degrees of light, under which all mankind have been, from the time of the promise (Genesis 3:15.) to this day; excepting that the law in its rigour was introduced among the Jews. To us Christians the grace of God is clearly displayed: yet so, that we are at the same time expressly assured, that if it is perseveringly rejected and abused, we must expect no farther efforts of the divine goodness for our salvation; Hebrews 6:4-8; Hebrews 10:26-27. If, despising God's present patience and forbearance, we live after the flesh, the law at the last day will take place, or be executed, and we shall die, chap. Romans 8:13.; for the law is so holy, and good, and just, that it can be relaxed only in favour of the sinner's repentance. But in the case of impenitents and incurables, it must and will take place; that is to say, in other words, it is perfectly right and fitting that they, being the corruption and nuisance of God's creation, should be destroyed as tares and chaff in the fire.
The Apostle says, the law entered that the offence might abound, or rather so that the offence might abound. See chap. Romans 3:19. The meaning is not, that the law was brought in among the Jews to make them more wicked, or guilty of more sins than they were before; but the meaning is, that by the entrance of the law every sin which the Jew committed made him liable to death; and so the offence of the same nature with Adam's was multiplied. Mr. Locke is of opinion, that the last clause of this verse is spoken with special relation to the Jews, and denotes all that surplusage of grace which God vouchsafed to them above the rest of the world. But though this may be true, there is no necessity for excluding the grace which extends to all mankind; and the following verse, as it is the concluding stroke of the Apostle's argument, naturallyleads our thoughts to take in the whole compass of sin, and its effects upon all the world, as well as the whole of God's grace, not only to the Jews, but to all mankind. See Locke, Doddridge, and Whitby.
Inferences.—As the fall of man happened in a higher and very different order of nature from the present, it is not possible for us to have a clear and adequate knowledge of it. But there are numberless degrees between a perfect knowledge and a total ignorance. We are told all that it concerns us to know; and that we should attend to as an important part of our own history. In forming our notion concerning it from the account given in Scripture, we must make due allowance for the imperfection of human language, which cannot express spiritual things otherwise than by figures founded in that analogy which subsists between the visible and the invisible world.
But it may be asked, Whence came evil into the world? This has been deemed a question of great intricacy; but it may be solved by considering only whence moral good proceeds. Does it not arise from the right use which a free agent makes of his liberty, when he chooses that which is proper for him, and rejects the contrary? whether the power so to do, refers to man in his original state of innocence; or to man in his fallen state, unable as of himself to do any thing good, but able to do all things through Christ strengthening him? Evil therefore flows from the abuse of moral liberty; and it is needless to attempt to account for its existence from any other source. Take away moral liberty, that is, the power of choosing what is good, and avoiding what is evil, and there can be no moral good in man.
Adam by the abuse of his free-will pulled down destruction upon himself. He disobeyed his Creator, and he had in part the punishment he deserved. So far, I think, there is no ground for objection. But the consequence of his fall involving all his race, and making infirmity permanent, as Esdras speaks; this is a great offence to many. We are apt to say with him, That it had been better not to have given the earth to Adam; (not to have trusted him with the fate of his posterity;) or else when it was given him, to have restrained him from falling. This sentiment, though a rash one, is very natural to our frailty and ignorance; as is also the exclamation which follows: O Adam, what hast thou done! for though it was thou that sinnedst, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that come of thee. Such complaints and such expostulations have been common among men; but it is common to complain without reason; and if we saw the whole plan of Providence with relation to mankind, I am fully persuaded that we should find this complaint very unreasonable, and even most ungrateful to our Redeemer; who has provided an ample remedy for all damages arising from Adam's transgression, by atoning not only for original sin, but also for the many actual offences of penitent sinners, as is shewed at large in the chapter before us.
I would only observe in this place, that the reason why we are so prone to complain and lament ourselves, is, because we now feel the inconveniences of our present state, and are not sufficiently apprised of many of its advantages, nor of the greater disadvantages which other initiating states may be liable to. It is very probable, that every intelligent being has a time of trial or probation. Some of the angels are fallen irreparably. Our father Adam was placed in a lower station than they: his fall consequently was less, and by the mercy of our great Mediator, he and Eve, the companion of his fall, are now fully restored. We find ourselves, not originally by our own fault, at the bottom. But a ray of light reaches down to us, and a way is opened for our ascent. That light and that way is our dear Redeemer, who is ever present with and in the believer, to enlighten, guide, and assist him in his passage.
But why (it may be said) did not God make us happy at once? Why should he suffer his creatures to run any hazard of being miserable? He might have made justice as natural and necessary as respiration; and thereby spared us all the pains which we must now be at before we can be happy upon the terms which he has set us?
To this we might answer in the words of the Apostle: Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say unto him who formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay?—&c. Thus we might answer, and thereby satisfy a pious mind: although these words were spoken only concerning God's electing a peculiar people, called to the distinguished privileges of the Gospel dispensation; and were not intended to be applied, as they have since been, to the bulk of mankind, whose sentence, as well as ours, at the last day, will be according to their works: which I remark here, because this way of arguing, which resolves difficulties by vouching divine supremacy, has been so abused. To those therefore who move this question, "Why did not God make us happy at once, without our passing through any state of probation?" it will be more satisfactory, if we can intelligibly unfold this knot, instead of cutting it by dint of sovereign power.
The objectors would be dispensed from all probationary states; they would take no trouble, and run no hazard: they would have nothing to do, but to enjoy; they would be immutably, eternally, infinitely, happy. They want no more of God; they have no other cares or desires.
Let it now be considered, whether such desires are reasonable. Are they not, on the contrary, most ungenerous and base; arguing a frame of mind quite unworthy of the favour to which it makes pretension? We are all children of the Almighty Father, and consequently under such obligations as that relation infers. Suppose then a son quite averse to giving himself any trouble about pleasing his father,—one who thinks it a hardship to be bid do any thing but what he himself inclines to: who grudges that any service should be required of him; yet wants an inheritance,—wants that his father should do all he can for him. Such are they who make the objection; and God, who bids us not to cast pearls before swine, will not squander his blessings upon such unworthy selfish spirits.
Even in this state of confusion, we think it wrong when a worthless man is possessed of great wealth or, preferment. Though there are, far from being any real good, yet, as men value them, they judge them misplaced in the hands of a fool. In the kingdom of heaven there will be no such preposterous distribution; but excellence shall be the measure of bliss; and none shall be crowned, but those who have conquered.
And this may serve for an answer to those, who are inclined to charge God foolishly, for permitting the influence of the first man's transgression to infect all his race. This infection we commonly call original sin, which has been denied by some, and misrepresented by others, with such gross aggravations, as render it offensive to common sense, and inconsistent with the revealed doctrines, particularly those of this Epistle.
As for those who deny it, I shall not dispute with them; for who would debate with a blind man about darkness? And they must be blind indeed, who perceive not evil in their natures. The truth here is to the felt, and needs no foreign proof.
I shall here just take notice of the account of original sin given in the articles of faith of the church of England: which was made to render us the more sensible of our obligations to the Redeemer, and is expressed in terms which are literally true in a certain sense, yet may easily be mistaken. As where it is said [the IXth article] that original sin is not only the corruption, but the fault of the nature of every man, and deserves condemnation. When we call it a fault, we must remember to distinguish it from our own actual faults, and remark, that the article calls it the fault of our nature. Fault is used here, as we apply it to inanimate beings, and in the same sense, as when we say of a vessel, that it is faulty, that is to say, defective, useless, deserving to be rejected and cast away. However, for the present, it has spoiled us, it makes us abominable: for a fault is a fault, and corruption is corruption, whichever way it came, or whatever use may be made of it. It has happened without our crime, and it may have an issue unspeakably to our advantage. But neither of these are here considered. Regard is had only to the present nature of man in his fallen and unregenerate state, which is notoriously unjust, and as such deserves condemnation, as a dead tree cumbering the ground, if there were no reviving power, if there were no Redeemer. But this is putting a case, which never was, nor could have been. For the Almighty, who inhabiteth eternity, and whose all-seeing eye reaches through the whole extent of it, foreknowing the lapse of the first Adam, had, before the foundation of the world, provided a second head of human nature, through whom to derive his blessings to the whole race, when the first channel was polluted and spoiled. And as by the first channel death came into the world, so resurrection proceeds from the second: for as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. And those who have done good, shall come forth to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation.
The present life is our time of trial, during which our gracious Redeemer administers proper assistances to each man particularly according to his capacity. For as he has tasted death for every man; so he is the Saviour of all men, and the light of all men, having written the law in their hearts, and offering grace to fulfil it.
As for us, who have the light of revelation, we have so much more to answer for. Let us not then waste our time in vain complaints, or absurd cavils at the divine dispensation. We see indeed but little of God's ways, yet what we see is sufficient for our conduct, and to silence all reasonable objections; since we are assured that the merits of Christ are co-extended with the demerits of Adam, and that every man at the last day shall be judged only according to his own deeds. Then the mercy, as well as the justice of God, will be exerted in a manner which far transcends all notions that we can now form of them; the clouds, which now cover the ways of Providence, will be dissipated; wisdom will be justified of her children; and even those who shall be then reprobated, will be forced to acknowledge the equity of their condemnation.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The sinner's justification before God through faith being set forth, the blessed effects of it are here described.—Not that faith is the meritorious cause of our justification, but the alone and infinite merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Being now justified,
1. We have peace with God. The dreadful breach which sin had made is repaired, the enmity between God and us is removed, and being restored to a state of favour and reconciliation with him, we have that peace of God in our souls which passeth all understanding, and which none can know or taste till they have, through Jesus Christ our Lord, received the atonement.
2. We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; have freedom and liberty to approach a throne of grace, as in a state of acceptance before God; and are assured that all our requests which are agreeable to his will, shall through our great High-priest be heard and answered.
3. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God, that glory which shall be revealed at the day of the appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and which we can now antedate by faith.
4. Even our severest trials now have in them matter of abundant joy. And we can not only rejoice in the prospect before us, but we glory in tribulations also, in all our afflictions, persecutions, sufferings, and reproaches for Christ, knowing that, however grievous to flesh and blood these things at present may be, in the issue they shall prove that they have been blessings in disguise; while tribulation worketh patience, and gives us an opportunity to exercise God's holy will; and, without repining, cheerfully to resign ourselves into his hands, neither angry at the instruments of our troubles, nor resenting their indignities. And patience brings experience of God's power, grace, and faithfulness, supporting us under our trials, and extricating us out of them; and of our own frailty and fidelity, while we feel how weak we are in ourselves, yet that we can do all things through Christ strengthening us. And experience begets hope; every support which the Lord ministers, every deliverance which he gives, confirms and encourages our hope in him; and hope maketh not ashamed, gives us a holy but humble boldness to approach the throne of grace, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us; and our hope rests not on any goodness or strength in ourselves, but on him whose free and boundless love has, in the most copious streams, poured forth the Holy Ghost into our hearts in the richest manifestations, and produces these blessed and happy effects.
2nd, The Apostle, having mentioned that delightful theme, the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, cannot but expatiate thereon. It is amazing love, if we consider the persons to whom it is shewn, the manner in which it is expressed, and the blessings thence derived. (1.) The persons were ungodly wretches, apostates from God, desperately wicked, sunk in the lowest abyss of misery, sinners in nature and in practice, and exposed to all the terrible wrath of an offended God, without strength to afford themselves the least relief, in order to escape the just and inevitable destruction which was before them; yea, enemies, determinately set on evil, and rebels open and avowed against God's crown and dignity. (2.) In this state of deadly guilt and hopeless misery, in due time, according to the divine appointment, Christ died for the ungodly; an instance of such transcendent grace and love as never had appeared on earth before. Were we to search the world throughout, scarcely could we find a man who, for the most righteous, excellent, and amiable person, would lay down his own life to ransom him: though per-adventure for a good man, whose public usefulness was eminent, or to whom he owed the deepest obligations, one might be found so generous and grateful, as even to dare to die in his stead. And with what astonishment would such an heroic action be heard, and preserved in the records of fame, for the admiration of all succeeding ages. But lo! with infinitely transcending glory does God commend the surpassing excellence of his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, took our nature, stood in our place, endured the curse which we had deserved, and by the ransom of his own blood redeems every believer from his state of guilt, misery, and despair. Hear it, ye angels, with admiration and astonishment! Hear it, ye sinful sons of men, with wonder and love; and henceforth let heaven echo and earth resound with the praises of redeeming love! (3.) Inestimable are the blessings derived to all the faithful through this love of God in Jesus Christ.
1. We are now justified through his blood, and reconciled to God by his death. All the enmity between us is done away, his favour is restored, and we are accepted in the beloved.
2. Much more then may we depend upon it, as a most assured truth, that if we are now justified before God, and cleave to Jesus to the end, (which must be implied according to the whole analogy of faith,) we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being now in a state of reconciliation, and having an advocate in our ascended Jesus, to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth, and cleaving perseveringly to him, shall we be saved by his life.
3. Such a prospect ministers the most enlivening delight to the soul. Not only are we reconciled, and raised superior to all tribulations, but having through Jesus Christ now received the atonement, and being actually made partakers of justification and acceptance, which, by his obedience to the death of the cross, he purchased for us; we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, as our God, our portion, and exceeding great reward. Blessed and happy the people that are in such a case!
3rdly, From the 12th verse to the end of the chapter, the Apostle draws a parallel between the two covenant heads, Adam and Christ; between the guilt and misery derived from the one, and the blessedness obtained by the other: where it appears how men came into the wretched state of sin in which at present they appear, and how rich is that love of God which draws the faithful out of it.
By one man sin entered into the world; one sin opened the flood-gates of ungodliness, and deluged the world, overwhelming it with miseries unutterable; and death by sin, in every tremendous form, seized on the human nature; and so death, the wages of sin, passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Adam was the common parent and covenant-head of mankind, and at that time possessed the whole human nature; so that all his posterity, being in his loins, (Hebrews 7:9-10.) fell with him. So that it appears hereby that Jews as well as Gentiles are in the same state of depravity. For until the law, before the revelation of God's will on mount Sinai was made, sin was in the world, with death and all its attendant miseries; but this supposes some law in force, before that which was given by Moses; for sin is not imputed when there is no law, nor would any punishment have been inflicted where there was no offence committed. But though the law of Moses was not in being, nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, not only over actual transgressors grown up to the knowledge of good and evil, but even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, multitudes of infants suffering in the deluge and in the desolations of Sodom and Gomorrah; and daily their dying groans and agonies testify that sin is in them, because the wages of it is exacted from them, and evidently proves, that they are implicated in the curse inflicted for that one man's disobedience by which sin and death entered into the world; and who is the figure of him that was to come, the type of our second covenant-head and representative, Jesus Christ, who in the fulness of time should become incarnate; that as sin and death are communicated to us by the one, so should righteousness and life be obtained for us by the other. But, though the parallel between them is striking, yet in comparing them the latter far excelleth: for not as the offence, so also is the free gift; the benefit accruing from the infinite merit of Christ's obedience to the death of the cross, does not barely answer the dire effects of the first man's sin; it does much more. For if through the offence of one, many be dead, the dreadful sentence being passed upon them; much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, who has made that perfect atonement, by which the most unsearchable riches of divine grace are procured for his faithful saints, hath abounded unto many, securing to all persevering believers, not merely such a life as Adam had in innocence, but one far surpassing in glory, and eternal in its endurance. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift; the dissimilitude is considerable with regard to the efficacious influence of the transactions of the two great covenant-heads: for the judgment was by one sin, of one man, to the condemnation of all his posterity whom he represented; but the free gift of God, through the Redeemer's obedience to death, reaches not to the pardon of one sin, but of many offences unto justification; and it is through faith in him, that all true believers are freely and fully delivered from all condemnation, and accepted as righteous before God. For if by one man's offence, or by one offence, death reigned by one, and set up the pillars of his throne, bringing the whole human race under his mortal power, much more they which receive abundance of grace, even all that fulness which is laid up for them in Jesus Christ, and of the gift of righteousness, living up to the privileges of their high and holy dispensation through grace, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ, triumphant over sin, its guilt and power, quickened to spiritual life here, and looking for that life of glory hereafter, when they shall reign with Jesus in heaven, and see sin and death and hell for ever destroyed. Therefore as by the offence of one, or by one offence, judgment came (or sin entered, as it may be supplied) upon all men to condemnation, and they were exposed to death thereby; even so by the righteousness of one, the second man, the Lord from heaven, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. For where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; God taking occasion, even from the creature's vileness, to magnify the more transcendently the riches of his own free mercy, in pardoning, justifying, and saving lost souls, and raising the faithful to higher glory than that which they had lost by the first man's disobedience. So that as sin hath reigned unto death, and, usurping the throne, spreads its dire dominion over the fallen sons of men; even so might victorious grace erect her throne on the ruins of these vanquished foes, and reign through righteousness, by Jesus Christ our Lord, over all the faithful saints of God unto eternal life; rescuing them from the power of sin and death, bringing them into a state of favour with God, which is better than life itself, quickening them to spiritual life here, and to eternal life hereafter. Thou God of all grace, set up this blessed kingdom in my heart, and reign for ever there!