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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>R O M A N S.</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. V.</FONT>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The apostle, having made good his point, and fully proved justification
by faith, in this chapter proceeds in the explication, illustration,
and application of that truth.
I. He shows the fruits of justification,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
II. He shows the fountain and foundation of justification in the death
of Jesus Christ, which he discourses of at large in the
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:6-23">rest of the chapter</A>.</P>
</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ro5_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Ro5_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Ro5_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Justification and Its Effects.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A.&nbsp;D.</FONT>&nbsp;58.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ:
&nbsp; 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
&nbsp; 3 And not only <I>so,</I> but we glory in tribulations also: knowing
that tribulation worketh patience;
&nbsp; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
&nbsp; 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The precious benefits and privileges which flow from justification are
such as should quicken us all to give diligence to make it sure to
ourselves that we are justified, and then to take the comfort it
renders to us, and to do the duty it calls for from us. The fruits of
this tree of life are exceedingly precious.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. <I>We have peace with God,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
It is sin that breeds the quarrel between us and God, creates not only
a strangeness, but an enmity; the holy righteous God cannot in honour
be at peace with a sinner while he continues under the guilt of sin.
Justification takes away the guilt, and so makes way for peace. And
such are the benignity and good-will of God to man that, immediately
upon the removing of that obstacle, the peace is made. By faith we lay
hold of God's arm and of his strength, and so are at peace,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+27:4,5">Isa. xxvii. 4, 5</A>.
There is more in this peace than barely a cessation of enmity, there is
friendship and loving-kindness, for God is either the worst enemy or
the best friend. Abraham, being justified by faith, was called <I>the
friend of God</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+2:23">Jam. ii. 23</A>),
which was his honour, but not his peculiar honour: Christ has called
his disciples <I>friends,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+15:13-15">John xv. 13-15</A>.
And surely a man needs no more to make him happy than to have God his
friend! But this is <I>through our Lord Jesus Christ</I>--through him as
the great peace-maker, <I>the Mediator between God and man,</I> that
blessed Day's-man that has laid his hand upon us both. Adam, in
innocency, had peace with God immediately; there needed no such
mediator. But to guilty sinful man it is a very dreadful thing to think
of God out of Christ; <I>for he is our peace,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+2:14">Eph. ii. 14</A>,
not only the maker, but the matter and maintainer, of our peace,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+1:20">Col. i. 20</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. <I>We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
This is a further privilege, not only peace, but grace, that is, this
favour. Observe,
1. The saints' happy state. It is a state of grace, God's
loving-kindness to us and our conformity to God; he that hath God's
love and God's likeness is in a state of grace. Now into this grace we
have access <B><I>prosagogen</I></B>--<I>an introduction,</I> which
implies that we were not born in this state; we are <I>by nature
children of wrath,</I> and <I>the carnal mind is enmity against
God;</I> but we are brought into it. We could not have got into it of
ourselves, nor have conquered the difficulties in the way, but we have
a manuduction, a leading by the hand,--are led into it as blind, or
lame, or weak people are led,--are introduced as pardoned
offenders,--are introduced by some favourite at court to kiss the
king's hand, as strangers, that are to have audience, are conducted.
<B><I>Prosagogen eschekamen</I></B>--<I>We have had access.</I> He
speaks of those that have been already brought out of a state of nature
into a state of grace. Paul, in his conversion, had this access; then
he was made nigh. Barnabas introduced him <I>to the apostles</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:27">Acts ix. 27</A>),
and there were others <I>that led him by the hand to Damascus</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
but it was Christ that introduced and led him by the hand into this
grace. <I>By whom we have access by faith.</I> By Christ as the author
and principal agent, by faith as the means of this access. Not by
Christ in consideration of any merit or desert of ours, but in
consideration of our believing dependence upon him and resignation of
ourselves to him.
2. Their happy standing in this state: <I>wherein we stand.</I> Not
only wherein we are, but wherein we stand, a posture that denotes our
discharge from guilt; <I>we stand in the judgment</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+1:5">Ps. i. 5</A>),
not cast, as convicted criminals, but our dignity and honour secured,
not thrown to the ground, as abjects. The phrase denotes also our
progress; while we stand, we are going. We must not lie down, as if we
had already attained, but stand as those that are pressing forward,
stand as servants attending on Christ our master. The phrase denotes,
further, our perseverance: we stand firmly and safely, upheld by the
power of God; stand as soldiers stand, that keep their ground, not
borne down by the power of the enemy. It denotes not only our admission
to, but our confirmation in, the favour of God. It is not in the court
of heaven as in earthly courts, where high places are slippery places:
but we stand in a humble confidence of this very thing <I>that he who
has begun the good work will perform it,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+1:6">Phil. i. 6</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. <I>We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.</I> Besides the
happiness in hand, there is a happiness in hope, <I>the glory of
God,</I> the glory which God will put upon the saints in heaven, glory
which will consist in the vision and fruition of God.
1. Those, and those only, that have access by faith into the grace of
God now may hope for the glory of God hereafter. There is no good hope
of glory but what is founded in grace; grace is glory begun, the
earnest and assurance of glory. <I>He will give grace and glory,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+84:11">Ps. lxxxiv. 11</A>.
2. Those who hope for the glory of God hereafter have enough to
rejoice in now. It is the duty of those that hope for heaven to rejoice
in that hope.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. <I>We glory in tribulations also;</I> not only notwithstanding our
tribulations (these do not hinder our rejoicing in hope of the glory of
God), but even in our tribulations, as they are working for us the
weight of glory,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+4:17">2 Cor. iv. 17</A>.
Observe, What a growing increasing happiness the happiness of the
saints is: <I>Not only so.</I> One would think such peace, such grace,
such glory, and such a joy in hope of it, were more than such poor
undeserving creatures as we are could pretend to; and yet it is <I>not
only so:</I> there are more instances of our happiness--<I>we glory in
tribulations also,</I> especially tribulations for righteousness' sake,
which seemed the greatest objection against the saints' happiness,
whereas really their happiness did not only consist with, but take rise
from, those tribulations. <I>They rejoiced that they were counted
worthy to suffer,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+5:41">Acts v. 41</A>.
This being the hardest point, he sets himself to show the grounds and
reasons of it. How come we to glory in tribulations? Why, because
tribulations, by a chain of causes, greatly befriend hope, which he
shows in the method of its influence.
1. <I>Tribulation worketh patience,</I> not in and of itself, but the
powerful grace of God working in and with the tribulation. It proves,
and by proving improves, patience, as parts and gifts increase by
exercise. It is not the efficient cause, but yields the occasion, as
steel is hardened by the fire. See how God brings meat out of the
eater, and sweetness out of the strong. That which worketh patience is
matter of joy; for patience does us more good than tribulations can do
us hurt. Tribulation in itself worketh impatience; but, as it is
sanctified to the saints, it worketh patience.
2. <I>Patience experience,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
It works an experience of God, and the songs he gives in the night; the
patient sufferers have the greatest experience of the divine
consolations, which abound as afflictions abound. It works an
experience of ourselves. It is by tribulation that we make an
experiment of our own sincerity, and therefore such tribulations are
called trials. It works, <B><I>dokimen</I></B>--<I>an approbation,</I>
as he is approved that has passed the test. Thus Job's tribulation
wrought patience, and that patience produced an approbation, that still
he <I>holds fast his integrity,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:3">Job ii. 3</A>.
3. <I>Experience hope.</I> He who, being thus tried, comes forth as
gold, will thereby be encouraged to hope. This experiment, or
approbation, is not so much the ground, as the evidence, of our hope,
and a special friend to it. Experience of God is a prop to our hope;
he that hath delivered doth and will. Experience of ourselves helps to
evidence our sincerity.
4. This <I>hope maketh not ashamed;</I> that is, it is a hope that
will not deceive us. Nothing confounds more than disappointment.
Everlasting shame and confusion will be caused by the perishing of the
expectation of the wicked, <I>but the hope of the righteous shall be
gladness,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+10:28">Prov. x. 28</A>.
See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:5,71:1">Ps. xxii. 5; lxxi. 1</A>.
Or, It maketh not ashamed of our sufferings. Though <I>we are counted
as the offscouring of all things, and trodden under foot as the mire in
the streets,</I> yet, having hopes of glory, we are not ashamed of
these sufferings. It is in a good cause, for a good Master, and in good
hope; and therefore we are not ashamed. We will never think ourselves
disparaged by sufferings that are likely to end so well. <I>Because the
love of God is shed abroad.</I> This hope will not disappoint us,
because it is sealed with the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of love. It is
the gracious work of the blessed Spirit to shed abroad the love of God
in the hearts of all the saints. <I>The love of God,</I> that is, the
sense of God's love to us, drawing out love in us to him again. Or, The
great effects of his love:
(1.) Special grace; and,
(2.) The pleasant gust or sense of it. <I>It is shed abroad,</I> as
sweet ointment, perfuming the soul, as rain watering it and making it
fruitful. The ground of all our comfort and holiness, and perseverance
in both, is laid in the <I>shedding abroad of the love of God in our
hearts;</I> it is this which constrains us,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+5:14">2 Cor. v. 14</A>.
Thus are we drawn and held by the bonds of love. Sense of God's love to
us will make us not ashamed, either of our hope in him or our
sufferings for him.</P>
<A NAME="Ro5_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Ro5_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The First and the Second Adam; The Influence of Grace.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A.&nbsp;D.</FONT>&nbsp;58.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly.
&nbsp; 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet
peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
&nbsp; 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.
&nbsp; 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be
saved from wrath through him.
&nbsp; 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be
saved by his life.
&nbsp; 11 And not only <I>so,</I> but we also joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
&nbsp; 12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned:
&nbsp; 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not
imputed when there is no law.
&nbsp; 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over
them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
&nbsp; 15 But not as the offence, so also <I>is</I> the free gift. For if
through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of
God, and the gift by grace, <I>which is</I> by one man, Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto many.
&nbsp; 16 And not as <I>it was</I> by one that sinned, <I>so is</I> the gift:
for the judgment <I>was</I> by one to condemnation, but the free gift
<I>is</I> of many offences unto justification.
&nbsp; 17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more
they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
&nbsp; 18 Therefore as by the offence of one <I>judgment came</I> upon all
men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one <I>the
free gift came</I> upon all men unto justification of life.
&nbsp; 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
&nbsp; 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
&nbsp; 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our
Lord.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The apostle here describes the fountain and foundation of
justification, laid in the death of the Lord Jesus. The streams are
very sweet, but, if you run them up to the spring-head, you will find
it to be Christ's dying for us; it is in the precious stream of
Christ's blood that all these privileges come flowing to us: and
therefore he enlarges upon this instance of the love of God which is
shed abroad. Three things he takes notice of for the explication and
illustration of this doctrine:--
1. The persons he died for,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:6-8"><I>v.</I> 6-8</A>.
2. The precious fruits of his death,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:9-11"><I>v.</I> 9-11</A>.
3. The parallel he runs between the communication of sin and death by
the first Adam and of righteousness and life by the second Adam,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:12-21"><I>v.</I> 12, to the end</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. The character we were under when Christ died for us.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. <I>We were without strength</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
in a sad condition; and, which is worse, altogether unable to help
ourselves out of that condition--lost, and no visible way open for our
recovery--our condition deplorable, and in a manner desperate; and,
therefore our salvation is here said to come <I>in due time.</I> God's
time to help and save is when those that are to be saved are without
strength, that his own power and grace may be the more magnified,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:36">Deut. xxxii. 36</A>.
It is the manner of God to help at a dead lift,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. <I>He died for the ungodly;</I> not only helpless creatures, and
therefore likely to perish, but guilty sinful creatures, and therefore
deserving to perish; not only mean and worthless, but vile and
obnoxious, unworthy of such favour with the holy God. Being ungodly,
they had need of one to die for them, to satisfy for guilt, and to
bring in a righteousness. This he illustrates
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>)
as an unparalleled instance of love; herein God's thoughts and ways
were above ours. Compare
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+15:13,14">John xv. 13, 14</A>,
<I>Greater love has no man.</I>
(1.) One would hardly <I>die for a righteous man,</I> that is, an
innocent man, one that is unjustly condemned; every body will pity such
a one, but few will put such a value upon his life as either to hazard,
or much less to deposit, their own in his stead.
(2.) It may be, one might perhaps be persuaded <I>to die for a good
man,</I> that is, a useful man, who is more than barely a righteous
man. Many that are good themselves yet do but little good to others;
but those that are useful commonly get themselves well beloved, and
meet with some that in a case of necessity would venture to be their
<B><I>antipsychoi</I></B>--<I>would engage life for life,</I> would be
their bail, body for body. Paul was, in this sense, a very good man,
one that was very useful, and he met with some that for his life laid
down their own necks,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+16:4"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 4</A>.
And yet observe how he qualifies this: it is but some that would do so,
and it is a daring act if they do it, it must be some bold venturing
soul; and, after all, it is but a <I>peradventure.</I>
(3.) <I>But Christ died for sinners</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
neither righteous nor good; not only such as were useless, but such as
were guilty and obnoxious; not only such as there would be no loss of
should they perish, but such whose destruction would greatly redound to
the glory of God's justice, being malefactors and criminals that ought
to die. Some think he alludes to a common distinction the Jews had of
their people into <B><I>ndyqym</I></B>--<I>righteous,</I>
<B><I>hsdym</I></B>--<I>merciful</I> (compare
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:1">Isa. xvii. 1</A>),
and <B><I>rssym</I></B>--<I>wicked.</I> Now herein <I>God commended his
love,</I> not only proved or evidenced his love (he might have done
that at a cheaper rate), but magnified it and made it illustrious. This
circumstance did greatly magnify and advance his love, not only put it
past dispute, but rendered it the object of the greatest wonder and
admiration: "Now my creatures shall see that I love them, I will give
them such an instance of it as shall be without parallel."
<I>Commendeth his love,</I> as merchants commend their goods when they
would put them off. This commending of his love was in order to the
shedding abroad of his love in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. He evinces
his love in the most winning, affecting, endearing way imaginable.
<I>While we were yet sinners,</I> implying that we were not to be
always sinners, there should be a change wrought; for he died to save
us, not in our sins, but from our sins; but we were yet sinners when he
died for us.
(4.) Nay, which is more, <I>we were enemies</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
not only malefactors, but traitors and rebels, in arms against the
government; the worst kind of malefactors and of all malefactors the
most obnoxious. The carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity
itself,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:7,Col+1:21"><I>ch.</I> viii. 7; Col. i. 21</A>.
This enmity is a mutual enmity, God loathing the sinner, and the sinner
loathing God,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+11:8">Zech. xi. 8</A>.
And that for such as these Christ should die is such a mystery, such a
paradox, such an unprecedented instance of love, that it may well be
our business to eternity to adore and wonder at it. This is a
commendation of love indeed. Justly might he who had thus loved us make
it one of the laws of his kingdom that we should love our enemies.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The precious fruits of his death.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. Justification and reconciliation are the first and primary fruit of
the death of Christ: <I>We are justified by his blood</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
<I>reconciled by his death,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
Sin is pardoned, the sinner accepted as righteous, the quarrel taken
up, the enmity slain, an end made of iniquity, and an everlasting
righteousness brought in. This is done, that is, Christ has done all
that was requisite on his part to be done in order hereunto, and,
immediately upon our believing, we are actually put into a state of
justification and reconciliation. <I>Justified by his blood.</I> Our
justification is ascribed to the blood of Christ because <I>without
blood there is no remission</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+9:22">Heb. ix. 22</A>.
<I>The blood is the life,</I> and that must go to make atonement. In
all the propitiatory sacrifices, the sprinkling of the blood was of the
essence of the sacrifice. It was <I>the blood that made an atonement
for the soul,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+17:11">Lev. xvii. 11</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. Hence results salvation from wrath: <I>Saved from wrath</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
<I>saved by his life,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
When that which hinders our salvation is taken away, the salvation must
needs follow. Nay, the argument holds very strongly; if God justified
and reconciled us when we were enemies, and put himself to so much
charge to do it, much more will he save us when we are justified and
reconciled. He that has done the greater, which is of enemies to make
us friends, will certainly the less, which is when we are friends to
use us friendly and to be kind to us. And therefore the apostle, once
and again, speaks of it with a <I>much more.</I> He that hath digged so
deep to lay the foundation will no doubt build upon that
foundation.--<I>We shall be saved from wrath,</I> from hell and
damnation. It is the wrath of God that is the fire of hell; <I>the
wrath to come,</I> so it is called,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Th+1:10">1 Thess. i. 10</A>.
The final justification and absolution of believers at the great day,
together with the fitting and preparing of them for it, are the
salvation from wrath here spoken of; it is the perfecting of the work
of grace.--<I>Reconciled by his death, saved by his life.</I> His life
here spoken of is not to be understood of his life in the flesh, but
his life in heaven, that life which ensued after his death. Compare
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+14:9"><I>ch.</I> xiv. 9</A>.
<I>He was dead, and is alive,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:18">Rev. i. 18</A>.
We are reconciled by Christ humbled, we are saved by Christ exalted.
The dying Jesus laid the foundation, in satisfying for sin, and slaying
the enmity, and so making us salvable; thus is the partition-wall
broken down, atonement made, and the attainder reversed; but it is the
living Jesus that perfects the work: <I>he lives to make
intercession,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+7:25">Heb. vii. 25</A>.
It is Christ, in his exaltation, that by his word and Spirit
effectually calls, and changes, and reconciles us to God, is our
Advocate with the Father, and so completes and consummates our
salvation. Compare
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+4:25,8:34"><I>ch.</I> iv. 25 and viii. 34</A>.
Christ dying was the testator, who bequeathed us the legacy; but Christ
living is the executor, who pays it. Now the arguing is very strong. He
that puts himself to the charge of purchasing our salvation will not
decline the trouble of applying it.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. All this produces, as a further privilege, our <I>joy in God,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
God is now so far from being a terror to us that he is our <I>joy, and
our hope in the day of evil,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+17:17">Jer. xvii. 17</A>.
<I>We are reconciled and saved from wrath.</I> Iniquity, blessed be
God, <I>shall not be our ruin. And not only so,</I> there is more in it
yet, a constant stream of favours; we not only go to heaven, but go to
heaven triumphantly; not only get into the harbour, but come in with
full sail: <I>We joy in God,</I> not only saved from his wrath, but
solacing ourselves in his love, and this through Jesus Christ, who is
the Alpha and the Omega, the foundation-stone and the top-stone of all
our comforts and hopes--not only <I>our salvation, but our strength and
our song;</I> and all this (which he repeats as a string he loved to be
harping upon) by virtue of the atonement, for by him we Christians, we
believers, have now, now in gospel times, or now in this life,
<I>received the atonement,</I> which was typified by the sacrifices
under thee law, and is an earnest of our happiness in heaven. True
believers do by Jesus Christ receive the atonement. Receiving the
atonement is our actual reconciliation to God in justification,
grounded upon Christ's satisfaction. To <I>receive the atonement</I>
is,
(1.) To give our consent to the atonement, approving of, and agreeing
to, those methods which Infinite Wisdom has taken of saving a guilty
world by the blood of a crucified Jesus, being willing and glad to be
saved in a gospel way and upon gospel terms.
(2.) To take the comfort of the atonement, which is the fountain and
the foundation of our joy in God. Now <I>we joy in God,</I> now we do
indeed <I>receive the atonement,</I>
<B><I>kauchomenoi</I></B>--<I>glorying</I> in it. God hath received the
atonement
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+3:17,17:5.28:2">Matt. iii. 17; xvii. 5; xxviii. 2</A>):
if we but receive it, the work is done.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. The parallel that the apostle runs between the communication of
sin and death by the first Adam and of righteousness and life by the
second Adam
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:12-21">
<I>v.</I> 12, to the end</A>),
which not only illustrates the truth he is discoursing of, but tends
very much to the commending of the love of God and the comforting of
the hearts of true believers, in showing a correspondence between our
fall and our recovery, and not only a like, but a much greater power in
the second Adam to make us happy, than there was in the first to make
us miserable. Now, for the opening of this, observe,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. A general truth laid down as the foundation of his discourse--that
Adam was a type of Christ
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
<I>Who is the figure of him that was to come.</I> Christ is therefore
called the <I>last Adam,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:45">1 Cor. xv. 45</A>.
Compare
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
In this Adam was a type of Christ, that in the covenant-transactions
that were between God and him, and in the consequent events of those
transactions, Adam was a public person. God dealt with Adam and Adam
acted as such a one, as a common father and factor, root and
representative, of and for all his posterity; so that what he did in
that station, as agent for us, we may be said to have done in him, and
what was done to him may be said to have been done to us in him. Thus
Jesus Christ, the Mediator, acted as a public person, the head of all
the elect, dealt with God for them, as their father, factor, root, and
representative--died for them, rose for them, entered within the veil
for them, did all for them. When Adam failed, we failed with him; when
Christ performed, he performed for us. Thus was Adam <B><I>typos tou
mellontos</I></B>--<I>the figure of him that was to come,</I> to come
to repair that breach which Adam had made.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. A more particular explication of the parallel, in which observe,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(1.) How Adam, as a public person, communicated sin and death to all
his posterity
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
<I>By one man sin entered.</I> We see the world under a deluge of sin
and death, full of iniquities and full of calamities. Now, it is worth
while to enquire what is the spring that feeds it, and you will find it
to be the general corruption of nature; and at what gap it entered, and
you will find it to have been Adam's first sin. It was <I>by one
man,</I> and he the first man (for if any had been before him they
would have been free), that one man from whom, as from the root, we all
spring.
[1.] By him <I>sin entered.</I> When God pronounced all very good
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:31">Gen. i. 31</A>)
there was no sin in the world; it was when Adam ate forbidden fruit
that sin made its entry. Sin had before entered into the world of
angels, when many of them revolted from their allegiance and left their
first estate; but it never entered into the world of mankind till Adam
sinned. Then it entered as an enemy, to kill and destroy, as a thief,
to rob and despoil; and a dismal entry it was. Then entered the guilt
of Adam's sin imputed to posterity, and a general corruption and
depravedness of nature. <B><I>Eph ho</I></B>--<I>for that</I> (so we
read it), rather <I>in whom, all have sinned.</I> Sin entered into the
world by Adam, for in him we all sinned. As,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:22">1 Cor. xv. 22</A>,
<I>in Adam all die;</I> so here, <I>in him all have sinned;</I> for it
is agreeable to the law of all nations that the acts of a public person
be accounted theirs whom they represent; and what a whole body does
every member of the same body may be said to do. Now Adam acted thus
as a public person, by the sovereign ordination and appointment of God,
and yet that founded upon a natural necessity; for God, as the author
of nature, had made this the law of nature, that man should beget in
his own likeness, and so the other creatures. In Adam therefore, as in
a common receptacle, the whole nature of man was reposited, from him to
flow down in a channel to his posterity; for all mankind are made <I>of
one blood</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+17:26">Acts xvii. 26</A>),
so that according as this nature proves through his standing or
falling, before he puts it out of his hands, accordingly it is
propagated from him. Adam therefore sinning and falling, the nature
became guilty and corrupt, and is so derived. Thus in him all have
sinned.
[2.] <I>Death by sin,</I> for death is the wages of sin. Sin, when it
is finished, brings forth death. When sin came, of course death came
with it. Death is here put for all that misery which is the due desert
of sin, temporal, spiritual, eternal death. If Adam had not sinned, he
had not died; the threatening was, <I>In the day thou eatest thou shall
surely die,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:17">Gen. ii. 17</A>.
[3.] <I>So death passed,</I> that is, a sentence of death was passed,
as upon a criminal, <B><I>dielthen</I></B>--<I>passed through</I> all
men, as an infectious disease passes through a town, so that none
escape it. It is the universal fate, without exception: death passes
upon all. There are common calamities incident to human life which do
abundantly prove this. <I>Death reigned,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
He speaks of death as a mighty prince, and his monarchy the most
absolute, universal, and lasting monarchy. None are exempted from its
sceptre; it is a monarchy that will survive all other earthly rule,
authority, and power, for it is the last enemy,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:26">1 Cor. xv. 26</A>.
Those sons of Belial that will be subject to no other rule cannot avoid
being subject to this. Now all this we may thank Adam for; from him
sin and death descend. Well may we say, as that good man, observing
the change that a fit of sickness had made in his countenance, <I>O
Adam!</I> what hast thou done?</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Further, to clear this, he shows that sin did not commence with the law
of Moses, but was <I>in the world until,</I> or <I>before,</I> that
law; therefore that law of Moses is not the only rule of life, for
there was a rule, and that rule was transgressed, before the law was
given. It likewise intimates that we cannot be justified by our
obedience to the law of Moses, any more than we were condemned by and
for our disobedience to it. Sin was in the world before the law;
witness Cain's murder, the apostasy of the old world, the wickedness of
Sodom. His inference hence is, Therefore there was a law; for <I>sin is
not imputed where there is no law.</I> Original sin is a want of
conformity to, and actual sin is a transgression of, the law of God:
therefore all were under some law. His proof of it is, <I>Death reigned
from Adam to Moses,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
It is certain that death could not have reigned if sin had not set up
the throne for him. This proves that sin was in the world before the
law, and original sin, for death reigned over those that had not sinned
any actual sin, that <I>had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression,</I> never sinned in their own persons as Adam did--which
is to be understood of infants, that were never guilty of actual sin,
and yet died, because Adam's sin was imputed to them. This reign of
death seems especially to refer to those violent and extraordinary
judgments which were long before Moses, as the deluge and the
destruction of Sodom, which involved infants. It is a great proof of
original sin that little children, who were never guilty of any actual
transgression, are yet liable to very terrible diseases, casualties,
and deaths, which could by no means be reconciled with the justice and
righteousness of God if they were not chargeable with guilt.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(2.) How, in correspondence to this, Christ, as a public person,
communicates righteousness and life to all true believers, who are his
spiritual seed. And in this he shows not only wherein the resemblance
holds, but, <I>ex abundanti,</I> wherein the communication of grace and
love by Christ <I>goes beyond</I> the communication of guilt and wrath
by Adam. Observe,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
[1.] Wherein the resemblance holds. This is laid down most fully,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:18,19"><I>v.</I> 18, 19</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<I>First, By the offence and disobedience of one many were made
sinners, and judgment came upon all men to condemnation.</I> Here
observe,
1. That Adam's sin was disobedience, disobedience to a plain and
express command: and it was a command of trial. The thing he did was
therefore evil because it was forbidden, and not otherwise; but this
opened the door to other sins, though itself seemingly small.
2. That the malignity and poison of sin are very strong and spreading,
else the guilt of Adam's sin would not have reached so far, nor have
been so deep and long a stream. Who would think there should be so much
evil in sin?
3. That by Adam's sin many are made sinners: <I>many,</I> that is, all
his posterity; said to be many, in opposition to the one that offended,
<I>Made sinners,</I> <B><I>katestathesan.</I></B> It denotes the making
of us such by a judicial act: we were cast as sinners by due course of
law.
4. That judgment is come to condemnation upon all those that by Adam's
disobedience were made sinners. Being convicted, we are condemned. All
the race of mankind lie under a sentence, like an attainder upon a
family. There is judgment given and recorded against us in the court of
heaven; and, if the judgment be not reversed, we are likely to sink
under it to eternity.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<I>Secondly,</I> In like manner, <I>by the righteousness and obedience
of one</I> (and that one is Jesus Christ, the second Adam), <I>are many
made righteous,</I> and so the <I>free gift comes upon all.</I> It is
observable how the apostle inculcates this truth, and repeats it again
and again, as a truth of very great consequence. Here observe,
1. The nature of Christ's righteousness, how it is brought in; it is by
his obedience. The disobedience of the first Adam ruined us, the
obedience of the second Adam saves us,--his obedience to the law of
mediation, which was that he should fulfil all righteousness, and then
make his soul an offering for sin. By his obedience to this law he
wrought out a righteousness for us, satisfied God's justice, and so
made way for us into his favour.
2. The fruit of it.
(1.) There is a <I>free gift come upon all men,</I> that is, it is made
and offered promiscuously to all. The salvation wrought is a <I>common
salvation;</I> the proposals are general, the tender free; whoever will
may come, and take of these waters of life. This free gift is to all
believers, upon their believing, <I>unto justification of life.</I> It
is not only a justification that frees from death, but that entitles to
life.
(2.) <I>Many shall be made righteous</I>--many compared with one, or as
many as belong to the election of grace, which, though but a few as
they are scattered up and down in the world, yet will be a great many
when they come all together. <B><I>Katastathesontai</I></B>--<I>they
shall be constituted</I> righteous, as by letters patent. Now the
antithesis between these two, our ruin by Adam and our recovery by
Christ, is obvious enough.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
[2.] Wherein the communication of grace and love by Christ goes beyond
the communication of guilt and wrath by Adam; and this he shows,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:15-17"><I>v.</I> 15-17</A>.
It is designed for the magnifying of the riches of Christ's love, and
for the comfort and encouragement of believers, who, considering what a
wound Adam's sin has made, might begin to despair of a proportionable
remedy. His expressions are a little intricate, but this he seems to
intend:--<I>First,</I> If guilt and wrath be communicated, much more
shall grace and love; for it is agreeable to the idea we have of the
divine goodness to suppose that he should be more ready to save upon an
imputed righteousness than to condemn upon an imputed guilt: <I>Much
more the grace of God, and the gift by grace.</I> God's goodness is, of
all his attributes, in a special manner his glory, and it is that grace
that is the root (his favour to us in Christ), and the gift is by
grace. We know that God is rather inclined to show mercy; punishing is
his strange work. <I>Secondly,</I> If there was so much power and
efficacy, as it seems there was, in the sin of a man, who was of the
earth, earthy, to condemn us, much more are there power and efficacy in
the righteousness and grace of Christ, who is the Lord from heaven, to
justify and save us. The <I>one man</I> that saves us is Jesus Christ.
Surely Adam could not propagate so strong a poison but Jesus Christ
could propagate as strong an antidote, and much stronger.
3. It is but the guilt of one single offence of Adam's that is laid to
our charge: <I>The judgment was</I> <B><I>ex henos eis
katakrima,</I></B> <I>by one,</I> that is, by one offence,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>,
<I>Margin.</I> But from Jesus Christ we receive and derive an
<I>abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness.</I> The stream
of grace and righteousness is deeper and broader than the stream of
guilt; for this righteousness does not only take away the guilt of that
one offence, but of many other offences, even of all. God in Christ
forgives all trespasses,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+2:13">Col. ii. 13</A>.
4. By Adam's sin <I>death reigned;</I> but by Christ's righteousness
there is not only a period put to the reign of death, but believers are
preferred to <I>reign of life,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
In and by the righteousness of Christ we have not only a charter of
pardon, but a patent of honour, are not only freed from our chains,
but, like Joseph, advanced to the second chariot, and made unto our God
kings and priests--not only pardoned, but preferred. See this observed,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:5,6,5:9,10">Rev. i. 5, 6; v. 9, 10</A>.
We are by Christ and his righteousness entitled to, and instated in,
more and greater privileges than we lost by the offence of Adam. The
plaster is wider than the wound, and more healing than the wound is
killing.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. In the
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:20,21">last two verses</A>
the apostle seems to anticipate an objection which is expressed,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+3:19">Gal. iii. 19</A>,
<I>Wherefore then serveth the law?</I> Answer,
1. <I>The law entered that the offence might abound.</I> Not to make
sin to abound the more in itself, otherwise than as sin takes occasion
by the commandment, but to discover the abounding sinfulness of it. The
glass discovers the spots, but does not cause them. When the
commandment came into the world sin revived, as the letting of a
clearer light into a room discovers the dust and filth which were there
before, but were not seen. It was like the searching of a wound, which
is necessary to the cure. <I>The offence,</I> <B><I>to
paraptoma</I></B>--<I>that offence,</I> the sin of Adam, the extending
of the guilt of it to us, and the effect of the corruption in us, are
the abounding of that offence which appeared upon the entry of the law.
2. <I>That grace might much more abound</I>--that the terrors of the
law might make gospel-comforts so much the sweeter. Sin abounded among
the Jews; and, to those of them that were converted to the faith of
Christ, did not grace much more abound in the remitting of so much
guilt and the subduing of so much corruption? The greater the strength
of the enemy, the greater the honour of the conqueror. This abounding
of grace he illustrates,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
As the reign of a tyrant and oppressor is a foil to set off the
succeeding reign of a just and gentle prince and to make it the more
illustrious, so doth the reign of sin set off the reign of grace.
<I>Sin reigned unto death;</I> it was a cruel bloody reign. But
<I>grace reigns</I> to life, <I>eternal life,</I> and this <I>through
righteousness,</I> righteousness imputed to us for justification,
implanted in us for sanctification; and both by <I>Jesus Christ our
Lord,</I> through the power and efficacy of Christ, the great prophet,
priest, and king, of his church.</P>
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