meaning is, ' As Adam was the cause or occasion of men becoming sinners, so death passed on all, since all have, in consequence of his obe- dience, been led into sin.' The objections to this interpretation will be presented in the sequel, in the form of arguments in favour of another view of the passage. According to the second interpretation, the words mean all have become corrupt. Then the sense of the verse is, * As by- Adam, sin (corruption of nature) was introduced into the world, and death as its consequence, and so death passed on all men, because all have become corrupt ; even so,' &c. The principal objections to this interpretation are, 1. It assigns a very unusual, if not an unexampled sense to the words. The word rendered have become corrupt, not occur- ring elsewhere with this signification. 2. It destroys the analogy between Christ and Adam. The point of the comparison is not, ' As Adam was the source of corruption, so is Christ of holiness ;' but, ' As Adam was the cause of our condemnation, so is Christ of our justification.' 3. It is inconsistent with the meaning of vs. 13, 14, which are designed to prove that the ground of the universality of death is the sin or offence of Adam. 4. It would require us, in order to preserve any consistency in the pas- sage, to put an interpretation on vs. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, which they will not bear. Although the sentiment, therefore, is correct and scriptural, that we derive a corrupt nature from Adam, as it is also true that Christ is the author of holiness, yet these are not the truths which Paul is here immediately desirous of presenting.
The third interpretation, therefore, according to which the words in question mean all men are regarded and treated as sinners, is to be pre- ferred. The verse then contains this idea, ' As by one man all men became sinners and exposed to death, and thus death passed on all men, since all sinned, i. e. are regarded as sinners on his account,' even so by one man, &c. The arguments in support of this interpretation are the following, "1. The word translated have sinned may in strict accordance with usage be rendered have become guilty, or, regarded and treated as sinners. Compare Gen. 44 : 32, " I shall bear the blame ;" literally, ' I shall have sinned ;' see also Gen. 43 : 9. 1 Kings 1 : 21. 2. It is almost uniformly admitted that v. 12 contains the first member of a comparison between Adam and Christ, which is resumed and carried out in vs. 18, 19. In these verses, however, the idea is clearly expressed ' that judgment came on all men on account of the offence of one man.' If these verses express the same idea with v. 12, we are forced to understand this verse as teaching not the acknowledged truth that all men are sinners, but that all are treated as sinners on account of one man. 3. This interpretation is demanded by the connexion between v. 12, and vs. 13, 14. These latter verses beginning with for are evidently designed to prove the assertion contained in v. 12. All men are regarded as sinners on account of the offence of one man, is the assertion of v. 12, for there is no other way of accounting for the universality of penal evils, is the reason as- signed in vs. 13, 14. 4. What v. 12 is thus made to assert, and vs. 13,