of the offence of the one many die. The dative, which is the case in which the word for offence here occurs, is used very frequently to express the ground or reason of a thing. Rom. 11 : 20, " Because of unbelief they were broken off," &c. Many, or rather the many, evidently means the multitude, the mass, the whole race ; as the words many and all are interchangeably used throughout the passage.
It is here, therefore, expressly asserted that the sin of Adam was the cause of all his posterity's being subjected to death, that is, to penal evil. But it may still be asked whether it was the occasional or the immediate cause. That is, whether the apostle means to say that the sin of Adam was the occasion of all men being placed in such circumstances that they all sin, and thus incur death ; or that, by being the cause of the corrup- tion of their nature, it is thus indirectly the cause of their condemnation ; or whether he is to be understood as saying that his sin is the direct ju- dicial ground or reason for the infliction of penal evil ? Does the dative here express the occasional cause, or the ground or reason of the result attributed to the offence of one man 1 1. That such may be the force and meaning of the words, as they here stand, no one can pretend to doubt. That is, no one can deny that the dative case can express the ground or reason as well as the occasion of a thing. 2. This interpretation is not only possible, and in strict accordance with the meaning of the words, but it is here demanded by the context; because the sentiment expressed by these words is confessedly the same as that taught in those which follow ; and they, as will appear in the sequel, will not bear the oppo- site interpretation. 3. It is demanded by the whole design and drift of the passage. The very point of the comparison is, that as the righteous- ness of Christ, and not our own works, is the ground of our justification ; so the sin of Adam, antecedently to any sins of our own, is the ground of the infliction of certain penal evils. If the latter be denied, the very point of the analogy between Christ and Adam is destroyed.
Much more the grace of God, and the gift hy grace, which is by one man, hath abounded unto many. Had Paul been studious of uniformity in the structure of his sentences, this clause would have been differently worded. ' If by the offence of one many die, much more by the free gift of one shall many live.' The meaning is the same. The force of the passage lies in the words much more. The idea is not that the grace is more abun- dant and efficacious than the offence and its consequences, which idea is expressed in v. 20, but if the one dispensation has occurred, much more may the other; if we die for one, much more may we live by another. The first clause of the verse may be thus interpreted, ' the grace of God, even the gift by grace ;' so that the latter phrase is explanatory of the former. If they are to be distinguished, the first refers to the cause, viz. the grace of God *, and the second to the result, viz. the gift by grace, i. e. the gracious or free gift. Which is by one man, Jesus Christ ; that is, which comes to us through Christ. This free gift is of course the opposite of what comes upon us for the sake of Adam. Guilt and con