demnation come from him; righteousness and consequent acceptance from Jesus Christ. What is here called the free gift is, in v. 17, called the gift of righteousness. Hath abounded unto many ,- that is, has been freely and abundantly bestowed on many. Whether the many in this clause is coextensive numerically with the many in the other, will be considered under v. 18.
(16) dnd not as it was by one that sinned, so is gift, &c. This clause, as it stands in the original, and not as by one that sinned, the gift, is obviously elliptical. Some word corresponding to gift is to be supplied in the first member. Either o^e^ce, which is opposed to the free gift in the preceding verse ; or judgment, which occurs in the next clause. The sense then is, 'The gift (of justification, see v. 17) was not like the sentence which came by one that sinned.' The point of this verse is, that the sentence of condemnation which passed on all men* for the sake of Adam, was for one offence, whereas we are justified by Christ from many offences. Christ does much m.ore than remove the guilt and evils consequent on the sin of Adam. This is the second par- ticular in which the work of Christ differs from that of Adam.
For the judgment was by one to condemnation. By one does not here mean by one man, but by one offence, as is obvious from its opposi- tion to the phrase many offences in the same clause. " A judgment to condemnation" is an Hebraic or Hellenistic idiom for a condemnatory judgment, or sentence of condemnation. The word rendered judgment properly means the decision or sentence of a judge, and is here to be taken in its usual and obvious signification.
It is then plainly stated in this clause that ' the sentence of condemna- tion passed on all men for the one offence of Adam.' This interpretation of the clause is obviously the correct one. 1. Because it is the simple and proper meaning of the words. To say that a sentence is for an of- fence, is to say that the sentence is on account of the offence, and not that the offence is the cause of something else which is the ground of the sentence. The preposition rendered by expresses properly the origin of one thing from another ; and is therefore used to indicate almost any re- lation in which a cause may stand to an effect. The logical character of this relation depends, of course, on the nature of the subject spoken of. In all such cases as Gal. 2: 16, "A man is not justified Z>2/ works;" Rom. 9 : 11, the purpose of election " is not of works ;" Tit. 3 : 5, we are saved " not by works of righteousness," and in a multitude of simi- lar examples, it indicates the rational cause, or reason, as it does here. We are not elected, justified, or saved on account of our works. When Paul, therefore, says we are condemned by or for the offence of one, and that we are justified by or for the righteousness of another, the meaning obviously is, that it is on account of the offence we are condemned, and
* The words all men are expressed in v. 18, where this clause is repeated. " By the offence of one judgment came on all men to condemnation."
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