voluntarily receive the gift of righteousness, be not only saved from the consequences of the fall, but be made partakers of eternal life.
(18) Therefore^ as by the offence of one judgment came on all men to condemnation; even so, &c. The words rendered therefore mark the re- sumption of the comparison commenced in v. 12. The carrying out of this comparison was interrupted, in the first place, to prove, in vs. 13, 14, the position assumed in v. 12, that all men are subject to death on ac- count of the sin of Adam ; and, in the second place, to limit and explain the analogy asserted to exist between Christ and Adam, at the close of V. 14. This is done in vs. 15, 16, 17. Having thus fortified and ex- plained his meaning, the apostle now states the case in full. The word therefore, at the beginning of v. 12, marks an inference from the whole doctrine of the epistle ; the corresponding words here are also strictly inferential. It had been proved that we are justified by the righteous- ness of one man, and it has also been proved that we are under condem- nation for the oflfence of one. Therefore, as we are condemned, even so are we justified.
It will be remarked, from the manner in which they are printed, that the words judgment came, in the first clause of this verse, and the /ree gift came, in the second, have nothing to answer to them in the original. That they are correctly and necessarily supplied, is obvious from a reference to v. 16, where these elliptical phrases occur in full.
The construction in these clauses, the judgment was to condemnation, and the free gift was unto justification of life, is the same as that in the second clause of v. 16, and is to be explained in the same manner. ' The sentence was condemnation,' i. e. condemnatory. This came upon all men by the oflfence of one ; that is, on that account they were condemned. * The free gift was justification of life.' This also comes on all by the righteousness of one; that is, on this ground they are justified. The expression justi^cation of life means that justification which is connected with eternal life, or of which that life is the consequence.
There are two important questions yet to be considered in reference to this verse. The first is. What is the force of the phrase by the offence of one judgment came on all men to condemnation? There is no dispute as to the meaning of the expression "judgment came on all to condemna- tion;" it is admitted to mean, what alone it can mean, "that all are con- demned ; see above on v. 16. But the question is. What is the relation between the oflfence of Adam and the condemnation of men? Or what is the force of the words by the offence of one ? According to the com- mon, and, as it is believed, the only correct view of the passage, these words state that the oflfence of Adam was the ground of the condemna- tion of men, and not merely the occasion of it. The preposition which is rendered by (Jtd) is not the same as that which is so translated in V. 16. It is readily admitted that this preposition has, with the genitive, the meaning by means of, and with the accusative, on account of. With the former case it expresses the means by which any thing is done, and,