The differences that are among intei'preters about the exposition of these words relate unto the use of some particles, prepositions, and the dependence of one passage upon another; on none of which the confirmation of the truth pleaded for doth depend. But the plain design of tlie apostle, and his express propositions, are such as, if men could but acquiesce in them, might put an end unto this contro- versy.
Socinus acknowledgeth that this place of Scripture doth give, as he speaks, the greatest occasion unto our opinion in this matter; for he cannot deny but at least a gTeat appearance of what we believe is represented in the words of the apostle. He doth, therefore, use
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his utmost endeavour to wrest and deprave them; and yet, although most of his artifices are since traduced hito the annotations of others upon the place, he himself produceth nothing material but what is taken out of Origen, and the comment of Pelagius on this epistle, which is extant in the works of Jerome, and was urged before him by Erasmus. The substance of what he pleads for is, that the actual transgression of Adam is not imputed unto his posterity, nor a de- praved nature from thence communicated unto them ; only, whereas he had iucuiTed the penalty of death, all that derive their nature from him in that condition are rendered subject unto death also. And as for that corruption of nature which is in us, or a proneness unto sin, it is not derived from Adam, but is a habit contracted by many continued acts of our own. So also, on the other hand, that the obedience or righteousness of Christ is not imputed unto us; on]y_ when we make ourselves to become his children by our obedience unto him, — he having obtained eternal life for himself by his obedience unto God, — we are made partakers of the benefits thereof This is the substance of his long disputation on this subject, De Servatore, lib. iv. cap. 6. But this is not to expound the words of the apostle, but expressly to contradict them, as we shall see in the ensuing con- sideration of them.
I intend not an exposition of the whole discourse of the apostle, but only of those passages in it which evidently declare the way and manner of our justification before God.
A comparison is here proposed and pursued between the first Adam, by whom sin was brought into the world, and the second Adam, by whom it is taken away. And a comparison it is 1-a rou imvriov, — of things contrary; wherein there is a similitude in some things, and a dissimilitude in others, both sorts illustrating the truth declared in it. The general proposition of it is contained in verse ] 2 : " As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed on all men, for that all have sinned." The en- trance of sin and punishment into the world was by one man; and that by one sin, as he afterward declares: yet were they not con- fined unto the person of that one man, but belonged equally unto all. This the apostle expresseth, inverting the order of the eftect and cause. In the entrance of it he first mentions the cause or sin, and then the effect or punishment : " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; " but in the application of it unto all men, he expresseth first the effect and then the cause : " Death passed on all men, for that all have sinned." Death, on the first entrance of sin, passed on all, — that is, all men became liable and obnoxious unto it, as the punishment due to sin. All men that ever were, are, or shall be, were not then existent in their own persons; but j'^et were
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they all of them tlien, upon the first entrance of sin, made subject to death, or liable unto punishment. They were so by virtue of divine constitution, upoTi their federal existence va. \he one man that sinned. And actually they became obnoxious in their own persons unto the sentence of it upon their first natural existence, being born children of wrath.
It is hence manifest what sin it is that the apostle intends, — namely, the actual sin of Adam, — the one sin of that one common person, whilst he was so. For although the corruption and depra- vation of our nature doth necessarily ensue thereon, in every one that is brought forth actually to the world by natural generation ; yet is it the p'uilt of Adam's actual sin alone that rendered them all ob- noxious unto death upon the first entrance of sin into the world. So death entered by sin, — the guilt of it, obnoxiousness unto it ; and that with respect unto all men universally.
Death here compriseth the whole punishment due unto sin, be it what it will, concerning which we need not here to dispute : " The wages of sin is death," Rom. vi. 23, and nothing else. Whatever sin deserves in the justice of God, whatever punishment God at any time appointed or threatened unto it, it is comprised in death : " In the da}^ thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death." This, therefore, the apostle lays down as the foundation of his discourse, and of the comparison which he intends, — namely, that in and by the actual sin of Adam, all men are made liable unto death, or unto the whole punishment due unto sin; that is, the guilt of that sin is imputed unto them, For nothing is intended by the imputation of sin unto any, but the rendering them justly obnoxious unto the punishment due unto that sin ; as the not imputing of sin is the freeing of men from being subject or liable unto punishment. And this sufficiently evidenceth the vanity of the Pelagian gloss, that death passed upon all merely by virtue of natural propagation from him who had de- served it, without any imputation of the guilt of sin unto them; which is a contradiction unto the plain words of the apostle. For it is the guilt of sin, and not natural propagation, that he affirms to be the cause of death.