Yet is it more plainly expressed, verse 19: " For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
This is well explamed by Cyrillus Alexandrinus in Joan. lib. xi. cap. 25 : " Quemadmodum praevaricatione primi hominis ut in primi- tiis generis nostri, morti addicti fuimus; eodem mode per obedien- tiam et justitiam Christi, in quantum seipsum legi subjecit, quamvis legis author esset, benedictio et vivificatio quoe per Spiritum est, ad totam nostram penetravit naturam." And by Leo, Epist. xii. ad Ju- venalem : " Ut autem reparet omnium vitam, recepit omnium cau- sam; ut sicut per unius reatum omnes facti fuerunt peccatores, ita per unius innocentiam omnes fiereut innocentes; inde in homines manaret justitia, ubi est humana suscepta natura."
That which he before called vapd'Trru/Ma and dixatu/xa he now ex- presseth by 'xapaxo^ and i/Taxo;?, — "disobedience" and "obedience."
334 ON JUSTIFICATION.
The 'ira.paMi] of Adam, or his disobedience, was his actual transgression of the law of God. Hereby, saith the apostle, " many were made sinners," — sinners in such a sense as to be obnoxious unto death and condemnation; for liable unto death they could not be made, unless they were first made sinners or guilty. And this they could not be, but that they are esteemed to have sinned in him, whereon the guilt of his sin was imputed unto them. This, therefore, he affirms, — namely, that the actual sin of Adam was so the sin of all men, as that they were made sinners thereby, obnoxious unto death and con- demnation.
That which he opposeth hereunto is jJ bi-aao/i, — " the obedience of one ; " that is, of Jesus Christ. And this was the actual obedience that he yielded unto the whole law of God. For as the disobedience of Adam was his actual transgression of the whole law, so the obe- dience of Christ was his actual accomplishment or fulfilling of the whole law. This the antithesis doth require.
Hereby many are made righteous. How? By the imputation of that obedience imto them. For so, and no otherwise, are men made sinners by the imputation of the disobedience of Adam. And this is that which gives us a right and title unto eternal life, as the apostle de- clares, verse 21, "That as sin reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life." This righteousness is no other but the " obedience of one," — that is, of Christ, — as it is called, verse 19. And it is said to " come" upon us, — that is, to be imputed unto us; for " Blessed is the man unto whom God imputeth righteous- ness." And hereby we have not only deliverance from that death and condemnation whereunto we were liable by the sin of Adam, but the pardon of many offences, — that is, of all our personal sins, — and a right unto life eternal through the grace of God; for we are "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
And these things are thus plainly and fully delivered by the apostle; unto whose sense and expressions also (so far as may be) it is our duty to accommodate ours. What is offered in opposition hereunto is so made up of exceptions, evasions, and perplexed disputes, and leadeth us so far off from the plain words of the Scripture, that the conscience of a convinced sinner knows not what to fix upon to give it rest and satisfaction, nor what it is that is to be believed unto justification.
Piscator, in his scholia on this chapter and elsewhere, insisteth much on a specious argument against the imputation of the obedi- ence of Christ unto our justification; but it proceedeth evidently on an open mistake and false supposition, as well as it is contradictory unto the plain words of the text. It is true, which he observes and proves, that our redemption, reconciliation, pardon of sin, and justifi- cation, are often ascribed unto the death and blood of Christ in a sig-
JUSTIFICATION AS DECLARED BY PAUL. 335
nsl manner. The reasons of it have partly been intimated before ; and a farther account of them shall be given immediately. But it doth not thence follow that the obedience of his life, wherein he ful- filled the whole law, being made under it for us, is excluded from any causality therein, or is not imputed unto us. But in opposition hereunto he thus argueth : —
" Si obedientia vitse Christi nobis ad justitiam imputaretur, non fuit opus Christum pro nobis mori ; mori enim necesse fuit pro nobis injustis," 1 Pet. iii. 18. " Quod si ergo justi effect! sumus per vitam illius, causa nulla relicta fuit cur pro nobis moreretur ; quia justitia Dei non patitur ut puniat justos. At punivit nos in Christo, seu quod idem valet punivit Christum pro nobis, et loco nostri, postea- (juam ille sancte vixisset, ut certum est e Scriptura. Ergo non sumus justi effect! per sanctam vitam Christi. Item, Christus mortuus est ut justitiam illam Dei nobis acquireret," 2 Cor. v. 21. " Non igitur illam acquisiverat ante mortem."
But this whole argument, I say, proceeds upon an evident mis- take; for it supposeth such an order of things as that the obedience of Christ, or his righteousness in fulfilling the law, is first imputed unto us, and then the righteousness of his death is afterward to take place, or to be imputed unto us ; which, on that supposition, he says, would be of no use. But no such order or divine constitution is pleaded or pretended in our justification. It is true, the life of Christ and liis obedience unto the law did precede his sufferings, and under- going the curse thereof, — neither could it otherwise be, for this order of these things between themselves was made necessary from the law of nature, — but it doth not thence follow that it must be observed in the imputation or application of them unto us. For this is an effect of sovereign wisdom and grace, not respecting the natural order of Christ's obedience and suffering, but the moral order of the things whereunto they are appointed. And although we need not assert, nor do I so do, different acts of the imputation of the obedience of Christ unto the justification of life, or a right and title unto life eter- nal, and of the suffering of Christ unto the pardon of our sins and freedom from condemnation, — but by both we have both, according unto the ordinance of God, that Christ may be all in all, — yet as unto the effects themselves, in the method of God's bringing sinners unto the justification of life, the application of the death of Christ unto them, unto the pardon of sin and freedom from condemnation, is, in order of nature, and in the exercise of faith, antecedent unto the application of his obedience unto us for a right and title unto life eternal.