Rom. v. 18, 19. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteous- ness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
THE more we investigate the Gospel of Christ, the more mysterious it appears in all its parts. To a superficial observer it seems that the way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer is plain and simple : but it is surely an astonishing mystery, that those who have destroyed themselves should be redeemed by the blood of God's only dear Son, and be saved by a righteousness that was wrought out by him. Yet that is but a small part of the mystery revealed to us in the Gospel. There we learn, that at the instant of our birth we are under a sentence of condemnation for the sin of our first parent ; and that, as we are lost in him, so we are to be recovered by the Lord Jesus Christ, inheriting righteousness and life from him, the second Adam, as we inherit sin and death from the first Adam. This is the subject of which the Apostle treats in the passage before us. He had throughout the preceding part of this epistle declared the way of salvation through Christ : but now he traces up sin and death to Adam as our federal head or represen- tative, and righteousness and life to Christ as our federal head or representative under the new cove- nant. This opens to us a new view of the Gospel, and leads us farther into the great mystery of redemp- tion than the preceding statements had enabled us to penetrate.
That we may avail ourselves of the light which is thus afforded us, we shall,
I. Consider the comparison here instituted —
It is here assumed as an acknowledged truth, that