by the sin of Adam we all were brought under guilt and condemnation —
[Adam was not a mere private individual, but the head and representative of all mankind. Hence what he did in eating the forbidden fruit, is imputed unto us, as though it had been done hy us : and we are subjected to the punishment that was denounced against transgression, " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This in the pre- ceding context is repeatedly affirmed: " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned a." Again, " Through the offence of one many be deadb:" Again, " The judgment was by one to condemnation0:" And again, "By one man's offence death reigned by oned." So also it is twice mentioned in our text. Nor is it merely asserted : it is proved also, and that too by an argument which all can easily understand. The death of infants demonstrates the truth in question : for, nothing is plainer than that God will not inflict punishment, where no guilt attaches : but he does inflict punishment, even death itself, on infants, who cannot possibly have committed sin in their own persons. For whose sin then is this punish- ment inflicted? Surely for the sin of Adam, our first parent; who was the head and representative of all mankind. The law which denounced death as the penalty of transgression, comprehended, not him only, but us also : and therefore, having transgressed it in him, we are considered as sinners, and are subjected to all the penalties of transgression. To account for the agonies and death of new-born infants on any other supposition than this, is impossible.]
With this is compared our justification to life by the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ —
[Christ is that person " by whose obedience many are made righteous." He is given to us as a second Covenant- Head. There is however this difference between him and Adam : Adam was the head of all his natural seed ; and Christ is the head of all his spiritual seed. They are included in him ; and all that he did or suffered is put to their account, as though they had done or suffered it themselves : and his entire righteousness is imputed to them for justification, pre- cisely as Adam's disobedience is imputed to us for condemna- tion. The parallel indeed holds yet farther still : for as Adam's guilt is imputed to us before we commit personal sin, so is Christ's righteousness imputed to us before we perform any- personal obedience. Nevertheless, our obedience is not there-
a ver. 12. b ver. 15. c ver. 16. d ver. 17.