ver. 20. Abundance of grace, is put in opposition to the one offence. — Xa^(3uvovrsgy receiving ) Au/j,(3dt,veiv may be rendered either as a neuter-passive verb, empfangen , erlang en, kriegen to receive, to acquire, to get; or actively, annehmen , to take. The former is the better sense ; still the relation to dupeav a gift , is more suitable to the act of taking. In justification, man does something ; but the act of taking, so far as it is an act, does not justify, but that which is taken or laid hold of. The gift and taking , are correlatives. Furthermore, this verb is not used, when we are speaking of sin ; and it is for the same reason, owing to which it happens that w’e are not said to reign in death, but death reigned ; but life reigns in us, 2 Cor. iv. 12, and we in life. Christ, in this passage, is King of them that reign. Life and reigning are mentioned in connection also, in Rev. xx. 4. The term life is repeated from ch. i. 17, and often recurs, presently after, in ver. 18, 21, and in the following chapters.
18. "A pa. oZv) apa draws the inference, syllogistic ally : ovv con- cludes, almost rhetorically : for this subject is not farther dis- cussed than in this and the following verse. — svog — svog , of one — of one) In the masculine ; as is manifest from the antithesis, all. The word one , generally put without the addition, man , designates with the greatest force, one , either of the two. — b/xcuu)/i>arog — dixa/uaiv) Aixaioj/xa is, so to speak, the material substratum, the foundation for bniuiuc si, justification ; obedience, righteousness fulfilled. It may be called justificament ( justifica - mentum ) The ground and material of justification, as shpaiu^u denotes a firmament [or means of making firm] ; svbv,ua, vest- ment; additament [or the thing wherewith addition
is made] ; /A/W/Aa, defilement ; o^vpu/x a, muniment ; <7rspotudap{Aa, the means of purgation ; vs ptyri/ua, the thing scraped of ; vxeKat/u a, a tegument or the thing wherewith a covering is made ; ffrsp'su/xa, firmament ; Mdrijuu, a thing wherewith the foot is covered, a shoe ; <ppovY\[i a, sentiment [the material of <ppovrjff/g ] French senti- ment. Aristot. Eth. Book v. c. 10, has put ad/nn/xu and dntuioj/jja in opposition to each other, and defines the latter to be the correction of injustice [ri sKavopOwfJjU rou a hixriftarog] the putting right what is wrong ; which is tantamount to satisfac- tion [or atonement ], a term undeservedly hateful to the Socinians.