Romans 5:18

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) Therefore.—Recapitulating what has just been said.

The offence of one.—Rather, One trespass.

Judgment came.—These words are supplied in the English version, but they are somewhat too much of a paraphrase. It is better to render simply, the issue was, which words may also be substituted for the “free gift came,” below.

Benson Commentary

Romans 5:18-19. Therefore, &c. — Here the apostle compares Christ and Adam together again, as he began to do Romans 5:12, with which this verse seems to be connected, (all the intermediate verses coming in as a parenthesis,) and he makes the comparison full in both members; which there, by reason of intervening matter, was left off imperfect. As if he had said, On the whole you see, as I began to observe to you before, that as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation — Or, the condemnatory sentence was passed upon all men; even so, by the righteousness of one — The obedience of Christ, the free gift — Or gift of grace; came upon all men — Is provided for, and offered to, the whole human race, and is actually conferred on all the spiritual seed of the second Adam, on all true believers; unto justification of life — Unto that justification by grace through faith, whereby we have a right and title to eternal life. Or, leaving out the words in Italics, which are not in the original, the verse may be paraphrased thus: “As the consequence of one offence on the one hand extended to all men, to bring condemnation upon them; so also, on the other side, the consequence of one grand Acts of righteousness extended to all men, who receive and embrace it; securing to them that justification which will be crowned with the enjoyment of eternal life.” For, as by one man’s disobedience many — That is, all men; were made, or constituted sinners — Being then in the loins of their first parent, the common head and representative of them all, and became obnoxious to death; so by the obedience of one — By his obedience unto death, by his dying for us; many — Namely, all that believe with a faith working by love; shall be, or are, constituted righteous — That is, pardoned, justified, and sanctified, and shall be treated as such in the day of God’s final account; though they have no perfect righteousness of their own to plead, in consequence of which they should stand before God and claim the reward. With respect to Dr. Taylor’s scheme of interpretation, it is justly observed here by Dr. Doddridge, that although “to become liable to death for the offence of another is indeed being thereby constituted, or rather treated, as a sinner, since death is in its primary view to be considered as the wages of sin, or the animadversion of a righteous God upon it;” yet, “simply to be raised from the dead is not being made righteous, or treated as a righteous person; since it is a very supposable case, and will in fact be the case of millions, that a sinner may be raised in order to more condign and dreadful punishment. The whole interpretation, therefore, which Dr. Taylor has given of this text, in this view, appears to me destitute of a sufficient foundation.”

Romans 5:20-21, Moreover the law entered — Made a little entrance, as Dr. Doddridge translates παρε ισηλθεν; the sense also given it by the Vulgate, sub intravit. Thus the partial and limited entrance of the law is distinguished from that universal entrance of sin which passed on all. Others, however, as L’Enfant and Wesley, render it, The law intervened, or came between Adam and Christ, the offence and the free gift; that the offence might abound — That is, the consequence (not the design) of the law’s coming in, was not the taking away of sin, but the increase of it; yet where sin abounded, grace did much more abound — Not only in the remission of that sin which Adam brought on us, but of all our own sins; not only in remission of sins, but infusion of holiness; not only in deliverance from death, but admission to everlasting life; a far more noble and excellent life than that which we lost by Adam’s fall. That as sin hath reigned unto death — In the wide and universal destruction made of those whom it had brought under that fatal sentence; so grace might reign — Which could not reign before the fall, before man had sinned; through righteousness — Imputed, implanted, and practised; through the justification of men’s persons, the renovation of their nature, and their practical obedience to God’s holy law; unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord — Here is pointed out, 1st, The source of all our blessings, the rich and free grace of God. 2d, The meritorious cause; not any works or righteousness of man, but the alone merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. 3d, The effect or end of all; not only pardon, but life, divine life, leading to glory.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:15-19 Through one man's offence, all mankind are exposed to eternal condemnation. But the grace and mercy of God, and the free gift of righteousness and salvation, are through Jesus Christ, as man: yet the Lord from heaven has brought the multitude of believers into a more safe and exalted state than that from which they fell in Adam. This free gift did not place them anew in a state of trial, but fixed them in a state of justification, as Adam would have been placed, had he stood. Notwithstanding the differences, there is a striking similarity. As by the offence of one, sin and death prevailed to the condemnation of all men, so by the righteousness of one, grace prevailed to the justification of all related to Christ by faith. Through the grace of God, the gift by grace has abounded to many through Christ; yet multitudes choose to remain under the dominion of sin and death, rather than to apply for the blessings of the reign of grace. But Christ will in nowise cast out any who are willing to come to him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore - Wherefore (Ἄρα οὖν ara oun). This is properly a summing up, a recapitulation of what had been stated in the previous verses. The apostle resumes the statement or proposition made in Romans 5:12, and after the intermediate explanation in the parenthesis Romans 5:13-17, in this verse and the following, sums up the whole subject. The explanation, therefore, of the previous verses is designed to convey the real meaning of Romans 5:18-19.

As by the offence of one - Admitting this as an undisputed and everywhere apparent fact, a fact which no one can call in question.

Judgment came - This is not in the Greek, but it is evidently implied, and is stated in Romans 5:16. The meaning is, that all have been brought under the reign of death by one man.

Upon all men - The whole race. This explains what is meant by "the many" in Romans 5:15.

To condemnation - Romans 5:16.

Even so - In the manner explained in the previous verses. With the same certainty, and to the same extent. The apostle does not explain the mode in which it was done, but simply scares the fact.

By the righteousness of one - This stands opposed to the one offence of Adam, and must mean, therefore, the holiness, obedience, purity of the Redeemer. The sin of one man involved people in ruin; the obedience unto death of the other Philippians 2:8 restored them to the favor of God.

Came upon all men - (εἰς παντας ἀνθρώπους eis pantas anthrōpous. Was with reference to all people; had a bearing upon all people; was originally adapted to the race. As the sin of Adam was of such a nature in the relation in which he stood as to affect all the race, so the work of Christ in the relation in which he stood was adapted also to all the race. As the tendency of the one was to involve the race in condemnation, so the tendency of the other was to restore them to acceptance with God. There was an original applicability in the work of Christ to all people - a richness, a fulness of the atonement suited to meet the sins of the entire world, and restore the race to favor.

Unto justification of life - With reference to that justification which is connected with eternal life. That is, his work is adapted to produce acceptance with God, to the same extent as the crime of Adam has affected the race by involving them in sin and misery The apostle does not affirm that in fact as many will be affected by the one as by the other; but that it is suited to meet all the consequences of the fall; to be as wide-spread in its effects; and go be as salutary as that had been ruinous. This is all that the argument requires. Perhaps there could not be found a more striking declaration any where, that the work of Christ had an original applicability to all people; or that it is in its own nature suited to save all. The course of argument here leads inevitably to this; nor is it possible to avoid it without doing violence to the obvious and fair course of the discussion.

It does not prove that all will in fact be saved, but that the plan is suited to meet all the evils of the fall. A certain kind of medicine may have an original applicability to heal all persons under the same disease; and may be abundant and certain, and yet in fact be applied to few. The sun is suited to give light to all, yet many may be blind, or may voluntarily close their eyes. Water is adapted to the needs of all people, and the supply may be ample for the human family, yet in fact, from various causes, many may be deprived of it. So of the provisions of the plan of redemption. They are adapted to all; they are ample, and yet in fact, from causes which this is not the place to explain, the benefits, like those of medicine, water, science, etc. may never be enjoyed by all the race. Calvin concurs in this interpretation, and thus shows, that it is one which commends itself even to the most strenuous advocates of the system which is called by his name. He says, "He (the apostle) makes the grace common to all, because it is offered to all, not because it is in fact applied to all. For although Christ suffered for the sins or the whole world (nam etsi passus est Christus pro peccatis totius mundi), and it is offered to all without distinction (indifferenter), yet all do not embrace it." See Cal. Commentary on this place.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. Therefore—now at length resuming the unfinished comparison of Ro 5:12, in order to give formally the concluding member of it, which had been done once and again substantially, in the intermediate verses.

as by the offence of one judgment came—or, more simply, "it came."

upon all men to condenmation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came—rather, "it came."

upon all men to justification of life—(So Calvin, Bengel, Olshausen, Tholuck, Hodge, Philippi). But better, as we judge: "As through one offense it [came] upon all men to condemnation; even so through one righteousness [it came] upon all men to justification of life"—(So Beza, Grotius, Ferme, Meyer, De Wette, Alford, Revised Version). In this case, the apostle, resuming the statement of Ro 5:12, expresses it in a more concentrated and vivid form—suggested no doubt by the expression in Ro 5:16, "through one offense," representing Christ's whole work, considered as the ground of our justification, as "ONE RIGHTEOUSNESS." (Some would render the peculiar word here employed, "one righteous act" [Alford, &c.]; understanding by it Christ's death as the one redeeming act which reversed the one undoing act of Adam. But this is to limit the apostle's idea too much; for as the same word is properly rendered "righteousness" in Ro 8:4, where it means "the righteousness of the law as fulfilled by us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," so here it denotes Christ's whole "obedience unto death," considered as the one meritorious ground of the reversal of the condemnation which came by Adam. But on this, and on the expression, "all men," see on [2200]Ro 5:19. The expression "justification of life," is a vivid combination of two ideas already expatiated upon, meaning "justification entitling to and issuing in the rightful possession and enjoyment of life").

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Here, after a long parenthesis, the apostle returns to what he had begun to say in Romans 5:12; and now he makes the comparison full in both members, which there, by reason of intervening matter, was left imperfect, as I before hinted.

Judgment; guilt, which exposeth to judgment.

Came upon all men; all the posterity, or natural seed, of the first Adam.

The free gift; that which all along he calls the free gift, seems to be the benefit believers have by Christ’s obedience.

Came upon all men; not all universally, but all sorts of men indifferently, Gentiles as well as Jews; or all that are his spiritual seed. Or all men here is put for many men; see elsewhere, Luke 6:26 Acts 22:15.

Many is sometimes put for all, as Daniel 12:2, and again all for many; and indeed these two words, all and many, seem to be used reciprocally by this context in particular, Romans 5:15,19.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore as by the offence of one,.... Or by one offence, as before, the guilt of which is imputed to, and

judgment came upon all men to condemnation; which word is used in a legal sense, and intends condemnation to eternal death, as appears from the antithesis in the text; for if "justification of life", means an adjudging to eternal life, as it certainly does, the judgment or guilt, which is unto condemnation, must design a condemnation to eternal death, the just wages of sin: and this sentence of condemnation comes upon all men, all the sons of Adam without exception, even upon the elect of God themselves; though it is not executed upon them, but on their surety, whereby they are delivered from it:

even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life; the righteousness of Christ being freely imputed without works, as it is to all the men that belong to the second Adam, to all his seed and offspring, is their justification of life, or what adjudges and entitles them to eternal life. The sentence of justification was conceived in the mind of God from eternity, when his elect were ordained unto eternal life, on the foot of his Son's righteousness; this passed on Christ at his resurrection from the dead, and on all his people as considered in him, when they, in consequence of it, were quickened together with him; and this passes upon the conscience of a sinner at believing, when he may, as he should, reckon himself alive unto God, and is what gives him a right and title to everlasting life and glory.

Geneva Study Bible

{17} Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto {x} justification of life.

(17) Therefore, to be short, as by one man's offence the guiltiness came on all men to make them subject to death, so on the opposite side, the righteousness of Christ, which by God's mercy is imputed to all believers, justifies them, that they may become partakers of everlasting life.

(x) Not only because our sins are forgiven us, but also because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Romans 5:18 f. Summary recapitulation of the whole parallel treated of from Romans 5:12 onwards, so that the elements of likeness and unlikeness contained in it are now comprehended in one utterance. Συλλογίζεται ἐνταῦθα τὸ πᾶν, Theodore of Mopsuestia. The emergence of the ἄρα οὖν now ushering in the conclusion, as well as the corresponding relation of the contents of Romans 5:18 f. to the indication given by ὁς ἐστι τύπος τοῦ μέλλοντος in Romans 5:14, carries us back to Romans 5:12; not merely to Romans 5:16 f. (de Wette, Fritzsche); or merely to Romans 5:15-17 (Hofmann, Dietzsch). The right view is taken by Philippi, Ewald, Holsten.

ἄρα οὖν] conclusive: accordingly then,[1335] in very frequent use by the Apostle (Romans 7:3; Romans 7:25, Romans 8:12, Romans 9:16; Romans 9:18, Romans 14:12; Romans 14:19; Galatians 6:10; Ephesians 2:19 et al[1336]), and that, contrary to the classical usage (Herm. a[1337] Antig. 628, a[1338] Viger. p. 823), at the beginning of the sentence. For the necessary (contrary to Mehring’s view) completion of the two sentences, which are in the sharpest and briefest manner compressed as it were into a mere exclamation (Ewald), it is sufficient simply to supply: res cessit, it has come, ἀπεβή (Winer, p. 546 [E. T. 734]), or ἐγένετο (Grotius). See Buttmann’s neut. Gr. p. 338. As it therefore has come to a sentence of condemnation for all men through One trespass, so also it has come to justification of life (which has for its consequence the possession of the future Messianic life, comp Romans 5:21; John 5:28-29) for all men through One justifying judgment. The supplying of τὸ κρῖμα ἐγένετο to the first, and τὸ χάρισμα ἐγένετο to the second half (so Fritzsche and Rückert), considering the opposite sense of the two subjects, renders the very compressed discourse somewhat singular.

διʼ ἑνὸς δικ.] through one judicial verdict (see on Romans 5:16; Romans 5:19), namely, that which was pronounced by God on account of the obedience of Christ rendered through His death. In strict logic indeed the δικαίωμα, which is properly the antithesis of κατάκριμα (as in Romans 5:16), should not be opposed to παράπτωμα; but this incongruity of a lively interchange of conceptions is not un-Pauline (comp Romans 5:15). And it is thoroughly unwarranted to assign to δικαίωμα here also, as in Romans 5:16, significations which it has not; such as actual status of being righteous (Hofmann, Stölting), fulfilment of right (Philippi, Mangold), making amends (Rothe), righteous deed (Holsten), righteous life-condition of Christ (Dietzsch), with which a new humanity begins, Acts of justification (Tholuck), virtuousness (Baumgarten-Crusius), obedience (de Wette), and the like—definitions, in which for the most part regard is had to the act of the death of Jesus partly with and partly without the addition of the obedientia activa (comp also Klöpper), while Fritzsche explains it of the incarnation and humiliation of Christ (Php 2:5; Php 2:8) as His recte factum. Ewald interprets rightly: “through One righteous sentence;” so also van Hengel and Umbreit. This alone is permitted by Romans 5:16. It is the One declaration of what is now of right, that is, the judicial verdict of the being reconciled, which took place on the part of God on the ground of Christ’s sacrificial death—the consequence therefore, of His ὑπακοή rendered in death—and which so far may appear as the antithesis to the fall of Adam with the same right as in Romans 5:15 the grace and gift were adduced as the contrast to that fall. To take the ἑνός as masculine (Vulgate, Theodoret, Theophylact, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, and many others, including Tholuck, Fritzsche, Nielsen, Picard, Klöpper, Philippi, and Hofmann), is, seeing that no article is annexed, unwarranted according to the analogy of the immediate context, vv 17, 19; or Paul would have only expressed himself in a way liable to be misunderstood (how differently in ver 16!). Equally unwarranted is it to conceive the verb to be supplied in the apodosis as in the future (Philippi, Dietzsch). The judicial verdict is given and has redounded once and for ever to justification of eternal life for all; that is the great historical fact of salvation, which Paul has in view and sets forth as a concrete event (not under the point of view of a timeless abstraction, as Rothe thought) without considering how far it is now or in the future appropriated through faith by the subjects.

In both halves of the verse πάντες ἄνθρωποι is simply all men, as in Romans 5:12. At the same time it must be noted that in the second half the relation is conceived in its objectivity. On the part of God it has come to justification for all; thus the case stands objectively; the subjective attainment of this universal justification, the realisation of it for the individuals, depends upon whether the latter believingly apprehend the δικαίωμα for their own subjective δικαίωσις, or unbelievingly reject it. This dependence on a subjective condition, however, did not belong to the scope of our passage, in which the only object was to set forth the all-embracing blessed objective consequence of the ἓ δικαίωμα, in contrast to the all-destructive objective consequence of the ἕν παράπτωμα. Hence just as little can anything be deduced from our passage as from Romans 11:32 in favour of a final ἀποκατάστασις. The distinction imported by Hofmann and Lechler: that πάντες ἄνθρωποι means all without distinction, and πάντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι, on the other hand, all without exception, the sum total of mankind, is purely fanciful; πάντες means omnes, nemine excepto, alike whether the substantive belonging to it, in accordance with the connection, has or has not the article (“articulus, cum sensus fert additus vel omissus, discrimen sententiae non facit,” Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 519). Only when the article stands before πάντες (consequently οἱ πάντες ἄνθ.) does the distinction emerge, that we have to think of “cunctos sive universos, i. e. singulos in unum corpus colligatos” (Ellendt, p. 521); comp Krüger, § 50, 11, 12; Kühner, II. 1, p. 545.

[1335] Ἄρα, “ad internam potius causam spectat,” οὖν, “magis ad externam,” Klotz, ad Devar. p. 717. Comp. p. 173. The ἄρα serves specifically for dialectic accuracy; Baeumlein, p. 35; comp. Kühner, II. p. 857.

[1336] t al. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[1337] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[1338] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Romans 5:18. With ἄρα οὖν (cf. Romans 7:3; Romans 7:25, and often in Paul) the conclusion of the argument is introduced. It is simplest to take ἑνὸς in both clauses as neuter. “As through one offence the result for all men was condemnation, so also through one righteous act the result for all men is justification of life.” The result in both cases is mediated; in the former, by men’s actual sin; in the latter, by their faith in Christ. It has been questioned whether δικαίωμα can mean a “righteous act,”—that which Christ achieved in His death, conceived as one thing commanding the approval of God. This sense seems to be required by the contrast with παράπτωμα, but Meyer and others argue that, as in Romans 5:16, the meaning must be “a sentence of justification”. “Through one justifying sentence (pronounced over the world because of Christ’s death) the result for all men is justification of life.” But this justifying sentence in vacuo is alien to the realism of Paul’s thinking, and no strain is put upon δικαίωμα (especially when we observe its correspondence with παράπτωμα) in making it signify Christ’s work as a thing in which righteousness is, so to speak, embodied. Lightfoot (Notes on Epistles of St. Paul, p. 292) adopts this meaning, “a righteous deed,” and quotes Arist., Rhet., i., 13, τὰ ἀδικήματα πάντα καὶ τὰ δικαιώματα, and Etk. Nic., v., 7 (10): καλεῖται δὲ μᾶλλον δικαιοπράγημα τὸ κοινόν: δικαίωμα δὲ τὸ ἐπανόρθωμα τοῦ ἀδικήματος. This sense of an act by which an injustice is rectified is exactly suitable here. Through this the result for all men is δικαίωσις ζωῆς: for the genitive, see Winer, p. 235. Simcox, Language of the N.T., 85. When God justifies the sinner, he enters into and inherits life. But Lightfoot makes it Genesis appos.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. Therefore] In Romans 5:18-19 the argument, from Romans 5:12, is summed up as to its main substance; namely, the parallel of Adam and Christ; the illustration of the work of Christ by Adam’s position in respect of his descendants and the effect on them of his sin.

as by the offence of one] Better, as by one offence, as in marg. E. V.—The Gr. is elliptical here. We may supply “the result was,” in each part of the verse; as through one offence the result was, unto all men, to condemnation; so through one righteous act the result was, unto all men, to justification of life.—The word rendered here righteous act is the same as that rendered “acquittal” in the note on Romans 5:16, q.v. Its strict original meaning is a thing righteously done. Its usual actual meaning is an ordinance of justice. But in one N. T. passage at least it appears to mean a righteous act or course of acts. (Revelation 19:8, “the righteousnesses of the saints.”) It thus is possible to interpret it in one place here as an ordinance of acquittal, in the other as the great Acts of righteousness (which becomes also, as it were, a statute of righteousness,) done by the Redeemer for His brethren. Such a change of reference is not alien to St Paul’s style.—If, however, the interpretation righteous ordinance should seem more necessary than it seems to us, it would fairly suit the context. Christ’s obedience is (as suggested just above) viewed thus as the embodied ordinance, or institute, of Justification. This last, on the whole, is Meyer’s explanation.

all men … all men] What is the reference of these words in the two cases respectively? In the first, certainly, all mankind is meant. Every man, not in theory only but fact, incurred sentence of death in Adam. In the second case also, many commentators, (e.g. Meyer,) hold that all mankind is intended: not that all actually receive justification, but that all are within the scope of Christ’s work. Without entering on the profound question of the Divine Intentions, and merely seeking for St Paul’s special thought here, we prefer to take the second “all men” with a limit, as meaning “all who are connected with the Second Adam;” all “His brethren.” For through this whole context St Paul is dealing with results and facts, not with abstract theory. From the dreadful fact of the result of death from the Fall he reasons to the results of Christ’s work; and the parallel would be most imperfect (and such as precisely to contradict the “much more” of Romans 5:15; Romans 5:17,) if while in the one case condemnation was a fact and act, Justification should be only a possibility in the other. If Adam brings death in fact on all concerned, Christ must bring life in fact on all concerned also. Again, a limitation is suggested by the whole reasoning of the Epistle, and specially by Romans 8:30, where the justified are identical with the “foreknown” and “glorified,” in the plain sense of the passage.—The use of “all men” with this change of reference is fairly illustrated by 1 Corinthians 15:22-23. For through that whole ch. the Resurrection of the Church is the sole subject; and 1 Corinthians 15:23 explicitly refers to “them that are Christ’s:” and yet, when the parallel of Adam and Christ is in view, the word “all” is equally used there in both cases.—See for other illustrations, though less exact, John 12:32; Titus 2:11.

The view of Christ as the Head of all Mankind is, to say the least, far less distinct in Scripture than that of Christ as the Head of justified Mankind, the true Church. Bearing this in mind, a difference of reference here will surely seem more natural than a sameness which can only be explained by admitting profound differences along with it.

justification of life] i.e. which confers, and results in, life; both by reversal of the sentence of death, and (as in Romans 5:17) by the gift of the life of glory in consequence.

Bengel's Gnomen

Romans 5:18. Ἄρα οὖν) ἄρα draws the inference, syllogistically: οὖν concludes, almost rhetorically: for this subject is not farther discussed than in this and the following verse.—ἑνὸς—ἑνὸς, 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.—δικαιώματος—δικαίωσιν) Δικαίωμα is, so to speak, the material substratum, the foundation for δικαιώσει, justification; obedience, righteousness fulfilled. It may be called justificament (justificamentum) The ground and material of justification, as ἐδραίωμα denotes a firmament [or means of making firm]; ἔνδυμα, vestment; ἐπίβλημα, additament [or the thing wherewith addition is made]; μίασμα, defilement; ὀχύρωμα, muniment; περικάθαρμα, the means of purgation; περίψημα, the thing scraped of; σκέπασμα, a tegument or the thing wherewith a covering is made; στερέωμα, firmament; ὑπόδημα, a thing wherewith the foot is covered, a shoe; φρόνημα, sentiment [the material of φρόνησις] French sentiment. Aristot. Eth. Book v. c. 10, has put ἀδίκημα and δικαίωμα in opposition to each other, and defines the latter to be the correction of injustice [τὸ ἐπανόρθωμα τοῦ ἀδικήματος] the putting right what is wrong; which is tantamount to satisfaction [or atonement], a term undeservedly hateful to the Socinians.

The following scheme exhibits the exquisite propriety of the terms:—

A.

B.

C.

D.

Romans 5:16.

κρίμα,

κατάκριμα·,

χάρισμα,

δικαίωμα,

judgment.

condemnation.

free gift.

righteousness.

Romans 5:18.

παράπτωμα,

κατάκριμα·,

δικαίωμα,

δικαίωσις ζωῆς,

Offence.

condemnation.

righteousness.

justification of life.

In both verses A and B are of the same class, συστοιχεῖ, [are co-ordinate] and likewise C and D; but A and C correspond in the opposite classes, ἀντιστοιχεῖ; so also B and D. In Romans 5:16 the transaction on the part of God is described; in Romans 5:18 on the part of Adam and of Christ; and that, with less variety of words in the case of the economy of sin, than in the case of the economy of grace. Διχάιωσις ζωῆς, justification of life, is that Divine declaration, by which the sinner, subject to death, has life awarded to him, and that too, with justice on his side.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - So then, as through one trespass (rather so than "by the offence of one," as in the Authorized Version) the judgment came upon all men unto condemnation, so also through one act of righteousness (so Revised Version. The expression is δἰ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος, contrasted with the preceding δἰ ἑνὸς παραπτωματος) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life, i.e. conferring life. "Declaratio Divina ilia, qua peccator, mortis reus, vitae adjudicatur, idque jure" (Bengel). Here, as was observed under ver. 15, the phrase used is εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους, not εἰς τοὺς πολλοὺς, thus indisputably denoting universality of effect, as of the παράπτωμα, so also of δικαίωμα. But there is no verb to make clear the force of the preposition εἰς. It may denote the result to which a cause tends, without implying its inevitable accomplishment. Thus (Romans 7:10), Αὐρέθη μοι ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ εἰς ζωὴν, αὕτη εἰς θάνατον, where the same preposition expresses both the intended result of life and the actual result of death. Romans 5:18

Vincent's Word Studies

The offense of one (ἑνὸς παραπτώματος)

Rev., corrects, one trespass.

The righteousness of one (ἑνὸς δικαιώματος)

See on Romans 5:16. Rev., correctly, one act of righteousness.