Romans 5

Romans 5:1

the gospel dispensation is farther illustrated; bereby brought into so happy a state, as turns even ictions of life into an occasion of joy. Rom. V.

ROMANS V. 1.

WE have been reviewing the manner in which Abraham and David, those illustrious patriarchs, looked for justification and happiness, and in which we are to seek it, if we desire to succeed. We have been speaking of our adorable Saviour, as delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. Let us now therefore reflect a little on those invaluable benefits, which we who have embraced this dispensation, whether Jews or Gentiles, enjoy in consequence of it. And here it is in the first place evident, that being thus justified by means of faith in Christ, *we have peace with God.*ᵃ Our guilty fears are silenced, and we are taught to look up to him with sweet serenity of soul, while we no longer conceive of him as an enemy, but under the endearing character of a friend, and a father; even through the mediation and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom we have been introducedᵇ

ᵃ We have peace with God.] It seems very unreasonable to suppose, that when the apostle wrote such passages as this, and Eph. i. 1—3, he should mean to exclude himself, who was no Gentile; they are not therefore to be expounded, as spoken particularly of the Gentiles: nor could he surely intend by these grand descriptions and pathetic representations, to speak only of such external privileges as might have been common to Simon Magus, or any other hypocritical and wicked professor of Christianity. And if he did not intend this, he must speak of all true Christians as such, and as taking it for granted, that those to whom he addressed this, and his other epistles, were in the general such, though there might be some few excepted cases which he does not think it necessary often to touch upon. And this is, after all, the true key to such passages in his epistles; and as such, I have used it throughout my work; and as

I have more particularly stated and vindicated it in the postscript which I have added to the preface of my Sermons ex- Regeneration, in the second edition, I must beg leave to refer my reader thither, and hope I shall be excused from a more particular examination of that very different scheme of interpretation, which Mr. Taylor has so laboriously attempted to revive. The main principles of it are, I think, well confuted by my pious and worthy friend Dr. Guyse, in the preface to his Paraphrase of this Epistle.

ᵇ We have been introduced, την προστα- μαγνη εσχημαγνη.] Raphelius has shew from Herodotus, that προσταμαγνη is often use as a sacerdotal phrase, and signifies “bein with great solemnity introduced, as intthe more immediate presence of a deity i his temple, so as by a supposed interpreter, from thence called προσταμαγνη, the introducer, to have a kind of conference with such a deity.”

We rejoice in the fruits

by means of faith into that state of grace and acceptance in which we now stand with humble boldness in his presence, and cheerful confidence, that nothing shall remove us from his favour. And by a farther consequence, we do not only rejoice in some considerable present privileges, but boast in a pleasant and assured hope of inheriting at length the glory of God; a state of perpetual splendor and happiness in the house and presence of our heavenly Father, in which he will, as it were, adorn us with the rays of his own glory. And not only do we so boast in this hope, but we also glory in our tribulationᶜ and affliction, which far from esteeming, as the Jews are ready to do, any token of reprobation or displeasure, we look upon as being, in this connection, the allotment of God’s paternal love to us; that we may thereby be enabled to do him a more singular honour, and be prepared for a more exalted happiness; knowing that tribulation, under the influence of Divine grace, worketh a calm, silent, humble patience, a most beautiful and happy disposition of mind, which is daily strengthened by exercise. And this patience produceth such an experience of God’s supporting goodness, and such proof of our own sincere faith,ᵈ strict integrity, and steady resolution, for him, as we are sure will be acceptable to him; and therefore this experience and proof of our graces, which like pure gold brighten in the furnace, worketh a more lively and triumphant hope of a glorious future reward. And this hope, sublime and confident as it is, does not shame and confound [us] with disappointment; yea we know it cannot, because we have already within ourselves the very beginning of that heaven at which it aspires. For the love of God, in the perfection of which the blessedness of that celestial world

ᶜ We glory also in tribulation.] The Jews might object to the persecution of Christians, (as we know they did to that of their master,) as inconsistent with what they concluded would be the state of the people of the Messiah. It is therefore with great propriety, that the apostle so often discourses on the benefit arising from the sufferings of true believers, by which he lays in the strongest answer to any

such insinuation. And this delicacy of address is so apparent in many passages of the epistles, that I should swell the notes too much, if I were accurately to trace it.

ᵈ Proof of our faith.] Mons. Saurin very justly observes, that the word δωμ has this signification, and in a metaphor, taken from gold proved by purifying fire. Compare 1 Pet. i. 7; see Eccles. ii. 5. Saur. Serm. Vol. VII. p. 159.

o our tri ulation. consists, is, in a plentiful effusion, poured into our hearts by his Holy Spirit, which is given unto us, and enables us to see his love amidst all his corrections, and to delight ourselves daily in him; though for the present he appoints us trials which may seem ever so rigorous. Now all these invaluable privileges and hopes, which make our lives so joyful amidst such various tribulations and extreme sufferings, are to be traced up to the death of Christ, and resolved into his love: for when we were yet in a weak and languishing, infirm and helpless state, destitute of all these Divine principles and hopes; yea incapable of delivering ourselves from the depths of guilt and misery, into which we were plunged; Christ most seasonably died for us, even in the stead of the ungodly, for Jews and Gentiles, when they were, as we have proved before, all under sin. Now this is a most memorable thing, and worthy our frequent, attentive, and affectionate consideration. For scarcely would one be willing to die in the stead of a righteous man, though we apprehended him in the most immediate danger; [if] perhaps in the stead of a remarkably good and benevolent man, one would * Died in the stead of the ungodly. By ungodly here, Mr. Locke understands Gentiles; as also by weak, sinners, enemies, &c. They are undoubtedly included; but it seems very inconsistent with the whole strain of the apostle’s argument in the receding chapters, to confine it to them. Compare chap. iii 9-20, 22, 23; chap. v. 5; chap. v. 20 I therefore all along explain such passages in the most extensive sense; and think nothing in the whole New Testament plainer, than that he gospel supposes every human creature to whom it is addressed, to be in a state of guilt and condemnation, and incapable of being accepted with God, any otherwise than through the grace and mercy which it proclaims. Compare John iii. 16, 36; chap. v. 24; 1 John iii. 14; Mark xvi. 15, 16; Luke xxiv. 47; and especially 1 John i. 10; than which no assertion can be more positive and express. Albert (Observ. Sacr. p. 304,) has well proved that xixia xixios should be rendered seasonably; and Raphelius (Not. ex Xen. in ver. 8,) has abundant demonstrated, that υπρ πων απθανι signifies he died in our room and stead; nor can I find, that απθανι υπε πινε has ever any other significatio than that of rescuing the life of another at the expense of our own: and the very nex verse shews, independent on any other authority, how evidently it bears that sense here; as one can hardly imagine any one would die for a good man, unless it were to redeem his life by giving up his own. How much higher, not only Grotius, but Le Clerc, carried their explications of this great doctrine, than some moderns have done, may be seen by consulting Grotius’s Gloss on 1 Pet. ii. 19, (d Satisf cap. ix.) and Le Clerc on John i. 29 Now: γαg.] It is very evident, that γαg cannot have the force of an illative particle here, or in the preceding verse; and it is hardly possible to number all the passages in Paul’s writings, to which the like remark may be applied. * Righteous, — good ] It is true that in one sense righteousness must include goodness, as we owe to every man a benevolent

Justified by Christ’s death, we shall be saved by his life.

even dare to die : for certainly it is but here and there one, in a great multitude, who would be willing to redeem the most eminently useful life at the price of his own. But God hath recommended his astonishing love towards us, and set it off as it were with this grand circumstance of high embellishment, if I may so speak, that when we were yet sinners, and therefore not only undeserving of his favour, but justly obnoxious to wrath and punishment, Christ died in our stead, that our guilt might be cancelled, and we brought into a state of Divine acceptance. Since therefore it hath pleased the blessed God to give us such an unexampled display of his love as this, how high may our expectations rise, and how cheerfully may we conclude that much more being now justified by the efficacy of his most precious blood, we shall be saved from wrath by him ! For we can never imagine that God would provide at so expensive a rate for our justification, and then finally leave us under wrath ; though we have acquiesced in the scheme of his grace for our deliverance.

For if, as I have already maintained, when we were enemies, through the perverseness of our minds, and the rebellion of our lives, we were reconciled to God by the death of his own dear Son, and if foreseeing we should fall into this state of hostility, he made this wonderful provision for our being admitted to terms of peace ; how much more being thus reconciled, shall we be saved from misery, and made completely happy by his recovered life, now he is risen from the dead, and ascended to glory ?

flection, and are bound in duty to God to do all the good we can to the whole human species. But he may in common speech be called a just or righteous man, who gives to every one what is by law his use ; and he a good or benevolent man who voluntarily abounds in kind and generous actions, to which no human laws can compel him. Tully has the like distinction, (de Offic. lib. 1. chap. x. edit. Pierc.) and it is admirably illustrated by Raphelius (Not. ex Xen. in loc.) by apposite quotations from other ancient writers. It may very possibly, (as Godwyn has shewn in his

Yewish Antiquities, lib. 1. cap. ix.) bears some allusion to a distribution of mankind into three classes, ערים, חסרים, and רשעים, good men, righteous men, and sinners, which some rabbinical writers mention. All the beauty and grace of this passage is lost, by reading as is instead of as is, as the editor of the new version of 1727 does ; without, as I can find, any single authority : for a wicked man no one would willingly die, though for a benefactor some have readily offered to die. And as does not signify merely a personal benefactor, but in general a benevolent man.

Reflections on the happiness of peace with God.

IMPROVEMENT.

WITH what ecstacies of holy joy may we justly survey these inestimable privileges, the blessed consequences of having embraced the gospel, and being justified by faith, unfeigned! How great a happiness to have peace with God, with that omnipotent Being, who can at pleasure arm all nature against us, or for us! To have access to him by Jesus Christ, and daily converse with him as our Father in heaven! To rejoice in an assured hope of enjoying glory with Christ, in his presence; yea, of enjoying the God of glory. To see all affliction not only disarmed, but turned into matter of triumph, while tribulation worketh experience, patience, and hope! So may all our tribulations work, and be they ever so severe, they will be reasons for our joy and praise. The pain of them will soon be over; the happy consequences of them will be as lasting as our immortal souls.

Let us endeavour to dilate our hearts, that we may receive the largest effusions of the love of God, to be shed abroad there. The love of God! That plant of paradise, which will spring up unto eternal life. And to excite it, let us be daily meditating upon the rich wonders of redeeming love and grace; adoring that seasonable interposition of Divine mercy, that when we were weak and guilty creatures, when we lay for ever helpless under a sentence of everlasting condemnation, that is, when we appeared thus in the eyes of him who beholdeth things which are not as if they were, Christ died for us, and gave a token of his love even for the worst of sinners, which few among the children of men are willing to give, with respect to the most upright and benevolent of their brethren. Since the love of God comes thus recommended, let us cordially embrace it, and awaken all the powers of our souls to a diligent care to secure the happy fruits; that we may not receive the grace of God in vain. If we do indeed experience in ourselves, not only that there is a foundation laid for our reconciliation, but that we are actually reconciled to God by the death of his Son, our hopes may rise high, that we shall much more obtain consummate salvation by his life. For surely it is infinitely more astonishing, that the Son of God should die to reconcile enemies, than that having subdued their hearts by his dying love, and received them to friendship as the purchase of his blood, he should employ his recovered life and extensive authority for their protection, and complete salvation.

VOL. 4.

We glory in God, through Jesus Christ

Romans 5:11

The apostle shews, that the calamities brought by on his seed, are repaired with glorious advantages faith become interested in the second Adam. the end.

ROMANS V. 11.

I HAVE been breathing out our hopes, and our joys, as we are Christians, and are taught by the principles of our Divine religion to rejoice, not only in the prospect of glory, but even in tribulation itself. And now I must add, that it is not only [so,] but that there is another grand consideration, which, though not yet mentioned, lies at the root of all our confidence and happiness; which is this, that we boast in God as invariably our covenant God and Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom we have now, in these late times, received the great and important reconciliation,ᵃ which not only averts the terrors of his wrath, but opens upon us all the blessings of his perpetual friendship and love.

And thereforeᵇ we may from these premises infer, that the benefit which we believers receive from Christ,ᶜ is equal to the detriment we receive from Adam; yea, is on the whole greater than that; for we now obtain righteousness and life from one; as by one man, that is, Adam, the common father of the human species, sin entered into the new made world, and death, before unknown in the creation of God, entered by sin; and so death passed on from one generation to another upon all men; unto which

ᵃ Received the reconciliation.] The word καθαλλασχη here has so apparent a reference to καθαλλασχημιν and καθαλλασχενις in the preceding verse, that it is surprising it should have been rendered by so different a word in our version; especially as it is so improper to speak of our receiving an atonement, which God receives as made for our sins.

ᵇ Therefore.] Δια τυς certainly does often signify in this respect; but there are some instances even among the texts collected by Mr. Taylor here, in which it may as well be rendered therefore: particularly Matt. xiii. 13; John ix. 23; chap. xii. 18; chap. xiii. 2; 1 Cor. iv. 17; chap. xi. 30; Eph. i 15. In all which places our rendering seems preferable to what he would proose.

ᶜ We believers.] As this 12ᵗʰ verse is an inference from the 11ᵗʰ, it seems evident that they only are spoken of; for it is plain from comparing the 9ᵗʰ, 10ᵗʰ, and 11ᵗʰ verses with the first, that it is only they who are justified by faith, who have peace with God, and who joy in him by Christ as having received the reconciliation. And this obvious remark clears the following passage of difficulties, which would be exceeding great, if it were to be considered without regard to this connection, and which have in fact, misled many commentators; who for want of attending to it, have plunged themselves and their readers into great perplexity, and given a sense to the paragraph, of which it is by no means capable.

For though by the one o ence o dam eat came;

all have sinned in him,ᵈ that is, they are so far involved in the consequence of his first transgression, as by means of it to become obnoxious to death. And that this was indeed the case, and this offence the engine of mortality in the whole human species, we may infer from one very obvious fact, I mean the death of infants, from the very beginning; for from the fall of Adam unto the time when God gave the law by Moses, as well as after it, sin was, and appeared to be in the world, by the continual execution of its punishment, that is, death. But it is a selfevident principle, that sin is not, and cannot be, imputed, where there is no law; since the very essence of sin is the violation of a law. And consequently, if we see in fact that sin was imputed, we must conclude that the persons to whose account it appears to have been charged, were under some law. Nevertheless, it is certain death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over infants as well as others, over those, I say, who had not sinned, according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam,ᶜ that is, who had never in their own persons offended God, as Adam their father did; who, with respect to the extent of his actions to all his seed, was the figure, or modelᵈ of him who was to come,ᵉ

ᵈ Unto which all have sinned: [ἡ ὡλῖος ἠμῆσον.] Elsner (Observ. Vol. II. p. 26) would render it, on account of whom; and he produces some remarkable authorities for it; (compare Phil. iii. 12; Rom. x. 19; chap. xvi. 19; 1 Thess. iii. 7;) but I think those produced by Mr. Taylor, (from Gal. v. 13; Eph. ii. 19; 1 Thess. iv. 7; 2 Tim. ii. 14,) with the use of the particles in some of the purest Greek classics, sufficient to support his rendering, which I have here followed. See his Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, Part I. p. 51, &c. Note.

ᶜ Likeness of Adam’s transgression.] Mr. Locke and several more interpret this of the Gentiles, who did not sin against a positive law. But they might certainly have died for their transgression against the natural law, under which they were born, and for which the apostle expressly asserts, not only that they were in fact liable to perish, (chap. ii. 12, &c.) but that they knew they were worthy of death, (chap. i. ult.)

ᶠ Figure, or model.] That the word [ἡ ὡλῖος] has this signification, will appear from Acts vii. 44; Rom. vi. 17; Phil. iii. 17; 1 Thess. i. 7; 2 Thess. iii. 9; 1 Tim. iv. 12; Tit. ii. 7; Heb. viii. 5; 1 Pet. v. 3.

ᵍ Of him who was to come: [ἡ ὡλῖος] Here is evidently an ellipsis. Most commentators have explained it as referring to the great person that was to come, or in other words, the future [Adam,] that is, Christ. But Sir Norton Knatchbull would explain it of mankind to come. He thinks that Adam cannot with any propriety be called a type of Christ, as the type of a thing is its shape, model, or representation; and therefore if the thing be good, the type of it must be so too. Dr. Milner, in vindication of this interpretation, observes, that this will best agree with the apostle’s design. For if Adam was to be considered as a public person, the type, figure, or representation of mankind, his conduct will, as the apostle says it does, affect infants. Dr. Milner’s Fading Flowers of Life, p. 14

And reigned over the whole human race;

that is, a kind of type of the Messiah, as being a public person and federal head.

Yet I must observe by the way, that with respect to the free gift of God in the gospel dispensation, it [is] not exactly as the offence, nor limited in all respects as that is; for if by the offence of one many died, if the whole human family, numerous as it is, became obnoxious to death and destruction thereby; how much more hath the free grace of God, and the gift [which is granted] by that grace, as manifested and displayed in that one greater and better man Jesus Christ, abounded to many, that is, to all the numerous family of believers.

And this in two very important respects. In the first place, the gift [is] not merely, as the ruin that came upon us by one that sinned, in respect to the number of offences in question; for the sentence of but one offence [passed] upon us to condemnation; and we were no farther affected by the subsequent sins of Adam, than by those of any intermediate parent: but the gift of Divine grace, exhibited in the gospel, [is effectual] to our justification from the guilt of many offences. It not only delivers us from the sentence to which we were from our birthliable on account of Adam’s sin, but from that more grievous and dreadful sentence which we had brought upon ourselves in adult life by our innumerable and aggravated personal transgressions. Moreover there is another important article in which the grace of the gospel exceeds the seeming severity, which attended the imputation of guilt from our first father Adam; namely, that if by one man’s offence death reigned by one, over all his posterity, as we observed above, they who thankfully and obediently receiveᵇ the over-

But it may be sufficient to answer, that upon the common interpretation, there was plainly a correspondence between Christ and Adam, as each was a public head, though the influence of each on his respective seed was different; so that the whole reasoning of both these learned and ingenious writers seems inconclusive.

ᵇ Thankfully and obediently receive.] It is so very plain, that the abundant reign in life by Jesus Christ, is appropriated to persons of a particular character, expressed

here by receiving the gift, that it is surprising any should have spoken of it as common to the whole human race. And nothing is more evident, than that the word ἀμῶν has often this sense, and signifies being active in embracing a benefit proposed, or a person offering himself under a character of importance. Compare John i. 11, 12; chap. iii. 11, 32; chap. v. 43; chap. xii. 48; chap. xiii. 20; Jam. v. 10; 1 John v. 9; 2 John 10; 3 John 7.

n Christ shall be justified from many offences.

flowing abundance of free grace, and of the munificent gift of righteousness exhibited in the gospel, shall much more reign in life by the one great Restorer and Recoverer of his seed, even Jesus Christ: that is, believers shall by him be brought to a much nobler and more excellent life than that from which Adam fell, and which they lost in him.

Therefore, on the whole, you see, as I begun to observe to you before,¹ that 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 act 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 the disobedience of one man many were constituted sinners, that is, became obnoxious to death, as if they themselves had sinned; so by the complete and persevering obedience of one many shall be constituted righteous,ᵏ that is, they 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.

But as for the law of Moses, that could not possibly procure this great benefit to them; for that made a little entrance,¹ that is, took place

¹ As I begun to observe, [etc.] This 18ᵗʰ verse seems connected with the end of the 12ᵗʰ; and all the intermediate verses do undoubtedly come in as a parenthesis; and the reader, by perusing the interwoven text alone, will observe, that these verses, viz. 12ᵗʰ, 18ᵗʰ, 19ᵗʰ, make one continued sentence. But I judged it necessary here, and elsewhere, to break the paraphrase into several sentences, lest the excessive length should have rendered the sense obscure, and the passage unwieldy and disagreeable. Many of Paul’s sentences are, as they stand in the text, obscured by the length. Compare 2 Cor. xii. 14; chap. xiii.

ᵏ Many shall be constituted righteous.] To become liable to death for the offence of another, is indeed being thereby constituted a sinner, or treated as a sinner; since death is, in its primary view, to be considered as the wages of sin, or the ani-

madversion of a righteous God upon it: but 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 Mr. Taylor has given of this text, in this view, appears to me destitute of a sufficient foundation.

¹ Made a little entrance.] So [et al.] properly signifies, and is well rendered by the Vulgate, subintravir; in which sense, [et al.] is used, Gal. ii. 4. Thus the partial and limited entrance of the law is distinguished from that universal entrance of sin, which passed on all, as Mr. Locke well observes. This I think preferable to Mr. L’Enfant’s rendering it, the law intervened, that is, between Adam and Christ.

Grace reigns through Jesus Christ to eternal life.

among comparatively a very small number of mankind for a few ages, that the offence might, instead of being removed, abound much more than before; as in consequence of it many things became offensive to God, which were before indifferent, and the guilt of moral offences was aggravated by so express a declaration of the rule of duty, violated by them: so that on the whole, it seemed intended to convince and humble, rather than to justify. Yet, on the whole, God hath taken an occasion to glorify the riches of his mercy by that dispensation, and where sin has abounded under the most aggravating circumstances, grace hath superabounded, so as thereby to gain a superior and more illustrious triumph. That as sin had reigned in the wide and universal devastation which death had made on those whom it had brought under that fatal sentence, so grace might reign to such a degree, as to bestow eternal life and happiness, through the glorious and complete righteousness which we obtain by Jesus Christ our Lord, when we sincerely believe in him as our Saviour, and give up our souls to the authority of his equitable and auspicious government.

IMPROVEMENT.

verse 11 Let us daily remember our relation to God by Christ Jesus, and glory in this relation; saying frequently, “He is indeed our Father. This God, with all his adorable, unfathomable, immutable perfections, is our God. He will be our Guide unto death, and our portion for ever. My soul shall make her boas in the Lord. What relation can be so honourable, what can afford such an unfailing spring of perpetual joy!”

Let us honour him in all his dispensations; even those which may appear the most mysterious. In this number we are undoubtedly to reckon his constituting Adam the covenanthead of his posterity, and involving our life or death in him; yea, adjusting the relation so, that our spiritual state should be greatly affected by his conduct, and we should by his transgression become the heirs, not only of death, but of moral pollution, and ultimately by virtue of our descent from him, be shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin.

m Grace might reign to eternal life through righteousness, &c.] This trajection the sense absolutely requires.

Reflections on Adam’s sin, and the grace of Christ.

It is a consideration which must carry awe and solemnity, grief and lamentation, throughout all ages, that by one man sin entered into the world, and death made such a progress by the entrance of sin, as to pass upon all men in consequence of that act. O God, how terrible are thy judgments! and yet how rich thy compassion, in appointing the second Adam to repair the ruin and desolations of the first! Yea, more than to repair them; to deliver us from all our most aggravated transgressions, if we believe in him, and receive the gift of righteousness! to cause us to reign in life by him! to bring us to a more exalted and secure happiness than Adam himself enjoyed in the day in which he was created, or than Eden, the garden of God, could afford!

Let us adore these superaboundings of Divine grace, and its reign unto eternal life. And let all our knowledge of the law of God, our distress under a sense of having broken it, and being thereby exposed to its condemning sentence, be considered as illustrating the riches of that grace whereby we are saved, and so animate us to returns of the humblest gratitude, and a persevering obedience. Amen.