Romans 5:19

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) Many were made sinners.—The many, or mankind collectively, were placed in the position of sinners.

Obedience.—This term is chosen in contradistinction to the disobedience of Adam. The obedience of Christ was an element in the atonement. (Comp. Philippians 2:8, where it is said that he “became obedient unto death;” and Hebrews 10:7, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” specially in connection with the atonement.) But if we interpret St. Paul by himself, we must not see in it the sole element to the exclusion of the “propitiatory sacrifice” of Romans 3:25; Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 5:2; 1Timothy 2:6.

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

For ... - This verse is not a mere repetition of the former, but it is an explanation. By the former statements it might perhaps be inferred that people were condemned without any guilt or blame of theirs. The apostle in this verse guards against this, and affirms that they are in fact sinners. He affirms that those who are sinners are condemned, and that the sufferings brought in on account of the sin of Adam, are introduced because many were made sinners. Calvin says," Lest anyone should arrogate to himself innocence, (the apostle) adds, that each one is condemned because he is a sinner."

(The same objection which was stated against a previous quotation from Calvin applies here. The reformer does not mean that each is condemned because he is actually a sinner. He affirms that the ground of condemnation lies in something with which we are born, which belongs to us antecedent to actual transgression.)

By one man's disobedience - By means of the sin of Adam. This affirms simply the fact thai such a result followed from the sin of Adam. The word by διά dia is used in the Scriptures as it is in all books and in all languages. It may denote the efficient cause; the instrumental cause; the principal cause; the meritorious cause; or the chief occasion by which a thing occurred. (See Schleusner.) It does not express one mode, and one only, in which a thing is done; but that one thing is the result of another. When we say that a young man is ruined in his character by another, we do not express the mode, but the fact. When we say that thousands have been made infidels by the writings of Paine and Voltaire, we make no affirmation about the mode, but about the fact. In each of these, and in all other cases, we should deem it most inconclusive reasoning to attempt to determine the mode by the preposition by; and still more absurd if it were argued from the use of that preposition that the sins of the seducer were imputed to the young man; or the opinions of Paine and Voltaire imputed to infidels.

(What is here said of the various significations of διά dia is true. Yet it will not be denied, that in a multitude of instances it points to the real cause or ground of a thing. The sense is to be determined by the connection. "We have in this single passage no less than three cases, Romans 5:12, Romans 5:18-19, in which this preposition with the genitive indicates the ground or reason on account of which something is given or performed. All this is surely sufficient to prove that it may, in the case before us, express the ground why the sentence of condemnation has passed upon all men." To draw an illustration from the injury inflicted by Voltaire and Paine, will not serve the author's purpose, until he can prove, that they stand in a relation, to those whom they have injured, similar to what Adam bears to the human family. When we say that thousands have been ruined by Voltaire, it is true we can have no idea of imputation: yet we may fairly entertain such an idea when it is said, "all man. kind have been ruined by Adam.")

Many - Greek, The many, Romans 5:15. "Were made" (κατεσταθησαν katestathēsan). The verb used here, occurs in the New Testament in the following places: Matthew 24:45, Matthew 24:47; Matthew 25:21, Matthew 25:23; Luke 12:14, Luke 12:42, Luke 12:44; Acts 6:3; Acts 7:10, Acts 7:27, Acts 7:35; Acts 17:15; Romans 5:19; Titus 1:5; Hebrews 2:7; Hebrews 5:1; Hebrews 7:28; Hebrews 8:3; James 3:6; James 4:4; 2 Peter 1:8. It usually means to constitute, set, or appoint. In the New Testament it has two leading significations.

(1) to appoint to an office, to set over others (Matthew 24:45, Matthew 24:47; Luke 12:42, etc.); and,

(2) It means to become, to be in fact, etc.; James 3:6, "so is the tongue among our members," etc.

That is, it becomes such; James 4:4, "The friendship of the world is enmity with God; it becomes such; it is in fact thus, and is thus to be regarded. The word is, in no instance, used to express the idea of imputing that to one which belongs to another. It here either means that this was by a constitution of divine appointment that they in fact became sinners, or simply declares that they were so in fact. There is not the slightest intimation that it was by imputation. The whole scope of the argument is, moreover, against this; for the object of the apostle is not to show that they were charged with the sin of another, but that they were in fact sinners themselves. If it means that they were condemned for his act, without any concurrence of their own will, then the correspondent part will be true, that all are constituted righteous in the same way; and thus the doctrine of universal salvation will be inevitable. But as none are constituted righteous who do not voluntarily avail themselves of the provisions of mercy, so it follows that those who are condemned, are not condemned for the sin of another without their own concurrence; nor unless they personally deserve it.

Sinners - Transgressors; those who deserve to be punished. It does not mean those who are condemned for the sin of another; but those who are violators of the Law of God. All who are condemned are sinners. They are not innocent persons condemned for the crime of another. People may be involved in the consequences of the sins of others without being to blame. The consequences of the crimes of a murderer, a drunkard, a pirate may pass over from them, and affect thousands, and overwhelm them in ruin. But this does not prove that they are blameworthy. In the divine administration none are regarded as guilty who are not guilty; none are condemned who do not deserve to be condemned. All who sink to hell are sinners.

By the obedience of one - Of Christ. This stands opposed to the disobedience of Adam, and evidently includes the entire work of the Redeemer which has a bearing on the salvation of people; Philippians 2:8, "He ...became obedient unto death."

Shall many - Greek, The many; corresponding to the term in the former part of the verse, and evidently commensurate with it; for there is no reason for limiting it to a part in this member, any more than there is in the former.

Be made - The same Greek word as before be appointed, or become. The apostle has explained the mode in which this is done; Romans 1:17; Romans 3:24-26; Romans 4:1-5. That explanation is to limit the meaning here. No more are considered righteous than become so in that way. And as all do not become righteous thus, the passage cannot be adduced to prove the doctrine of universal salvation.

The following remarks may express the doctrines which are established by this much-contested and difficult passage.

(1) Adam was created holy; capable of obeying law; yet free to fall.

continued...

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. For, &c.—better, "For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so by the obedience of the One shall the many be made righteous." On this great verse observe: First, By the "obedience" of Christ here is plainly not meant more than what divines call His active obedience, as distinguished from His sufferings and death; it is the entire work of Christ in its obediential character. Our Lord Himself represents even His death as His great act of obedience to the Father: "This commandment (that is, to lay down and resume His life) have I received of My Father" (Joh 10:8). Second, The significant word twice rendered made, does not signify to work a change upon a person or thing, but to constitute or ordain, as will be seen from all the places where it is used. Here, accordingly, it is intended to express that judicial act which holds men, in virtue of their connection with Adam, as sinners; and, in connection with Christ, as righteous. Third, The change of tense from the past to the future—"as through Adam we were made sinners, so through Christ we shall be made righteous"—delightfully expresses the enduring character of the act, and of the economy to which such acts belong, in contrast with the for-ever-past ruin of believers in Adam. (See on [2201]Ro 6:5). Fourth, The "all men" of Ro 5:18 and the "many" of Ro 5:19 are the same party, though under a slightly different aspect. In the latter case, the contrast is between the one representative (Adam—Christ) and the many whom he represented; in the former case, it is between the one head (Adam—Christ) and the human race, affected for death and life respectively by the actings of that one. Only in this latter case it is the redeemed family of man that is alone in view; it is humanity as actually lost, but also as actually saved, as ruined and recovered. Such as refuse to fall in with the high purpose of God to constitute His Son a "second Adam," the Head of a new race, and as impenitent and unbelieving finally perish, have no place in this section of the Epistle, whose sole object is to show how God repairs in the second Adam the evil done by the first. (Thus the doctrine of universal restoration has no place here. Thus too the forced interpretation by which the "justification of all" is made to mean a justification merely in possibility and offer to all, and the "justification of the many" to mean the actual justification of as many as believe [Alford, &c.], is completely avoided. And thus the harshness of comparing a whole fallen family with a recovered part is got rid of. However true it be in fact that part of mankind is not saved, this is not the aspect in which the subject is here presented. It is totals that are compared and contrasted; and it is the same total in two successive conditions—namely, the human race as ruined in Adam and recovered in Christ).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

One man’s; i.e. Adam’s: see the notes on Romans 5:12.

Many; i.e. all, as before; many is here opposed to one, or a few; the meaning is: Though Adam was but one, yet he infected many others, his sin rested not in his own person.

Were made sinners; brought into a state of sin. This is more than when all the world were said to sin in him. The word is used to signify great and heinous sinners. The apostle here informs us of that which all philosophy was ignorant of, viz. the imputation of Adam’s sin, and our natural pollution flowing from it. Yea, this was more than the naked history of man’s fall by Moses did discover; there indeed we see the cause of death, how that came upon all mankind; but that Adam’s sin was accounted to us, that by his disobedience we are involved in sin and misery, that is not clearly revealed in the books of Moses. We are beholden to the gospel, and particularly to this text and context, for the more full discovery hereof.

By the obedience of one; i.e. of Christ. He leaves out the word man, either for brevity sake, or because Christ was not a mere man, as Adam was. Here the apostle concludes the collation he had made between Adam and Christ, whom he had all along represented as two public persons, or as two common roots or fountains, the one of sin and death, the other of righteousness and life. And indeed there are throughout the context (as one observes) several textual and grammatical obscurities, as also redundant and defective expressions, which are not unusual with this apostle, whose matter runneth from him like a torrent, and cannot be so well bounded by words. Another saith, upon the consideration of the difficulties in this context: We do not need Theseus’s twine of thread, but the Holy Ghost, and that light by which this Epistle was wrote, to guide us into the understanding of it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,.... Agreeably to this the Jews say (g), that

"for the sin of the first man, all that are born of him, , "become wicked".''

This is the sum of what is said in the foregoing verses, that as by Adam's sin all his posterity are made sinners, and so are brought under a sentence of condemnation; in like manner by the obedience of Christ, all his seed are made righteous, and come under a sentence of justification of life: the persons made sinners are said to be "many", in opposition to the "one man", by whose disobedience they became so, and because there is an exception of one, even Jesus Christ; and mean all the natural descendants of Adam, who are many, and are so called, to answer to the subjects of justification in the next clause: what they are made sinners by, is "the disobedience of one man, Adam"; and by the first and single disobedience of his, in eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, by which they "were made sinners": the meaning of which is not, that they became sufferers for it, or subject to death on the account of it; the word used will not bear such a sense, but signifies men guilty of sin, and sometimes the worst and chief of sinners; besides, the apostle had expressed that before; add to this, that the sons of Adam could not be sufferers for his sin, or subject to death on account of it, if they were not made sinners by it, or involved in the guilt or it: and though the posterity of Adam are habitually sinners, that is, derive corrupt nature from Adam, yet this is not meant here; but that they are become guilty, through the imputation of his sin to them; for it is by the disobedience of another they are made sinners, which must be by the imputation of that disobedience to them; he sinned, and they sinned in him, when they had as yet no actual existence; which could be no other way, than by imputation, as he was reckoned and accounted their head and representative, and they reckoned and accounted in him, and so have sinned in him. This is also evident, from the sentence of condemnation and death passing upon all men for it; and even upon those, who had not actually sinned; to which may be added, that Adam's posterity are made sinners through his disobedience, in the same way as Christ's seed are made righteous by his obedience, which is by the imputation of it to them;

so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous; not by their own obedience; nor by their own obedience and Christ's together; but by his sole and single obedience to the law of God: and the persons made righteous by it are not all the posterity of Adam, and yet not a few of them; but "many", even all the elect of God, and seed of Christ; these are all made righteous in the sight of God, are justified from all their sins, and entitled to eternal life and happiness.

(g) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 97. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

{18} For as by one man's {y} disobedience {z} many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

(18) The foundation of this whole comparison is this, that these two men are set as two heads or roots, so that out of the one comes sin by nature, and from the other righteousness by grace springs forth upon others.

(y) So then, sin enters not into us only by following the steps of our forefathers, but we receive corruption from him by inheritance.

(z) The word many is contrasted with the words a few.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Romans 5:19. This final sentence, assigning a reason, now formally by the recurrence of the ὥσπερ points back to Romans 5:12, with which the whole chain of discourse that here runs to an end had begun. But that which is to be established by γάρ is not the how of the parallel comparison, which is set forth repeatedly with clearness (in opposition to Rothe), but the blissful conclusion of that comparison in Romans 5:18 : εἰς δικαίωσιν ζωῆς, upon which what is now expressed in Romans 5:19 impresses the seal of certainty. Dietzsch thinks that the purport, which is kept general, of Romans 5:18 is now to be established from the personal life. But the right interpretation of δικαίωμα and of δίκαιοι κατασταθήσονται is opposed to this view.

ἁμαρτωλοὶ κατεστάθ. οἱ πολλοί] The many were set down as sinners; for according to Romans 5:12 ff. they were indeed, through the disobedience of Adam, put actually into the category of sinners, because, namely, they sinned in and with the fall of Adam. Thus through the disobedience of the one man, because all had part in it, has the position of all become that of sinners. The consequence of this, that they were subjected to punishment (Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact and others), were treated as sinners (Grotius, Flatt, Böhme, Krehl and others), and the like, is not here expressly included, but after the foregoing is obvious of itself. Fritzsche (comp Koppe and Reiche) has: through their death they appeared as sinners.[1344] On the one hand this gratuitously imports something (through their death), and on the other it does violence to the expression κατεστάθ., which denotes the real putting into the position of sinners, whereby they de facto came to stand as sinners,[1345] peccatores constituti sunt (Jam 4:4; 2 Peter 1:8; Hebrews 5:1; Hebrews 8:3; 2Ma 15:2; 3Ma 1:7; Plat. Rep. p. 564 A; Conv. p. 222 B; examples from Xenophon in Sturz, II. p. 610), as is required by the ruling normal clause ἐφ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον in Romans 5:12. The Apostle might have written ἘΓΕΝΉΘΗΣΑΝ (as Dietzsch explains the ΚΑΤΕΣΤ.), but he has already in view the antithesis ΔΊΚΑΙΟΙ ΚΑΤΑΣΤ., and expresses himself in conformity to it: hence also he does not put ΠΆΝΤΕς (which might have stood in the first clause), but ΟἹ ΠΟΛΛΟΊ.

ΔΙᾺ ὙΠΑΚΟῆς] through obedience. The death of Jesus was κατʼ ἐξοχήν His obedience to the will of the Father, Php 2:8; Hebrews 5:8. But this designation is selected as the antithesis to the παρακοή of Adam, and all the more certainly therefore it does not here mean “the collective life-obedience” (Lechler, comp Hofmann, Dietzsch and others), but must be understood as the deed of atonement willed by God (Romans 5:8 ff.), to which we owe justification, and the ethical premiss of which on Christ’s side is righteousness of life, although Hofmann improperly rejects this view as a groundless fancy.

δίκαιοι κατασταθήσονται] shall be placed in the category of righteous. The future refers[1347] to the future revelation of glory after the resurrection (Reiche, Fritzsche, Klöpper); not to the fact that the multitude of believers is conceived of as not yet completed, and consequently the justifying of them is chiefly regarded as a succession of cases to come (comp Romans 3:20; Romans 3:30). The how of the δίκαιοι κατασταθ. cannot be found in an actual becoming righteous, as result of the divine work of grace, at the close of the saving process (Dietzsch), which would offend against the whole context since Romans 5:12, and anticipate the contents of ch. 6. In truth the mode which Paul had in view is beyond doubt, after the development of the doctrine of justification in chs. Romans 3:4. God has forgiven believers on account of the death of Christ, and counted their faith as righteousness. Thus the obedience of the One has caused that at the judgment the πολλοί shall by God’s sentence enter into the category of the righteous,[1349] as the disobedience of the One had caused the πολλοί to enter the opposite. In both cases the causa meritoria is the objective act of the two heads of the race (the sin of Adam—the death of Christ), to whom belong the πολλοί on both sides; while the subjective mediating cause is the individual relation to those acts (communion in Adam’s fall—faith). It is a mistake therefore to quote this passage against the Protestant doctrine of justification (Reithmayr and Bisping), as if the making righteous were designated as sanctification. But we are not entitled to carry the comparison between Adam and Christ further than Paul himself has done.

[1344] So also Julius Müller, v. d. Sünde, II. p. 485, ed. 5, evading the literal sense: “the many have become declared (as it were before the divine judgment-seat) as sinners through the disobedience of the one man (as the determining initial point of sinful development), by the fact, that they have been subjected to death.” See on the other hand Hofmann, who properly urges that they did not become sinners only along with their dying, but immediately through Adam’s disobedience. But the how of their doing so is in fact just the ἐφʼ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον, according to our conception of these words.

[1345] Dietzsch should not have raised the objection that it ought to have been εἰς ἁμαρτωλούς, or ἐν ἁμαρτωλοῖς. See generally Kühner, II. 1, p. 274.

[1347] Corresponding to the βασιλεύσουσι in ver. 17, and hence not to be explained in a mere general way of the certain expectation or conviction (Mehring), as Hofmann also takes it in the sense of μέλλει λογίζεσθαι, Romans 4:24. Comp. on the other hand Romans 2:13; Romans 2:16; and see on Galatians 5:5.

[1349] Consequently not through any internal communication or infusion of the moral quality of righteousness; comp. Döllinger, Christenthum u. K. p. 200 f. 190, ed. 2. See on the other hand Köstlin in the Jahrb. f. D. Theol. 1856, p. 95. Döllinger erroneously explains κατασταθήσ.: “established in righteousness.”

Expositor's Greek Testament

Romans 5:19. The sense of this verse has been determined by what precedes. The γὰρ connects it closely with the last words of Romans 5:18 : “justification of life; for, as through, etc.”. ἁμαρτωλοὶ κατεστάθησαν: “were constituted sinners”. For the word κατεστ. cf. Jam 4:4, 2 Peter 1:8. It has the same ambiguity as the English word “constituted” (S. and H.); but we cannot say, from the word itself, whether the many constituted sinners, through the one person’s disobedience, are so constituted immediately and unconditionally, or mediately through their own sin (to be traced back, of course, to him); this last, as has been argued above, is the Apostle’s meaning. οὕτως καὶ διὰ τῆς ὑπακοῆς τοῦ ἑνός: the application of τῆς ὑπακοῆς has been disputed. By some (Hofmann, Lechler) it is taken to cover the whole life and work of Jesus conceived as the carrying out of the Father’s will: cf. Php 2:8. By others (Meyer) it is limited to Christ’s death as the one great act of obedience on which the possibility of justification depended: cf. chap. Romans 3:25, Romans 5:9. Both ideas are Pauline, but the last seems most congruous to the context and the contrast which pervades it. δίκαιοι κατασταθήσονται: “shall be constituted righteous”; the futureshows again that Paul is dealing with experience, or at least with possible experience; the logic which finds the key to the passage in Bengel’s formula, Omnes peccarunt Adamo peccante, would have written here also δίκαιοι κατεστάθησαν. It is because Paul conceives of this justification as conditioned in the case of each of the πολλοί by faith, and as in process of taking place in one after another that he uses the future. A reference to the Judgment Day (Meyer) is forced: it is not then, but when they believe in Christ, that men are constituted δίκαιοι.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. For, &c.] This verse is in close connexion with Romans 5:18. St Paul recurs to the central truth in view, now from this side now from that, so as to leave the one deep and distinct impression of the vicariousness of the unique Work of the Second Adam; the truth that the justification of all the justified wholly results therefrom.

made sinners … made righteous] Better, constituted, “put into a position” of guilt and righteousness respectively. Here the whole context points to not a moral change but a legal standing. In Adam “the many” became, in the eye of the Law, guilty; in Christ “the many” shall become, in the eye of the same Law, righteous. In other words, they shall be justified.—“Shall be made:”—the future refers to the succession of believers. The justification of all was, ideally, complete already; but, actually, it would await the times of individual believing.—“Many:”—lit., in both cases, “the many.” See on Romans 5:15.—“Obedience:”—here probably the special reference is to the Redeemer’s “delight to do the will” of His Father, “even unto the death of the cross.” (Psalm 40:8; Php 2:8.)

Bengel's Gnomen

Romans 5:19. Παρακοῆς) παρὰ in παρακοή very appositely points out the principle of the initial step, which ended in Adam’s fall. The question is asked, how could the understanding or the will of an upright man have been capable of receiving injury, or of committing an offence? Ans. The understanding and the will simultaneously gave way [tottered] through carelessness, ἀμέλεια, nor can we conceive of any thing else previous to carelessness, ἀμέλεια, in this case, as the initial step towards a city being taken is remissness on the part of the guards on watch. Adam was seduced through carelessness and indolence of mind, δια̇ ῥᾳθυμίαν; as Chrysostom says, Homil. xxvii. on Gen., and at full length in Homil. lx. on Matt., “whence did man wish to disobey God? from weakness and indolence of mind,” πόθεν ἠθέλησεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος παρακοῦσαι Θεοῦ; ἀπὸ ῥᾳθυμίας, κ.τ.λ.—παρακοὴ, disobedience, implies this carelessness or weakness. The opposite in this passage is ὑπακοὴ, obedience, from which is derived an excellent argument regarding active obedience, without which the atonement of Christ could not have been called obedience; it is for this reason He is so often praised as, ἄμωμος, blameless.—κατασταθήσονται, shall be constituted) It is one thing for a man to be constituted righteous, even where imputation is spoken of, it is another thing to be justified, since the former exists as the basis and foundation of justification, and necessarily precedes true justification, under which it is laid as the substratum [on which it rests]; for a man must of necessity stand forth as righteous, before he can be truly justified. But we have both the one and the other from Christ, for both the merit of Christ’s satisfaction for sin, imputed to a man in himself unrighteous, already constitutes that same person righteous, inasmuch as it procures for him the righteousness, by which he is righteous; and by virtue of this righteousness, which is obtained by that merit, he is necessarily justified wherein-soever that justification be needed; that is, he is justly acquitted by merit, who in this way stands forth righteous, Thom. Gataker. Diss. de novi instr. stylo, cap. 8. This is quite right. Nevertheless the apostle, as at the end of the period, seems to set forth such a constituting of men as righteous, as [which] may follow upon the act of justification, and which is included in the expression being found, Php 3:9; comp. with Galatians 2:17.—οἱ πολλοὶ, the many) all men, Romans 5:18; Romans 5:15.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the One shall the many be made righteous. As to the significance of οἱ πολλοὶ, see under ver. 15. The phrase, if taken as equivalent to πάντες, would seem here to imply even more than in ver. 15; for there it was only said that "the gift... abounded unto the many;" here an actual result is expressed by the future, δίκαιοι κατασταθήσονται. But even so the universality of final salvation need not necessarily follow. The phrase is, "shall be constituted righteous," and might only mean that all will be put into the position of justified persons, capable as such of salvation, just as all had, through the first transgression, been put into the position of sinners, liable as such to condemnation; and the future tense might be taken to denote the continuance, through all future ages, of the availing effect of the accomplished atonement. Further, it may be remarked that if universal final salvation did seem to follow from the passage before us, it would still have to be understood consistently with the purport of ch. 6, 7, and 8, which follow. In them the practical result to the believer of his justification through Christ is treated; and renunciation of sin, "living after the Spirit," is postulated as the condition for attaining the life eternal. Hence, if the doctrine of "eternal hope" be sound (and who can fail to desire that it should be so?), it must be to some unknown reconciliation beyond the limits of the present life that we must look in the case of those who have not fulfilled the necessary conditions here. Thus, further, the doctrine cannot legitimately be allowed to affect our view of our responsibilities now. To us the only doctrine distinctly revealed on the subject of salvation is that it is in this present life that we are to make our "calling and election sure." Two ways are put before us - the way of life, and the way of death; the one leading to ζωὴ αἰώνιος, the other to κόλασις αἰώνιος. In vers. 6-10 (as elsewhere, see note on Romans 3:25) it was through the death, the blood, of Christ that we were said to have been reconciled to God; here it is through his obedience, opposed to the disobedience of Adam. Though the doctrine of the atonement, in all its depth, is beyond our comprehension now (see above on ver. 9), yet it is important for us to observe the various aspects in which it is presented to us in Scripture. Here the idea suggested is that of Christ, as the Representative of humanity, satisfying Divine righteousness by perfect obedience to the Divine will, and thus offering to God for man what man had lest the power of offering (cf. Psalm 40:10, "Lo, I come to fulfil thy will, O my God;" and Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:9, et seq.; also Philippians 2:8, "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross"). Romans 5:19

Vincent's Word Studies

Disobedience (παρακοῆς)

Only here, 2 Corinthians 10:6; Hebrews 9:2. The kindred verb παραλούω to neglect, Rev., refuse, occurs Matthew 18:17. From παρά aside, amiss, and ἀκούω to hear, sometimes with the accompanying sense of heeding, and so nearly equals obey. Παρακοή is therefore, primarily, a failing to hear or hearing amiss. Bengel remarks that the word very appositely points out the first step in Adam's fall - carelessness, as the beginning of a city's capture is the remissness of the guards.

Were made (κατεστάθησαν)

See on James 3:6. Used elsewhere by Paul only at Titus 1:5, in the sense of to appoint to office or position. This is its most frequent use in the New Testament. See Matthew 24:25; Acts 6:3; Acts 7:10; Hebrews 5:1, etc. The primary meaning being to set down, it is used in classical Greek of bringing to a place, as a ship to the land, or a man to a place or person; hence to bring before a magistrate (Acts 17:15). From this comes the meaning to set down as, i.e., to declare or show to be; or to constitute, make to be. So 2 Peter 1:8; James 4:4; James 3:6. The exact meaning in this passage is disputed. The following are the principal explanations: 1. Set down in a declarative sense; declared to be. 2. Placed in the category of sinners because of a vital connection with the first tranegressor. 3. Became sinners; were made. This last harmonizes with sinned in Romans 5:12. The disobedience of Adam is thus declared to have been the occasion of the death of all, because it is the occasion of their sin; but the precise nature of this relation is not explained.

Obedience (ὑπακοῆς)

Note the play on the words, parakoe, hypokoe, disobedience, obedience. Ὑπακοή obedience, is also derived from ἀκούω to hear (see on disobedience) and ὑπό beneath, the idea being submission to what one hears.