Romans 5

Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death passed to all men because all sinned. Wesley will name the figure in v. 14: Adam is a public person, a federal head of mankind, the fountain of sin and death to mankind by his offence. All sinned: not a private copycat, but the race in its head.

Classical Arminians keep federal headship here. Death spread to all because all sinned in the one man—Wesley: being then in the loins of their first parent, the common head and representative of them all. Both camps must say this together first. The fork is not whether Adam is head; it is how far the second Adam’s gift runs (vv. 15–19).

Sin came through one man, death through sin, death to all because all sinned. Calvin: frivolous was the Pelagian gloss that sin descended by imitation from Adam to the whole human race; for Christ would in this case become only the exemplar and not the cause of righteousness. He speaks not here of actual sin: if everyone for himself contracted guilt, why compare Adam and Christ? Innate and hereditary depravity is what is referred to.

Adam is federal head, not a bad example we happen to copy. The comparison with Christ requires a headship on both sides. All sinned in the one man; the whole mass is involved. Do not flatten this into each person’s isolated fall. The second Adam will be cause of righteousness, not a mere pattern.

Sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law. The parenthesis explains how death could reign from Adam to Moses (v. 14) even without the Mosaic code. Sin was not in doubt; the law of Moses had not yet made it a counted transgression of that statute.

Arminians hear this as support for federal Adam, not for a law-only fall. Death reigned over people who had not sinned in Adam’s own manner of trespass. The ruin is older than Sinai. Grace in the second Adam will have to be older and larger than a Mosaic patch.

Sin was in the world before the law; it is not charged when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned (v. 14). The argument shuts the door on treating Romans 5 as a story of copycat actual sins against a published code.

Hereditary ruin is already in view. If sin were only imitation of a known law, the gap from Adam to Moses would empty Paul’s comparison. Calvin’s question stands: why set Adam over against Christ if each contracted guilt only for himself? The law will later increase the trespass (v. 20); it did not create the death that already reigned.

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s transgression. Adam is a foreshadowing of him who was to come. Wesley: who is the figure of him that was to come—each of them being a public person, and a federal head of mankind. The one, the fountain of sin and death to mankind by his offence; the other, of righteousness and life by his free gift. Thus far the apostle shows the agreement between the first and second Adam.

Arminian readers take both heads as federal. Adam is not a bad example; Christ is not a good example. Each is a public person. The type is the agreement: one man for the many. The differences begin in v. 15. Keep the federal on this side of the fork, or the second Adam’s gift will shrink into a pattern we copy.

Death reigned even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. Adam is a type of the coming one. Calvin’s anti-Pelagian stroke belongs here: if sin were by imitation only, Christ would be only the exemplar and not the cause of righteousness. The type requires two causes, two heads.

Adam and Christ are both federal. The reign of death from Adam to Moses proves a ruin deeper than copied acts. Christ as antitype is the cause of righteousness for those united to Him. Agreement first: two public persons. Difference next: the gift isn’t like the trespass.

But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. Wesley: the free gift is of many offences unto justification—unto the purchasing it for all men, notwithstanding many offences. The second Adam is federal head as truly as the first; the gift super-abounds.

Arminian interpreters hear grace for all in the second Adam, sincerely offered. The many who died in Adam are all; the gift abounds as widely as the ruin, purchasing justification for all men. ‘Abounded for many’ is not a smaller math than the trespass. Those who actually reign in life are those who receive (v. 17), who are in the second Adam by faith. Do not flatten the many of the gift into a hidden list while keeping the many of the death universal. Keep federal on both sides: not imitation of Adam, not mere imitation of Christ.

The free gift isn’t like the trespass: grace abounds much more. Calvin: the other difference is that the benefit of Christ does not come to all men, while Adam has involved his whole race in condemnation. The curse derived from Adam is conveyed by nature and includes the whole mass; to participate in the grace of Christ we must be ingrafted in him by faith. Enough to be man to partake of sin; necessary to be a believer to enjoy the righteousness of Christ.

The many of the trespass are the race in Adam; the many of the gift are those actually united to the second Adam. Grace abounds to those ingrafted—more than the trespass, not merely as wide as a frustrated offer. Federal on both sides: Adam the cause of death, Christ the cause of righteousness, not exemplars. The gift isn’t like the trespass because it is received by faith, not conveyed by nature.

The free gift is not like what came through the one who sinned: judgment came by one to condemnation; the free gift followed many trespasses to justification. Wesley: the sentence was by one offence to Adam’s condemnation—occasioning the sentence of death to pass upon him, which, by consequence, overwhelmed his posterity. But the free gift is of many offences unto justification—unto the purchasing it for all men, notwithstanding many offences.

Classical Arminians keep both federal. One trespass condemned the race in Adam; the gift meets many offences and purchases justification for all men. Sincerely offered in the second Adam; received by those who believe (v. 19: many = all that believe, constituted righteous). The unlike-ness is mercy’s surplus, not a narrower headship.

One trespass, condemnation; many trespasses, a gift that brought justification. The unlike-ness is in the gift’s abundance, not in a weaker headship. Calvin: Adam has involved his whole race; the benefit of Christ does not come to all men. Participation is by being ingrafted in him by faith.

The gift brought justification—actually, for those in Christ. Federal Adam condemned; federal Christ justifies the many united to Him. The many offences make the gift more wonderful, not more uncertain. Justification here is the verdict God renders, not a purchase left hanging until every hearer takes it.

If death reigned through one man because of his trespass, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. Wesley: as death passed upon all men, in that all had sinned; so life passed upon all men, (who are in the second Adam by faith,) in that all are justified. Receiving is by faith; the abundance is the second Adam’s federal gift.

What comes through is a sincere abundance: grace for all in the second Adam, offered to all, received by those who believe. ‘Those who receive’ is the living condition, enabled by grace, not a secret roll. Reigning in life is through the one, Jesus Christ—federal, not imitation. The much-more is the surplus of the gift over the trespass, held out as truly as death was imposed.

Death reigned through one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. Calvin: to partake of the miserable inheritance of sin it is enough to be man; to enjoy the righteousness of Christ it is necessary to be a believer, for a participation of him is attained only by faith. We must be ingrafted in him by faith.

‘those who receive’ are those actually united to the second Adam. The abundance is effectual in them; they will reign. Federal Christ, not a pattern. The much-more is certain for the ingrafted, because grace is not conveyed by nature as the curse was. Receiving is the Spirit-given faith of those God unites to Christ, not an independent lever.

Therefore, as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life. Wesley: as death passed upon all men, in that all had sinned; so life passed upon all men, (who are in the second Adam by faith,) in that all are justified. The first ‘all men’ is the race in Adam; the second is the sincere counterpart in Christ—grace for all in the second Adam, offered to all, life for those in Him by faith.

Arminians refuse to shrink the second ‘all men’ into a hidden list while keeping the first universal. Federal both ways: one trespass condemned all; one act of righteousness is unto justification and life for all men, purchasing it (v. 16) and constituting righteous those who believe (v. 19). The offer is as wide as the condemnation; actual justification is of those who receive.

Calvin: he makes this favor common to all, because it is propounded to all, and not because it is in reality extended to all; for though Christ suffered for the sins of the world, and is offered through God’s benignity indiscriminately to all, yet all do not receive him. Adam involved his whole race; Christ’s benefit comes to those ingrafted by faith.

The first ‘all men’ is the mass in Adam by nature. The second ‘all men’ is all who are in Christ—or all kinds to whom the gift is propounded. Federal both ways; not imitation. Justification and life are actual for the many united to the second Adam. The gospel is offered indiscriminately; the verdict is not in reality extended to all.

Through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners; even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous. Wesley: as by the disobedience of one man many (that is, all men) were constituted sinners—being then in the loins of their first parent, the common head and representative of them all. So by the obedience of one—by his obedience unto death; by his dying for us. Many—all that believe. Shall be constituted righteous—justified, pardoned.

Arminian readers keep federal on both sides. The first many are all men in Adam; the second many are all that believe, constituted righteous by Christ’s obedience, not by imitating it. The gift purchased justification for all men (v. 16); those constituted righteous are believers. Headship, obedience, constitution: the many are made, not merely inspired.

By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners; through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous. Calvin: not actual sin each contracted for himself, or Christ would be only exemplar; innate and hereditary depravity, and then participation of Christ’s righteousness only by faith, ingrafted in him. To get Adam’s curse it is enough to be man; to enjoy Christ’s righteousness it is necessary to be a believer.

The many made sinners are the race in Adam, federally, . The many made righteous are those in Christ actually justified—united to the second Adam, His obedience theirs, not a pattern they copy. Grace abounds to those so united. Federal both ways; the second many is not coextensive with the first, because the gift is not conveyed by nature.

The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more. Sinai did not create the ruin of vv. 12–14; it made the trespass overflow. Grace in the second Adam is not outpaced by that increase.

Wesley’s heirs hear a sincere overflow: the gift that purchased justification for all men (v. 16) meets the increased trespass and still super-abounds. The law’s coming does not shrink the second Adam’s headship. Abounding grace is offered as truly as the increased trespass is true. Those who receive it (v. 17) find it more than enough.

The law came in that the trespass; where sin abounded, grace abounded more. The law is not a third federal head; it aggravates what Adam already brought. Calvin’s much-more of the gift over the curse continues: grace is not a near-match for sin; it overflows.

The abounding is the abounding named for those who receive (v. 17)—those ingrafted in Christ. The law increases the trespass in the mass; grace abounds all the more in the people united to the second Adam. Super-abundance is effectual mercy, not a frustrated surplus left unapplied.

Exceedingly, that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The aim of the overflow: a new reign. Sin’s reign was through the first Adam; grace’s reign is through righteousness—the second Adam’s gift—unto life.

Arminians hear a federal close. Grace reigns through righteousness, not through our imitation of Christ. Eternal life is through Jesus Christ our Lord, the public person whose free gift is righteousness and life. The reign is sincerely held out in the gospel; those in the second Adam by faith live under it. Both camps must end where they began: two heads, not two examples.

Sin reigned in death, even so grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The purpose clause lands the comparison: two reigns, two heads, two outcomes. Calvin: Christ is the cause of righteousness, not the exemplar; participation is by faith, ingrafted in him.

Grace actually reigns in those united to Christ. Through righteousness—His, received—leading to eternal life. The Lord named at the end is the federal head whose obedience constituted the many righteous. The reign is not a maybe over the whole mass; it is the certain government of grace in the people of the second Adam.