abound;” he adds, verse 21, “that as sin hath reigned unto death, so did grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Now, evident it is from verses 12 and 14, that sin reigned over all men, without exception, unto death; therefore, grace must have a proportionable reign unto life, i. e. must by a strong and overruling hand put all men into a capacity for life and salvation. If so, it undeniably follows that Christ died for all men, without exception for any, because otherwise all men could not be put into an estate of grace or salvation by Him.
Nor was this interpretation counted either heretical or erroneous by the most orthodox expositors of old. Chrysostom himself commenting upon the place, makes the apostle to speak thus, “If all men were punished through the offence,” (or his offence, meaning Adam’s) “they” (i. e. these all men) “may doubtless be justified from hence;” (i. e. by that overabundance of grace and righteousness as he there speaketh, which is given in Christ.) The former part of his commentary is more full and pregnant to this purpose, but because the transcription would be somewhat long, I leave it to be read in the author himself. Nor are there wanting amongst our late reformed divines, surnamed orthodox, men of eminent learning, piety and worth, who subscribe the said interpretation. “That our reparation,” (restauration) saith Mr. Bucer upon the place, “is made by Christ, and that it is more efficacious than the sin of Adam, and that it is of larger extent, is that which the apostle argueth in this and the following section.”
Again, upon those words, “Sed non ut paraptōma,” and thus: “The apostle here meaneth, that the grace of Christ did more profit mankind, than the sin of Adam damnified it.” Doubtless, if all men, without exception, were brought into a condition of misery by the sin of Adam, and but a handful only, in comparison, made happy by the grace of Christ; the grace of Christ cannot be said to have profited mankind more than the sin of Adam damnified it. Yet again, upon verse 16, “For whereas the world was lost” (or undone) “by the one sin of Adam, the grace of Christ did not only abolish this sin, and that death which it brought,” (upon the world) “but likewise took away an infinite number of other sins, which we, the rest of men, added to that first sin.”
The commensurableness of the grace of Christ with the sin of Adam, in respect of the number of persons gratified by the one, and damnified by the other, cannot lightly be asserted in terms more significant. Nor do the words following import anything contrary hereunto, wherein the author addeth, “that the said grace of Christ bringeth all that are of Christ into a full or plenary justification.” For by a full or plenary justification, it is evident that he means an actual justification, yea, (as he explains himself a little after) that justification which shall be awarded unto the saints at the great day of the resurrection; to the obtaining of which, it is acknowledged, that men must receive a new being from Christ by faith. In what sense Christ abolished the sin of Adam, together with that death which it brought into the world; and so in what sense he is said to have brought righteousness, justification, and salvation unto all men, remains to be unfolded in due place. Upon the 17th verse the aforesaid author yet more clearly attests the substance of our interpretation, where he gives an account how the grace of Christ may be said to be of larger extent than the sin of Adam, notwithstanding it be true that this grace took away nothing but what, in a sense, was the fruit and effect of sin.
“If we consider,” saith he, “that every particular man by his transgressions increaseth the misery of mankind, and that whosoever sinneth, doth no less hurt his posterity than Adam did all men; it is a plain case, that the grace of Christ hath removed more evils from men than the sins of Adam brought upon them. For though there be no sin committed in all the world which hath not its original from that first sin of Adam, yet all particular men who sin, as they sin voluntarily and freely, so do they make an addition of their own proper guilt and misery. All which evils, since the alone benefit of Christ hath taken away, it must needs be that it hath taken away the sins of many, and not of one only. Manifest, therefore, is it, that more evils have been removed by Christ, than were brought in by Adam.”
And yet more plainly and expressly to the point in hand (if more may be) upon verse 18, the sense whereof he gives thus: “As by the fall of one, sin prevailed over all, so as to make all liable unto condemnation: so likewise the righteousness of one so far took place on the behalf of all men, that all men may obtain the justification of life thereby.” By this time I suppose Bucer hath said enough, both to assert the interpretation of the Scripture in hand, that hath been given, as also the universality of redemption by Christ.
The said Scripture calls for the sense and exposition asserted, with such a loud and distinct voice, that Gualter also (another divine of the same rank and quality with the former) could not but hearken to it. “As by the offence of one,” saith he, completing the apostle’s sentence, and rendering his sense therein, “condemnation was propagated unto all men; so also, by the righteousness of one, justification of life was propagated…unto all men.” Again thus, “As by the offence of one Adam, the judgment or guilt came upon all men to condemnation; so also by the righteousness of one Jesus Christ, the gift or benefit of God, abounded unto all men to justification of life.”
Any man that shall read with a single eye what Calvin himself hath written upon the said contexture of Scriptures, cannot judge him an adversary to the premised exposition. “Paul,” saith he, upon verse 15, “simply teacheth that the amplitude,” or compass, “of the grace purchased by Christ, is greater than of the condemnnation contracted by the first man.” Not long after, “The sum of all comes to this, that Christ overcomes Adam: the righteousness of Christ vanquisheth Adam’s sin: Adam’s malediction,” or curse, “is overwhelmed with Christ’s grace: the death which proceeded from Adam is swallowed up by that life which comes from Christ.”
Doubtless if the curse brought upon men by Adam prevails and remains still untaken off upon far the greatest part of men, it is not overwhelmed within the grace of Christ: nor is the death which proceeded from him swallowed up by the life of Christ, if still it reigns and magnifies itself over and against far greater numbers of men than the life itself of Christ preserves or delivers from it. Upon verse 18, he presenteth his thoughts in these words, “He,” Paul, “makes grace common unto all men, because it is exposed unto,” or laid within the reach of, “all men: not because it is in the reality of it extended unto all men,” i. e. not because it is accepted or received by all men, as the words following plainly show: “For,” saith he, “though Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world, and through the goodness or bounty of God be offered unto all men, yet all men do no take, or lay hold on him.” So that if Calvin would but quit himself like a man, and stand his own ground, he would remonstrate as stoutly as Corvine, or Arminius himself.
1. See more about this in Chap. I.
2. Divine Authority of the Scriptures, p. 184, 185, 332, 333.
3. Dr. Twisse, Vindicia Gratie, &c. p. 171.
4. Twissus, ubi supra.
5. Aqu. Sum. part I, qu. 19, Art. 12. in Cor.
The third sort, or consort of Scriptures, mentioned in Chap. I, as clearly asserting the Doctrine hitherto maintained, argued, and managed to the same point.
WE shall not need, I conceive, to insist upon a particular examination of these Scriptures, one by one, (the method observed by us in handling the two former parts) because they are more apparently uniform and
