Wesley Corpus

“(3.) The ‘all, (verses 12, 18,) and the ‘many,’ (verses 15, 19,) are all the natural descendants of Adam; equivalent with ‘the world, (verse 12,) which means the inhabitants of it.” (Page 69.) “(4.) The effects of Adam's sin on his descendants, the Apos tlereduces to two heads, sin and death. ‘By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed on all men, for that all have sinned.’ “Sin’ sometimes means “punishment; but not here: ‘Sin and ‘death’ are here plainly distinguished. The common translation is therefore right, and gives us the true meaning of the words. “Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned; ' namely, in or with their first father. And this agrees with the context; the purport of which is, that all have sinned, and are there fore liable to the death originally threatened; which is evident from this: That ‘ until the law sin was in the world; ’--in the ages that preceded the law of Moses, all men were sinners in the sight of God: “But sin is not imputed where there is no law; ’--none can be sinners in the sight of God if they are not transgressors of some law, for the transgressing of which they are reputed guilty: “Nevertheless death reigned’ all the time ‘from Adam to Moses’ over all mankind. Now, if none is liable to death, but for sin; if “sin is not imputed where there is no law; and if, notwithstanding this, all mankind in all ages have died; infants themselves, who cannot actually sin, not excepted; it is undeniable, that guilt is imputed to all for the sin of Adam. Why else are they liable to that which is inflicted on none but for sin 7 “This is the purport of the Apostle’s arguing, (verses 1214,) which having led him to mention Adam as a figure of Christ, he then draws a parallel between them. The substance of it is this: As through the ‘offence of Adam many are dead,” as ‘by the disobedience of him many are made sinners;” so through the righteousness or “obedience of Christ many are made righteous. But how are many dead, or made sinners, through the disobedience of Adam?