APPENDIX Õ STRUCTURE OF ACTS139

b Moreover, law entered alongside, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded

grace did superabound.

c That as sin has reigned by death, so also might grace reign through righteousness unto

eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord' (Author's translation).

Origen, Augustine, Melancthon, Beza, Pres. Edwards and others have taken 5:14, `Those who have not sinned

after the similitude of Adam's transgression', as referring to infants only. We feel this is quite beside the object of

the apostle. Already we have had brought before us in chapter 2 the two classes indicated in 5:14. Those who

sinned under the law sinned like Adam did, against definite command. Those who sinned without the law did not

sin after the similitude of Adam. `The law' means the law of Moses. Men sinned before the law was given from

Mount Sinai, and the apostle had already written to the effect that sin is not reckoned where there is no law. Before

`the law' men were under a law of conscience. Their sin must be reckoned by their light (Rom. 2). When we realize

that we are still dealing with the same sets of people, this time going back beyond the Babel rebellion to the root of

all sin, the fall of Adam himself, the unity of the teaching of the epistle is evident. In Romans 11:32 we read:

`For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all'.

This is an echo, dispensationally, of the same principle that underlies Adam's sin. Adam was allowed to involve

all in condemnation, that all may become involved in the work of Christ. The section concerning Adam is

introduced by the words `on account of this' (dia touto), which links it on to the subject of the reconciliation. So far

as the outside question of sins is concerned, men are dealt with as individuals. They are justified by faith. So far as

the inside question of sin is concerned, they are dealt with as a whole, as seen related to Adam and Adam's guilt, and

Christ and Christ's obedience.

This section introduces us to a reign and a dominion. Sin reigns, death reigns, grace reigns, and some are to

reign in life (chapter 5). In chapter 6 the word `reign' is interchanged with `dominion'. There we read of the

dominion of death and the dominion of sin (6:9,14), and the reign of sin in our mortal bodies (6:12). In chapter 7

law is seen to have a dominion (verse 1), which is only removed by death (verse 4). The presence of evil and its

workings is because of the law of sin which is in our members (verses 23-25). Then chapter 8 introduces the `law of

the spirit of life in Christ Jesus' in place of `the law of sin and death'.

In all this there is something deeper than the external sins of the individual. There is a reign, a dominion, a law,

and deep and awful as the subject is, it places all doctrine, dispensation, and practice under one of two heads - Adam

or Christ. No one can read the opening section (Rom. 5:12-21) without being struck by the close parallel instituted

throughout. Where the parallel departs from strict comparison the Scripture uses either the words `but not as', `so is',

or `much more'. The offence of one involved many in death, but the gift of grace deals with many offences. One

offence brought condemnation, but justification deals with many offences. If death reigned in consequence of one

man's offence, much more shall they which receive abundance of grace reign in life. All men are involved in the

condemnation, and all men are included in the justification of life. Grace superabounds. As sin reigned, so will

grace reign. The apostle at one time uses `all', and at another time uses `many' (5:18,19). These two terms indicate

the two classes already alluded to in 5:14 and 2:12, The one offence, or the fall (paraptoma) of Adam, involved all

in condemnation; the one disobedience (parakoe) of Adam constituted many sinners. The one righteousness of

Christ involves all in a justification of life; the one obedience of Christ constitutes many righteous.

In 3:30 the apostle indicates a distinction. The circumcision are justified out of faith (ek pisteos) as its origin,

and the uncircumcision through the faith (dia tes pisteos) as the instrument. In the first case the term is a contrast to

`out of works of law'; in the other no contrast is intended, but simply the means which God has used, because the

question of the works of law did not touch the Gentiles. The Jew needed to be redeemed from under the law (Gal.

4:5,6) in such a way that the obedience to the law which he had failed to render should be made. The Jew needed

also to be redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), for he had not continued in all things written in the law to

do them (Gal. 3:10). The `many' who were `constituted sinners' seem to refer to those who sinned after the

similitude of Adam's transgression - a disobedience to a revealed command. These need therefore the `obedience of

Christ' superadded to His great work as the second Man and last Adam.

While all the nations were reconciled when God committed the ministry of the reconciliation to Paul, all the

nations did not receive it, and consequently were not justified or saved. Salvation, it will be observed, is `much