Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Romans 5:12
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, etc..] The design of these words, and of the following, is to show how men came to be in the condition before described, as “ungodly”, (<450506>Romans 5:6), “sinners”, (<450508>Romans 5:8), and “enemies”, (<450510>Romans 5:10); and to express the love of Christ in the redemption of them; and the largeness of God's grace to all sorts of men: the connection of them is with (<450511>Romans 5:11), by which it appears that the saints have not only an expiation of sin by the blood of Christ, but a perfect righteousness, by which they are justified in the sight of God; and the manner how they came at it, or this becomes theirs, together with the necessity of their having such an one, are here declared: by the “one man” is meant Adam the first man, and parent of mankind, who is mentioned by name in (<450514>Romans 5:14); sin which came by him designs a single sin, and not many, even the first sin of Adam, which goes by different names, as “sin” here, “transgression”, (<450514>Romans 5:14), the “offence” or “fall”, (<450515>Romans 5:15,17,18), “disobedience”, (<450519>Romans 5:19), and whatever was the first step or motive to it, which led to it, whether pride, unbelief, or concupiscence, it was finished by eating the forbidden fruit; and is called sin emphatically, because it contained all sin in it, was attended with aggravating circumstances, and followed with dismal consequences. Hence may be learnt the origin of moral evil among men, which comes not from God, but man; of this it is said, that it “entered into the world”; not the world above, there sin entered by the devil; but the world below, and it first entered into paradise, and then passed through the whole world; it entered into men by the snares of Satan, and by him it enters into all the inhabitants of the world; into all men that descend from him by ordinary generation, and that so powerfully that there is no stopping of it. It has entered by him, not by imitation, for it has entered into such as never sinned after the similitude of his transgression, infants, or otherwise death could not have entered into them, and into such who never heard of it, as the Heathens; besides, sin entered as death did, which was not by imitation but imputation, for all men are reckoned dead in Adam, being accounted sinners in him; add to this, that in the same way Christ's righteousness comes upon us, which is by imputation, Adam's sin enters into us, or becomes ours; upon which death follows, and death by sin; that is, death has entered into the world of men by sin, by the first sin of the first man; not only corporeal death, but a spiritual or moral one, man, in consequence of this, becoming “dead in sin”, deprived of righteousness, and averse, and impotent to all that is good; and also an eternal death, to which he is liable; for “the wages of sin is death”, (<450623>Romans 6:23); even eternal death: all mankind are in a legal sense dead, the sentence of condemnation and death immediately passed on Adam as soon as he had sinned, and upon all his posterity; and so death passed upon all men; the reason of which was, for that, or because “in him” all have sinned: all men were naturally and seminally in him; as he was the common parent of mankind, he had all human nature in him, and was also the covenant head, and representative of all his posterity; so that they were in him both naturally and federally, and so “sinned in him”; and fell with him by…
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