Romans 5:19 - Exposition

For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the One shall the many be made righteous. As to the significance of οἱ πολλοὶ , see under Romans 5:15 . The phrase, if taken as equivalent to πάντες , would seem here to imply even more than in Romans 5:15 ; for there it was only said that "the gift … abounded unto the many;" here an actual result is expressed by the future, δίκαιοι κατασταθήσονται . But even so the universality of final salvation need not necessarily follow. The phrase is, "shall be constituted righteous," and might only mean that all will be put into the position of justified persons, capable as such of salvation, just as all had, through the first transgression, been put into the position of sinners, liable as such to condemnation; and the future tense might be taken to denote the continuance, through all future ages, of the availing effect of the accomplished atonement. Further, it may be remarked that if universal final salvation did seem to follow from the passage before us, it would still have to be understood consistently with the purport of Romans 6:1-23 ; Romans 7:1-25 ; Romans 8:1-39 ., which follow. In them the practical result to the believer of his justification through Christ is treated; and renunciation of sin, "living after the Spirit," is postulated as the condition for attaining the life eternal. Hence, if the doctrine of "eternal hope" be sound (and who can fail to desire that it should be so?), it must be to some unknown reconciliation beyond the limits of the present life that we must look in the ease of those who have not fulfilled the necessary conditions here. Thus, further, the doctrine cannot legitimately be allowed to affect our view of our responsibilities now. To us the only doctrine distinctly revealed on the subject of salvation is that it is in this present life that we are to make our "calling and election sure." Two ways are put before us—the way of life, and the way of death; the one leading to ζωὴ αἰώνιος , the other to κόλασις αἰώνιος . In Romans 8:6-10 (as elsewhere, see note on Romans 3:25 ) it was through the death, the blood, of Christ that we were said to have been reconciled to God; here it is through his obedience , opposed to the disobedience of Adam. Though the doctrine of the atonement, in all its depth, is beyond our comprehension now (see above on Romans 8:9 ), yet it is important for us to observe the various aspects in which it is presented to us in Scripture. Here the idea suggested is that of Christ, as the Representative of humanity, satisfying Divine righteousness by perfect obedience to the Divine will, and thus offering to God for man what man had lest the power of offering (cf. Psalms 40:10 , "Lo, I come to fulfil thy will, O my God;" and Hebrews 9:14 ; Hebrews 10:9 , et seq .; also Philippians 2:8 , "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross").