Commentary on Romans, Biblical exegesis 1 · Chapter 5 · Section 3 · Subsection 35 – Subsection 36
Quest. 35. Of the excellencie and superioritie which the benefit by grace in Christ hath beyond our fall and losse in Adam.
1. The first excellencie is generally in the power and efficacie of the worker: for it was necessarie that he that should ouercom sinne and death, should be superiour to both: for if he had beene of equall power he could not hauehave dissolued Sathans worke: the strong man could not be bound but by a stronger then he, Mart. And more particularly this excellencie appeareth in the author and efficient cause: Adams sinne was vnius & puri hominis, of one and the same a meere man: but the gift was Christi hominis & Dei, of Christ God and man: Lyran. that was of our, but this, non solum patris sed filij gratia, was not onelyonly the grace of God the father, but of his sonne, Chrysost.
2. An other point of excellencie is generally in the worke it selfe, and the manner of it: 1. if sinne beeing a privative, were so forcible vntounto condemnation, much more the iustice and grace of Christ, beeing a thing positive, is auaileable: fortior vita, quam mors, iustitia, quàm peccatum, life is stronger then death, and righteousnes then sinne. Origen. 2. fortius est mortuum resuscitare, &c. it is a more powerfull thing to raise one beeing dead, then to kill one that is aliue. Osiand. 3. Chrysostome addeth further, magis videtur rationi consonum, &c. it seemeth more agreeable to reason, that one man should purchase saluation and redemption, then condemnation to and for an other: if then that were done, which was more against reason, for one to worke an others condemnation, much more the other.
3. As our redemption and iustification by Christ, is more excellent then our condemnation by Adam, in respect of the more excellent and powerfull cause, as the Apostle sheweth, v. 15. as is before expressed: so it excelleth, in regard of the more excellent fruits and effects: whereof one is declared, v. 16. that whereas one offence of Adam entred vntounto the condemnation of many, in Christ not onelyonly that sinne is pardoned, but all other our actuall sinnes: non solum illud peccatum per gratiam est oblatum, sed & reliqua omnia, not onelyonly that fault is taken away by grace, but all the rest also. Chrysost.
4. An other effect is, that in Christ we receiue abundance of grace, v. 17. non tantum peccata sublata, sed iustitia prastita, our sinnes are not onelyonly taken away, but righteousnes also is giuen vsus: Chrysost. which he further thus setteth forth by this similitude; like as if a Prince should deliuer a man, that is enthralled with his wife and children, and not onelyonly restoare him to libertie, but set him in a princely throne: or as if a medecine should be giuen, not onelyonly to heale the disease, but whereby the bodie should be made much stronger: Lyrau. so Christ, non solum iustificat à peccatis, sed etiam inducit ad gloriam, doth not onelyonly iustifie vsus from our sinnes, but also bringeth vsus to glorie. Lyran.
5. Chrysostome addeth one excellent priuiledge further, which we obtaine in Christ, that whereas death came by Adam, in Christ we obtaine, that by death we receiue no hurt, sed plurimi luchri tulerimus, but much good: as 1. death perswadeth vsus and the remembrance thereof, to liue soberly and honestly. 2. hic sunt Martyrum coronae, death was the occasion of the crowne of martyrdome. 3. and thereby we are made fitte for immortalitie.
6. Origen herein placeth the excellencie of this effect, that not onelyonly death no longer raigneth, sed & duo conferuntur bona, two good things are conferred: life is giuen in stead of death, Christ our life raigneth in vsus, and we also shall raigne in life with him.
This then is the abundance of grace that we receiue in Christ. 1. in that we are not onelyonly purged from our sinnes, but iustified in Christ. 2. and sanctified in him. 3. made fellow heires with Christ, and restored to be the sonnes of God. 4. and brought to euerlasting glorie.
36. Quest. Some other opinions refused, wherein this excellencie should consist.
1. Some thinke, that herein consisteth the excellencie of grace, because the sinne of Adam was deriued onelyonly vntounto men: the grace of Christ is reuealed to Angels. Perer. disput. 12. This is true, that euen the Angels doe stand by Christ, but it is not the meaning of Saint Paul here: for he speaketh expressely of the abounding of this gift of iustification vntounto men. v. 18.
2. Pererius further saith, that by originall sinne, which we hauehave from Adam, we are onelyonly made subiect poenae damni, to the penaltie of losse, which is the privation of the grace and glorie of God: but in Christ we are deliuered from the penaltie not onelyonly damni, of the losse, but sensus, of feeling and suffering the torments of hell. But the Apostle is contrarie, who saith, that by the offence of one sinne came vponupon all to condemnation, v. 18. the euerlasting condemnation then of bodie and soule, is due vntounto men by nature in respect of originall sinne, without the merciemercy of God in Christ: and elswhere the Apostle saith, we are all the children of wrath by nature, Eph. 2.2. to the children of wrath belongeth all kind of punishment, not onelyonly in the priuation of life and glorie, but in the actuall feeling and suffering of eternall torments.
3. The ordinarie glosse saith, that death in Adam raigned onelyonly temporaliter, temporally: but grace and life in Christ eternally: but death in Adam should hauehave raigned eternally, if Christ had not redeemed vsus: not onelyonly temporall, but eternall death is the reward of … then seeing all sinned in Adam, all by nature are subiect euen to eternall death.
4. Pet. Martyr obserueth out of Oecumenius an other point of excellencie in Christ aboue Adam: for Adams sinne, cooperans habuit omne nostrum peccatum, had euerie one of our sinnes to helpe and worke together with it: but the grace of Christ came vponupon all, sine nostra cooperatione, without our ioynt working: for not onelyonly the faithfull and beleeuers, but infidels also and vnbeleeuers shall rise againe from death.
But Pet. Martyr taketh these exceptions to this obseruation. 1. Adams sinne without our actuall sinnes, was sufficient to condemne his posteritie. 2. though the vnbeleeuers shall rise againe, it shall be to their further condemnation, it shall be no benefit vntounto them. 3. though Gods grace doe worke without vsus, yet there is somewhat required in the faithfull, that they should beleeue, though that also be the gift and worke of God in vsus.
5. Wherefore the true excellencie of the grace of Christ aboue the sinne and condemnation by Adam, consisteth in those points declared in the former question: because in Christ we are restored to a more excellent state, then we lost in Adam: 1. by Adam we are depriued of a temporall paradise, in Christ we are restored to an heauenly. 2. in Adam we are excluded from the eating of the materiall tree of life: but in Christ we feede of the bread of heauen, which giueth eternall life. 3. in Adam it was giuen vsus, posse non mori, non peccare, a possibilitie not to sinne, not to die: but in Christ we shall obtaine, non posse peccare, mori, that we cannot die, nor sinne in the next life. 4. by Adams sinne we are compared to the beasts, that perish, Psal. 49.12. but in Christ we are made like vntounto the Angels: In these and other points, is our state more perfect in Christ, then it should hauehave beene in Adam, if he had not sinned.