ACC ~ Romans 5 v19

WHY MANY, NOT ALL. ORIGEN: Why does Paul say that many were made sinners and not that all were when it is clear that all have sinned, as he has just said himself? It is one thing to sin and another to be a sinner. A sinner is someone who, as a result of much sinning, has got into the habit and, I would dare say, the enjoyment of it. In the same way, a righteous person is not someone who has done one or two acts of righteousness but rather someone who has become accustomed to acting righteously and has righteousness in him by habit. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

AMBROSIASTER: Many sinned by following Adam, but not all. Likewise, many are justified by faith in Christ, but not all. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE BENEFITS OF MORTALITY. CHRYSOSTOM: How does it follow that from Adam’s disobedience someone else would become a sinner? For surely, if this were so, such a sinner would not deserve punishment, since his sins would not be his own fault. What then does the word sinners mean here? To me it seems to mean liable to punishment and condemned to death. Why was this done? Paul does not say, because it was not necessary to his argument. … But if you want to know what I think, I would say this: Far from being harmed or condemned, if we think straight, we shall see that we have benefited by becoming mortal, first because it is not an immortal body in which we sin, and second because we have countless reasons for living a religious life. For to be moderate, temperate, subdued and separated from wickedness is what death, by its presence and the fact that we expect it to come, persuades us to do. But following on these or even before these, mortality has brought many other blessings besides. For it has made possible the crown of martyrdom. … In fact, neither death nor the devil himself can do anything to harm us. Immortality is waiting for us, and after being chastened for a little while we shall enjoy the blessings to come without fear. This present life is a kind of school, where we are under instruction by means of disease, suffering, temptations and poverty, as well as other apparent evils, in order to be made fit to receive the blessings of the world to come. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 10.

RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FOR MANY, RESURRECTION FOR ALL. SEVERIAN: Notice that when Paul talks about sin and righteousness he uses the word many, for not everyone sinned before the coming of the law, nor has everyone who has received grace been justified—for “many are called, but few are chosen.” But when he talks about the death and resurrection of the body, he uses the word all. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

AUGUSTINE: This is the figure of the future Adam. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 29.

BY ONE MAN’S OBEDIENCE. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: In this Adam was a type of Christ, because just as by his disobedience death entered the world, so life and resurrection came by the obedience of Christ. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

PELAGIUS: Just as by the example of Adam’s disobedience many sinned, so many are also justified by Christ’s obedience. Great therefore is the crime of disobedience, which kills so many. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

WHETHER SOME DID NOT SIN. THEODORET OF CYR: Note that Paul says “many” and “not all,” for we find some among the ancients who did not sin, e.g., Abel,Enoch, Melchizedek, the patriarchs and those who succeeded in keeping the law. On the other hand, after the coming of grace, there were many who continued to embrace an unrighteous and wicked life. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

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