GENERAL CONFERENCE.
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
This verse contains a partially stated proposition. You will notice that commencing with the thirteenth verse and continuing down to the end of the seventeenth, there is a parenthesis. Then in the eighteenth verse, the proposition is taken up again and completed. The first part of the eighteenth verse is merely an equivalent to the first part of the twelfth; it is the same truth expressed in other words—"Therefore as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation." Then the closing portion of the verse completed the proposition: "Even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., 1891.
BIBLE STUDY.
LETTER TO THE ROMANS
BY ELDER E. J. WAGGONER
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12).
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
This verse contains a partially stated proposition. You will notice that commencing with the thirteenth verse and continuing down to the end of the seventeenth, there is a parenthesis. Then in the eighteenth verse, the proposition is taken up again and completed. The first part of the eighteenth verse is merely an equivalent to the first part of the twelfth; it is the same truth expressed in other words—"Therefore as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation." Then the closing portion of the verse completed the proposition: "Even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."
In the fourteenth verse we have reference to the
"reign of death."
Q: What is the reign of death? What was this passage of
death upon all men?
A: The apostle says "death reigned from Adam to Moses."
He does not mean by this that it did not reign at any other time, and
that it does not reign at the present time. The part of the verse
referring to Adam and Moses is a part of a great argument, which has its
starting point back in chapter four. It is a part of his argument on
Abraham. The argument in a nutshell is, that the entering
in of the law did not in any way interfere with the promise to
Abraham. In Rom. 4:13, 14 we are told that the promise "that he should
be heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the
law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of
the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none
effect."
In these verses the apostle is proving in a practical manner
that the law does not enter into man's justification at all; that
justification is solely by faith and not by works.
Q: Why is it that the
law does not enter into the justification of man?
A: "Because the law
worketh wrath."
Q: Why did death pass upon all men?
A: Because that all had sinned!
---By
one man sin came into the world. There are many who will 
stop at this
point, and philosophize and question, as to how this could be, and try
to figure out for themselves the justice of it. They will query why it
is that we are here in this sinful condition, without having had any
choice or say in the matter ourselves.
---Now we know that there was one
man in the beginning, and he fell. We are his children, and it is
impossible for us to be born in any higher condition than he was.
We cannot separate the righteousness of Christ from Christ
himself. Therefore in order for men to get the righteousness of Christ,
they must have the life of Christ.
So the free gift comes upon all men
who are justified by the life of Christ.
Justification is life.
It is
the life of Christ. "For as by one man's disobedience many were made
sinners, even so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous." (Romans 5:19). ....Now see the force of the words of Moses in Deut. 33:2, 3. "And he said,
The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined
forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of his saints:
from his right hand went a fiery law for them. YEA, HE LOVED THE
PEOPLE."
All that Christ has to give to man is summed up in that one word,—LIFE.
