Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

moment soul and body united constitute personality, i.e., in the prenatal state, we are “born from
above,” before we are born physically. The fall of Adam is seminal and the redemption of Christ
personal. Hence all are fallen in Adam and redeemed in Christ. The death penalty of Adam’s
transgression is physical, spiritual and eternal.
16. “And not as by the one that sinned is the free gift; for judgment is from one unto
condemnation, and the free gift from many transgressions unto justification.” This verse confirms
the fact the two Adams in their representative characters are parallel lines, running through time and
all eternity. All we lost in Adam we gained in Christ and infinitely more, as Christ is infinitesimally
greater than Adam.
17. “For if through the offense of one death reigned through one, how much more shall those
receiving abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one Jesus
Christ.” Through Adam the First death swept the world; through Adam the Second we not only have
the full restitution, but an infinitely better state than before the Fall.
18. “Then as by the offense of one it was unto all men to condemnation, so indeed by the
righteousness of one it was unto all men unto the justification of life.” This is perfectly clear on the
universal ruin through Adam in the Fall, and the universal redemption through Christ in the
Mediatorial Kingdom, the only trouble arising from the fact that we are all free and liable to sin and
fall under condemnation at any time till our probation ends. The Adamic ruin is seminal; the
redemption of Christ, personal.
19. “For as by the offense of one man the many were made sinners, so also by the obedience of
one man the many shall be made righteous.” This verse clearly and unmistakably again affirms the
parallelism of the two Adams, assuring us that what we lost in the one we gain in the other.
20. “The law came that sin may abound.” The law is perfectly pure and holy and could not have
any affinity with sin. Yet when the law is disobeyed it awfully augments the guilt of sin. “But where
sin did abound, there did grace much more abound.” Not only does Christ repair all the evil wrought
by the Fall, but to those who are true to Him, He makes all things work together for good.” So all
of our enemies are transformed into vehicles of blessing. This paragraph is replete with fundamental
theology, setting forth the utter and universal ruin of the Fall and the complete, glorious and
superabundant restitution of the redemptive scheme.
21. “And as sin reigned unto death, so may grace also reign through righteousness unto eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In these Scriptures the doctrine of total depravity is established
beyond the possibility of cavil. “Total” means entire. Depravity means a state in which we are
deprived of something, i.e., life. Hence total depravity means deprivation of spiritual life. How we
have it repeated here that all are dead in Adam, our federal head. When God calls a thing dead, there
is no life in it. Hence the whole human race lost spiritual life in the Fall, and are all in Adam totally
depraved. It is equally true that we all receive spiritual life in Christ, in both cases normally and
independent of our will. As the Fall is universal, the redemption is equally so. Hence the gracious
possibility for every soul to be saved in heaven. By the grace of Christ we are born in His kingdom,
and only get out by sinning out, as in case of the prodigal son, who might, like his older brother, have