# Rom. 5:18 justification and life for all men



## ReformedInSweden (Oct 24, 2016)

Rom. 5:18 "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men."

Although I think 5-point Calvinism is clearly everywhere in the Bible, I find this verse difficult, even more because this verse is used to prove the Lutheran rejection of limited atonement. They say ALL are justified through Jesus atoning sacrifice because he took the sins of all men upon himself. The reason why all are not saved is because all don't want to receive it.

Can anyone explain how one should understand Rom. 5:18?


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## Tom Hart (Oct 24, 2016)

If I'm correct, it has to do with the semantic range of 'all'. Something similar applies to 1 Tim. 2:4. I've read that the Greek there can mean 'all kinds', which I'd see as a necessary understanding, since it is consistent with the rest of Scripture.


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## Bill The Baptist (Oct 24, 2016)

All men who sin will be condemned, and since all men sin, the term here is indeed universal. In the same way, all men who repent and come to Christ will be justified, however not all men will do this and so in this case it is not universal. The "all" in terms of condemnation is not connected to the "all" in terms of justification, as some might contend, but rather Paul is simply pointing out that all who sin are under condemnation and all who repent will be justified. The fact that 100% of people will sin is in no way intended to imply that 100% of people will be justified.


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## timfost (Oct 24, 2016)

ReformedInSweden said:


> Rom. 5:18 "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men."
> 
> Although I think 5-point Calvinism is clearly everywhere in the Bible, I find this verse difficult, even more because this verse is used to prove the Lutheran rejection of limited atonement. They say ALL are justified through Jesus atoning sacrifice because he took the sins of all men upon himself. The reason why all are not saved is because all don't want to receive it.
> 
> Can anyone explain how one should understand Rom. 5:18?



Simply put, all men represented in Adam are condemned. Likewise, all men represented in Christ are justified. All those in Adam will be condemned. All those in Christ will be granted eternal life. Each _all_ is as comprehensive of its representative head.

You may also want to distinguish, as many of the reformed do, between the sufficiency of the atonement and the efficacy of it. Christ's death was abundantly sufficient to expiate the sin of every member of Adam's posterity. Because of this, those who perish do so by their own fault since they rejected Christ offered in the Gospel.

The atonement is limited by its decreed _design_ and the rejection of it through unbelief as that decree works out in time, not by its worth.


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## KeithW (Oct 24, 2016)

ReformedInSweden said:


> Can anyone explain how one should understand Rom. 5:18?


The previous responses have done a very good job in explaining that to understand this verse it must done in the light of the rest of Scripture. People opposed to the doctrine of grace take the opposite approach and focus only on the word "all" and will say things like "all means all". They are closing their ears so they will not consider how the word "all" is used in Scripture or in real life.

My all time favorite explanation of the word "all" is by Jeff Pollard in his sermon series "Doctrine of Grace". He walks through the four possible meanings of "all" and shows how to look at the context to see which meaning the Bible is using in a given verse.
Doctrine of Grace: 'For God So Loved the World' 23 of 38 (about the word "world")
Doctrine of Grace: 'A Ransom For All' 24 of 38 (about the word "all")


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## ReformedInSweden (Oct 24, 2016)

KeithW said:


> ReformedInSweden said:
> 
> 
> > Can anyone explain how one should understand Rom. 5:18?
> ...





Thanks, I'll check those sermons out! I have however already listened to the series on The Doctrines of Grace by Steven Lawson on Ligonier Connect, and read The Doctrines of Grace in the Gospel of John, both were fabulous! It's just this particular verse which I find a bit confusing.

"People opposed to the doctrine of grace take the opposite approach and focus only on the word "all" and will say things like "all means all"."

Not only the word "all" -> In my Swedish Bible, and I'm using the best translation we have, there's a foot note and two cross references to Rom. 5:19 _"For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous."_ The foot note says "the many - meaning 'all people'" and the cross references point to Matt. 20:28 _"even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for mmany.”_ and Isa. 53:12 _"Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors."_ And everywhere it says in the foot note "the many = all people". And this is an ordinary Bible, no study Bible with comments! I find that rather striking.


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## timfost (Oct 24, 2016)

KeithW said:


> People opposed to the doctrine of grace take the opposite approach and focus only on the word "all" and will say things like "all means all". They are closing their ears so they will not consider how the word "all" is used in Scripture or in real life.



The point I was trying to make was that in these verses, all does mean all-- every single person represented in their federal head. Every last person in Adam (apart from being adopted into the family of God) will be condemned. Every last person in Christ will be saved. If the "all" represented both those in Adam and those in Christ, there would not be two categories. The two categories represent _all_ of humanity.

The only possible way that these verses would be teaching universal atonement is if there was atonement in Adam.


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## KeithW (Oct 24, 2016)

Your footnote is definitely trying to present a certain "doctrine". Half of the battle is simply recognizing when this happens, like you are doing.

Another passage you will encounter is:



KJV said:


> 1 Tim. 2:3,4 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have *all men *to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.


Someone asked about this passage recently in this thread, and there are some responses.
http://www.puritanboard.com/showthread.php/90401-Please-help!!

Have you read "The Sovereignty Of God" by A. W. Pink? From what I hear it might be the most widely known and read book on the subject. It is what caused me to believe the doctrine of grace, aka Calvinism. But people do need to know there are both unabridged and abridged versions of this book. The abridged version removes a third of the book, some of the most important elements. Some info about this is here.
http://www.puritanboard.com/showthr...-God-quot-Abridged-and-Unabridged-Information


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 24, 2016)

ReformedInSweden said:


> Rom. 5:18 "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men."
> 
> Although I think 5-point Calvinism is clearly everywhere in the Bible, I find this verse difficult, even more because this verse is used to prove the Lutheran rejection of limited atonement. They say ALL are justified through Jesus atoning sacrifice because he took the sins of all men upon himself. The reason why all are not saved is because all don't want to receive it.
> 
> Can anyone explain how one should understand Rom. 5:18?



It helps if people read the context.

Let's assume, for instance, that we can just look at Romans 5:18 in isolation and conclude that Christ's death and resurrection leads to justification and life for all men. We then infer from that that "all means all" so that righteousness and life belong to all men.

So let's go back further in the Chapter. Romans 5:1 states that we have been justified by faith and that we have peace with God. Paul goes on to point out that Christ justified the ungodly. He died for those of us while we were still sinners and how much more then will he keep us to the uttermost?

Thus, if the conclusion from Rom 5:18 is true (all means all), then it proves universal salvation for all men.

Of course, if a person is actually interested in reading what Paul is writing (instead of picking verses at random and drawing conclusions) then he limits consideration on who is justified prior to verse 18. In verse 15, the grace of Christ is said to have come to the many. Verse 17 speaks not of all men receiving this grace but to those to whom the grace is given.

As others have pointed out, πάντας ἀνθρώπους (all men) has to be considered in reference to its context. The context is talking about federal headship. Since it is clear in the pericope that not all have received the grace of justification (limited to those who have believed) then we already know that all men cannot possibly mean all men unless we think that Paul (while trying to make a point) wants to completely contradict everything he has just written about faith and grace.


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## ReformedInSweden (Oct 24, 2016)

timfost said:


> KeithW said:
> 
> 
> > The point I was trying to make was that in these verses, all does mean all-- every single person represented in their federal head. Every last person in Adam (apart from being adopted into the family of God) will be condemned. Every last person in Christ will be saved. If the "all" represented both those in Adam and those in Christ, there would not be two categories. The two categories represent _all_ of humanity.
> ...


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## ReformedInSweden (Oct 24, 2016)

KeithW said:


> Another passage you will encounter is:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks, yes, that's The Quote with capital Q the Lutherans always use 




KeithW said:


> Have you read "The Sovereignty Of God" by A. W. Pink? From what I hear it might be the most widely known and read book on the subject. It is what caused me to believe the doctrine of grace, aka Calvinism. But people do need to know there are both unabridged and abridged versions of this book. The abridged version removes a third of the book, some of the most important elements. Some info about this is here.
> http://www.puritanboard.com/showthr...-God-quot-Abridged-and-Unabridged-Information



No, I haven't read that book but definitely will! I found an unabridged Kindle version, thanks for the tip!


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## MW (Oct 24, 2016)

Following the flow of thought in the epistle, and especially the emphasis on righteousness by faith from chapter 3:21ff, we see that evangelical righteousness is "unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference," Romans 3:22. The word "all" is used because two kinds of men are at the centre of discussion -- Jews and Gentiles; and the universal term serves to remove any differentiation between them. In chapter 4 the point of going back to Abraham is to show that the promise of being the father of many nations depends on faith, not the law, and it concludes that righteousness is imputed to believers in Christ. Chapter 5:1-11 teaches the effects of being justified by faith, and the certainty of final salvation for all who have been justified. Chapter 5:12-19 illustrates this with the antithetical parallel between the disobedient man and the obedient man, showing that the law of Moses was parenthetical to this overarching parallel. In this context "all men" naturally refers to Jews and Gentiles without differentiation. As one man's disobedience brought condemnation to all men, Jews and Gentiles, and resulted in death, likewise the obedience of one brought justification to all men, Jews and Gentiles, and resulted in life. It is then explained in Romans 5:20-21, building on the parenthesis of verses 13-14, that the law served to intensify the effects of the one man's sin, so that the reign of grace in Christ Jesus might demonstrably much more abound over these effects.


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## ReformedInSweden (Oct 26, 2016)

MW said:


> Following the flow of thought in the epistle, and especially the emphasis on righteousness by faith from chapter 3:21ff, we see that evangelical righteousness is "unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference," Romans 3:22. The word "all" is used because two kinds of men are at the centre of discussion -- Jews and Gentiles; and the universal term serves to remove any differentiation between them. In chapter 4 the point of going back to Abraham is to show that the promise of being the father of many nations depends on faith, not the law, and it concludes that righteousness is imputed to believers in Christ. Chapter 5:1-11 teaches the effects of being justified by faith, and the certainty of final salvation for all who have been justified. Chapter 5:12-19 illustrates this with the antithetical parallel between the disobedient man and the obedient man, showing that the law of Moses was parenthetical to this overarching parallel. In this context "all men" naturally refers to Jews and Gentiles without differentiation. As one man's disobedience brought condemnation to all men, Jews and Gentiles, and resulted in death, likewise the obedience of one brought justification to all men, Jews and Gentiles, and resulted in life. It is then explained in Romans 5:20-21, building on the parenthesis of verses 13-14, that the law served to intensify the effects of the one man's sin, so that the reign of grace in Christ Jesus might demonstrably much more abound over these effects.



Thanks, that's very helpful. In Swedish churches the only way of reading "all" is "every single person" "all of humanity". Sooner or later I will get confronted with someone quoting this verse and need to know how to answer.


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