The life and work of St. Paul

478 THE LIFE AND WORK OP ST. PAUL.
ii. The condemnation of the race to death sprang from the single transgression
the sentence of acquittal was freely passed in spite of many transgressions.
iii. By the transgression of Adam began the reign of death ; far more shall all
of one ;
who are receiving the superabundance of grace of the gift of righteousness reign
in life by the One, Jesus Christ. But with these differences there is also a parallel
of deeper resemblance. One transgression (Adam's sin), and one sentence of con-
demnation on all ; one act of righteousness (Christ's death), and one justification
1 which gives life to all; by the disobedience of the one, the many were made
2
sinners ; by the obedience of the one, the many shall be made righteous. 3 Thus
St. Paul states the origin of sin in this passage but however he ; might have solved
the antinomy of its generic necessity and individual origin, which he leaves unsolved,
he would certainly have been ready to say with Pseudo-Baruch that " every one of
us is the Adam to his own soul."
But here once more the question recurs, What then of the Law ? Is that
divine revelation to go for nothing P To that question St. Paul has already
given one answer in the Epistle to the Galatians : he now gives another,
which till explained might well have caused a shock. To the Galatians he had
explained that the ante- Messianic period was the tirocinium of the world, and
that during this period the Law was necessary as a paedagogic discipline.
To the Romans he presents a new point of view, and shows that the Law
was not merely a corrective system thrust in between the promise and its ful-
filment,, but an essential factor in the religious development of the world. It
appears in the new aspect of a " power of sin," in order that by creating the
knowledge of sin it may mediate between sin and grace. The Law, he says,
came in (the word he uses has an almost disparaging sound,* which probably,
however, he did not intend) " that transgression might multiply." A terrible
purpose indeed, and one which he subsequently explained (chap, vii.) : but
even here he at once hastens to add that where sin multiplied, grace super-
irapairrufia, Karaxpijua, 5tKou'