Sunday, December 5, 2010

Luther's Romans Commentary - UOJ



bored has left a new comment on your post "WELS - Study the Book of Concord? Better Study  Wal...":

A little off topic but...Here's a passage from Luther that destroys the UOJ interpretation of Romans 5:18-19.

(NAS) Romans 5: 18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

Luther wrote:
"(v. 18) Here the Apostle says 'all'; first, because as all who are begotten of Adam are born again (through faith) in Christ; and secondly, because as there is no carnal begetting except through Adam, so also there is no spiritual begetting except through Christ. (v. 19) Here the Apostle speaks of "many" and not of "all" to show that the emphasis is not on the number of the sinners or the righteous, but on the power of sin and grace. If sin proved itself so powerful that a single transgression has perverted many, or rather all, then divine grace is much more powerful; for the one act of grace (Christ's atonement) can save many, indeed all men, of many sins, if they only desire it."
(Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, trans. Theodore Mueller, 1954, Zondervan, pg. 97)