Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Sometimes we humans fret endlessly about how to understand a passage of
the Bible when attention to the actual original text would clear up our
disputes. Robert Young, author of the famous “Concordance,” also
gave us a good “Literal Translation of the Bible.” One of the Bible
passages that unfortunately splits almost any church or classroom is Romans
5:15-19. The “Literal” version is hard for us to read because it is
so stiffly accurate, but it is accurate. Let’s see if it may help us
now.

The original language often uses the article “the” where we don’t
use it in English. When Paul speaks of “the death,” or “the grace,”
or “the gift,” he means universal death, universal grace, or a universal
gift--as distinguished from personal, individual death, grace, gift,
etc. (In English we could capitalize each word to make it clear.) Thus:

“15. But not as the offence so also is the free [universal] gift;
for, if by the offence of the one [Adam, the first head of the human race],
the many did die [the universal ‘many’ is everybody], much more did
the [universal] grace of God, and the [universal] free gift in grace of the
one man Jesus Christ, abound to the many [all men];
“16. And not as through one who did sin is the [universal] free gift,
for the [universal] judgment indeed is of one to condemnation, but the
[universal] gift is of many offences to a declaration of
‘Righteous.’
“17. For if by the offence of the one [the father of the human race]
the [universal] death did reign through the one [Adam], much more those
who the abundance of the [universal] grace and of the [universal] free
gift of the [Christ’s] righteousness are RECEIVING, [they] shall
reign in life through the One [the universal Savior]--Jesus Christ.
“18. So then, as through one offence to all men it is to
condemnation, so also through one declaration of ‘Righteous’ it is to all men to
justification of life;
“19. For as through the disobedience of the one man [the universal
head of our race, Adam] the many [all men] were CONSTITUTED sinners [not
MADE sinners]; so also through the obedience of the One [Christ, the
new Head of the human race], shall the many [all men] be CONSTITUTED
[not MADE] righteous. . . . Where the [universal] sin did abound, the
[universal] grace did over-abound.”

Thank you, Robert Young.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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