Justification by Faith
As seen above, the universal, objective justification is a necessary prerequisite for the personal reception of justification (justification by faith). If no justification of all people has taken place through Christ’s complete and vicarious fulfillment of God’s demands, then there is no justification to offer people, to be received by grace through faith alone.
Confusion over justification should be able to be cleared up immediately by understanding that the word “justification” in the original Biblical language is a judicial term, a courtroom verdict. The verb “justify” means “acquit, declare righteous” and “justification” is God’s verdict of acquittal exclusively because of Christ’s vicarious atonement. Romans 5:18 should not be able to be misunderstood! With the words “just as… so also” Paul compares condemnation (katakrima) because of the trespass of the one (paraptoma) with justification (dikaiosis) because of the righteous act of the one (dikaioma). The text forcefully emphasizes that both verdicts apply to all people. The verdict of condemnation means that sin entered the world through one man and death through sin (Rom 5:12). The verdict of acquittal means that a life-giving verdict of justification, that is, that this verdict of acquittal because of Christ’s righteous act has the power to bestow eternal life to children of death.
It is remarkable how Olav Valen-Sendstad, in his book, “Reffrediggjort av tro” (Oslo 1968, p 142ff) tries to explain away the Bible’s clear teaching of the objective, universal righteousness in Romans 5:12-21. First he admits that “here is said that truly all people—regardless of faith or lack of faith—are condemned in Adam and justified in Jesus” (p 143). In view of the 1930 translation of the Norwegian Bible, he says, “According to this translation there can be no doubt at all that Paul teaches a justification of the world” (p 143). But then he proposes that this translation is not correct, because in the original there is no verb in verse 18. He thinks that this means that Paul wants to narrow the scope of those who are included in this verdict of justification. But this is a proposition pulled out of thin air. It is completely normal for Greek to leave out verbs, especially verbs like “to be”. If this would mean there is a narrowing of scope concerning justification, this would also involve narrowing the scope of the condemnation, because there is no verb in that half of the verse either!
Let us take a look, then, word for word at Romans 5:18 and what the original says. It may not communicate in good Swedish (or English), especially without the verb “to be”, but this is what it says: “So then, just as one person’s fall, for all people, for a verdict of condemnation, so also by the one person’s act of justification, for all people, for a life-giving verdict of justification.”
The Greek preposition eis means “to” and “for”. It indicates what the result of “the one’s fall” and for whom. It says: eis pantas anthropous eis katakrima, “for all people for a verdict of condemnation” (5:18a). The preposition eis is repeated, then, to also indicate the result of “one’s act of justification”, namely eis pantas anthropous eis dikaiosin zoes, “for all people for a life-giving verdict of justification”, (5:18b). So there is no need for a verb in the original Greek. Both halves of the verse are completely parallel. The verse forcefully communicates that both verdicts pertain to all people. Because “for all people” is repeated in both halves, both verdicts, not just the verdict of condemnation, pertain to all people, a fact emphasized by “for all people” in the second half being pulled to the front, in an emphasized position in the sentence.
By looking closely at the original and a word-for-word translation above, anyone can see that the Norwegian translation of the Bible from 1930 had it completely correct: “Altså: likesom éns fall blev til fordømmelse for alle mennesker, således blev også éns rettferdige gjerning til livsens rettferdiggjørelse for alle mennesker” (So then: just as the fall of one resulted in condemnation for all people, so also the result of the one’s righteous act was life-giving justification for all people”. Luther translated it correctly as well: Wie nun durch eines Sünde die Verdammnis über alle Menschen gekommen ist, so ist auch durch eines Gerechtigkeit die Rechtfertigung des Lebens über alle Menschen gekommen“ (Luther Bibel 1545).
Valen-Sendstad further denies that the expression “the many” in 5:19 means all. He writes, “Here he (Paul) is no longer talking about ‘all people’, but only about ‘the man’” (p 144). But if all of a sudden the expression “the many” here does not mean “all”, then neither have the consequences of Adam’s fall come to all, but only to “the many”. 5:19 says, “Just as through the disobedience of one man the many became sinners…”. Verse 15 also uses “the many” both concerning those who are affected by the fall into sin and those who are the intended recipients of the overflowing grace of God.
The fall into sin has affected all people, and Paul, in verse 18, has clearly said that “the many” are the same as “all people”, both when it comes to the verdict of condemnation and when it comes to the verdict of justification. We know that the expression “as ransom for the many” (Matt 20:28) means “as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:6). Compare also “poured out for many” (Matt 26:28) concerning Jesus’ blood, and the prophecy that the Messiah would “justify the many, for he himself carried their guilt” (Isa 53:11).