For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
Here observe, That our apostle, to prove Christ's resurrection to be the cause of our resurrection, makes a comparison betwixt Adam and Christ, whom he represents as two originals and fountains, the one of death the other of life. As by Adam's sin all that are partakers of his human nature die a natural death, so all that are partakers of Christ's divine nature, all...
by man . . . by man--The first-fruits are of the same nature as the rest of the harvest; so Christ, the bringer of life, is of the same nature as the race of men to whom He brings it; just as Adam, the bringer of death, was of the same nature as the men on whom he brought it.
Verse 21. For since by man came death. By Adam, or by means of his transgression. See . The sense is, evidently, that in consequence of the sin of Adam all men die, or are subjected to temporal death. Or, in other words, man would not have died had it not been for the crime of the first man. .