Many and All
Josiah Hawthorne asked a question via what is now the toXic corpse of what used to be Twitter. (Josiah Hawthorne is also on Threads as @josiahhawthornesreceipts)
Here's the question:
Regardless of the medium, the question is intriguing. I went to look at how the Liberation and Inclusion Translation (LIT) handles it, and what I found had me going back and forth whether I thought they were meant to distinguish between two sets of people or to be synonymous for ‘all’ people over and over as I tried to make sense of it.
Where it took me wasn’t exactly where I expected, but it wasn’t exactly shocking to me either. There are plenty of folks who would be willing to die to prove me wrong though, so I’m curious what each person sees here. Take a look.
1 Therefore, since we have been recognized as just because of faithfulness, we have peace in God’s presence through our Lord Jesus Christ 2 through whom we have also, with faithfulness, acquired access to this generosity with which we stand firm, and we boast in the hope of God’s praiseworthiness. 3 Not only this, but we also boast in the oppressions we have experienced, having seen that the oppression produces endurance, 4 and then the endurance produces trustworthiness, and then the trustworthiness produces hope. 5 And hope does not bring dishonor, because God’s love has been poured over our hearts through the Sacred Life-breath who was given to us.
6 You see, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the sake of those who were still disrespectful at the time 7 (It’s rare that someone would die even for the sake of a just person, and maybe someone would also bring themselves to die for the sake of a good person), 8 so God demonstrates his own love for us because while we were still deviating, Christ died for our sake. 9 Therefore, much more now since we have been recognized as just, in connection with his blood, we will be liberated from anger through him. 10 If—while we were hostile—we were reconciled by God through the death of his son, then that much more—after being reconciled—we will be liberated with his life. 11 And not only that, but also boast in connection with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation.
12 Because of this, just as deviation came into the world through one person and through deviation came death, that’s also how death spread to all people, and on top of that, all deviated. 13 You see, deviation was in the world before Torah, but deviation wasn’t calculated when Torah didn’t exist. 14 However, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not deviate in the same pattern of the sidestepping of Adam (who is a template of the coming one).
15 Nevertheless, unlike each shortfall, the act of generosity is also like deviation since if many people died through the shortfall of the one person, then the generosity of God and what is generously given through one person—Jesus Christ—overflowed to the many even that much more. 16 The gift is also not like what happened through the one who deviated since, while the verdict that came from the one was for a verdict against him, the act of generosity that came from many shortfalls was a verdict of being just. 17 If, with the shortfall of the one person, death reigned through that one, then even that much more those who receive the overflow of generosity and the gift of justness will reign with life through the one, Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore, like how through one shortfall the result for all people was a verdict against them, similarly, it’s also through one verdict of being just that the result for all people was recognition of justness, life. 19 Just as through the one’s refusal to listen, the many were set up to be people who deviate, similarly, also through the one’s consent to listen, the many were set up to be people who are just. 20 Yet, additionally, Torah came in so that the shortfall would be excessive, but where deviation was excessive, generosity overflowed even more 21 so that just as deviation reigned with death, similarly generosity would also reign through justness resulting in agelong life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Here's how I’ve distilled the flow of the argument:
Adam was the ‘one person’ through whom death spread to ‘all’ people, and ‘all’ people deviated.
Each shortfall (‘each’ is the singular form of the same word translated as ‘all’ in verses 12 and 18) does not impact the ‘many’ the same way the shortfall of the one. It’s unique in some way.
The way it impacts the many, is that ‘many people died through’ it.
However, God’s generosity given through Jesus overflows to those same many. In fact, while Adam’s shortfall led to death for many, God’s generosity transforms each shortfall of the many into life through Jesus.
Therefore, though through Adam’s shortfall, ‘all’ people received a verdict against them, ‘all’ people subsequently receive a verdict in their favor through Jesus.
While people the ‘many’ were set up to be people who deviate through Adam, those same ‘many’ were set up to be people aligned with the torah of love through Jesus.
The ultimate result is replacing death with agelong life for all people.
I may have broken my brain trying to hold it all together, paying attention both to the whole picture and to each component, trying to see how they fit. I actually came into this question suspecting that I would land on the idea that ‘all’ and ‘many’ are referring to distinct sets of people. Now that I’ve sifted through it carefully, I can’t see any valid way to understand them other than them being synonymous.
If we believe Paul knew what he was talking about, he seems to be claiming that the verdict of justness and life for all people that Jesus secured is as fully universal as the verdict of deviation and death secured by Adam.
It certainly fits Paul’s definition as the good news being that all people groups would be praised as worthy according to the promise to Abraham cited in Galatians 3:6-8. (Read more about that here)
Even more, Jesus’ own words actually pair ‘all’ and ‘many’ in a synonymous way. We just have to know to look for it. He uses it to refer to whom he came to liberate by paying the price for their freedom.
43 However, that’s not how it is among you. Just the opposite, whoever wants to become important among you will be a servant among you, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you will be enslaved to all. 45 You see, the Son of Humanity also came not to be served but to serve and to give his very being as the price of freeing many people from enslavement.”
Once we know that’s how Paul, Jesus, and other biblical figures are using these words, ‘all’ and ‘many,’ we can also start to look for them when they’re not right next to each other. It makes things click into place in new ways. Let’s see what happens to how we hear Jesus’ words as he was preparing for his own execution:
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after speaking praise, he broke it and gave it to the others.
“Take it,” he said. “This is my body.”
23 Then, taking a cup and, after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of the covenant,” he said, “poured out lavishly for the sake of many.”
Reading things with careful attention to context starts to shift things for me. It starts to have larger implications that simply word choice. It starts to expand things—from simply 'many'—to all.
How would you answer Josiah Hawthorne’s question?
