"Out of Many, One" or "Out of One, Many?"

E pluribus, unum (Out of Many, One)
Great Seal of United States


Per inoboedienticum unius hominis peccatores constituti sunt multi, per unius oboeditionem iusti constituentur multi
Romans 5:19 (from the Latin Vulgate Bible)








Our great country just celebrated another birthday! God bless our native land, long may she ever stand! E pluribus, unum! Out of the many, one! For generations, this Latin motto was truly believed to be precious of our country, that out of many different peoples immigrating to its shores, it became one country with one resolve, one language, united in its great beliefs and sacred rights.


The Bible in Romans 5:19a describes a similar event, but in this case extremely negative and damaging, here translated into English: "For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners." Through Adam's original sin, all subsequent humans have the inherited slavery to sin and thus are under its curse.


Thanks be to God, there is a second Adam who is talked about in the second half of this verse, Romans 19b: "even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous." This blessed Second Adam, the One, is none other than Jesus Christ as Paul makes perfectly clear in Romans 5:17, saying that: "If by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ."


Through the means of grace, Word and Sacraments, believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ receive the gift of forgiveness and eternal life and become the "many" spoken of in this verse.

So thanks be to God for the wonderful "E pluribus, unum" of our country! May it continue to be so! But thanks be to God even more for the blessed "Unius oboeditionem iusti constituentur multi."!