A SUGGESTION ON STUDYING ROMANS 5:12-21: Dear reader, without a doubt, Romans 5:12-21 is one of the most difficult sections of Scripture in Romans and in the entire New Testament for that matter. And yet it is one of the most important sections, for the truths expounded in these verses are the very foundation stones of the Gospel. It therefore behooves every saint to earnestly consider prayerfully digging into this meaty section in order to more fully understand the rich treasure we have in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After studying the text yourself under the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, you are encouraged to look at the notes on these verses. I would also encourage you to download the excellent messages by Dr John Piper using the links provided below. I usually download them to a folder I have created on my Desktop ("Audio") and them drag them over to my Ipod Playlist and listen to them on my daily 20 mile bike ride. To easily download the following Mp3's simply right click your mouse over the link, select "Save Target As" and then pick your destination (Desktop folder, Ipod, etc). Then sit back and listen to Piper's Puritan like passionate plea which is truly "logic on fire"!

You could just read the manuscripts at Desiringgod.org but be aware that (1) the manuscripts are not verbatim and (2) if you only read the text, you would miss some of Piper's passion cry in preaching which stirs one's soul to desire more of God's glory!

Romans 5:12-21 Adam, Christ, and Justification, Part 1

Romans 5:12-21 Adam, Christ, and Justification, Part 2

Romans 5:12-21 Adam, Christ, and Justification, Part 3

Romans 5:12-21 Adam, Christ, and Justification, Part 4

Romans 5:12-21 Adam, Christ, and Justification, Part 5

Romans 5:20-21 The Triumph of Grace through Righteousness

If you only have time for one message I would recommend Part 5 which summarizes Romans 5:12-21 and deals with the often sticky issue of "original sin".

C H Spurgeon has a sermon in which he gives an excellent summary of the doctrine of Christ and Adam as representative heads. Click here to read Spurgeon's comments on this important doctrine.

S Lewis Johnson writes that...

The master-thought of the section that begins with verse twelve of Romans chapter five and concludes with verse 21 is the unity of the many in the one. Adam and his posterity are affected by his sin, while the Last Adam and His people are affected by his righteous act, that is, the victorious redeeming work of the cross.

Morris cautiously introduces Romans 5:12-21 writing that...

Just as Adam was the head of a race of sinners, so Christ is the head of a new race, the redeemed people of God. The argument is very condensed, and in all translations and comments we must allow for the possibility that Paul’s meaning may at some point be other than we think. But we must not exaggerate this. The main lines of the argument are clear. It is an important section, and indeed Nygren calls it “the point where all the lines of (Paul’s) thinking converge, both those of the preceding chapters and those of the chapters that follow.” The construction of the whole is not straightforward.  Paul begins to compare Adam and Christ in Romans 5:12, but breaks off his sentence at the end of that verse to explain the pattern of sin and death (Romans 5:13; 14). He makes it clear that there are profound dissimilarities between Christ and Adam (Romans 5:15; 16; 17), and in Romans 5:18 he returns to complete succinctly the thought of the unfinished sentence of Romans 5:12. To this he adds an explanation (Romans 5:19) and a little section on the law (Romans 5:20; 21). There is an objectivity to this section that we should not miss. In Romans 5:1–11 and again in 6:1–9 the pronoun we is constant, but in Romans 5:12–21 there is not one we. Paul is concentrating on objective facts, irrespective of our participation. (Morris, L. The Epistle to the Romans. W. B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press)

As background remember that there are 3 great imputations in the Bible. To impute something means to place it on another's account so to speak.

(1) Imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity's account or the spiritual account of the entire human race.

(2) Imputation of the sin of the elect to Jesus Christ, Who bore sin's penalty on the Cross (cf 2Cor 5:21)

(3) Imputation of the righteousness of God to the elect (Ro 3:24-26, Ro 4:1-8)

Romans 5:12 deals with the first imputation, the placing of Adam's sin upon the account of the human race, a doctrine which is fundamental to all theology. In short, in this section Paul teaches that man does evil, because he is evil, and the root cause of the sin problem is what happened millennia ago in the beautiful garden planted by God.

Wiersbe introduces this important, often times poorly understood section, Romans 5:12-21, by asking...

How is it possible for God to save sinners in the person of Jesus Christ? We understand that somehow Christ took our place on the cross, but how was such a substitution possible? Paul answered the question in this section, and these verses are the very heart of the letter.

To understand these verses a few general truths about this section need to be understood. First, note the repetition of the little word one. It is used eleven times. The key idea here is our identification with Adam and with Christ. Second, note the repetition of the word reign which is used five times. Paul saw two men—Adam and Christ—each of them reigning over a kingdom. Finally, note that the phrase much more is repeated five times. This means that in Jesus Christ we have gained much more than we ever lost in Adam!

In short, this section is a contrast of Adam and Christ. Adam was given dominion over the old creation, he sinned, and he lost his kingdom. Because of Adam’s sin, all mankind is under condemnation and death. Christ came as the King over a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). By His obedience on the cross, He brought in righteousness and justification. Christ not only undid all the damage that Adam’s sin effected, but He accomplished “much more” by making us the very sons of God. Some of this “much more” Paul has already explained in Romans 5:1-11. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor or Logos)

Harry Ironside has an interesting comment on the practical import of this doctrinally deep and controversial section, Romans 5:12-21, writing that...

The awakened sinner is concerned about one thing: how to be delivered from the judgment his sins have righteously deserved. This aspect of salvation has all been gone into and settled in the first part of Romans 5. It is never raised again. As we go on into this next part of the Epistle the question of guilt does not come up.

The moment a sinner believes the gospel, his responsibility as a child of Adam under the judgment of God is over forever. But at that very moment his responsibility as a child of God begins. He has a new nature that craves what is divine. But he soon discovers that his carnal nature has not been removed nor improved by his conversion to God, and from this fact arises many trying experiences. It often comes as a great shock when he realizes that he has still a nature capable of every kind of vileness. He is rightly horrified, and may be tempted to question the reality of his regeneration and his justification before God. How can a holy God go on with one who has such a nature as this? If he tries to fight sin in the flesh he is probably defeated, and learns by bitter experience what Philip Melanchthon, Luther's friend, put so tersely,

"Old Adam is too strong for young Philip."

Happy is the young convert if at this crisis he comes under sound scriptural instruction instead of falling into the hands of spiritual charlatans who will set him to seeking the elimination of the fleshly nature and the death of the carnal mind. If he follows their advice he will be led into a quagmire of uncertainty and dazzled by the delusive will-o'-the-wisp of possible perfection in the flesh. He will perhaps flounder for years in the bog of fanaticism and self-torture before reaching the rest that remains for the people of God.

I have tried to tell of my own early experiences along this line in a little volume entitled, Holiness, the False and the True, (Ed note: This short pamphlet is available at no charge on the internet - Holiness) which I am thankful to know has been blessed to the deliverance of many thousands of souls. It was the truth we are now to consider that saved me at last from the wretchedness and disappointments of those early years.

First we have to consider the two great families and the two federal heads of chapter Romans 5:12-21. The moment a man is justified by faith he is also born of God. His justification is, as we have seen, his official clearance before the throne of God. His regeneration involves his introduction into a new family. He becomes a part of the new creation of which the risen Christ is the Head.

Adam the first was federal head of the old race. Christ risen, the Second Man and the last Adam, is Head of the new race. The old creation fell in Adam, and all his descendants were involved in his ruin. The new creation stands eternally secure in Christ, and all who have received life from Him are sharers in the blessings procured by His cross and secured by His life at God's right hand.

Joyful now the new creation
Rests in undisturbed repose,
Blest in Jesus' full salvation,
Sorrow now nor thraldom knows.

The proper comprehension of the eternal standing in Christ settles the question of the believer's security. It also provides a scriptural basis for the doctrine of deliverance from the power of sin. (Ironside, Harry. Romans and Galatians. Kregel. 2006)

The following is a tabular summary of Romans 5:12-21...

Modified from William Newell Romans Verse by Verse

Comparing Adam and Christ verse by verse...

Therefore - Clearly Paul is linking Romans 5:11-21 with the preceding section. Notice that in the KJV at the end of verse 12 there is a parenthesis sign encompassing verses 13-17. What the KJV is trying to help the reader discern is that the comparison that Paul begins in this verse (as indicated by the word "as"), is not concluded unto Romans 5:18-19, where the ideas are picked up again and fully stated. Thus, Romans 5:13-14 are parenthetical, explaining the statement of verse twelve, namely, that all sinned.

Denny explains that therefore (dia touto)...

refers to that whole conception of Christ's relation to the human  race which is expounded in Romans 3:21-5:11. But as this is summed up in Romans 5:1-11, and even in the last words of Romans 5:11 (through Him we received the reconciliation) the grammatical reference may be to these words only. (Nicoll, W Robertson, Editor: Expositors Greek Testament: 5 Volumes. Out of print. Search Google)

Newell  introduces this section writing that...

The two men, Adam and Christ, with their distinct federal or representative consequences, are before us. It is no longer what we have done (our sins), but the one trespass of Adam that is in view. And it is the work of Christ, also, looked at as an "Adam" (second Man or last Adam - cp 1Cor 15:22, 45, 47) and His "righteous act" of death with its effect of justification for us. So now (Romans 5:12-21) we look back to the act that set us down as sinners, instead of to our own deeds and to the act that sets us down righteous, apart from our own works...

(He goes on to explain the therefore writing that) This whole plan of salvation, by Christ's work, not ours, which we have been considering in Romans 3-5, gives rise to the therefore which introduces this verse: Therefore this plan of salvation of all by a single Redeemer, is on the same principle as when through the other one man sin entered the world; and, with it, its wages, death. Paul proceeds to emphasize that it was in that way; i.e.,  by one man, that death passed to all men, because when Adam sinned, all sinned. It was a federal representative act. (Romans 5)

A key word in Romans 5:12-21 is one which occurs 13 times in the NASB (Multiple times in some verses - See notes Romans 5:12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19).  One evil deed of this one man, is very important and underlies the whole discussion.

Constable makes the following related observation...

Paul did not call Adam and Christ by name when he first spoke of them but referred to each as one man. He thereby stressed the unity of the federal head with those under his authority who are also “men” (i.e., people). (Expository Notes)

Leon Morris adds that...

repeatedly Paul refers to one man Adam (and to one sin of that one man), and opposes to him (and to it) the one man Jesus Christ (and his one work of grace). The one man and his sin and the one Savior and his salvation are critical to the discussion. (Morris, L. The Epistle to the Romans. W. B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press)

The KJV Bible Commentary makes the point that...

Since these verses are so doctrinal in nature, it will be helpful to keep in mind three very important truths established in Romans 5:12-21. They are: (1) one offense, by one man, made all the world guilty of sin; (2) the resultant guilt of Adam’s original sin is imputed to each of us; and (3) Adam acted as our official representative when he cast his vote against God. (Dobson, E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV Bible Commentary: Nelson or Logos)

Criswell explains that...

These verses contrast and compare life in Adam with life in Christ. These men are alike in that each is the head of a race, and thus his actions have far-reaching effects. They differ in that through one death came to all men (v. 12), but through the other life came as a free gift for those who would accept that gift (see notes Romans 5:17; 18). The passage affirms that in some way Adam's sin has negatively affected the entire human race. Man inherits a sinful nature and sinful state via his identification with Adam as the head of the race. Paul does not explain exactly how all sinned in Adam, but he clearly affirms the fact of it. All humanity is spiritually related to one of these two men. Either we are (1) in Adam by birth and therefore under condemnation, or (2) in Christ by faith and therefore justified and forgiven. We are in Adam naturally by birth. We are in Christ supernaturally by the New Birth. There is no hint of universalism in this text. (Criswell, W A. Believer's Study Bible: New King James Version. 1991. Thomas Nelson)

As Wayne Barber says...

if you don’t understand Romans 5, especially verses 12 through 21, a lot of confusion can come. We’re going to talk about the reason why every man desperately needs to be justified by faith, by putting his faith into the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever had somebody look at you with a puzzled look when you said to him that every person apart from Jesus Christ is a sinner? They say to you, "I’ve always tried to be a good person. I’ve joined the church. I’ve given money to the church. I do things for underprivileged kids. I give to the poor. What do you mean I’m a sinner?"

I want you to see from God’s word why it is that all men who have not placed their faith into Jesus Christ are sinners: they are IN Adam as opposed to being IN Christ. Verses 12 through 21, especially verses 14 and down, are going to give you a contrast of what it means to be IN Adam and what it means to be IN Christ...When you put your faith into Christ, you are taken out of Adam and you are placed into the body of Jesus Christ. Paul says in Colossians you are taken out from under the power of darkness and you are placed into the kingdom of His dear Son (God "delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" see notes Colossians 1:13)...The problem does not come from what you are doing on the outside. The problem is on the inside. You’ve got to be changed from within. A man does what he does because he is what he is. He is also going to show us man is desperate to be justified before God.

When did sin begin? It started with Adam. How do you know he is talking about Adam? Look at verse 14:

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come

If you’ll follow the context through verse 21, he’s comparing Adam and what he did and how it affected the human race with Jesus and what He did and how that affected the human race. Liberals look at this text and tell us that Genesis 1-11 is myth and that Adam and Eve were a race of people, not a man and a woman. If you believe that, take Romans 5 and throw the rest of your Bible away! ONE man sinned, and because he sinned, sin entered the world. That man’s name was Adam. It all started right there...

Let’s go back and at least read the warning that God gave to Adam and Eve in the garden. In Genesis 2:16 He is speaking to Adam.

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely.’".

..Adam had the entire garden, all the trees to eat from. But God said, "There’s one tree you cannot eat from." Genesis 2:17:

"but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat from it you shall surely die."

We are going to see in Romans that that death was not just physical death. Physical death is the obvious evidence to people that there has been a spiritual death. There’s been an estrangement between God and man. Death means separation. The moment that Adam chose to sin against God and eat from that tree, he was immediately estranged from God. There was a death. Even though he might not have understood all of that, he began physically to die, and death began to reign on this earth. (Romans 5:12-14) (Bolding added)

We have seen, in Romans 1-3, the fact of universal human guilt, that all thus are "falling short of God’s glory"; and we have seen Christ set forth by God as a "propitiation through faith in His blood." We also found that believers were declared righteous; and seen connected with a Risen Christ, in Romans 4. Then we saw, in the first part of Romans 5, the blessed results of this "justification by faith."

Romans 5:12-21 is vital material to prepare one for the great truths in Romans 6-8. In these passages we see the contrast between the UNION with Christ for believers versus their former UNION with Adam. Paul compares and contrasts Adam, the first man Adam, the father of humanity, with Jesus Christ, the "second Adam" (cp 1 Cor 15:47) and father of the new humanity. The two men, Adam and Christ, with their distinct representative consequences are presented in these ten verses at the end of Romans 5. It is no longer what we have done—our sins, but the one trespass of Adam that is in view. Paul contrasts the work of Adam with the work of Christ in His "righteous act" of death with its effect of justification.

Ryrie introduces Romans 5:12-21 remarking that...

In the closely worded argument of this section Paul contrasts death in Adam with life in Christ. Just as Adam's sin brought certain results, so did the death of Christ. Yet this does not mean automatic salvation, for men must receive the grace God offers (see note Romans 5:17). After Adam sinned, he and his descendants could only beget sinners, so all men are under the sentence of death, the penalty of sin. all sinned. True because of the solidarity of the race just explained (see notes Hebrews 7:9; 10 for the principle of imputation). (The Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation: 1995. Moody Publishers)

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia has an insightful note on Romans 5:12-21 writing that...

The passage is the logical center of the epistle, the central point to which everything that precedes has converged, and out of which everything which follows will flow. The great ideas of Sin, Death, and Judgment are here shown to be involved in the connection of the human race with Adam. But over against this there is the blessed fact of union with Christ, and in this union righteousness and life. The double headship of mankind in Adam and Christ shows the significance of the work of redemption for the entire race. Mankind is ranged under two heads, Adam and Christ. There are two men, two acts and two results. In this teaching we have the spiritual and theological illustration of the great modern principle of solidarity. There is a solidarity of evil and a solidarity of good, but the latter far surpasses the former in the quality of the obedience of Christ as compared with Adam, and the facts of the work of Christ for justification and life.

The section is thus no mere episode, or illustration, but that which gives organic life to the entire epistle. Although sin and death are ours in Adam righteousness and life are ours in Christ, and these latter two are infinitely the greater (see note Romans 5:11); whatever we have lost in Adam we have more than gained in Christ. As all the evils of the race sprang from one man, so all the blessings of redemption come from One Person, and there is such a connection between the Person and the race that all men can possess what the One has done. (Bolding added)

JUST AS THROUGH ONE MAN: Dia touto hosper di enos (heis) anthropou: (Ro 5:19; Ge 3:6)

Just as (5618) (hosper) is a conjunction which introduces a comparison. The main point in Romans 5:12-21 is the comparison between Adam and Christ, explaining how Adam on one hand was the means of bringing in sin and death, while Christ on the other hand was the One who brought in justification and life.

Hodge writes that just as...

Just as obviously indicates a comparison or parallel. There is, however, no corresponding clause beginning with “so” to complete the sentence. Examples of similar incomplete comparisons may be found in Matthew 25:14 with “like” and in 1 Timothy 1:3 with “as.” It is, however, so obvious that the illustration begun in this verse is resumed and fully stated in verses 18–19 that the vast majority of commentators agree we must seek in those verses the clause which answers to this verse. (Hodge, Charles: Commentary on Romans. Ages Classic Commentaries  or Logos)

Wuest paraphrases it...

Wherefore, as through the intermediate agency of one man the aforementioned sin entered the world, and through this sin, death; and thus into and throughout all mankind death entered, because all sinned. (Eerdmans) 

One man - Although not name in this verse, this is clearly Adam. As Barber discusses above, in Genesis 2:16-17, God gave one command to eat from every tree in the Garden except the Tree of Knowledge, for if he ate of this tree he would surely die.

Carroll writes that...

The one offense committed by the first Adam was his violation of that test, or prohibition, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Adam was told that he was not to eat of the tree of death, nor was he to experimentally know the difference between good and evil. In other words, he was an anti-prohibitionist. The law commenced with an absolute prohibition, and it did not avail Adam a thing to plead personal liberty. Race responsibility rested on Adam alone. It could not possibly have rested on Eve, because she was a descendant of Adam, just as much as we are. GOD created just one man, and in that man was the whole human race, including Eve. Later he took a part of the man and made a woman, and the meaning of the word "woman" is "derived from man." When Adam saw her, he said, "Isshah," woman, which literally means derived from man. As she got both her soul and body from the man, being his descendant, it was impossible that the race responsibility should rest on her.

If Eve alone had sinned, the race would not have perished. She would have perished, but not the race. The race was in Adam. GOD could have derived another woman from him like that one. He had the potentiality in him of all women as well as all men. Some error has arisen from holding Eve responsible, such as the error of pointing the finger at the woman and saying, "You did it!" The text says, "By one man's offense" and not by one offense of one woman. That Eve sinned there is no doubt; she was in the transgression. To the contrary, history shows that GOD connects salvation with the woman, and not damnation. He said that the Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. There we have the promise of grace. And he could not have said the seed of the man, for, if one be the seed of a man, he inherits the man's fallen nature. (B. H. Carroll; Studies in Romans)

Man (444) (anthropos)  is a generic name for human beings in general. Anthropos is distinguished from aner, which refers to the male sex. Anthropos on the other hand signifies a member of the human race, without reference either to sex or nationality.

Henry Morris however adds this qualifying remark noting that...

There is no warrant in the New Testament for the heretical notion that "Adam" is simply a generic term representing the human race. He was "one man," in fact "the first man" (1 Corinthians 15:45)...Adam was a real person, directly created and made by God, and so was Eve. The entire argument of Romans 5:12-21 becomes irrelevant if the Genesis record of the creation and fall of Adam did not happen just as recorded in Genesis 1-3, and this would mean there is no reality in the saving work of Christ either. Destroying or distorting the Genesis record undermines and eventually destroys the gospel of salvation. Such a devastating undermining of the Christian faith is surely not warranted by the fragmentary and self-contradictory fossil evidences that have been alleged to support the notion of human evolution. (Morris, Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)

Bruce writes that...

To Paul, Adam was more than a historical individual, the first man; he was also what his name means in Hebrew - ‘humanity.’ The whole of humanity is viewed as having existed at first in Adam.

The following discussion is somewhat redundant and repetitive in order to lay the groundwork for studying Romans 5:12-21, which can be a bit confusing. Hopefully, the following will help clarify Paul's arguments in the next 10 verses.

Morris comments that...

There is no warrant in the New Testament for the heretical notion that "Adam" is simply a generic term representing the human race. He was "one man," in fact "the first man" (1Cor 15:45). There were no pre-Adamite men, as some have alleged, and certainly no population of evolving hominids becoming Adam. In fact, Christ Himself made it clear that Adam and Eve were

"from the beginning of the creation God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE" (Mark 10:6 quoting Genesis 1:27)

Adam was a real person, directly created and made by God, and so was Eve. The entire argument of Romans 5:12-21 becomes irrelevant if the Genesis record of the creation and fall of Adam did not happen just as recorded in Genesis 1-3, and this would mean there is no reality in the saving work of Christ either. Destroying or distorting the Genesis record undermines and eventually destroys the gospel of salvation. Such a devastating undermining of the Christian faith is surely not warranted by the fragmentary and self-contradictory fossil evidences that have been alleged to support the notion of human evolution. (Morris, Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)

Genesis is not a myth or a fairy tale. It is the truth and it all began here...

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. (Ge 3:6)

Note that Genesis 3 make it abundantly clear that this one man, Adam, brought sin to the human race by disobedience. It was not the sins of Adam’s lifetime, but the one "original sin" which allowed death, sin’s close ally, to enter the world with it. On no less than five occasions in Romans 5:15-19 the principle of one sin by one man is asserted. One act of disobedience to God was sufficient to allow sin to enter and permeate the entire realm of humanity.

This truth shuts the mouth of liberals who would deny the literal truth of Genesis, saying Adam was just a generic term for the human race. God says specifically one man thus corroborating the truth of Genesis. The entire argument of Romans 5:12-21 becomes irrelevant if the Genesis record of the creation and fall of Adam did not happen as recorded.

The following note is on the term federal for it is often found in commentaries describing Adam as our "federal head", or legal representative of the rest of mankind that originated from him. The federal headship view considers Adam, the first man, as the representative of the human race that generated from him. Thus in the federal headship model...

As the representative of all humans, Adam’s act of sin was considered by God to be the act of all people and his penalty of death was judicially made the penalty of everybody.

Bible Knowledge Commentary goes on to distinguish a second way of explaining the participation of all mankind in the sin of Adam...

The natural headship view, on the other hand, recognizes that the entire human race was seminally and physically in Adam, the first man. As a result God considered all people as participating in the act of sin which Adam committed and as receiving the penalty he received. Even adherents of the federal headship view must admit that Adam is the natural head of the human race physically; the issue is the relationship spiritually. Biblical evidence supports the natural headship of Adam. When presenting the superiority of Melchizedek’s priesthood to Aaron’s, the author of Hebrews argued that Levi, the head of the priestly tribe, “who collects the 10th, paid the 10th through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor” (Heb. 7:9-10).

The esteemed Dallas Theological Seminary professor S Lewis Johnson favors the "immediate federal imputation view" which says that...

Adam is the federal head of the race. Men are regarded as having stood their probation in him as their representative. His act was, therefore, deemed to be their act. He, the covenantal head of the race, fell, and in him the race fell. The fact that he was the head of the race is indicated by the fact the threats that were given him by God on the condition of his failure of the probation have been carried out on Adam and his posterity. All men, and not simply Adam, die.

And so Paul begins the analogy of Christ with Adam, the common principle being that, in each case, a far-reaching effect on countless others was generated through one man. Adam was given but one (as far as we know) prohibition by God, and the consequence for disobedience of that prohibition was severe

Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:15-17)

And so when Adam disobeyed God (Ro 5:12,19) sin entered into his life and generated a constitutional change in his human nature so that our basic human nature in Adam is that we are made sinners or constituted as sinners (see note Romans 5:19), indicating that we possess the innate propensity to sin which was transmitted from Adam to all men.

Paul’s argument begins with the assertion that, through Adam, sin entered into the world. He does not speak of sins, plural, but of sin, singular. In this sense, as discussed below (see note), sin does not represent a particular unrighteous act (as when I commit a "sin") but rather the inherent propensity to unrighteousness in thought, word and deed. It was not the many sinful acts that Adam subsequently committed, but the indwelling sin nature that he passed on to his posterity. Just as Adam bequeathed his physical nature to his posterity, he also bequeathed to them his spiritual nature, and that nature was characterized and dominated by sin.

Mankind is a single entity, constituting a divinely ordered solidarity. Adam represents the entire human race that is descended from him, no matter how many subgroups there may be. Therefore when Adam sinned, all mankind sinned, and because his first sin transformed his inner nature, and that same depraved nature was also transmitted to his posterity. Ancient Jews understood well the idea of corporate identity. It was on that basis that God frequently punished or blessed an entire tribe, city, or nation because of what a few, or even just one, of its members did. (eg see effect of Achan's sin Joshua 7:1-26). This background should help you understand such passages as “In Adam all die" (1Cor 15:22).

The fact that Adam and Eve not only were actual historical figures but were the original human beings from whom all others have descended is absolutely critical to Paul’s argument here and is critical to the efficacy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Can you see why this Old Testament truth is so critical? If a historical Adam did not represent all mankind in sinfulness, a historical Christ could not represent all mankind in righteousness. If all men did not fall with the first Adam, all men could not be saved by Christ, the second and last Adam (1Cor 15:20-22, 45).

When Adam sinned, all mankind sinned in his loins (see note Romans 5:18). Adam's sin transformed his inner nature and brought spiritual death and depravity, and that sinful nature was passed on seminally to his posterity. This same principle of one who is yet unborn is in a sense in the loins of his predecessor is alluded to by the writer of Hebrews in his discussion of Abraham and Levi (the priesthood)...

And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. (see notes Hebrews 7:9; 10)

Stated another way even though Levi was not yet born, Abraham was his physical ancestor and thus Levi is considered as to be in the loins of Abraham. In light of that concept, what one can say is that Levi (and his descendants) who collected the tithe from the people in Israel, in a manner of speaking they themselves (Levi and descendents) paid a tithe to Melchizedek through their physical ancestor Abraham. When Abraham paid the tithe, it was as if Levi (and his descendents) paid the tithe. This same principle is utilized by Paul in his discussion of Adam, the physical ancestor of every human being ever born.

EBC adds...

That we could have sinned in Adam may seem strange and unnatural to the mind of Western man. Nevertheless, it is congenial to biblical teaching on the solidarity of mankind. When Adam sinned, the race sinned because the race was in him. To put it boldly, Adam was the race. What he did, his descendants, who were still in him, did also...

If one is still troubled by the seeming injustice of being born with a sinful nature because of what the father of the race did and being held accountable for the sins that result from that disability, he should weigh carefully the significance of reconciliation as stated by Paul: "... that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them " (2Cor 5:19). The sins committed, that owe their original impetus to the sin of the first man, are not reckoned against those who have committed them provided they put their trust in Christ crucified and risen. God takes their sins and gives them his righteousness. Would we not agree that this is more than a fair exchange? (Gaebelein, F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament. Zondervan Publishing)

So then here in one of the most enigmatic passages in the entire book, Paul sets out to show how one Man’s death can provide salvation for many. To prove his point, he uses Adam to establish the principle that it is possible for one man’s actions to inexorably affect many other people.

Beet makes an observation (that John Piper has also made) that (Romans 5:12) is incomplete for it

states only one side of an important comparison. For, although grammatically the clause also in this way etc. might be taken as introducing the second member of the comparison (Ed note: that is the "second Adam", Christ), this would yield no adequate contrast. Evidently the comparison is broken off in order to prove the former (Adamic) side of it. The second side (Christ) is informally introduced in (Romans 5:15) and the whole comparison is formally stated in (Romans 5:18; 5:19).

Paul’s Jewish readers might have been tempted to argue that this did not apply to them because of their unique descent from "Abraham the righteous" (more accurately, "Abraham the sinner declared righteous" -- God imputed righteousness to Abraham's "account" in Genesis 15:6 on the basis of grace through faith - Abraham believed God's promise and ultimately the promised Seed, the Messiah). Paul counters any such Jewish logic, by taking them back to the beginning of all mankind in Genesis 3, thus emphasizing their common descent with the Gentiles from the line of "Adam the sinner". It is interesting to observe that Paul's argument would have greater force to his Jewish readers than Genesis alone might imply, because Jewish traditions had made Adam much more prominent than he had been in the Old Testament (he is hardly mentioned outside Genesis). Jewish people in this period sometimes spoke of Adam in hyperbolic terms as if he filled the whole earth (!) or more often they spoke of his original glory, which was lost in the Fall in Genesis 3. And so the Jews generally believed that Adam's sin introduced sin (and consequently death) into the world, and that all Adam's descendants shared in his guilt. In addition, Jewish interpreters generally believed that Adam’s original glory would be restored to the "righteous" ones in the world to come.

William Newell makes an interesting comment...

We were so connected with the first Adam that we did not have to wait to be born, or to have a sinful nature; but when Adam, our representative, acted, we acted...The great truth of Romans 5.12-21 is that a representative acted, involving those connected with him  (Romans 5)

(the) SIN ENTERED THE WORLD AND DEATH THROUGH SIN AND SO DEATH SPREAD TO ALL MEN: he (definite article) hamartia (sin) eis ton kosmon eiselthen (3SAAI) kai dia tes hamartias ho thanatos: (Ro 6:23; Ge 2:17; 3:19, 22, 23, 24; Ezek 18:4; 1Cor 15:21; Jas 1:15; Rev 20:14,15)

This passage is often referred to when one seeks to explain the doctrine you may have heard described as original sin. Original sin is a term used to describe our inheritance of a sinful nature from Adam. The sinful nature originated with Adam and is passed down from parent to child. We are by nature children of wrath (see note Ephesians 2:3).

Ryrie notes that theologians have used at least three different labels to describe the sin nature all men inherit from Adam...

(1) Some call it...inherited sin. This emphasizes the truth that all people inherit this sinful state from their parents, and their parents from their parents, all the way back to Adam and Eve.

(2) Others call it the sin nature, which focuses on the fact that sin has corrupted our entire nature. The term “sin nature” provides a clear contrast between that root nature and its fruits (which are particular acts of sin).

(3) Still others prefer the term original sin because Adam’s original sin produced that moral corruption of nature that was transmitted by inheritance to each succeeding generation. (Ryrie, C. C.. Basic Theology : A Popular Systemic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth. Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press. 1999 or computer version)

As mentioned in this discussion of Romans 5:12-21, be aware that Scripture distinguishes our sin nature from the sins we each commit (personal sins). In other words, we commit sins because we are sinners by nature, a nature we inherited from Adam.

There is a more difficult to understand third aspect of sin which is referred to as imputed sin, and this is the teaching that many often chaff at. Why? Because imputed sin says (as determined from Romans 5:12) that when Adam sinned, every man and woman ever born also sinned, because God imputed (credited to one's account) Adam's sin to our spiritual ledger. We don't like this truth (because we have a sinful nature!). It doesn't sound fair, but it is simply because we do not fully comprehend the spiritual dynamics. Rest assured that the Judge of all mankind is always perfectly righteous and infinitely just. He is not some cosmic ogre, but the infinitely holy God Who cannot stand sin in any form. The truth of imputed sin will be discussed in more detail throughout the notes on Romans 5:12-21, so if  you are wrestling with this truth, stop and pray for the Spirit's illumination.

Meanwhile, below is a simple summary chart (acknowledging that such charts are not a substitute for careful study of the broad subject of sin) taken from Dr Charles Ryrie's book Basic Theology which I highly recommend as orthodox, Scripturally based and imminently readable, and made even more so by frequent helpful illustrations.

Just as through one man sin entered the world - Note that Paul doesn’t seek to prove that sin entered through one man but simply accepts as true God's record through Moses in Genesis 3, where sin entered the world through Adam. As an aside, do you see the implication of the statement "sin entered"? The implication is that sin existed before Adam (but we won't go there)! Notice also that it was Adam who was held responsible for the fall of man, not his wife Eve. In his first epistle to Timothy, Paul explained that...

it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression. (1Timothy 2:14)

To be sure Eve sinned when she was deceived. On the other hand, Adam, without being deceived, and with knowledge of what he was doing, deliberately chose to disobey God. Thus Adam was more accountable for his disobedience than Eve.

In the book of beginnings, Moses records the historical event...

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked (note how guilt immediately followed their commission of sin); and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. (Genesis 3:6, 7)

The Ryrie Study Bible comments that "Their sin was more than merely eating forbidden fruit; it was disobeying the revealed word of God, believing the lie of Satan, and placing their own wills above God's. Sin, with all its dreadful consequences, now entered the human race and the world in general."

God had "drawn a line in the sand" so to speak and they walk across it or transgressed, hence the term transgression, which Paul uses 6 times in Romans 5:15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

It is vitally important to understand the meaning of the phrase "the Sin" before you can understand Romans 6, where Sin is personified as an active, ruling principle in every individual's life (Romans 5:21, 6:12-13, 6:17, 6:19-see notes Ro 5:21, 6:12-13, 6:17, 6:19)

The Sin (266) is the Greek word hamartia which originally conveyed the idea of missing the mark (as when hunting with a bow and arrow and not hitting the target) and then came to mean missing or falling short of any goal, standard, or purpose.

In the theological sense as used most often in Scripture the word sin describes one's thoughts, words or deeds which so often miss the ultimate purpose that God would intend them to have. Stated another way, our thoughts, words and/or deeds fall short of God’s perfect standard of holiness. Now here is where the definition of Sin as used in Romans 5-8 can become a bit confusing.

First note that Sin (hamartia) here in Romans 5:12 is singular and thus is not sins but sin. The significance of this small grammatical detail becomes more apparent from the next fact (so don't check out yet!)

In many (in fact, most) of Paul's uses of hamartia in Romans 5-8, he places the definite article "the" before sin (this "the" is not translated in most English versions for it would be somewhat cumbersome to read).

So what does this phrase "the Sin" signify? In short, Paul is speaking of sin as an entity, not sins in general. From the context (Romans 5-8) "The Sin" is clearly used figuratively, in what is referred to as a metonym (derived from  "meta" = with + "onym" = name") which describes the substitution of a word referring to an attribute for the thing that is meant (eg, the use of the word "crown" to refer to the entire "monarchy").

Now are you really confused? What Paul is doing by using the phrase "The Sin" is to use this word not to describe the actions or results (sins [plural] which are committed) but to describe the underlying root cause, the basic principle or, in medical terms (I'm a physician with sub specialization in infectious disease), the "virus" that killed (first spiritually and later physically) Adam and which has infected all men for all men can trace their physical lineage to the first Adam.

Think of The Sin as analogous to a highly contagious, 100% lethal virus which every man, woman and child has contracted because every person alive is related to Adam, the first man, who himself was infected. Or think of The Sin as analogous to an abnormal "gene" which transmits a defective moral/ethical  "DNA code" to all of Adam's offspring, this defective code explaining why every individual commits sins (plural). In other words, we all continually commit sins because we all have inherited the defective "sin gene".  Try to keep this distinction in mind when reading Romans 5-8, where Paul refers primarily to "the sin gene" ("the sin virus"), which is the underlying root cause of why we do the wicked things we do. In most of the uses of sin in these chapters Paul is not speaking of individual sins that we commit.

Wayne Barber explains that

A T Robertson adds here in Romans 5:12 that the Sin is personified by Paul...

and represented as coming from the outside into the world of human. Paul does not discuss the origin of evil beyond this fact. There are some today who deny the fact of sin at all and who call it merely "an error of mortal mind" (a notion) while others regard it as merely an animal inheritance devoid of ethical quality.

Entered (1525) (eiserchomai from eis = into, a preposition of motion into any place or thing + erchomai = come) literally means to come into and so to enter into. Eiserchomai is in the aorist tense and the indicative mood which signifies that at a certain point in time sin "went in the world's front door (by means of Adam's sin)" (Walvoord). Sin is personified as an evil that invaded the perfect Garden setting. Adam sinned, and at that point in time, the consequence of his sin was immediate for at that moment, the "deadly virus" named the sin entered into the world and spread to "infect" the entire human race.

Wayne Barber makes the point that the preposition eis in the verb eiserchomai...

Instead of signifying "to" all men, is more literally "into" (1519) all men... What a picture! When Adam sinned, out of his body was passed the seed of Sin into all mankind -- into man. the death. the sin. Every man born of man and woman on this earth is born into the sin, is born into Adam, is born into the death. And this consequence results without them ever having done anything. (see answers to the objections this truth raises)

Into (1519) (eis) conveys the idea of motion into some place or some thing.

World (2889) (kosmos related to kosmeo = to arrange or put in order from komeo = tend, take care of) according to W E Vine means "a harmonious arrangement or order,” then, “adornment, decoration,” came to denote “the world, or the universe, as that which is divinely arranged.” What a tragic irony that the sin and its corrupting, destructive effects entered into a place of such "harmonious arrangement and order"! Kosmos is often thus used to denote human beings--the race, the human family. Kosmos is the same word used in John 3:16 where God so loved the world, the sinful human family composed of sinners.

And death through sin - Paul personifies Death as entering the world through sin.

Death (2288) (thanatos) indicates the opposite of life and the absence of life and in the NT is seen as the consequence and punishment of sin. Death speaks of separation, physically of the soul from the body and spiritually of the soul from God. Note that death does not signify either annihilation or extinction. Here in Romans 5:12 Paul speaks not of death in general but "the death", in a sense personifying death as using sin as its point of entry into the world. Before the sin there was no the death.

Vine adds that thanatos in Romans 5 is primarily a reference...

to the (physical) death of the body, as is indicated in verse 14. The term may, however, have a more general sense, as including death spiritual and eternal; for these are the penal consequences of sin, and the whole argument points to death as a penalty thereof. Moreover, the life which is brought to the believer through Christ is set in contrast to death (see note Romans 5:17) and this eternal life is more than simply antithetic to physical death. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

Newell comments on death writing that...

Death is a Divine decree

It is appointed to men once to die and after this comes judgment (see note Hebrews 9:27)

Death involves four consequences:

(1) The utter ending of what we call human life.

(2) Falling consciously into the fearful hands of that power under which men have during their lifetime lightly lived, unprotected from the indescribable terrors and horrors connected therewith.

(3) Being imprisoned in Sheol or Hades - in "the pit wherein is no water, " as was Dives (a Latin adjective meaning "rich," which occurs in this passage in the Vulgate = the rich man) in Lu 16:19-31. Compare Zech 9:11

(4) Exposure to the coming judgment and its eternal consequences. Of course, the believer is rescued from all this-even physical death, -from bodily "falling asleep, " if Christ comes during his lifetime! while it is true of all saints, those who keep Christ's word, that they shall "never see death" (John 8:51). Death and judgment are past for the believer, Christ his Substitute having endured them.  Nevertheless, in this day of mad pleasure-seeking, it certainly behooves all of us to reflect on the fearful realities connected with death!

Spread (1330) (dierchomai from dia  = through + erchomai = go) means literally to go through or to pass throughout. It speaks of complete movement in a particular direction. To spread means to to send or be sent out in all directions, as for example a highly contagious deadly virus disseminating and spreading completely through an entire population.  Paul uses this verb to describe the veritable diffusion of sin and death among mankind. His phrase "upon all men" emphasizes that the diffusion is universal in scope. 

Some say the preposition dia in dierchomai emphasizes the force of distribution so that what Paul is saying is that death "made its way to each individual member of the race".

Barnes comments on spread to all men writing that the verb spread means...

Passed through; pervaded; spread over the whole race, as pestilence passes through, or pervades a nation. Thus death, with its train of woes, with its withering and blighting influence, has passed through the world, laying prostrate all before it. (Albert Barnes. Barnes NT Commentary)

With the sin came, the consequences (cf the law of sowing and reaping, Gal 6:7-8) of that sin came

so (the) death spread to all men, because all sinned.

Every grave gives a silent testimony to the spread and reign of sin since the time of Adam.

As C H Spurgeon lamented...

Oh, the awful power which sin had thus to turn the world into one vast cemetery, and to slay the whole human race (from his sermon "Lost Through One; Saved Through One" on Romans 5:16)

Barnhouse comments that...

Some who read these words may react against the truth that we set forth. But we remind them that we do not originate truth, we reflect it. We teach only what is in the Word of God. If you quarrel with us, you must first prove that we are teaching what the Bible does not teach.

Note that again the definite article is before "death", so we could read it as "the sin of Adam affected the death" which was the consequence God had warned Adam that "in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." (Ge 2:17). And so it happened that Adam ate and so entered...

"THE death through THE sin, and so THE death spread to all men."

Through ONE MAN (Adam) "the SIN" entered at a specific point in time and it passed through or went through (out) the entire world. Notice that the verb entered implies that before that time the death was outside the world.

Morris agrees adding that...

there was no death before sin entered the world. The finished creation was "very good" (Genesis 1:31), with an abundance of food and all other provisions for man and animals. There was certainly no struggle for existence, or survival of the fittest, for every creature was created fit for its own environment. When Adam sinned, God brought the curse of decay and death not only upon Adam but also upon all His dominion (Genesis 3:17, 18, 19, 20; 1Corinthians 15:21,22; Romans 8:20, 21, 22). (Morris, Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)

C H Spurgeon comments...

Ask Noah as he looks out of his ark, "Does sin bring bitterness?" and he points to the floating carcasses of innumerable thousands that died because of sin (Ge 7:21). Turn to Abraham. Does sin bring bitterness? He points to the smoke of Sodom and Gomorrah that God destroyed because of their wickedness (Ge 19). Ask Moses, and he reminds you of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who were swallowed up alive (Nu 16).

Adam was not originally subject to death, but through his sin, death became a grim certainty for him and his posterity. Notice here a plain assertion that all men die because Adam sinned...

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. (1Cor 15:22)

Even tiny babies can die, not because they have committed sins but because they have been born with a sin nature, the ultimate consequence of which is death.

A person does not become a sinner by committing sins
but rather commits sins because he or she is by nature a sinner.

A person does not become a liar when he tells a lie. He tells a lie because his heart is already deceitful for as Jesus clearly declared...

out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. (Mt 15:19)

The Penalty for Adam's Sin Brings
Three Kinds of Death

Although there are are three aspects to the death that is the result of sin, the penalty is really one.

 (1) SPIRITUAL: Death conveys the sense of separation, and Adam’s first death was spiritual separation from God, which he experienced immediately after his disobedience.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (see notes Ephesians 2:1; 2:2).

(2) PHYSICAL: Physical death brings separation of one's soul from his body and separation from fellow human beings. Adam died physically at 930 years of age.

By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:19) (Comment: "Dust...to dust" is clearly a reference to physical death).

So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. (Genesis 5:5)

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once (once for all time = excludes possibility of re-incarnation) and after this comes judgment, (see note Hebrews 9:27)

(3) ETERNAL: This aspect of death (the Second death) includes not only eternal separation from God (Ge 3:22-24 describes the beginning of this separation when Adam was driven from the Garden and barred from entering), but eternal torment in the lake of fire...

And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the Second death, the  Lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the  Lake of fire. (See notes Revelation 20:11; 12; 13; 14; 15)

In summary, when Adam sinned, he immediately died spiritually. Then after living "930 years...he died" (Genesis 5:5). Finally , as best we can discern, Adam was brought to faith and thus escaped eternal death. Unbelieving man is spiritually dead when he is born which leads to physical death and then to eternal death unless he receives the remedy for spiritual death which is eternal life, the gift of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the suffering and crucified Savior. The remedy of physical death is the bodily resurrection, which takes place at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for believers. For eternal death there is no remedy!

BECAUSE ALL SINNED: eph ho pantes hemarton (3PAAI): (Ro 3:23; James 3:2; 1John 1:8-10)

Although this clause may seem straightforward, it has been one of the major interpretative battlegrounds among theologians and if interested in a more detailed discussion consult one of the conservative works on systematic theology. The question this clause raises is "In what sense have all sinned"?

Some for example hold the view that Paul is referring to the actual personal sins of individuals, those sins we all commit daily (e.g., Calvin seems to favor this view). Since sinned is not in the present tense (sin continuously which might be rendered "because all are continually sinning" or "continually committing sins") but the aorist tense (point in time action, whether past, present or future determined by context)  this interpretation is less viable. Secondly, in the context of Romans 5:15-19 Paul repeatedly insists that only one sin of one man (not all of us) is the culprit. Let's review...

the transgression of the one the many died (see Romans 5:15-note)

the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation (see
Romans 5:16-note)

by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one (see Romans 5:17-note)

through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men (see Romans 5:18-note)

through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners (see Romans 5:19-ntoe)

In light of this context and Paul's repetition of one sin of one man it is not surprising that the most widely held interpretation is that Adam's one act was deemed mankind's act and his one sin was their sin, as difficult as that truth might be for many to accept. The Scriptures clearly state that "the many" sinned in Adam (in Ro 5:12, Ro 5:18 = "if by the transgression of the one the many died" and Ro 5:19 = "the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners") which supports this view. Furthermore, Adam was a representative head, for the promises of dominion given to him were also given to the entire human race. Similarly, the warning of punishment given to Adam was also for the entire human race, as the consequences of his sin indicate. In short, this interpretation holds that all have sinned in their representative head, Adam and this resulted in "condemnation to all men" (see Romans 5:18-note). Think of the illustration where if a general is defeated, every one of his soldiers is defeated. Adam acted for the human race because he was the head of it. Because all humanity existed in the loins of Adam (cf Hebrews 7:9; 10-notes He 7:9; 10), and have through procreation inherited his fallenness and depravity, it can be said that all sinned in him. Therefore, humans are not sinners because they sin, but sin because they are sinners.

This concept though somewhat difficult to grasp is also found in a passage with exactly the opposite implication where Paul writes that...

One died for all and therefore all died (2 Cor 5:14)

In this passage in Second Corinthians Paul is speaking of the identification of believers with their Substitute, the One Who died in their place. The context is clearly referring those who have placed their faith in Christ, so that when He died we died with Him (See notes Romans 6:3ff). And so by analogy, just as all who are in Adam (the whole race) became sinners because of Adam's one sin, so also all who are in Christ (those who believe) "are made righteous" (see note Ro 5:19) because of His death.

William Newell adds that Paul's...

whole point is that all acted when Adam acted: all sinned. We have remarked on the aorist tense, "sinned" in connection with its use in Romans 3. To translate it here "have sinned" (as in KJV) is utterly to obscure the Scripture, making man’s "sinner ship" to depend on his own acts rather than on Adam’s, the latter being the whole point of the passage. (Romans 5)

The Sin went through the world in the same way all mankind was in the "loins" of Adam and so the curse comes from Adam. The death spread or “went through,” or penetrated the entire human race, like a vapor permeating every room in a house.

To reiterate, men are not sinners because they sin, but rather they sin because they are sinners. Stated another way, you don't need to see an act of sin to ''prove'' you are a sinner. Paul is saying we are sinners by virtue of the fact that we were in Adam ("in Adam's loins") when he sinned. He was like a ''federal'' head or representative of the entire human race.

J Vernon McGee reviews this somewhat difficult to grasp concept...

It is on the basis of the federal headship of Adam that now God is able through the federal headship of Christ to save those who will trust Christ. This is what theologians have labeled the federal headship. Adam and Christ are representatives of the human race. Adam is the natural head of the human race... the natural head. And his one act of disobedience plunged his entire offspring into sin. We are all made sinners by Adam’s sin.

First, let’s see what this does not mean. It does not refer to the fact that we have a sinful nature inherited from Adam. It is true that I got a sinful nature from my father, and he from his father, and on back. Also, I passed on that nature to my child and to my grandchildren... Although you and I do have sinful natures and do pass them on to our offspring, this particular verse does not refer to that fact.

Also, the verse before us that says all have sinned (KJV) does not mean that we are guilty of a sinful act. Of course, we are guilty, but that is not what the verse is talking about. (Ed note: He is referring here to our daily committing individual sins)

It does refer to the fact that we are so vitally connected with the first father of the human race that before we even had a human nature, before we had committed a sin, even before we were born, we were sinners in Adam...  Adam’s sin was imputed (Ed note: reckoned, placed on our "account" so to speak) to us. What Adam did, we did. God could put all of us in a Garden of Eden and give us the same test He gave to Adam. Do you think you would do any better with your sinful nature than Adam did without a sinful nature? I don’t think so. We might as well accept the fact that Adam’s one act of disobedience made all of us sinners. (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary:  Thomas Nelson or Logos)

All (3956) (pas) means all without exception. It includes the idea of the whole (of humanity in this context).

Sinned (264) (hamartano) means to miss the mark and so to miss God's will and purpose for one's life. The aorist tense is constative (summary) aorist which in simple terms means that at one point in time all men sinned. To what point in time does Paul refer? It was the time when Adam first sinned. His sin became mankind’s sin, because all mankind were in his loins, so to speak.

A T Robertson adds that sinned is what is referred to as

Constative aorist active indicative of hamartano, gathering up in this one tense the history of the race.

DeMoss explains that constative aorist refers to a verb in the aorist tense

that, along with other contextual features, presents the action simply, in summary, or as a whole. Also called complexive, comprehensive, global, historical, punctiliar, simple or summary. (DeMoss, M. S. Pocket Dictionary for the Study of New Testament Greek. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press)

Because all humanity existed in the loins of Adam, and have through procreation inherited his fallenness and depravity, it can be said that all sinned in him. Therefore, to reiterate, humans are not sinners because they sin, but rather they sin because they are sinners.

This section as with other sections in Romans speaks to what some have referred to as the doctrine of total depravity. What does this term refer to? Total depravity is the doctrine that says fallen man is completely touched by sin and that he is completely a sinner. He is not as bad as he could be, but in all areas of his being, the totality of his being -- body, soul, spirit, mind, emotions, etc. -- he is polluted by the sin principle. In that sense, then, he is exhibits total depravity. Because all men are totally depraved, nothing good can come out of them, even as Paul taught us in Romans 3:10-12 writing...

as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE." (see notes Romans 3:10; 11; 12)

Wayne Barber explains because all sinned as follows...

Total depravity is one of those "watershed" doctrines, being generally believed by the Calvinists and rejected by the Arminians.

In short,  Adam’s initial sin constituted him a sinner in which all human beings participated, and which brings death to all. It is not surprising that many people object to these somewhat difficult to grasp (or "swallow") truths. John MacArthur addresses some of the common objections writing that...

Some object to the idea that they sinned in Adam, arguing that they not only were not there but did not even exist when he sinned. But by the same token, we were not physically at the crucifixion when Christ died, but as believers we willingly accept the truth that, by faith, we died with Him. We did not literally enter the grave with Christ and were not literally resurrected with Him, but by faith we are accounted to have been buried and raised with Him. If the principle were not true that all sinned in Adam, it would be impossible to make the point that all can be made righteous in Christ...

Others argue that it is not fair to be born guilty of Adam’s sin. “We did not asked to be born,” they argue, “nor did our parents or their parents or grandparents before them.” But neither was it “fair” that the sinless Son of God suffered the penalty of sin on behalf of all mankind. If God were only fair, Adam and Eve would have been destroyed immediately for their disobedience, and that would have been the end of the human race. It is only because God is gracious and forgiving, and not merely just, that men can be saved. The magnitude of Paul’s analogy is mind-boggling, and its significance cannot be fully comprehended but only accepted by faith. (MacArthur, J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos)

Guzik adds a similar comment observing that...

We may not like the fact that we are made sinners by the work of another man. We may protest, and say, “I want to stand on my own two feet, and not be made a sinner because of the work of another man.” Nevertheless, it is fair to be made righteous by the work of another man only if we are also made sinners by the work of another man. If we aren’t made sinners by Adam, then it isn’t fair for us to be made righteous by Jesus. (Romans 5)

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Is man totally depraved? Even newspaper columnists like Dear Abby recognize the the fallen nature of man!

Dear Abby: I am 44 and would like to meet a man my age with no bad habits.

Dear Rose: So would I.

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HOW DEPRAVED IS MAN?
ANSWER: TOTALLY! READ ON...

October 7, 1969 the Montreal, Canada police force went on strike. Because of what resulted, the day has been called Black Tuesday. A burglar and a policeman were slain. Forty-nine persons were wounded or injured in rioting. Nine bank holdups were committed, almost a tenth of the total number of holdups the previous year along with 17 robberies at gunpoint. Usually disciplined, peaceful citizens joined the riffraff and went wild, smashing some 1,000 plate glass windows in a stretch of 21 business blocks in the heart of the city, hauling away stereo units, radios, TVs and wearing apparel. While looters stripped windows of valuable merchandise, professional burglars entered stores by doors and made off with truckloads of goods. A smartly dressed man scampered down a street with a fur coat over each arm with no police around, anarchy took over.

FOR UNTIL THE LAW SIN WAS IN THE WORLD: achri gar nomou hamartia en (3SIAI) en kosmo:

For (gar) introduces Paul's explanation to prove or substantiate what he has asserted in Romans 5:12 -- that all men are born sinners. Note that although Paul's explanation begins here in Romans 5:13, it continues into verse 14 which needs to be studied to appreciate the full impact of Paul's argument.

Morris adds that in this verse...

Paul breaks off his construction and proceeds in a different direction. But what he says is connected with the preceding, and he links it up with for. He can say what he has just said, for there was sin even before the law was given: even before there was any such thing as formal law there was sin. (Morris, L. The Epistle to the Romans. W. B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press)

How do we know that sin was in the world from Adam to Moses? He says death reigned (Romans 5:14) - men died from Adam to Moses giving ample witness to the truth that men were sinners (the wages of sin was death) despite the fact that there was no written Law. This verse can be a bit confusing. As discussed in the preceding verse, Paul is not speaking about sins men committed, which are amply documented from Adam to Moses (e.g., Cain's murder of Abel, the universal flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, etc).

S Lewis Johnson explains it this way...

If Paul only meant in Romans 5:12 that death passed upon all men because of their many individual transgressions, then no explanation would be necessary. But the extraordinary statement that all die because of Adam's sin does require explanation. The statement of verse thirteen is intended to show that the sin, referred to in the clause "for all sinned" in verse twelve, is not sin against the Mosaic Law. All violations of the Decalogue must be excluded when one looks for the sin that brought death in the world. It is plain that what Paul wants to say is that men die, not for personal sins, but for Adam's one sin. In the opening clause, "For until law sin was in the world," he admits that sin was in the world during the period of the time bounded by Adam and Moses' Law, the time referred to in verse 14 by the phrases, "from Adam to Moses." Thus, he reminds them that it was not for the breaking of the Decalogue that men died..

Paul would appear to be especially speaking to a Jewish reader who would argue like this

"Now wait a minute, Paul. Since sin is something you do, there has got to be a law to tell you not to do it. And if there is no law to tell you not to do it, then you can't charge it to someone's account."

Paul answers

"You are wrong. Your conclusion is based on "misinformation". You fail to understand the basic sin nature ("the Sin" of Romans 5:12) of mankind which makes fallen men fully capable of committing sins independent of the knowledge of the Law. And furthermore each one of these sins was sufficiently amiss to warrant death. And in fact men did die from the time of Adam until Moses."

Wayne Barber explains Romans 5:13 as follows...

Paul gives evidence that all men are sinners. This is beautiful evidence. Without having any Law to convict them, he shows that all men are sinners.

BUT SIN IS NOT IMPUTED WHEN THERE IS NO LAW: hamartia de ouk ellogeitai (3SPPI) me ontos (PAPMSG) nomou : (Romans 4:15; 1Cor 15:56; 1Jn 3:4,14)

Not (3756) (ouk) expresses direct and full negation, independently and absolutely, and hence, objectively. Absolutely not imputed is the idea.

Sin is not imputed when there is no law - Paul says that sin is not charged as a specific violation of a particular law when there is no written Law. And yet in the next verse he says that men died anyway! So what's up? Sin was still sin during the period from Adam to Moses and the fact that there was death during that period proved that it still had the effect of resulting in death. His point is that sin can never be anything but evil. Paul is not teaching that prior to the giving of the Law, men were not held accountable for sin. The fact that men continued to die from Adam to Moses establishes the truth that Adam's sin nature had a continuing effect on his posterity.

Imputed (1677) (ellogeo from en = in + logos =  something said in the sense of account) was a technical Greek commercial term meaning to charge something to one's account.

In the only other NT use of ellogeo Paul writes that if Onesimus

has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account (Philemon 18)

In other words, any loss suffered through the runaway Onesimus was to be charged to the apostle Paul's "charge account".

In the present context, Paul is saying that sin does not have the character of being a transgression apart from Law and therefore is not reckoned as such which is similar to what Paul wrote in Romans 4 explaining...

the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there violation ("transgression" in the KJV). (see note Romans 4:15) (Comment: Transgression (or "violation") means the violation of a known law. Paul does not say that where there is no law, there is no sin. An act can be inherently wrong even if there is no law against it. But it becomes transgression (Ed note: a crossing over the line so to speak) when a sign goes up saying “Speed Limit 20 MPH.” The Jews thought they inherited blessing through having the law, but all they inherited was transgression. God gave the law so that sin might be seen as transgression, or to put it another way, so that sin might be seen in all its sinfulness. He never intended it to be the way of salvation for sinful transgressors! (MacDonald) (See related topic Purpose of the Law = to reveal sin, to shut up all men under sin, to keep men in custody, to lead them to Christ)

So sin was in the world until the Law came. Paul has built this argument that no Jew can escape. If there is no Law, you are right: You can't charge it against someone's account. And yet there was sin in the world, and not only was there sin in the world, but there was death in the world and it reigned from Adam to Moses.

What is Paul saying? Paul is trying to drill home the point that

SIN is not what you DO
SIN is what you ARE

The Law comes and shows the evidence of it. The Law says in essence:

''Do you want to see if you are a sinner? Then here is the Law. Go ahead and try to obey it."

Why can't we obey? Because we have the Sin nature of Adam. Sin is not so much the activity. That's just the evidence of the Sin nature. Sin is the nature of every man born of Adam and you don't need Law to convict someone of that. There are many unsaved people who are living good, moral lives (maybe better than many born again believers) but they are still in Adam and bound for the Lake of fire. Remember that all mankind is either in Adam or in Christ, those in the latter group having been delivered out of Adam and the penalty (eternal death) and transferred into the body of Christ and His kingdom.

Morris sums up Romans 5:13 noting that it...

has been interpreted in two ways. It is possible to take it (as Hendriksen does) in the sense that it shows that there is a more comprehensive law than that of Moses. There is a law written on people’s hearts (see Romans 2:15-note). On biblical premises it can scarcely be denied that sin was reckoned to people and punished in the period between Adam and Moses, as the flood narrative, to name no other, plainly shows (Gen. 6:5, 6, 7, 12, 13). The other is to point out that Paul is emphasizing what Adam did; he may thus mean that it was that one sin that brought death to all. It is objected that this requires the insertion of the words “in Adam”; to leave them out is to leave out what is crucial. Neither view can be said to be proved or to be impossible given our present state of knowledge, but perhaps the context points to the second. (Ibid)