Romans 5:12 - Do All Men Die Because of Adam's Sin?
{Romans 5:12} Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed upon all for that all have sin. -- Restoration Light Improved.
In most translations, the latter part of the verse states something like the World English, which states, "and so death passed to all men, because all sinned."
Koine Greek structure is different from English, and Koine Greek verbs sometimes cannot be standardized to correspond to our tenses. Most translations give a simple past tense of sin, and thus, due to the way it is rendered, some would make it appear that each dies "because" of his own sin rather than dying in Adam. The thought that we all die for our individual sins is incorrect.
What would such actually mean? It would mean that all men who ever lived and will ever live in the future had or will have already individually sinned before they are born.
If everyone dies for their own sin after birth, that would mean that the baby who died a minute or so after birth committed some individual sin in that minute that caused him to come under the condemnation of death.
In that all are dying in Adam (1 Corinthians 15:21,22), indeed, it is true that all had sinned, not because they had already committed an individual sin, but because they were already accounted as being sinners before they were born. Applying the principle Paul earlier presented, God "calls the things that are not, as though they were" (Romans 4:17), to the latter part of Romans 5:12 could harmonize this with the context, for to God all the descendants of Adam had already sinned in Adam.
This is made plain in the following verses, where we read that "by the trespass of the one the many died" (Romans 5:15); "by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one" (Romans 5:17); "through one trespass, all men were condemned" (Romans 5:18); "through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners" (Romans 5:19). There we have it; all men, even though not yet alive, were made sinners through the one man's disobedience, and thus already reckoned in God's eyes as having sin. Thus, the RLIV simple rendering of "death passed upon all who for that all have sin" harmonizes with the context, which shows that all of Adam's descendants had sin counted to them because of Adam's disobedience.
This is further demonstrated in verses 13,14:
{Romans 5:13} For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.
{Romans 5:14} Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren't like Adam's disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
"Until the Law (as given by Moses to the children of Israel) sin was in the world." Sin was already in the world due to Adam's transgression.
"But sin is not charged when there is no law."
Some misread verse 13 as though it says that there was no sin in the world until the law, because sin is not charged when there is no law, but that is not what it says. Without the law, there was no individual charge of sin, but with the giving of the law came individual charge of sin. Under the law, one could be put to death for individual sin, but not for the sins of their fathers. Under the law, if one perfectly obeyed that law, one could have justified oneself and lived forever. -- Leviticus 18:5; Nehemiah 9:29; Ezekiel 20:11,13,21; Luke 10:27,28; Romans 10:5; 12:13; Galatians 3:12.
No one, however, received justification by obedience to the Law since, because of Adam's sin (Romans 5:12-19), God had placed mankind under a bondage of corruption (Romans 8:20-22; 2 Peter 1:4), subjected to futility (Ecclesiastes 1:2,14; 12:8), trouble (Job 5:7; 14:1-2); a crooked or unjustified condition (Ecclesiastes 1:15), so that no man could make himself justified. (Ecclesiastes 7:13; Acts 13:39; Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:26; 3:11; 5:4) Thus, if Jesus had actually been a descendant of Adam, he would have been under this same bondage of corruption, and could not free himself from it, and certainly would not have had the offsetting price necessary to pay for our sins.
There can be nothing new out of the old creation that is under such a crooked condition. (Job 14:4; Ecclesiastes 1:9,10) Thus God provided a new creation outside of the old creation that is now under a bondage of corruption, a man who could provide a ransom for all. He did this by preparing for His Son a body of flesh, separate from the condemnation in Adam. (Matthew 1:20; Hebrews 10:5) Thus, if Jesus remained obedient to God, he could offer that body with its blood for our sins (Hebrews 10:10).
All mankind has been made sinners as a result of Adam's sin; all are condemned in one man's disobedience, so that only one obedient man would be needed to deliver mankind out of the condemnation in Adam. (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 1 Timothy 2:5,6)
In that all are dying in Adam (1 Corinthians 15:21,22), indeed, it is true that all had sinned, not because they had already committed an individual sin, but because they were already accounted as being sinners before they were born. Applying the principle Paul earlier presented, God "calls the things that are not, as though they were" (Romans 4:17), to the latter part of Romans 5:12 could harmonize this with the context, for to God all the descendants of Adam had already sinned in Adam.
This is made plain in the following verses, where we read that "by the trespass of the one the many died" (Romans 5:15); "by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one" (Romans 5:17); "through one trespass, all men were condemned" (Romans 5:18); "through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners" (Romans 5:19). There we have it; all men, even though not yet alive, were made sinners through the one man's disobedience, and thus already reckoned in God's eyes as having sin. Thus, the RLIV simple rendering of "death passed upon all who for that all have sin" harmonizes with the context, which shows that all of Adam's descendants had sin counted to them because of Adam's disobedience.
This is further demonstrated in verses 13,14:
{Romans 5:13} For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.
{Romans 5:14} Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren't like Adam's disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
"Until the Law (as given by Moses to the children of Israel) sin was in the world." Sin was already in the world due to Adam's transgression.
"But sin is not charged when there is no law."
Some misread verse 13 as though it says that there was no sin in the world until the law, because sin is not charged when there is no law, but that is not what it says. Without the law, there was no individual charge of sin, but with the giving of the law came individual charge of sin. Under the law, one could be put to death for individual sin, but not for the sins of their fathers. Under the law, if one perfectly obeyed that law, one could have justified oneself and lived forever. -- Leviticus 18:5; Nehemiah 9:29; Ezekiel 20:11,13,21; Luke 10:27,28; Romans 10:5; 12:13; Galatians 3:12.
No one, however, received justification by obedience to the Law since, because of Adam's sin (Romans 5:12-19), God had placed mankind under a bondage of corruption (Romans 8:20-22; 2 Peter 1:4), subjected to futility (Ecclesiastes 1:2,14; 12:8), trouble (Job 5:7; 14:1-2); a crooked or unjustified condition (Ecclesiastes 1:15), so that no man could make himself justified. (Ecclesiastes 7:13; Acts 13:39; Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:26; 3:11; 5:4) Thus, if Jesus had actually been a descendant of Adam, he would have been under this same bondage of corruption, and could not free himself from it, and certainly would not have had the offsetting price necessary to pay for our sins.
There can be nothing new out of the old creation that is under such a crooked condition. (Job 14:4; Ecclesiastes 1:9,10) Thus God provided a new creation outside of the old creation that is now under a bondage of corruption, a man who could provide a ransom for all. He did this by preparing for His Son a body of flesh, separate from the condemnation in Adam. (Matthew 1:20; Hebrews 10:5) Thus, if Jesus remained obedient to God, he could offer that body with its blood for our sins (Hebrews 10:10).
All mankind has been made sinners as a result of Adam's sin; all are condemned in one man's disobedience, so that only one obedient man would be needed to deliver mankind out of the condemnation in Adam. (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 1 Timothy 2:5,6)
In this age, the only way one can be reckoned as justified, and thus, without sin, is through faith in Jesus, the one whom the only true God sent, based on the sacrifice he gave for sin. (John 14:6; 17:1,3; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:21-26; 4:5; 5:1,9,12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; Hebrews 10:10) All others remain condemned in Adam and will be judged individually in the last day. -- Matthew 10:15; 11:22-24; 12:36; Mark 6:11; John 5:28,29; 3:18,36; 12:47,48; 1 John 2:2; 2 Peter 2:9.
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