Understanding Romans 5:12

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Romans 5:12 March 21st 2021 Well, only one verse today, folks. One that if we let it, could run to the brim of our time, overflow its edges, and spill out over the entire year. Verse 12 to the end of the chapter – are, (generally speaking), not too awfully difficult to understand in their plain English. This is perhaps the best way to read them – in their plain English. But people – scholars, commentators and other interested parties – have taken them and read so much into them theologically that they have become, perhaps, some of the most pregnant verses in scripture.

So even though we are only covering one verse today I am going to do my best to NOT go down this road too much – or we will be here the whole year. But we will dip our toes in these waters because, it’s necessary when speaking to the issues the following passage presents. So – tell you what – let’s read all of the rest of the text (through the end of Romans five) and then we'll come back and only address verse 12 where we started.

Key Scripture from Romans

So verse 12

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Got all that? Lots of insights. So again, our text for today:

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Implications of Sin and Justification

Amazingly enough, this passage has been – listen – in the CONTEXT of understanding the whole Bible – often regarded as one of the most difficult passages to understand contextually in all of the Apostles record. But as we said, the meaning of it (in its general sense) is not difficult.

If we choose to use it as the catalyst to understand sin – man’s sin, world sin, “how and when and what sin is,” including the characteristics of sin, who sinned, how he or she (or they) sinned, and how that altered God’s perfect world, boy . . . that is a subject. Obviously, Paul did not intend to use this passage as a treatise on the nature of sin. We know this because of context.

Instead, he uses it (listen carefully) he uses it to illustrate “the solution to sin, and the benefits of justification by faith.” From the previous passages Paul has shown that Justification by faith

(1.) produces peace (Romans 5:1)

(2.) produces joy (Romans 5:2)

(3.) sustains us in afflictions (Romans 5:3-4)

(4.) that because of the doctrine we can be certain that we might be saved (Romans 5:6) and this is

(5) the highest expression of love (Romans 5:7,8) and,

(6) then since we were saved while sinners we can be certain of our salvation now that we are forgiven (Romans 5:9,10).

Then in verse eleven

The Work of Jesus Compared to Adam

Paul sort of repeats himself, saying that

(7.) Our joy is amplified, because we have be reconciled. (Verse 11)

This brings us to verse 12 where Paul begins to show that the work of Jesus is far greater than the evils introduced into the world by the sin of Adam, and he does this by starting off verse 12 with “Wherefore.”

This is simply a new line of argument to show how powerful and efficient the grace of God is. In other words, Paul seems to exalt the work of Christ and of “the plan of justification” by comparing these works against the evil consequences introduced by our first father, whom he refers to as “one man.” We will see him build on this as he compares this One Man (Adam) to another single Man, Jesus. In doing this, he proves that the magnificent work of Christ not only extends to the removal of the punishment of evil, but he also shows that presentation of grace does even more.

And in his effort to do this Paul reveals a number of things, some of which are easily understood and others that require a real solid look at scripture and to NOT just restate or regurgitate what we have heard or have been taught by others. It is in the EFFORT (of thinking and seeking the word of God) that we are able to set aside some of what I call “Christian mythology,” and see more clearly the glorious means God employs to save humankind.

Syllogism in Verse 12

So, let’s try and contextually relate to what Paul does here in verse 12. And right off the bat we can see verse 12 as what linguists call a syllogism. In this “grammatical structure of logic,” Paul makes four simple points:

Wherefore, (in light of all we have talked about) or “on this account.”

POINT ONE: “as by one man sin entered into the world,”

POINT TWO: “and death by sin;”

POINT THREE: “and so death passed upon all men,”

POINT FOUR: “for that all have sinned:”

In addition to this verse being a syllogism, we might also see it as a chiasmus, a word really big in Mormonism. Some of you may have heard of the word “Chiasmus” used and applied to scripture (and apparent scripture and other literary works) and verse 12 of Romans 5 fits the bill well. It is a form of writing that is represented by the model in music ABBA – “as by one man sin entered into the world, (B) and death by sin; (B) and so death passed upon all men, (A) for that all have sinned.”

Paul's Explanation

Let’s cover the four principle POINTS Paul makes here.

POINT ONE: “as by one man sin entered into the world,”

Now, we have to note that in writing this passage everything that follows after it is a parenthetical reference which sets aside some space for Paul to explain what he means. So, verse 12 sort-of opens up the subject, (and then Paul opens up a parenthesis to explain what he means) and then he continues with the thought of verse twelve at verse 18. Do you see it? The key to this can be seen in the two-word phrases “AS BY” and “BY THE”

What I mean is in verse 12 we read:

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

And then his parenthetical reference is inserted, and then in verse 18 we read . . .

“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”

There’s the structure of the passages we’ll be studying in the next few weeks.

Sooooooo, back to the four Points of verse twelve:

POINT ONE: “as by one man sin entered into the world,”

“As by one man,” What Man is this? Adam, right? By the means of one man or better put, “by the crime of one man.” His act introduced all sin into all the world. I like to think of the world at the start as being wholly sanitized and glorious to God – like our picture of heaven in the future – and then one Adams’ act sort of being like a pin-prick of filth being introduced, like a cancer or a volatile atomic reaction that began spreading at that moment and has continued to corrupt and corrode the world with deeper and deeper levels of sin.

Human Nature and the Origin of Evil

The Bible clearly teaches that the decay is certainly progressive. Remember the parable of the leaven and the bread along with passages which speak to the spreading decay and corruption until the end of times.

Here Paul states that the origin of this evil was by “one man.” He gives no explanation of the mode or reason for this. He does not mention the forbidden fruit nor any other item, nor does he tell us why Satan tempted or why Adam caved. All he gives is just the fact that “as by one man sin entered the world.” I would suggest that he did not use this time to explain the Adam story because it was a foregone conclusion. It seems that his point here is to emphasize the fact that Jesus OVERCAME the effects of the one man, not to delineate the motives of the Man for caving in.

The Christian Solution

Now, it is right at this point that some great truly great confusion has been introduced by some scholars who seemed to forget that Paul’s argument here was to endorse and emphasize the solution to the sin introduced by one man and not the fact that sin was introduced! But we can see that all he is doing is showing how the plan of justification not only meets the acknowledged universal evils caused by Adam but exceeds it. In other words, we all see these evils, feel them, know they are around us with even the most irrational souls having to admit that evil is present with us. Believers call evil manifested, “sin.” The world calls it evil. Darkness, pollution, corruption, decay, death, selfishness, whatever. Here’s the point:

Christianity did not originate sin nor death. The doctrine of the Fall of Man, and the prevalence of sin and death in this world, were not authored nor do they belong to Christianity itself. The concepts existed long before a single verse was ever written and long before a solution was ever promised. To suggest that Christianity authored or helped create evil would be like suggesting that the medical profession created disease and broken bones. No, Christianity is merely the solution to the cancer, the response, the answer to a condition that is a universal fact. And when compared to any, and I mean ANY solution or explanation of the situation, the Christian response prevails.

That is life in a fallen world with the existence of temptation, sin and woe as an obvious part of every systems of religion or philosophy – no matter how strongly they try and distance themselves from them. Even if Christianity was somehow proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be an outright con, predators, prey and mourning would still remain a living reality.

Human Nature and Evil

Godless anthropologists love to suggest that Man created God and Sin out of fear of the weather, and starvation, and lightning, and especially death. But these things do not account for the existence of the wholesale depravity of Man nor for the fact that every single human being on earth faces an ultimate death proven by the fact that not one of us has ever lived forever.

I have a Christian brother who ran into a neighborhood man he knew on the beach years ago. The man was combing the beach with a metal detector in search of lost jewelry and coins. They got into a conversation about sin and the treasure seeker ardently claimed that there was no such thing as evil, no such thing as wrong, no such thing as sin. That all of it – including God and Satan – were made up by men. As they talked my friend asked the man if he could try his hand at detecting treasure, and the man agreed, handing him the detector, to which my friend accepted and then ran away. The man was irate, but my friend would not give the detector back. He literally put it in his car and sped off. That night he returned the device to the man at his home and said, handing it to him, “No such thing as evil huh?”

The Introduction of Sin

is just one mode of proposing an explanation and remedy for well-known and desolating evils, study of the Bible I suggest, proves it as a solution to such as superior.

So again, Paul is not defending or stating a theory about the introduction of sin but is merely explaining the way in which the work of Christ delivers all from a deeply-felt universal evil – should they embrace it. By doing this we can deconstruct much of the theological messes many people think this passage reveals. Now notice this: Paul says “By one man.” In other words, “by Adam.” Romans 5:14 adds

“Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.”

But wasn’t sin literally introduced by Eve, who was first in the transgression?

The Role of Adam and Eve

Genesis 3:6 says: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

And 1st Timothy 2:14 adds: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (And for those of you who think transgression does not mean sin, listen to 1st John 3:4)

“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

So why does Paul lay it at “Adam’s” feet?

First, he evidently is not explaining the precise mode in which sin was introduced, nor does he make this his leading point. He therefore speaks of the introduction of sin in a popular sense, as it was generally understood. And why was it generally understood that the fault was with “the Man” (or with Adam) and not the Woman? He really doesn’t.

The Significance of 'Man' in Scripture

The term “Man” is universally used for both sexes in scripture. We say that man sinned, that man is redeemed, that man dies, etc. Historically there was not typically a gender differentiation. That came later with Simone De Bovioa and others. So here, he could have meant that sin was introduced by “the parentage” of the human race. The parentage?

Adam was made of two parts – male and female. Genesis 5:1-2, says it all folks:

“In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called THEIR name Adam."

The name Adam, therefore, used in this sense, is highly significant and really helps define things when we seek to understand the weightiness of sexual relations, marriage (and divorce) in God’s eyes. But this is for another day.

Anciently (and even today when addressing an envelope, let’s say) where a man and a woman are mutually concerned, it is traditional to speak of the man first.

Mr. and Mrs. John D. Lee.

Then, remember Paul’s focus – to show how Christ saved us. So, in comparing “Christ” (on the solution side) it would be strange and confusion to compare him to a woman and man on the other. We get insight to this when we read 1st Corinthians 15:45 (where Paul wrote):

“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”

Finally, and this is a bit heavy, but the sin of the woman was not complete in its effects without the concurrence of the Man to follow her. Why? Again, because they were one. They were “Adam.” Both had to act.

The Headship of Adam

Their individual sins were bad enough but I would suggest (my opinion) that it was their uniting in sin which became the ultimate slap in the face of God. And since Adam “the Male” was created first (or He was what theologians call the Federal Head of Humanity) and the Woman came from his side, and since she was deceived but Adam willfully transgressed, the onus, even though she transgressed first, has forever fallen on the Male or the federal head of that couple called Adam.

When he hearkened to her and ate the fruit, caring more about her than God (which is a common error in males), the sin was “fait a compli” or “an accomplished fact.”)

So Paul writes “as by one man (human, Adam and Eve I would suggest) Sin entered into the world”

Understanding the Fall

What? Violating the law of God. In what way? In something as simple or even benign as eating a piece of forbidden fruit. Why did he do it?

The better question is, relative to what the Bible tells us, is why did “Adam hearken unto his wife?” Remember, when God confronts Eve and Adam after the Fall in Genesis 3:16-19, He said:

16 Unto the woman… I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

We are not going to spend a lot of time trying to guess why he hearkened to her and ate the fruit. But I would imagine she was a hottie. Why else do men hearken to their wives?

All kidding aside, the possibilities are amazingly complex which we can discuss on another day or in our Q and A. But let’s just summarize it all by saying that the father of the human race, the first of our “order of creation,” our first parents, chose to violate the law of God because “she was deceived” and because “he hearkening to his wife.”

The Consequence of Sin

And the sin flare was launched into the atmosphere forever and increasingly affecting all of the earth’s inhabitants as the world turned. “As by one man sin entered into the world,”

POINT TWO: “And death by sin;”

Death was the consequence of sin; or was introduced because Adam sinned. This is a simple statement of an obvious and well-known biblical fact. People of divergent faith explain the reason for death in a number of ways.

Many humanists believe death is a gift, reasoning it out like this: “If we knew we would never die, can you imagine how we would all treat each other?” Therefore, we welcome death which puts an end to all of this misery. This is the carnal mind doing the talking. But God said to Adam (not to Eve, by the way) in Genesis 2:17:

"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."

Adam’s Commandment

Anyway, Adam (the male) was given the commandment from God and he passed it onto Eve the woman. And the punishment for disobedience was clear, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

Now, in reference to this promise, we might ask a few questions:

First, did Adam understand what that meant, “You shall surely die?” I don’t think we have any reason to think he would understand it. We might assume he knew die was not a good thing and that it would be the result of disobeying God.

But still, did he know what surely die means? We do know that God said to Adam after they sinned, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," so maybe this gave him some insight into what die meant at that time, but prior to eating the fruit, we really don’t know how informed Adam was on the subject.

Was he intelligent? Sure. But omniscient? Only through his relationship to God.

I do think it would be sort of incredible that Adam would have understood this grave promise of death (pun intended) to mean "spiritual death," or to "eternal death," or maybe even “physical death“ when all God said was, “you shall surely die.”

Some people suggest that Adam was totally refined, and possessing all the knowledge, and metaphysical subtility of a modern theologian. But after reading all sorts of conjecture on the subject it’s surprising to open the Bible and read that Moses does not tell us anything of the sort. Instead, the account from Moses is simple.

In the end, Created

The Consequences of Sin

Man was told to not violate one simple law. The result would be that on that day “he would surely die.”

Eve ate it. And apparently Adam didn’t see any change or “dying going on,” so (for whatever reason) he ate it too – knowing full well “dying” was coming because God promised it would come . . . in that day. Think about it – this is a reflection of us is it not. When we sin, we usually do not understand the ramifications of the sin for years and years to come.

Understanding the Ramifications

Our parents tell us – don’t drink alcohol. Don’t smoke pot. Don’t have premarital sex. Drive safely. If you don’t you could be ruined. You will die. And we have all these images in our heads that we will turn into monsters the moment we indulge. But usually, this is not so. Not immediately. And so, we too, are like Adam and Eve, and do not immediately experience the deleterious effects of our actions until later. Quite frankly, maybe we experience the opposite effect. Meaning in an act of rebellion we take a puff or a snort – and boom – everything our parents said is forgotten.

At that moment some of us might say, “my parents don’t know what they’re talking about.” Maybe this is what Adam and Eve were experiencing at the Fall.

Now this may be far fetched but I do think it is absurd to suppose that all the consequences of the violation of a law must be foreseen in order to make the law and the penalty just. God made the law known; He made it clear that violating it was forbidden; and what the consequences of that violation would be something called death. I mean I would be willing to bet that there is not a murderer on earth who understands the eternal implications of taking another person’s life.

He may understand that breaking this law could result in the death of his freedom, or he may think he can even get away with it, but the eternal nuance and inner misery, the nightmares, the guilt, the effects on all parties involved – there is no possible way to know. So, did Adam know that the entire human race was going to suffer because of him? That babies would get cancer, and people would shoot each other over lane changes?

Having said all of this, I would suggest that Adam and Eve may have begun to understand the results of their actions the day they started looking for their missing son, Abel.

Paul's Explanation of Death by Sin

So, what exactly did Paul mean when he wrote:

1. “and death by sin;”

I would suggest we get our answer when we remember the purpose Paul is writing these things in the first place! All the words and arguments Paul has used in this SINGULAR letter to the Romans, and all the things he is about to mention, defines, in my opinion, what he means by “death” here. Look at verse 15. There Paul speaks of “the Grace of God” and “the gift by grace." This is an opposite position of spiritual death. In verse 16 he speaks to "justification," by the forgiveness of "many offences." This is the opposite of spiritual death. And in verse 17 he writes of “the reign of the redeemed in eternal life, and in 18 to the "justification of life." This is in opposition to physical death.

So, we can readily see that the words "death," and "judgment," are used in opposition to all the benefits Paul speaks of by grace through faith. In other words, the benefits which result from the work of Christ stand in opposition to the evils which sin has introduced. And all the evil did not ONLY produce physical death; therefore, when Paul writes “and death by sin” we cannot suppose he was using death to only represent physical death.

Instead “death," here, refers to a “train of dark results” which were all introduced by sin . . . meaning a group and collection of woes, including condemnation, guilt, woes, sadness, temporal death, death of the soul, and exposure to eternal hell and separation from God. Paul uses the word death and die in these ways throughout his epistles. And the Apostle John does the same thing:

Consequences and Redemption

In other words, the consequences of sin are far more than “temporal death” but thankfully the work of Christ is far more reaching than

Sin and Death

Overcoming just temporal death. But the fundamental principle behind sin and death is defects lead to corruption – in all things. There was no defect in the original creation. The introduction of defect was the beginning of world-wide corruption as Paul states in our third point which says:

The Spread of Death

“and so death passed upon all men,”

A better reading might be death passed “through to all men;” pervaded all Man; spread over the whole race. Upon all human kind. One bad apple right? One crack in the foundation. One cancer cell in the body.

Sin's Universal Reach

And then Paul makes a point that is difficult.

POINT FOUR: “for that all have sinned:”

This expression has been greatly twisted and translated in different ways. But I prefer the Latin Vulgate which renders it, "in whom [Adam] all have sinned."

And we will pick up here next week before moving on into verse 13.

Questions/Comments/Prayer