4. Universal applicability of justification (5:12-21)
Just as Adam’s sin affected the entire human race, so the work of Jesus Christ also affects all who believe in him. In this way, Adam was a pattern of the one to come (v.14). In this section, Paul uses one twelve times to emphasize this point. One affects many or all. Sin entered the world (the human race) through one man, Adam, when he sinned. The wages of sin is death, so death came to all men.
Paul says that sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned (v.12). Several theories have been proposed to elucidate the clause because all sinned to explain how the sin of Adam brought about death to all. Only the two most popular views will be considered here.
The first view maintains that when Adam sinned all people sinned (Murray, 1:187). All descendants of Adam participated in the sinful act of Adam. This is demonstrated by the following fact. The law was given through Moses. Between Adam and Moses there was no law. When there is no law, sin is not taken into account, that is, not charged or punished. Yet between Adam and Moses, men and women died. Since they were not punished for the sin they committed individually, their death had to be the punishment for Adam’s sin in which they participated (vv.13-14; see Clarke on v.13). This view seems to be supported by v.19, Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners.
This view, however, has its weaknesses: (1) The statement Sin is not taken into account when there is no law in v.13 cannot mean that without law sin is not punished. In 1:18-32 and 2:12 Paul explicitly states that the wrath of God is against the sin of Gentiles who do not have the law, and they will be punished for their sin. Even before the time of Moses the people in the age of Noah were punished for the sins they committed. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah, too, were destroyed for the sins they committed (Ge 19). (2) Paul declares in 1:32 that “those who do such things deserve death.” They deserve death, not because of the sin of Adam, but because of their own sinful acts. (3) The identical expression, “all [have] sinned,” occurs in 3:23. There the preceding context clearly indicates the meaning. All sinned individually, not merely as participants in the sin of Adam.
The second view interprets all sinned in v.12 as all sinned individually. When Adam sinned, sin entered the human race and corrupted the human nature. Wesley understood this sin to be “actual sin, and its consequence, a sinful nature” (Notes, 375). This corrupted human nature inherited from Adam caused all men and women to sin individually (Cranfield, 1:274-82). If this second view is adopted, the weaknesses of the first view disappear. The meaning of vv.13-14 becomes as follows. Between Adam and Moses all men and women sinned individually. When there is no law, however, sin is not easily recognized. (In v.13 ellogeō, translated as taken into account, can mean “recognize.”) Yet the death of all men demonstrates that all sinned individually. Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made [kathistēmi] sinners (v.19). Kathistēmi can mean “to cause to become” as in Ac 7:27 (niv Who made you). So v.19 means that through the disobedience of Adam, human nature was corrupted. This causes all men and women to sin and thus become sinners.
No matter how all sinned is interpreted, the main point is clear and valid. The sin of Adam affected the entire human race by bringing sin and death upon all men and women.
Just as Adam’s sin affected all, so also Jesus' act affects many. The parallelism, however, is not entirely balanced, because trespass and grace are not the same. It takes greater power to undo the effect of sin than it took originally for sin to enter. Grace is much more powerful than transgression. So if death came upon the entire race through Adam’s sin, how much more will life come to those who accept God’s provision in Jesus Christ (vv.15-17)!
Earlier Paul touched on the law (v.13). So in this closing part he makes a provisional statement about the law in relation to sin and grace. Before the law was given, sin was in the world (v.13). However, where there is no law, there is no transgression (4:15). When the law came, it converted some sins into transgressions. In this sense, the law increased the transgression (v.20).
The law also increases transgression in the sense of 7:7-8. A prohibition tends to provoke one’s desire to do it. Thus through the law we become conscious of sin (3:20; cf. 5:13). Since all transgressions are sins, where transgression increases, sin increases as well. However, grace is more powerful than sin. Therefore, where sin increased, grace increased all the more. Grace brings about righteousness and eternal life through Jesus Christ (vv.20-21).