Sin and death through one man, and Adam a pattern of the One to come (Romans 5:12–14)

Says "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned" (5:12, BSB). ἥμαρτον is aorist, as in 3:23 (lex.G266; lex.G2288). Death is the penalty threatened in Gen 2:17 and carried out in Gen 3:19 and 5:5 (note.language.Rom.5.12-Rom.5.14.gen-2-3-adam; xref.Rom.5.12.Gen.2.17.heb; xref.Rom.5.12.Gen.3.17-Gen.3.19.heb; xref.Rom.5.14.Gen.5.5.heb).

Uncertain The syntax of 5:12. This commentary follows the Greek note's lean to a broken sentence: ὥσπερ has no matching οὕτως καί, and 5:18–19 complete it (ὡς … οὕτως καί). The alternative takes καὶ οὕτως in 5:12 as the second half (note.language.Rom.5.12.eph-ho).

Uncertain The meaning of ἐφ᾽ ᾧ. This commentary follows the Greek note's lean to "because" (BSB), the sense ἐφ᾽ ᾧ has in 2 Cor 5:4. The alternatives are "with the result that," "on the basis of which" (death), and "in whom" (Adam), which needs ἐν rather than ἐπί and a distant antecedent (note.language.Rom.5.12.eph-ho).

The Vulgate. The Vulgate renders ἐφ᾽ ᾧ in quo, "in whom," which mistranslates the Greek, since ἐπί with the dative does not mean "in." How Ambrosiaster and Augustine read the Latin, and how Pelagius read the verse, is reported in note.historical.Rom.5.1-Rom.5.21.reception-5-12.

Uncertain How all sinned in relation to Adam, and so why death reigned over those who did not break a stated command (5:12, 14). The team's lean is federal headship with immediate imputation: Adam's one trespass is counted to all he represented (WCF 6.3, by reference; src.wcf-1646), because 5:15–19 trace death and condemnation to the one trespass, and the parallel credits Christ's righteousness. Realism holds that all sinned in Adam as present in him, reading ἥμαρτον as one act; mediate imputation holds that guilt follows inherited corruption, reading ἥμαρτον of personal sinning. The full treatment is in note.exegetical.Rom.5.12-Rom.5.21.adam-and-christ.

Uncertain The clause "sin is not taken into account when there is no law" (5:13, BSB). This commentary follows the Greek note's lean to a relative sense: without the law, sin is not charged (ἐλλογεῖται) as transgression of a stated command, as Adam's was (4:15), yet death still came. The alternative is that sin was not charged at all (note.language.Rom.5.13-Rom.5.14.ellogeitai-typos; lex.G1677).

Says "Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the way that Adam transgressed. He is a pattern of the One to come" (5:14, BSB). Adam is τύπος τοῦ μέλλοντος, a type of Christ, one man answering to one man (lex.G5179). μή is printed with high confidence (var.Rom.5.14.me).

Background. Non-canonical Jewish writings also traced death to the beginning (Wis 2:23–24; Sir 25:24; 4 Ezra 3:21; 7:118; 2 Bar 54:15, 19); they are set out, with the question of an echo of Wis 2:24, in note.historical.Rom.5.1-Rom.5.21.adam-second-temple.