Doctrinal note: Adam and Christ, condemnation and justification through the one man (Romans 5:12–21)

Implies Sin, death, and condemnation came to all humanity through Adam's one trespass, and righteousness and life come to those in Christ through his one act of obedience (5:12, 15–19).

Says Paul states each half: through one man sin entered and death spread to all (5:12); the many died by the one man's trespass (5:15); one trespass brought condemnation for all (5:18); the many were made sinners through one man's disobedience, and the many will be made righteous through one man's obedience (5:19). Adam is "a pattern of the One to come" (5:14, BSB), and the gift exceeds the trespass (5:15–17).

Uncertain How Adam's trespass reaches all. The team's lean is federal headship with immediate imputation: Adam stood as the head of humanity, and his one trespass is counted to all he represented, as Christ's obedience is counted to those in him (WCF 6.3, by reference; src.wcf-1646). Grounds: 5:15–19 trace death and condemnation to the one trespass (5:16, 18 κατάκριμα), death reigned over those who did not sin as Adam did (5:13–14), and the parallel with Christ is forensic (5:19b). Realism holds that all humanity sinned in Adam as present in him, as one nature, reading ἥμαρτον in 5:12 as one act. Mediate imputation holds that guilt is reckoned on the ground of the corruption each person inherits, reading ἥμαρτον of personal sinning. Under the team's lean, "were made sinners" (5:19a) is forensic (note.exegetical.Rom.5.18-Rom.5.21.one-act-of-righteousness; note.language.Rom.5.12.eph-ho; note.language.Rom.5.13-Rom.5.14.ellogeitai-typos).

Other readings. Pelagius read 5:12 as sin passing to all by imitation of Adam's example. That view falls outside what 5:15–19 affirm, since there condemnation comes through the one trespass, not through each person's imitation of it. The history of these readings, with Ambrosiaster, Augustine, the Westminster Confession, and the later Reformed debate, is reported in note.historical.Rom.5.1-Rom.5.21.reception-5-12.