Romans 5:12 — Sin and Death Through Adam — by Scott Sperling

¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned — [¹³ To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. ¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶ Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! ¹⁸ Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.] — Romans 5:12–19 (NIV)

The Depth of Romans 5:12–19

When the learned and judicious Philip Schaff, that great luminary of Christian scholarship in ages past, turned his attention to this passage of Holy Scripture (Romans 5:12–19), he spoke thus concerning its nature and bearing upon the mind of the faithful reader: “This section is difficult in proportion to its depth, grandeur, and world-historical comprehensiveness. Only a mind of the very highest order — to say nothing of inspiration — could conceive such vast thoughts, and compress them within so few words.” Truly, these words ring true with profound gravity, for we have here within this passage a vista of unspeakable grandeur, wherein the entire drama of humanity’s fall through Adam’s transgression stands in mighty contrast with the redemptive work of Christ Jesus, through whose obedience the many are made righteous.

That which lays before us is a passage that has occasioned no small degree of learned disputation and theological controversy, even amongst those who hold in highest reverence the authority of Holy Scripture. Thousands upon thousands of pages have been written by commentators and divines, each bringing forth his own understanding of these verses, yet not always in agreement one with another. The irony that attends this passage is most striking: The language that Paul employs is straightforward and lucid, uttered in clear and direct speech, so that a common reader, taking up the text without the burden of over-much learning, shall find the general meaning of the passage to be manifest and easily discerned. Yet when the scholar begins to excavate beneath the surface of the text, searching after philosophical precision and logical comprehensiveness, then the passage seems to multiply its difficulties and complexities exceedingly.

The root cause of this apparent paradox deserves serious consideration. Paul, in his writing of this epistle, did not intend to compose a philosophical treatise, wherein every term must be defined with rigorous precision, and wherein every exception and anomalous case must be addressed and resolved. Rather, he employed a literary and artistic style, communicating his essential doctrine in language that is living and vivid, adorned with rhetorical power, yet not encumbered with the exhaustive apparatus of philosophy. The consequence of this is that there lie within these words, and even between the lines, conceptions that Paul himself does not expound, forasmuch as the expansion thereof was not his purpose. And here do the learned commentators often err grievously, for they seize upon these unexplained concepts, and seek to fill the purposeful omissions by Paul with their own reasoning. In doing so, they put into Paul’s mouth words that he never spoke, and conclusions that he never drew.

Therefore, it behooves the humble student of Scripture to read this passage not as a philosopher, seeking systematic precision in every particular, but as a believer receiving a word from the Apostle, content to understand the main theme whilst acknowledging that there are mysteries that shall not be fully resolved in this life. The Bible itself is a book of such remarkable depth, containing within its compass such vastness of meaning, that a faithful reader might study it throughout the whole span of his earthly existence and yet never come to a complete understanding of the word therein. And it is for this reason that Scripture is worthy of our perpetual study and meditation.

Four Guiding Principles of Interpretation

Before we venture into the particulars of this text, let us establish certain fundamental principles which must guide our interpretation, and by which we may test the truth of any doctrine or commentary that claims to set forth the meaning of these verses. For it is a rule of greatest moment that any interpretation of Scripture, when brought into conflict with the revealed character of God, must be rejected utterly and without hesitation.

The first of these principles is that God is righteous. In all His dealings, He maintains a perfect standard of holiness, and acts ever in accordance with His own holy nature. The second principle is that God is just. All His judgments are true and equitable, and He renders unto every man according to his deeds. The third principle is that God is gracious, extending mercy and favor to those who have deserved neither. And the fourth principle is that God is love, for as we are told in the First Epistle of John, God Himself is love, and all His actions spring forth from an infinite and immeasurable affection for His creation.

These four principles serve as a foundation whereupon all sound interpretation must be built. If anyone comes forth with an interpretation of a difficult passage in Scripture, and that interpretation is found to contradict any one of these principles — if it be inconsistent with the righteousness of God, or with His justice, or with His grace, or with His love — then that interpretation must assuredly be cast aside, howsoever learned the person may be who propounded it. This rule not only applies to the passage before us, but to every place in Holy Scripture where the faithful reader encounters obscurity or contention amongst the learned. Let us therefore keep these principles ever before us as we proceed in our exposition.

Romans 5:12–19 Summarized: The Great Theme

Though the full meaning of these verses will require much careful expounding, yet the main theme that Paul communicates is, in its essential nature, straightforward and comprehensible. The great truth which he sets before us in Romans 5:12–19 is this: Through the disobedience and transgression of one man — Adam — sin and death entered into the world, bringing judgment and condemnation upon all humanity. Yet through the obedience and righteousness of one man — Jesus Christ — the curse of Adam has been reversed, such that those who believe upon Christ are freed from the dominion of sin and death, and are made partakers of justification and eternal life.

In brief compass, the doctrine is this: Adam’s fall brought the fall of all humanity; Christ’s redemption brings the redemption of all who believe. The work of Christ overcomes and utterly conquers the consequences of Adam’s transgression. Where death reigned through the sin of one man, there grace does reign — and more abundantly — through the righteousness of one Man, even Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the heart of the passage, and this is that which we must never lose sight of as we attend to the particulars and the controversies which lie below the surface of the interpretations of these verses.

The Sin Nature: Its Universality and Its Cause

That which is most remarkable, and that which puzzles many who meditate upon these matters, is the absolute comprehensiveness with which sin has spread throughout the entire human race. We know that every human being who has ever lived — saving only Christ Jesus alone — has fallen into sin and transgression. Not one person in all the generations of humanity has been able to escape this universal tendency toward evil. And it is not as though we struggle mightily and come near to perfection, only to fall in the end. No, we fall not at the conclusion of our years, but at the very beginning. Walk through the schoolyard during recess, and you will behold abundant evidence of sin even in the hearts of little children.

Whence comes this universal tendency? Is it something written in our very flesh and blood, some hereditary corruption of our biological nature? Or is it seated rather in the spirit, some defect or inclination of the soul that has been transmitted from Adam unto all his offspring? Or might it be, as some suggest, related to that gift and faculty which we possess of free will? Does there exist some axiomatic law, woven into the fabric of creation, that any being possessed of liberty to choose must inevitably choose evil, at some time?

Upon this matter, one may offer some tentative considerations, though they are not certainties. There is something in the nature of free will which seems to harbor an aversion to restrictions of every kind. The law itself is as a fence, composed entirely of prohibitions and boundaries, and the will which is free naturally chafes against such limitations. There is a kind of rebellion inherent in freedom itself when it is confronted with commandments that say, “Thou shalt not...” And this may in part explain why all of us, from the moment we become conscious of moral choices, do tend toward transgression.

The case of Adam himself presents a most instructive example. For Adam possessed perfect and unbroken fellowship with God. He walked in the Garden in the cool of the day with the Lord Himself. He received counsel directly from the lips of God. He was not separated from his Maker by sin or distance. And yet, despite this intimate communion, despite being the beneficiary of direct instruction and guidance from God Himself, Adam also chose to transgress the commandment. If one so blessed, so favored, so near to God, fell into disobedience, then what hope have we, who are separated from God by the expanse of ages and by the veil of sin? Truly, if Adam could not preserve himself in obedience while dwelling in God’s presence, how much more certain is it that we, distant and fallen, should succumb to the same temptation?

This universal tendency of all mankind toward sin is that which is often named the sin nature. It is the bent, the inclination, the disposition of the human will toward disobedience and transgression. What the precise mechanism is by which this nature is transmitted from generation unto generation, whether it be written in the very substance of our flesh, or the makeup of our DNA, or whether it be imparted through some other means, remains a matter of speculation. The Scriptures do not explicitly reveal the cause of this universal tendency, neither can it be certainly inferred from any passage of the Word of God. Yet the fact itself is undeniable and evident. And it is a truth most sobering, that even those of us who have received the inestimable gift of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf — even we who are redeemed — do find ourselves struggling against sin throughout our earthly pilgrimage, and are never fully delivered from this propensity unto transgression.

The Entrance Into the World of Sin and Death (vs. 12)

¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned — ...

Having prepared our minds with these considerations, let us now approach the text itself with careful attention, seeking to understand that which Paul communicates.

Paul begins: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man...” (vs. 12). With this phrase, Paul establishes the comparison that he will pursue throughout the passage. He speaks of sin entering into the world, with its full force and with universal dominion, through the transgression of the one man, Adam.

A question that arises immediately upon the reading of this passage is one that has occasioned much scholarly comment: why does Paul speak of sin entering the world through Adam, and not through Eve? For we know with certainty, from the narrative of Genesis, that Eve was the first to transgress the commandment of God. She first ate of the forbidden fruit, and then offered it unto Adam, who then partook. And assuredly Paul, in his learning and in his familiarity with Scripture, knew this fact as well. So what purpose is served by attributing the entrance of sin into the world to Adam rather than unto Eve?

Some commentators have attempted to answer this question by observing that Adam was the head of the first family, and that therefore the sin is attributed to him in his capacity as head. Yet this answer, though it possesses a certain surface plausibility, does not satisfy the deeper inquiry. It is a principle of Biblical justice that the sin of a family member does not assign guilt to a different family member. So then, to attribute to Adam responsibility for the first sin, though it was Eve who committed that sin, would be (in effect) to assign the guilt of Eve’s sin to Adam. For this reason, I reject that explanation of the matter at hand.

So we must continue to ask, why does Paul speak of sin entering the world through Adam, and not through Eve? To put forward an answer to this, let us undertake a thought experiment, and endeavor to conceive what would have come to pass had the matter fallen out differently. Let us suppose, that Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, and had offered it to Adam, but that Adam had possessed the fortitude and the faithful obedience to refuse it, saying to her: “No, this is contrary to the command of God, and I will not transgress His word.” What then would have been the consequence? Surely Eve, having sinned, could not remain in fellowship with God, for sin cannot have communion with holiness. She would have been expelled from the Garden of Eden, and she would have suffered death, as was the promised punishment of disobedience. But Adam, having remained obedient, would have continued in the garden, alive and in fellowship with God. The two — Adam and Eve — would have been separated, unable to dwell together. And being separated, they could not have propagated the human race. It is most reasonable to suppose that God would have provided Adam with another companion, even as He had done before, giving him another helpmate in place of the first.

But this is not what came to pass. Rather Adam did also transgress the commandment, partaking of the forbidden fruit alongside Eve. And therein lies the significance of his transgression. For Adam’s sin made the sin of Eve and himself unanimous amongst the inhabitants of the earth. At the moment of Adam’s transgression, every human being upon the earth — both Adam and Eve — had sinned against God. And because they both had sinned, they were both expelled from the Garden of Eden. And being expelled together, they went forth into the world, and in the world they did beget children, and their children’s children, generation after generation, until all the earth was filled with their descendants.

Thus was it Adam’s sin which brought about the downfall of the entire human race. His transgression sealed the fate, not merely of himself and Eve, but of all who should come after them. For had he remained faithful, the human race might never have been propagated into a fallen world under the dominion of death. But because he did transgress, Adam and Eve remained together, and propagated the race, and all of humanity has become subject to death. So then, though Eve sinned first, it was Adam whose sin expelled all humanity from Eden, and thus it is through Adam that sin entered the world.

Paul, in the subsequent phrase, states that death, as well as sin, entered the world: “...and death through sin...” (vs. 12). Here Paul establishes the causal connection between sin and death. Death, as the Apostle will explain through the passage, is the ultimate consequence of transgression. In the original command given to Adam in Genesis, God said, “... for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Gen. 2:17), and therefore death itself is bound up with the act of sin. Sin and death are not separable; they are joined as cause and consequence.

Next Paul speaks of the ramifications of this upon humanity: “...and in this way death came to all people...” (vs. 12). Here Paul asserts that death, which entered through the sin of one man, has come to extend to all people — to the whole of humanity. The dominion of death is universal. No person escapes the sentence of death; all are subject to it. This is not merely a statement of biological fact, but a theological reality. All are under the dominion of death.

Then Paul gives the reason for this propagation of death: “...because all sinned” (vs. 12). Here is the phrase that has occasioned vehement disputation among the learned commentators, and yet here too is the phrase which, taken simply and directly, contains a plain truth. Paul says that death came to all people “because all sinned” — that is to say, because each person, in the course of his or her own existence, commits transgression. Each one of us, in his own person, has sinned. And therefore, each one of us is under the sentence of death that follows upon sin. Some scholars have sought to construe this phrase as meaning that Adam’s sin is imputed — that is, transferred or charged — unto all of us, so that we bear the guilt of Adam’s transgression and suffer punishment for Adam’s disobedience. Yet this interpretation does violence to the plain meaning of the text. Paul states that death came “because all sinned,” not because Adam sinned on our behalf. The language is clear: “all sinned” — that is, all of us, in our own persons, have transgressed. And therefore death comes upon all.

Excursus: The Two Aspects of Death

That we might fully comprehend the relationship between sin and death, as it is set forth in this passage and throughout Scripture, it is necessary that we pause and meditate upon the nature of death itself. For in the minds of many, death is understood as a singular thing — the cessation of bodily life, the ceasing of the heart’s beating, the departure of the soul from the body. Yet the Biblical understanding of death is more rich and more multifaceted than this simple conception. The Scripture distinguishes between what we may call bodily death and spiritual death, and these two kinds of death in their relationship to sin are not identical.

At the very beginning of human history, when God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden and gave him the first commandment ever spoken by God to humanity, He spoke thus: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Gen. 2:16–17). Concerning the phrase translated “you will certainly die”, the Hebrew language, in which this was originally written, bears the sense of immediacy — the phrase may be rendered more literally as “on that very day you shall surely die.” The implication would seem to be that death would overtake Adam immediately, at the very moment of his transgression.

Yet we know from the historical narrative that Adam and Eve, having eaten of the forbidden fruit, did not immediately fall down dead. They continued to live. They were expelled from the Garden of Eden, but they lived on. They begat children. They lived to see their children grow and have children of their own. Indeed, the Scripture tells us that Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years before his bodily death came to pass. Here then appears to be a puzzle, a difficulty: how can we reconcile the statement that Adam should surely die on that day with the historical fact that he lived on for many centuries thereafter?

Some have supposed that God, in His mercy, granted to Adam a reprieve, extending his life beyond the immediate execution of the threatened penalty. Yet such a supposition strains the credibility of the Divine command. If God has spoken a thing, should He not perform it? And if Adam was spared from death on that day, has not God’s word been shown to be unreliable? The resolution of this puzzle lies not in denying the truth of God’s word, but in understanding that the word “death” does not signify only one thing. The Bible speaks of death in more than one sense, and the understanding of these multiple senses is essential to our comprehension of this passage and of many other passages throughout Scripture.

In the understanding of the Christian faith, bodily death and spiritual death are two distinct realities, even though they are related and arise from the same root cause, which is sin. Bodily death is the death of the body, the cessation of the bodily functions which maintain our life in this physical world. Spiritual death, by contrast, is the death of the soul, the severance of the soul’s communion with God, the loss of that fellowship with the Divine which is the essence of true life.

As Christians, we understand this distinction in our own experience. When a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, and trusts in Christ’s redemptive work on behalf of his sins, he is saved from spiritual death. His relationship with God is restored. He is made alive toward God, even though his body remains mortal and subject to the frailties of the flesh and, ultimately, subject also to bodily death. We know this truth so deeply that it forms the foundation of our hope. The Apostle Paul himself makes this clear in his Second Letter to Timothy, wherein he speaks of Christ Jesus, who “has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). Not bodily immortality, observe, but life and immortality in the spiritual sense — salvation from spiritual death, restoration of fellowship with God.

And yet, even as we are made alive spiritually through Christ, we remain subject to bodily death. Every day, in every corner of the world, believing Christians — faithful followers of Jesus, men and women filled with the Holy Spirit, whose sins are forgiven through the blood of Christ — do lay down their bodies in death. The cemetery is filled with graves of saints. Funeral services are held regularly for those who loved God with all their hearts. And we who remain understand this. We expect it. We do not suppose that faith in Christ exempts us from the necessity of dying, in a bodily sense.

The Apostle Paul confirms this understanding of spiritual death in his Epistle to the Ephesians, where he addresses the believers thus: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Eph. 2:1–2). Mark well the force of those words — “dead in your transgressions and sins.” Before faith in Christ, the soul lies under the dominion of spiritual death. And a few verses later in Ephesians, the Apostle speaks of the reversal of this condition: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2:4–5). “Made us alive” — raised from spiritual death — through union with Christ. This is the great work of salvation.

In the Garden of Eden, there were two trees of particular significance. The first was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, from which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. The second was the tree of life. What is the significance of the tree of life? Its meaning is clear and manifest: the tree of life was that by which Adam and Eve were sustained, by which they were kept from bodily death. So long as they had access to this tree, their bodies did not decay. They did not age unto death. They were kept in a state of perpetual bodily existence.

When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, a two-fold consequence befell them. First, they died spiritually. Their souls came under the dominion of death. They lost that perfect communion with God which they had enjoyed in the Garden. They were, as it were, cut off from the living God, alienated from Him, “dead in their transgressions” (Eph. 2:1). This spiritual death occurred at once, at the very moment of their transgression — and thus was God’s word fulfilled, “on that very day you shall surely die.” The day of their transgression was indeed the day of their death — their spiritual death.

But also in regard to bodily death, there was a consequence for the whole human race. Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden. They lost access to the tree of life. And having lost that tree, their bodies — and the bodies of all their descendants — became subject to the corruption and decay that is bodily death. The tree of life was taken from them, and therefore bodily death came to all humanity. Thus do we see that two consequences flowed from the first transgression: immediate spiritual death for Adam and Eve themselves, and the eventual bodily death of the entire human race through the loss of access to the tree of life.

It is of the greatest importance that we understand clearly the relationship of bodily death with regard to our individual sins. Bodily death is not a punishment meted out by God for each person’s individual transgression. Rather, it is a consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin — a consequence that extends to all of humanity. Because Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden and lost access to the tree of life, all of their descendants are subject to bodily death. It is a fact of the fallen world. It is a condition of human existence in this age.

How do we know this to be true? By considering the case of the Christian believer. When a person comes to faith in Christ, and receives forgiveness of sins through His blood, what is the consequence? The consequence is that their spiritual death is reversed. They are made alive toward God. They are reconciled with the Father. Yet they do not, as a result, become immortal in their bodies. They do not cease to age. They do not escape bodily death. If bodily death were the punishment for our individual sins, then those whose sins are forgiven would be exempt from bodily death. But this is not the case. The redeemed still die. The faithful still lay down their mortal bodies. Therefore, bodily death cannot be the punishment for our individual sins.

Rather, it is spiritual death which is the punishment for our individual sins. When we sin, we come under the sentence of spiritual death — we are separated from God, we are dead in our transgressions and sins, we are cut off from fellowship with the Living God. And it is precisely this spiritual death which Christ Jesus did come to conquer and overcome. By His sacrifice on the cross, by pouring out His blood, by bearing the penalty of our transgressions, Christ paid the price for our spiritual death. He did so, as the Scripture says, that “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16) — that is, spiritual eternal life — communion with God, restoration of the severed relationship — this is that which Christ purchased for us through His redemptive work.

And as for bodily death, the Scripture makes clear that this too shall ultimately be conquered. The doctrine of the resurrection of the body teaches us that in the future, at the consummation of all things, bodily death itself shall be undone. The bodies of the redeemed shall be raised and transformed, no longer subject to corruption and decay. But this is a matter belonging to the future hope, not to the present condition of the believer. For now, we remain subject to bodily death, as all humanity is — both Christian and non-Christian.

With this understanding of the two aspects of death firmly in mind, we are now able to read the passage before us with much greater clarity. Paul begins Romans 5:12 stating: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man...” As we stated previously, Adam’s sin made unanimous sin among humans, which led to both Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden. In this way, “sin entered the world.”

Paul immediately continues: “... and death through sin.” Through sin of Adam, both bodily death and spiritual death entered the world. Bodily death as a consequence of the cessation of access by humanity to the Tree of Life. Spiritual death as a punishment for sin.

And Paul concludes the verses stating: “... and in this way, death came to all people, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Here, the death denoted is spiritual death. Whereas our bodily death is a consequence of Adam’s sin, our spiritual death is a consequence of our own sin. In this way, spiritual death has come to each and every one of us, “because all sinned.”

Rejecting the Imputation of Adam’s Sin

It is now necessary that we address directly a doctrine which has become widespread in Christian scholarship and theology, and which finds its supposed basis in the very verse that we have been examining. This is the doctrine that has come to be called the imputation of Adam’s sin (also known as, the doctrine of original sin) — the assertion that the guilt of Adam’s sin is transferred to all of humanity, so that every person is considered accountable for Adam’s transgression, even before that person has ever sinned himself.

The scholars who hold this view do so, in large part, because of a perceived difficulty with the last clause of verse 12. Paul states: “... death came to all people, because all sinned.” Yet there are cases (so the argument runs) — such as, infants who die in infancy, children who are taken before they have reached the age of moral discernment — in which a person dies, but has committed no sin in his own person. How can it be said that death came upon such persons “because they sinned,” when they have not yet sinned? It is to resolve this apparent difficulty that the scholars do propose that Paul must be implying that the sin of Adam is imputed to all. They reason that infants, who have not yet sinned in their own persons, nevertheless bear the guilt of Adam’s sin, and die because of Adam’s transgression, not because of their own.

Yet this interpretation, when examined carefully, does not bear scrutiny. It is an over-reading of the text, an importation of philosophical precision into a passage which was never intended to bear such weight. Paul, as we have discussed before, was writing in a literary and artistic style, communicating the main points of his doctrine in language that is vivid and persuasive, but not exhaustively logical in a rigorous philosophical sense. He was addressing the general case, the normal circumstances of human life — persons who live a full span of years, who make thousands of moral choices, and who, in the course of that life, do fall into sin. He was not addressing the exceptional case of infants who die before they have opportunity for moral choice. Paul nowhere suggests, in this verse nor in the entire passage, that he is speaking of anomalous cases. The scholars who insist upon this interpretation err by demanding of Paul a philosophical comprehensiveness which Paul never intended to provide.

The text itself does not support the imputation interpretation. Paul states plainly that death came “because all sinned”— not “all were counted to have sinned through Adam’s sin,” nor “all bear the guilt of Adam’s transgression.” The language is direct and unambiguous: “all sinned.” Death comes, because of the sin of an individual, by that individual. This is the natural and unforced reading of the text, and it is the reading that the humble believer, unburdened by the weight of excessive systematizing, will naturally adopt.

Moreover, the interpretation that insists that the guilt of Adam’s sin is imputed to every human being contradicts one of our four guiding principles of Biblical interpretation (stated previously), based on God’s established character — the principle that God is just. Is it just that a helpless infant, who has committed no transgression, should be punished for the sin of an ancestor whom he has never known? This seems to be the very antithesis of justice. And furthermore, it contradicts another principle — that God is righteous. To impute unto an innocent one the guilt of another is incompatible with the righteousness of God, who has declared throughout Scripture that He renders unto every man according to his own works, not according to the works of another.

Indeed, Scripture itself teaches us plainly that individuals are not held responsible for the sins of their parents. In the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the Lord Himself speaks, through the prophet’s mouth, concerning this very matter. Hear the word of the Lord: “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them” (Ezekiel 18:19–20). This is a principle established throughout the Old Testament and confirmed here by the mouth of God Himself: “The child will not share the guilt of the parent.” We are responsible for our own sins, not for the sins of our parents, nor especially for the sins of our ancestors (such as Adam), many times removed. If God has declared that “the child shall not share the guilt of his own father,” how infinitely more shall the child not share the guilt of an ancestor in the most distant past — Adam, who lived untold ages before us! And if God Himself has decreed this principle of individual accountability, shall we charge Him with violating it by imputing to us the sin of one we have never known?

Therefore, we must reject emphatically and without compromise this interpretation of verse 12. It is a misreading of the text. It is an over-analysis of Paul’s language. And it is an interpretation that does violence to the character of God and to the principles of justice and righteousness that are established throughout Scripture. Paul speaks simply: “... death came to all people, because all sinned.” He means that each person, in his own life, comes under the sentence of death because he himself sins. This is the plain reading of the text, and this is that which we must believe and teach.

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