Romans 5:13

(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. FOR UNTIL THE LAW, [ achri (G891) nomou (G3551)] - not 'until (the cessation) of the law,' or until the time of Christ; as Chrysostom and Augustine, with other fathers, and Erasmus, strangely understood the expression. Clearly, the meaning is, as expressed in Romans 5:14, "from Adam to Moses," or until the giving of the law, SIN WAS IN THE WORLD - the same "sin," obviously, as that meant in Romans 5:12; which we have seen is, not 'actual sin' (with Stewart and others), nor (with more and better interpreters) '...

13._For until the law_, _etc. _This parenthesis anticipates an objection: for as there seems to be no transgression without the law, it might have been doubted whether there were before the law any sin: that there was after the law admitted of no doubt. The question only refers to the time preceding the law. To this then he gives this answer, — that though God had not as yet denounced judgment by a written law, yet mankind were under a curse, and that from the womb; and hence that they who led a wicked and vicious life before the promulgation of the law, were by no means exempt from the condemnation of sin; for there had always been some notion of a God, to whom honor was due, and there had ever been some rule of righteousness. This view is so plain and so clear, that of itself it disproves every opposite notion. _But sin is not imputed_, _etc. _Without the law reproving us, we in a mann...

12-14 The design of what follows is plain. It is to exalt our views respecting the blessings Christ has procured for us, by comparing them with the evil which followed upon the fall of our first father; and by showing that these blessings not only extend to the removal of these evils, but far beyond. Adam sinning, his nature became guilty and corrupted, and so came to his children. Thus in him all have sinned. And death is by sin; for death is the wages of sin. Then entered all that misery which is the due desert of sin; temporal, spiritual, eternal death. If Adam had not sinned, he had not died; but a sentence of death was passed, as upon a criminal; it passed through all men, as an infectious disease that none escape. In proof of our union with Adam, and our part in his first transgression, observe, that sin prevailed in the world, for many ages before the giving of the law by Moses....

Verse Romans 5:13. _FOR UNTIL THE LAW SIN WAS IN THE WORLD_] As _death_ reigned from Adam to Moses, so also did _sin_. Now, as there was no _written law_ from Adam to that given to Moses, the _death_ that prevailed could not be the breach of that law; for sin, so as to be punished with temporal death, _is not imputed where there is no_ _law_, which shows the penalty of sin to be death. Therefore, men are not subjected to death for their _own personal transgressions_, but for the sin of Adam; as, through his transgression, all come into the world with the seeds of death and corruption in their own nature, superadded to their moral depravity. All are _sinful_-all are _mortal_-and all _must die_....

Romans 5:12 has been usually regarded as the most difficult part of the New Testament. It is not the design of these notes to enter into a minute criticism of contested points like this. They who wish to see a full discussion of the passage, may find it in the professedly critical commentaries; and especially in the commentaries of Tholuck and of Professor Stuart on the Romans. The meaning of the passage in its general bearing is not difficult; and probably the whole passage would have been found far less difficult if it had not been attached to a philosophical theory on the subject of man’s sin, and if a strenuous and indefatigable effort had not been made to prove that it teaches what it was never designed to teach. The plain and obvious design of the passage is this, to show one of the benefits of the doctrine of justification by faith. The apostle had shown,...

EXPOSITION ROMANS 5:1 (6) The _results of the revelation of the righteousness of God, as affecting_ (A) the consciousness and hopes of believers; (B) the position of mankind before God. ROMANS 5:1 (_a_) _As to the consciousness of individual believers._ ROMANS 5:1 THEREFORE, BEING JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. Instead of the ἔχομεν of the Textus Receptus, an overwhelming preponderance of authority, including uncials, versions, and Fathers, supports ἔχωμεν ("let us have"). If this be the true reading, the exp

FOR UNTIL THE LAW, SIN WAS IN THE WORLD,.... This is a proof of sin's having entered into the world, by one man's transgression of the positive law of God, which forbid him the eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; since it was in the world before the law of Moses was given: the sin of Adam and the guilt of that were in the world before, and came upon all men to condemnation; the general corruption of nature appeared before; and actual sins, and transgressions of all sorts were committed before; as by the immediate posterity of Adam, by the men of the old world, by the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, by the patriarchs and their posterity, by the Egyptians, Canaanites, and others. They were all guilty of sin, corrupted by it, and under the dominion of it, except such as were released from it by the grace of God: now when sin is said to be until this time, the m...

Romans 5:1. _Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with, God_ It is a matter of present possession, and present enjoyment. Whatever tribulation there may be in the world, «we have peace with God.» Blessed be God for that glorious fact! We may not have peace with all men, though we would seek to have that; but «we have peace with God.» Romans 5:1. _Through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God._ So we ascend this golden ladder, from faith to peace, from peace to access with God, and from this to joy by the way of hope. Happy people, who know this blessed way of climbing out of the sorrows of the present into the glory that shall be revealed!...

4. IN CHRIST. The Sanctification of the Believer; his Deliverance from Sin and the Law; Children and Heirs. Chapter 5:12-8. CHAPTER 5:12-21 _ 1. Sin and Death Through the First Adam. (Romans 5:12 .)_ 2. In Adam by Nature; in Christ Through Grace(Romans 5:15 .) So far the subject of this Epistle has been our sins and how God has dealt with them in the Cross of Christ. The guilt and penalty of the sins of the believer are forever gone. With this section the question of sin itself is taken up and we learn how the justified believer is also sanctified in Christ and as such delivered from the dominion of sin and from the law. Furthermore we learn it also includes that believers are children and heirs of God. To distinguish between sins and sin is important. Sin is that ev

The therefore of Romans 5:12 covers Romans 1:16 to Romans 5:11: the working of sin and grace are traced up to their fountain-heads in ADAM AND CHRIST (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 15:45). Adam (Heb. _man)_ stands for humanity racially. Two opposing currents run through man's life, each with its personal source (Romans 5:12; Romans 5:18 f.); but with this broad correspondence, there are signal contrasts ...