Text -- Romans 5:12-21 (NET)

The Amplification of Justification

5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned– 5:13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law. 5:14 Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed. 5:15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! 5:16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation, but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification. 5:17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ! 5:18 Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous. 5:20 Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Rom 5:12

¹ tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

² tn The translation of the phrase ἐφ᾿ ᾧ (ef Jw) has been heavily debated. For a discussion of all the possibilities, see C. E. B. Cranfield, “On Some of the Problems in the Interpretation of Romans 5.12,” SJT 22 (1969): 324-41. Only a few of the major options can be mentioned here: (1) the phrase can be taken as a relative clause in which the pronoun refers to Adam, “death spread to all people in whom [Adam] all sinned.” (2) The phrase can be taken with consecutive (resultative) force, meaning “death spread to all people with the result that all sinned.” (3) Others take the phrase as causal in force: “death spread to all people because all sinned.”

NET Notes: Rom 5:13

¹ tn Grk “for before the law.”

² tn Or “sin is not reckoned.”

NET Notes: Rom 5:14

¹ tn Or “pattern.”

² tn Or “disobeyed”; Grk “in the likeness of Adam’s transgression.”

NET Notes: Rom 5:15

¹ tn Grk “but not as the transgression, so also [is] the gracious gift.”

² sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

NET Notes: Rom 5:16

¹ tn Grk “and not as through the one who sinned [is] the gift.”

² tn The word “transgression” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.

³ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

⁴ tn Or “falls, trespasses,” the same word used in vv. 15, 17, 18, 20.

NET Notes: Rom 5:17

¹ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

NET Notes: Rom 5:18

¹ tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

² tn Grk “[it is] unto condemnation for all people.”

³ tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

⁴ tn There are no verbs in the Greek text of v. 18, forcing translators to supply phrases like “came through one transgression,” “resulted from one transgression,” etc.

⁵ sn One transgression refers to the sin of Adam in Gen 3:1-24.

⁶ sn The one righteous act refers to Jesus’ death on the cross.

⁷ tn Grk “righteousness of life.”

NET Notes: Rom 5:19

¹ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

² tn Grk “the many.”

³ sn One man refers here to Jesus Christ.

⁴ tn Grk “the many.”

NET Notes: Rom 5:20

¹ tn Grk “slipped in.”

² tn Or “trespass.”