Romans 5:12

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 ¹  because ²  all sinned –

Romans 5:15

5:15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. ³  For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, ⁴  how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!

Romans 5:19

5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man ⁵  many ⁶  were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man ⁷  many ⁸  will be made righteous.

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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.”

³ tn Grk “but not as the transgression, so also [is] the gracious gift.”

⁴ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

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

⁶ tn Grk “the many.”

⁷ sn One man refers here to Jesus Christ.

⁸ tn Grk “the many.”