Does Romans 5:12 Teach That We Inherit Adam’s Sin?

More than once over the years, I’ve received a tract from Chick Publications, a denominational publishing company. You’d probably remember if you were ever given one of these tracts; they are laid out in comic book style with cartoon illustrations. In one of these tracts entitled, “The Choice,” there’s a page that reads, “When Adam and Eve were created, Satan tempted them and they sinned. Because of what they did, sin was passed down to all of us.” These statements are accompanied by two pictures: one featuring what I can only assume are Adam and Eve, covered in filth and surrounded by flies, and another featuring a toddler sitting in a highchair with a bowl of food upturned and placed on his head. Beneath the drawings is a quote taken from Romans 5:12.

While I’ve never met anyone who personally told me that he or she believes that it’s sinful for toddlers to play with their food, I have met any number of people who believe the general sentiment of this page of the tract: children are born inherently sinful because of Adam and Eve. Theologically, sometimes this belief is called “original sin” (i.e., we have sin from our origin”) or “total hereditary depravity” (i.e., we are depraved because of our genetic makeup). Surprisingly (to me at least), this belief in one form or another is one of the more common beliefs in the denominational world, and a verse often used in support of this belief is Romans 5:12.

One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that people sometimes are quick to jump from what the Bible says to what they think it says. Romans 5:12 reads, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Many have read this and have evidently concluded that it teaches that we have inherited Adam’s sin. Is this what the verse actually says though?

The verse begins with a “therefore,” a word which connects whatever the verse says to the previous thought, and doubles down on that connection through the comparative words “just as.” The previous verses emphasize that Jesus is the means of our “reconciliation” (Romans 5:10-11). As best as I can tell, people read these verses and the ones that follow and jump to these conclusions: 1) we are saved through one man (Jesus); 2) we are lost through one man (Adam). I’d like to suggest that instead of jumping to conclusions, we read verses slowly (honoring each thought) and contextually (honoring what both the surrounding verses and other passages say as well).

There definitely is a comparison in Romans 5 between what Adam did and what Jesus does. Adam brought death, and Jesus brings life. But how did Adam bring death, and how does Jesus bring life? Well, as relates to Jesus, note carefully the phrase, “we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).l What does Paul mean here? Well, it of course at least involves “the resurrection from the dead,” namely, the fact that “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Romans 1:4; 6:4). However, I’d suggest that it also involves what this requires of Christians: “even so we should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Christians find salvation because He lives, but only remain saved if they live as He lives, or, as John put it, “walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:6). To put it another way, Jesus opened the door to salvation (He even calls Himself “the door” in John 10:9), and calls each of us to enter and remain inside.

How does this compare to Romans 5:12? Let’s slow down and notice each thought. First, the text says, “through one man sin entered the world.” Though Eve was technically the first to sin, Adam is the one who shoulders the blame both because of his position as the leader of his family and because of the willfulness of his sin. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:14, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.”

Second, the text adds, “and death through sin.” This is nothing other than “the law of sin and death” that Paul alludes to in Romans 8:2. The law of sin and death is simple: if you sin, you die. It is what God told Adam would happen when he sinned (Genesis 2:17), and what Paul described when he says, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

The third part of the text is the most crucial to its interpretation: “and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” If there were a period after the word “men,” we might be justified in thinking that we really are lost through Adam. However, the text couldn’t be any clearer: the reason that death spread to all men is none other than the fact that “all sinned,” which Paul previously pointed out in Romans 3:23. Paul even adds that “death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam” (Romans 5:14). To put this another way, death reigns over us even if our sin is not exactly like Adam’s sin; it is still our sin that allows death to reign.

So, if all of us have sinned and if each of us die because of our sin, why is so much made of Adam’s sin in the context? Again, think about the comparison being made here between Adam and Jesus. Jesus life provides the opportunity for life; in the same way, Adam’s death provided the opportunity for death. Both Jesus and Adam opened profound, reality altering doors.  Following Adam, we die; following Jesus, we live. All of the phrases regarding Adam that follow in the context only serve to underscore that truth; they do not change or remove the important phrase of verse 12: “because all sinned.” Instead, they serve to drive home over and over again an important point: whatever we lost by following Adam, we can potentially gain by following Jesus.  

This text may very well leave us wondering though why death reigns over those who have not sinned – why babies for example who have never sinned still sometimes die. It’s important to recognize that sometimes we are asking questions of a given text that the text itself was not written to answer. The text of Romans 5 does not envision those who are innocent of sin; it envisions those who have sinned (Romans 5:12, 14) and are “sinners” (Romans 5:19). Because this passage does tie Adam’s role in opening the door to sin to the death and sin of others who follow his example, it provides part of the answer. Other passages though that discuss the far reaching consequences of sinful behavior and how the innocent can be affected by the sins of others need to be consulted.

As we read Romans 5:12 and its immediate context in the broader context of Scripture, we realize that we will not be lost merely because Adam exists any more than we will be saved merely because Jesus exists. Adam opened the door to death; each accountable person has followed him through that door. Jesus came and opened the door to life; may we all follow Him and find the life that He offers.                  

-Patrick Swayne  
patrick@tftw.org