Hello and welcome. In this article, we'll look at interpretations of Romans 5 in early Christianity. This article supplements and provides additional evidence supporting our article that covers ancestral sin in early Christianity. Additionally, this article follows the pattern of thought that we put forth in our article examining Romans 5 and original sin. We recommend you read that article before this.
THE TEXT
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Rom 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Rom 5:16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
Rom 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Rom 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Rom 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
A BRIEF SUMMARY OF OUR VIEW ON ROMANS 5 AS IT PERTAINS TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL
A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE ORIGINAL SIN INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 5:12
“As a matter of fact, the Bible is so specific as to say you sinned when he sinned--"...because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). The tense (Aorist) indicates that it happened at one point in time, that is, when Adam sinned you were there and participated in it” - Richard L. Strauss, Whose Team Are You On?
“That it is the simple meaning of the words. It has already been remarked, that the aorist hmarton does not mean are sinful, or have sinned, but simply sinned. All sinned when Adam sinned. They sinned in him. But the only possible way in which all men can be said to have sinned in Adam, is putatively. His act, for some good and proper reason, was regarded as their act, just as the act of an agent is regarded as the act of his principal, or the act of a representative as that of his constituents. The act of the one legally binds the others. It is, in the eye of law and justice, their act.” - Charles Hodge, Commentary on Romans 5:12-21
“When the Greek text says “because all sinned”, it uses a verb tense called the aorist. This tense is used when the verb was performed and completed at a singular point in time in the past. By using the aorist tense, Paul is saying that all men sinned at one point in time and death was the result.” - Clay Garrison, Federal Headship: A Brief Exposition of Romans 5:12-19
“but then he adds that thing at the end of verse 12, "For all have sinned." Now what are you saying? When did we do that? It's an aorist, a simple aorist, all have sinned. In one point, in time past, all have sinned. You say, "When did we all do that?" In the loins of Adam; we were duly constituted there in the loins of Adam. We were bound up in the loins of Adam. We sinned in Adam for he was the race. And that's why babies die, not because they commit deeds of sin but because they already sinned in Adam and they can be punished justly.” - John MacArthur, Adam and the reign of death
“Died is in the Greek Aorist tense, which refers to a past event that took place at a particular point in time, not a repeating event that continued in the past. Paul is saying that we died at a particular historical point. It is done. Finished. A fact.” - Ralph Wilson, United to Christ, the second Adam
These quotes are a small sampling from our article on Romans 5. To summarize the interpretation of our interlocutors: The Greek aorist tense indicates a completed action, a past time, an action that itself is a punctiliar event, a once-for-all all action, and a specific kind of action. Concerning "all have sinned", this is believed to be a singular and completed past action that happened in the garden when Adam sinned. When Adam first sinned the rest of humanity sinned with him in some way. This interpretation of the aorist tense is carried through the rest of what Romans 5 says about the detriments that come from Adam. In this view, all the consequences of the fall are believed to be present from conception.
1. All humans weren't present in/with Adam when he sinned and all humans didn't participate in some way with him.
2. A distinction between mortality and spiritual death/condemnation. Humans are spiritually condemned because of their own sins.
3. Mortality and sinful inclinations as the primary things directly passed on from Adam to the exclusion of perpetually inherited guilt of Adam's sin.
Disclaimer: (When it comes to early Christian documents, we have tens of thousands of pages from primary sources that have survived to today. Many documents to this day haven't been translated into English and/or are difficult to access. Very few if any individuals have read and processed each page of the available documents that have come down to us. We by no means have a perfectly clear picture of history and what each and every writer believed. Our goal is to be fair to each writer and err on the side of not overstating our case or being overly dogmatic regarding what certain individuals did or did not believe. This assessment is based on the documents that we have read ourselves. It's important to acknowledge that we can be in error concerning how we've interpreted and understood some sources. We are by no means claiming that early Christians were in universal agreement with us on this issue. This article will almost certainly have further updates and additions in the future as we continue reading primary sources.)
INTERPRETATIONS OF ROMANS 5 IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY
"This natural law then speaks to all who are under the law. From its precepts it appears to me that little children alone are exempt, for whom the judgment of right and wrong does not yet exist. Now whether those who, for whatever reason, are mentally incompetent ought to be joined to these as well is a question which needs to be investigated. Apart from these exceptions, however, no human being, it seems to me, escapes this law." - Commentary on Romans, Book III, Chapter VI.3
"Therefore sin did indeed begin to exercise dominion in this world from the one Adam. And it reigned in those who pursued the imitation of Adam’s transgression; and for that reason, “judgment came from the one leading to condemnation.” But on the other hand through our one Lord Jesus Christ grace began to reign through righteousness. It will reign in all who obey him and keep his words, and by this means they come from many transgressions to the justification of life." - Commentary on Romans, Book V, Chapter II.15
"Well then, what he says, “By the transgression of the one, death exercised dominion through the one,” shows that dominion is granted to death through transgression; it cannot exercise dominion in anyone unless it receives the right to rule from transgression. What seems to be made known in this is that since a soul created by God is itself free, it leads itself into slavery by means of transgression and hands over to death, so to speak, the IOU of its own immortality which it had received from its own Creator. “For the soul that sins will die.” That soul, after all, cries out through the prophet, saying, “You have led me down to the dust of death.” This assuredly could not have come to pass to the person except as a result of transgression. Therefore it seems plain that the soul had composed its own IOU with death by means of transgression, so that, having lost the freedom of immortality, it took up the yoke of sin and the dominion of death." - Commentary on Romans, Book V, Chapter III.3
"So then Adam offered sinners a model through his disobedience; but Christ, in contrast, gave the righteous a model by his obedience. As it is written in another passage, “But you have become obedient from the heart to the same model of teaching to which you were entrusted.” It is also on this account that he “became obedient unto death,” in order that those who follow the example of his obedience might be made righteous by righteousness itself, just as those others were made sinners by following the model of [Adam’s] disobedience." - Commentary on Romans, Book V, Chapter V.9
“The death which entered through sin is without doubt that death of which the prophet speaks when he says: “The soul which sins shall surely die.” One might rightly say that our bodily death is a shadow of this death. For whenever a soul dies, the body is obliged to follow suit, like a shadow.” - CER 3:44, 50–52
Origen clearly conveys all three points. He says that sin reigned in those who imitated Adam's transgression. Each soul leads itself into slavery through transgression. He doesn't affirm that all humans were made sinners in and with Adam in the garden. Rather, humans are made sinners by their own sins and following after Adam. Origen also seems to understand that "the death which entered through sin" is a spiritual non-physical death of the soul which bodily death is a shadow of.
“Paul said this in order to contradict those who thought that the Genesis story of the fall applied to nobody but Adam himself. For here he says that all have sinned, even if not exactly in the same way as Adam, and that the Genesis account applies to all men.” - Commentary on Romans, 5.14, NTA 15:53
"Paul does not mean by this that because one man sinned everybody else had to pay the price for it even though they had not committed the sin, for that would be unjust. Rather he says that from its beginning in Adam humanity derived both its existence and its sinfulness." - Commentary on Romans, 5.18, NTA 15:53
Acacius is clear that the fall does apply to everyone. However, he clarifies that others don't pay the price for Adam's sin and we didn't commit that sin. He calls this unjust. While we aren't guilty of Adam's sin, our inclination and propensity to sin do ultimately come from him.
"Although he is speaking of the woman, he said in whom because he was referring to the race, not to a specific type. It is clear, consequently, that all sinned in Adam as in a lump. Once he was corrupted by sin, those he begat were all born under sin. All sinners, therefore, derive from him, because we are all from him. When he transgressed, he lost the gift of God, having become unworthy to eat of the tree of life, and as a result he died. This death is the separation of the soul from the body. There is another death—called the second death—in gehenna. We do not undergo it on account of the sin of Adam; it is acquired by the opportunity one has for one’s own sins." - Commentary on Romans, p.96-97, on Romans 5:12
“It is clear that death did not reign over everyone, because they did not all sin after the manner of Adam’s transgression; that is, they did not all sin by disrespecting God. But who are those who sinned by disrespecting God, if not those who, having disregarded the creator, served creatures, making gods for themselves whom they worshiped to the dishonor of God?….So too, these people, by overlooking God when they serve creatures, sin in a similar way—not in the same way, because the expression “in a similar way” usually includes something that is different. It cannot be said that these people also received the command not to eat of the tree, as did Adam.” - Commentary on Romans, p. 100-101, on Romans 5:14
“For Adam is the type of Christ in this regard alone: the sin that one person committed, one person rectified. For if many died through one person’s trespass, how much more have the grace of God and the gift in the grace of the one person Jesus Christ abounded in more people. That is, if many died through one person’s trespass when they imitated his transgression, the grace of God and the gift abounded even further in more people when they took refuge in him. For more people receive grace than died through Adam’s trespass. From this it is clear that the apostle was not referring to the death that is common to all, since absolutely all people die and yet all people do not receive grace. It also is clear that death did not reign in all people, but only in those who are denoted as having died as a result of Adam’s trespass, that is, those whom the apostle says sinned after the manner of Adam’s transgression.” - Commentary on Romans, p.105, on Romans 5:15
"It is clearly different, because as a result of Adam’s one sin those who sinned after the manner of his transgression were condemned, whereas the grace of God through Christ justified people not from a single trespass but from many sins by granting them forgiveness of sins." - Commentary on Romans, p.106, on Romans 5:16
"That is, just as through one person’s trespass all who sinned in the same way deserved condemnation, so too in one person’s righteousness will all who believe be justified."- Commentary on Romans, p.107, on Romans 5:18
“Those whom he spoke of above as all, he here refers to as more and many. For more people—not all—followed Adam’s trespass by transgressing, and many people—not all—will be made righteous through faith in Christ. Death did not reign, therefore, in those who did not sin after the manner of Adam’s transgression.” - Commentary on Romans, p.107, on Romans 5:19
Ambrosiaster focuses mostly on point two. He makes a distinction between mere mortality and spiritual death as a result of personal sin. He also says that humans "imitate" and "follow" Adam's transgression. This is distinct from saying all humans sinned in/with Adam in some way. Ambrosiaster understands the primary theme of Romans 5 to be spiritual condemnation and death as a result of personal sin contrasted against spiritual life and justification as a result of faith.
“Paul’s meaning is that, although Moses was a righteous and admirable man, the death sentence promulgated upon Adam reached him as well, and also those who came after, even though neither he nor they copied the sin of Adam in disobediently eating of the tree.” - Catechetical Lectures, XV.31
"And learn this also, that the soul, before it came into this world, had committed no sin , but having come in sinless, we now sin of our free-will. Listen not, I pray you, to any one perversely interpreting the words, But if I do that which I would not Romans 7:16: but remember Him who says, If you be willing, and hearken unto Me, you shall eat the good things of the land: but if you be not willing, neither hearken unto Me, the sword shall devour you, etc. Isaiah 1:19-20: and again, As you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification." - Catechetical Lectures, IV.19
Cyril's views on Romans 5 and the condition of the soul from conception don't seem compatible with the original sin interpretation of the chapter. He doesn't believe all humans were involved in Adam's sin. Those who came after hadn't copied Adam's sin. Additionally, he says human souls "come in sinless" to the world. A view that includes all humans sinning in/with Adam in the garden seems absent from his mind.
“All men sinned” means that they followed the example of Adam. The apostle is here referring to the death of the soul, which is the death Adam suffered when he transgressed, just as the prophet says: “The soul which sins shall surely die.” - Commentary on Romans 5:12, ENPK 2:37
Constantius doesn't seem to understand Romans 5:12 in a way that means all mankind sinned with Adam when he first sinned. This understanding is nearly universal amongst those who hold to inherited or imputed guilt. Instead, he seems to think that "all men sinned" means that after Adam, his descendants follow him in disobedience themselves. He also connects this to a spiritual non-physical death.
"What then? tell me; did all die in Adam the death of sin? How then was Noah righteous in his generation? and how Abraham? and how Job? and how all the rest? And what, I pray? shall all be made alive in Christ? Where then are those who are led away into hell fire? Thus, if this be said of the body, the doctrine stands: but if of righteousness and sin, it doth so no longer." - Homilies on 1 Corinthians, Homily XXXIX
"As the best physicians always take great pains to discover the source of diseases, and go to the very fountain of the mischief, so doth the blessed Paul also. Hence after having said that we were justified, and having shown it from the Patriarch, and from the Spirit, and from the dying of Christ (for He would not have died unless He intended to justify), he next confirms from other sources also what he had at such length demonstrated. And he confirms his proposition from things opposite, that is, from death and sin. How, and in what way? He enquires whence death came in, and how it prevailed. How then did death come in and prevail? “Through the sin of one.” But what means, “for that all have sinned?” This; he having once fallen, even they that had not eaten of the tree did from him, all of them, become mortal." - Homilies on Romans, Homily X, Para. 1
"For the fact that when he had sinned and become mortal, those who were of him should be so also, is nothing unlikely. But how would it follow that from his disobedience another would become a sinner? For at this rate a man of this sort will not even deserve punishment, if, that is, it was not from his own self that he became a sinner." - Homilies on Romans, Homily X, Para. 7
“But if any of you were to enquire with a view to learn, we should give this answer: That we are so far from taking any harm from this death and condemnation, if we be soberminded, that we are the gainers even by having become mortal, first, because it is not an immortal body in which we sin; secondly, because we get numberless grounds for being religious (φιλοσοφίας). For to be moderate, and to be temperate, and to be subdued, and to keep ourselves clear of all wickedness, is what death by its presence and by its being expected persuades us to.” - Homilies on Romans, Homily X, Para. 7
Chrysostom clearly distinguishes that all dying "in Adam" is said of the body and not of sin. In fact, he says the doctrine wouldn't stand if this is about righteousness and sin. He emphasizes physical mortality as the primary direct consequence of the fall. John doesn't believe that Adam's disobedience directly made all other humans sinners. Such a person "will not even deserve punishment." He believes humans become sinners because of their own personal sins. Chrysostom puts our mortality in a positive light because as mortals we aren't sinning in immortal bodies.
“The principles of their heresy are, in summary, the following. Men sin, they say, by nature and not by intention; and 'by nature' they do not mean that nature which was in Adam when first created (because this, they say, was good because made by a good God), but that nature which was his later after the fall because of his ill conduct and sin. He received a sinful nature in exchange for the good and a mortal nature in exchange for an immortal; it is in this manner and by nature that men became sinners after having been good by nature. It is in their nature and not by a voluntary choice that they acquired sin. The second point is connected to the preceding propositions. They say that infants, even newly born, are not free from sin because, since the disobedience of Adam, nature is fixed into sin and that this sinful nature, as was said, extends to all his descendants. They quote, he says, the verse, "I was born in sin" and others similar: the holy baptism itself; the communion with the incorruptible body for the remission of sins and the fact that these apply to infants as a confirmation of their own opinion. They claim also that no man is just, and this is thus obviously a corollary of their initial position, "because nothing of flesh can be justified before you," he says, and he cites other texts of the same kind.” - Photius’ Bibliotheca, 177, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Against the defenders of Original sin, para. 3-4
“Death came to all men not because they committed the same sin as Adam but because they sinned...Death is not just the punishment for one particular sin; it is the punishment for every sin.” - NTA 15:119
Regarding Theodore, he wrote a 5 book polemical work against inherited Adamic guilt in his day titled "Against the defenders of original sin." This work has been lost to us but survives today in Syriac and Latin fragments. Photius of Constantinople as well as others in history have commented on Theodore's work. He didn't believe that humans are born guilty of Adam's sin. Rather, humans become guilty through their own rebellious choices. Kavvadas in Grace for Grace, p.279 pointed out that Theodore argued human mortality doesn't equate to guiltiness otherwise after the incarnation Jesus would have been a guilty sinner throughout his whole earthly life.
"Sin is not Adam's transgression, but the index of each one's volition. But we did not undertake the transgression, for by succession all should be transgressors, and should not be rebuked by God. which are transgressed by the necessity of natural succession. But now it is not so: because we do not all transgress the commandment, nor do we all keep it. Hence it is clear that transgression does not originate from necessity, but from pleasure. But if you say, the Lord came for her sake: wherefore he did not completely destroy her in baptism. but everyone even now has the power to transgress, or not? Why transgressions which are spontaneous. as we have shown, no one undertakes out of necessity; yet from this necessity we undertake successive death: which is alienation from God. First, indeed, this is a man, alienated from God. nor could we live in God: that is why the Lord came to revive us through the bath of regeneration and to reconcile us to God, which he also accomplished. For this reason we did not accept the transgression, since that which also reigned over those who had not sinned in the similitude of Adam's transgression would necessarily have reigned over him as well." - Patrologia Graeca, 65.1018
Following the sentiment of many in the East, Marcus says that if we all undertook Adam's transgression and are therefore transgressors ourselves by necessity, there would be no grounds for rebuke by God. This is because transgression, and rebuke as a result, originates from active willing not by the necessity of nature. Marcus seems to clearly state that we do not take on "the transgression" (referring back to Adam's transgression).
“We must inquire how Adam, our first forefather, transmitted to us the penalty imposed upon him for his transgression. He had heard "Earth thou art and to the earth shalt thou return" (Gen 3: 19), and from being incorruptible he became corruptible and was made subject to the chains of death. But since he produced children after falling into this state we, his descendants, are corruptible, coming from a corruptible source. Thus it is that we are heirs of Adam's curse; for surely we have not been visited with punishment as though we disobeyed with him the divine command which he received, but because ... become mortal he transmitted the curse to the seed he fathered. We are mortal because we come from a mortal source” - Doctrinal Questions and Answers, 6
“Indeed, when we turned away from the face of the all-holy God because the human mind diligently occupied itself with “evil from its youth,” we began to live a life even more devoid of reason, and “death prevailed and swallowed [us] up,” as the prophet says, and Hades “enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth without ceasing.” When we became imitators of the transgression in Adam, in accordance with which “all sinned,” we were subject to the same penalty as he was. But the earth under heaven did not remain without aid. Sin was taken away. Satan fell. Death was brought to nothing.” - Commentary on Romans, 182-183
“So our nature contracted sin “through the disobedience of the one man” (that is, Adam). That is how “the many were made sinners”—not because they transgressed along with Adam (since they did not yet exist), but because they were of his nature, which had fallen under the law of sin. Just as human nature was enfeebled with decay in Adam through his disobedience (and that is how the passions entered into it), so also it has been freed once again in Christ. He was obedient to God the Father and “committed no sin.” - Commentary on Romans, 187
In the writings of Cyril which have survived to us today, there exists a commentary on Romans. Cyril repeatedly clarifies that mankind didn't disobey with Adam and isn't punished as such. Furthermore, he says we are subject to the same penalty as him when we "became imitators" of the transgression. It's in this way that "all sinned". It's important to note that rejection of being with Adam when he sinned and denying our existence with him in the garden marks a key departure from Augustine's framework of original sin.
“Again, if only one soul was made from which are derived the souls of all men who are born, who can say that he himself did not sin when the first man sinned?” - Augustine of Hippo, The Problem of Free Choice, p. 196
“In his final, incomplete work to Julian of Eclanum, he insists that every soul (and not only every body) was contained in Adam when he sinned: this is the only way Augustine believes that his doctrine of inherited guilt can be sustained.” - A History of Mind and Body in Late Antiquity, p. 223
This is evident in Augustine's own writings. For the sake of brevity, we will not include it. Still, in Augustine's letter 166, he writes to Jerome. He seems to confess his inability to consistently affirm his view of inherited Adamic guilt if humanity wasn't seminally present with Adam when he sinned.
“To a quite remarkable extent, the Greek Fathers carried on in their time-honoured fashion, emphasizing above all else the universal mortality which has spread as the result of Adam's sin, but steering clear of any imputation of his guilt. Cyril of Alexandria states quite explicitly that we did not actually sin in Adam, a suggestion which he regards as absurd because we were not born then, and confines the effects of the fall to the resulting corruption of our nature. That might seem to be a reasonably Augustinian conclusion, except that Cyril's understanding of 'nature' was much more precise and limited than Augustine's. In particular, he knew nothing of the deep moral and psychological undertones which so deeply coloured Augustine's treatment of the subject.” - Gerald Bray, Original Sin in Patristic Thought, p. 46
Anglican theologian Gerald Bray has the same assessment of Cyril that we do. He includes Cyril as one of the Greek Fathers who understands that imputed Adamic guilt is not one of the consequences of the fall. Bray further distinguishes Cyril's understanding from Augustine's by pointing out how Cyril had a more precise understanding of nature and is therefore not reasonably Augustinian in his views of the fall's consequences.
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"St. Paul says that when Adam sinned he became mortal because of it and passed both on to his descendants. Thus death came to all men, in that all sinned. But each person receives the sentence of death not because of the sin of his first ancestor but because of his own sin." - On Romans 5:12, IER, Migne PG 82 col. 100
"Death reigned over even those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s sin. For even if they did not break the same commandment, they did other things which were wrong." - On Romans 5:14, IER, Migne PG 82 col. 100
Theodoret emphasizes mortality as what is directly passed on from Adam to his descendants. He also doesn't believe all humans participated with Adam when he sinned. Rather, each person receives the sentence of death "because of his own sin."
“So that no one can accuse God of injustice, in that we all die because of the fall of Adam, Paul adds: “and so all have sinned.” Adam is the origin and the cause of the fact that we have all sinned in imitation of him.” - NTA 15:424
Oecumenius doesn't seem to understand Romans 5:12 in a way that means all mankind sinned with Adam when he first sinned. This understanding is nearly universal amongst those who hold to inherited or imputed guilt. Instead, he seems to think that "and so all have sinned" means that Adam is the origin of human sin, but all of his descendants sin themselves "in imitation of him".
Thanks for reading. That concludes this article for now. You can expect there to be more content added in the future.
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