https://youtu.be/J1uExGI9UyY
In our verse by verse study of Romans last time we finished Rom 5:11; our Expanded Translation was "And not only this, but also we brag in the God through the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."
Rom 5:12; "Through this" - the preposition "dia" (through) plus the accusative neuter singular from the demonstrative "autos" (this) that means "For this reason." It is a prepositional phrase that is used to reference back to what precedes and to draw a conclusion from it.
"just as by one man's sin" the comparative adverb "hosper" (just as) that is used as a comparative clause. Then the prepositional phrase, "dia" (through) plus the genitive of the numeral "heis" (one) plus "anthropos" " just as through one man."
The one man is Adam. God's justice deals with Adam and his progeny by reserving all the personal sins that all of mankind for judgment on the cross for the purpose of saving the entire human race.
Plus the nominative singular " ho hamartia" (the sin) with the definite article it is monadic so it refers to a specific sin. It does not refer to personal sins, or to the old sin nature; it refers to the original sin that Adam committed.
The word "hamartia" occurs twice in this verse, once for the original sin of Adam and once for the principle of personal sin. "For this reason, just as through one man the sin" this is a reference to Adam's original sin when he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
"entered into the world" the aorist active indicative from the compound verb "eiserchomai" (enter into). The aorist tense is a constantive aorist that refers to the momentary action that occurred at the instant of time when Adam switched from God's personal love as his point of contact to God to God's justice as his point of contact when he sinned by eating the forbidden fruit that he took from the woman's hand.
The active voice Adam produced the action of the verb when he sinned. The indicative mood is describes the action as the new situational reality.
Plus the prepositional phrase "eis" (into) plus the accusative of "ho kosmos" (the world), again monadic referring to the world that had been restored to perfection by the Holy Spirit in 6 days. This is the world that had been restored so humans could live on the planet.
This "kosmos" (world) is not the same "Kosmos" (world) that Satan rules at this time that came into effect after Adam's original sin.
The word "hamartia" (sin) is in the singular so it can be used to describe three things. It can be used for Adam's original sin in the garden; for the old sin nature; for the principle of personal sin in the singular not sins plural. The original sin also changed human nature and set up a proclivity or tendency to sin.
When Adam made the decision to sin it became a trend in his soul. We were born with that trend because Adam acquired it when he sinned. The first time Adam sinned he started a trend, and that trend comes down to us and it is the source of our tendency or proclivity to commit personal sin.
"and death through sin" the conjunction "kai" (and) is used to introduce a result that comes from an antecedent that precedes it, so it is translated "and so."
"dia" (through) and the definite article with the noun "ho hamartia" (the sin) " with " ho thanatos" (the death) that is used here for spiritual death.
So sin in the singular combines two of our concepts of "hamartia" (sin), the original sin plus the trend or proclivity that was developed simultaneously.
Translation: "For this reason, just as through one man (Adam) the sin (nature) entered into the world, and through the sin the death (spiritual death).
"and in this way death passed upon all men" the connective use of the conjunction "kai" (and) plus the correlative conjunction "houtos" "in this way" plus the nominative singular subject of "ho thanatos" (the spiritual death.)
In this passage "thanatos" never refers to physical death.
Plus aorist active indicative from the verb "dierchomai" (dia = through; "erchomai = to go) to go through, to pass through, and it means to spread or engulf) so "death spread or engulfed."
This is spiritual death spreading. The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist for a fact of doctrine so fixed and to certain that it is axiomatic. The active voice: spiritual death produces the action of the verb spreading through and engulfing the entire human race.
The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of fact. Plus another prepositional phrase, "eis" (into) plus the accusative plural of "pas" (all) and "anthropos" (men "into all men."
"because all sinned" the preposition "epi" (on) plus the relative pronoun "hos" (whom) and translated as "because." Plus the nominative masculine plural subject from the adjective "pas" (all), referring to the entire human race. Plus the aorist active indicative of the verb "hamartano" (sinned).
The constantive aorist of "hamartano" contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. The constantive aorist gathers the entire human race together so that when Adam sinned we all sinned.
Adam is the seminal head of the entire human race, we were all in Adam when Adam sinned. One decision of an important person can involve a lot of people. Adam made one decision that involved the entire human race because he was the source of the entire human race. The active voice: the human race seminally in Adam produces the action of the verb.
If we had made the decision the decision that Adam made would have been our decision, we would not have done it any differently. The indicative mood is declarative; it represents the verbal action from the viewpoint of reality.
When Adam disobeyed, he made the decision for the entire human race so now each member of the human race has the opportunity to make their own decision regarding another tree: the cross.
One man's decision places all of us under spiritual death, but our own independent decision of faith in Jesus Christ provides us with an eternal irrevocable relationship with God so we have the opportunity to receive something far better than Adam lost on the basis of grace and faith.
When any member of the human race believes in Jesus Christ God turns the curse of sin and death into a blessing of eternal life and peace.
Expanded Translation Rom 5:12; "For this reason, just as through one man (Adam) the sin (nature) entered into the world, and the death (spiritual) through the sin (nature); and in this way the death (spiritual) spread to all men, because all sinned (when Adam sinned)."
We see from this verse that spiritual death is lack of relationship with God's integrity in the status of being cut off from God's attributes. Spiritual death results from mankind rejecting, opposing and making war on God just like satan did.
Spiritual death is the result of God's righteousness rejecting both the principle of the old sin nature trend as well as the sin itself.
Righteousness demands righteousness. Spiritual death is God's judging, condemning the old sin nature, its function and personal sin. Justice demands justice. God's justice executes what God's righteousness demands. Man's unrighteousness demands death.
Spiritual death is an impassable barrier between God and man that was established by God's justice at the moment the original sin occurred to protect God's integrity.
Spiritual death is an impassable barrier that is perpetuated throughout human history. It is a barrier that can only be removed when God's integrity is satisfied.
The removal of the barrier demands both the function of the justice of God in removing all of mankind's sins as an issue by judging them when Christ was carrying them on the cross that is followed up by the imputation of God's righteousness to anyone in the human race who believes in Jesus Christ.
Spiritual death is perpetuated through physical birth. We are born physically with a biological body and a human soul but have spiritual death because of our dead human spirit.
At the moment of human life the human race is also spiritually dead with no relationship with God's integrity and no possibility of direct blessing from God's justice. The barrier is so great that man cannot move it, break through it, climb over it, or tunnel under it.
God's justice of established the barrier there so the removal of the barrier requires another act of judgment from God's justice. That judgment occurred with the judgment of our sins in Jesus Christ on the cross. The justice of God judged our sins on the cross; the justice of God judged what the justice of God had condemned.
Adam's sin was a corrupting principle that was transmitted into the entire human race through procreation. The reason we are born with an old sin nature and under spiritual death is because given the same test we would have done exactly what Adam did.
In this sense Adam is a better man than any of us. If he failed, we would have failed. He did fail and God's justice involves all of us. We are under God's justice and that same justice provides blessing where the curse and condemnation of sin existed in the human race because God always has an overruling plan to turn the curse into a blessing.
Rom 5:13; "For until the law sin was in the world." The explanatory use of the postpositive conjunctive particle "gar" (for) with the adverb "achri" (until) used as an improper preposition. The object of the adverb is the genitive of "nomos" (law).
It is translated literally, "For until the law (was given)." The verb is implied by the syntax. The subject is the nominative singular of "hamartia" (sin). Then the perfect active indicative of the verb "eimi" (was) from the verb to be, to exist, sometimes and to come to be.
The imperfect tense is the imperfect of duration, it contemplates the process of sin as having gone on in the past up to the time denoted by the context, but without any inference regarding whether or not the process has been completed.
The active voice: the sinfulness of man produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of doctrine. "For until the law sin was in the world."
This means that the principle of sin continued from the fall of Adam to the time of Moses, and that every person who ever lived committed personal sins during that time even though there was no law. That means that with or without the Mosaic Law mankind has always been committing sins.
In other words, the Mosaic Law is not a restrainer of sin; it is a declarer or a communicator of sin. The Law defines sin for us but it doesn't restrain us from committing sin.
The Law simply defines sin and relates it to a penalty. Personal sin is the principle of doing things that are contradictory to God's integrity, followed by the practice of doing those things. So that sin in the singular always deals with the principle or predicate of sin and in the plural (sins) describes the practice or committing of sin.