The Entire Human Race is Enslaved to the Sin Nature
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday January 27, 2022
Redemption Series: The Entire Human Race is Under the Headship of Adam and Totally Depraved
Lesson # 4
Romans 5:12 teaches us that the result of God imputing Adam’s original sin to the entire human race was that the entire human race was under the headship of Adam.
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. (NASB95)
“Because” is composed of the preposition epi and the dative neuter singular form of the relative pronoun relative pronoun hos.
The expression eph’ ho has been said by some as being the most mistranslated expression in the Greek New Testament and it has been translated “in whom” by Augustine and others.
For this to be the correct rendering of the expression, its antecedent would have to be the expression henos anthropou, “one man” a reference to Adam, which appeared earlier in the verse.
If this is the case, then this would mean that “in Adam all sinned.”
However, grammatically and syntactically this does not make sense since the distance between the expression henos anthropou, “one man” and the prepositional phrase eph’ ho is too great for this to be correct.
Also, the relative pronoun hos is neuter in gender and not masculine, which it would need to be if it were referring to Adam.
Furthermore, Paul would have used a simpler or more obvious construction, which would be en ho.
The fact that eph’ ho does not mean “in whom” is further substantiated in that this expression is usually used as a conjunction.
In fact, it is used as a conjunction in Philippians 3:12 and 2 Corinthians 5:4 and in the papyri.
As a conjunction, this expression has been rendered “from which it follows, with the result that, inasmuch as,” or “because.”
The last rendering is the most popular among modern Bible scholars.
Many modern exegetes contend that the prepositional phrase eph’ ho is not looking back at any antecedent but rather is functioning as a causal conjunction meaning that it is introducing a statement that gives the reason why spiritual death spread to each and every member of the human race.
This would mean that spiritual death resulting in physical death is universal for the precise reason that committing acts of personal sin is universal.
This would emphasize that personal sin is the result of this sin nature.
We are not responsible for what Adam had done but for what we have done.
Wallace says that this interpretation finds support in the papyri and in the rest of the Pauline corpus (cf. 2 Cor. 5:4; Phlp. 3:12).
However, this interpretation emphasizes the human race committing sin.
The context does not support this interpretation since Paul is comparing the results of Adam’s disobedience with that of Christ’s act of obedience.
He is emphasizing Adam’s actions and not his posterity!
Mounce offers another interpretation saying that the prepositional phrase ep’ ho functions not as a causal conjunction but rather has a consecutive sense, he writes,
”the primary cause of our sinful nature would be the sin of Adam; the result of that sin would be the history of sinning on the part of all who enter the human race and in fact, sin of their own accord.”
Moo commenting on this view, writes, “Death, then, is due immediately to the sinning of each individual but ultimately to the sin of Adam; for it was Adam's sin that corrupted human nature and made individual sinning an inevitability.”
Though this is true theologically, it is not the correct interpretation.
The aorist tense of the verb hamartano is speaking of a particular point of time in the past, which the context indicates is Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden.
Interpreting eph’ ho as introducing a result clause emphasizes the personal acts of sin by each member of the human race.
However, the context clearly indicates that Paul’s is comparing the results of Adam’s disobedience with the results of Christ’s obedience and thus emphasizing Adam’s actions and not his posterity.
Therefore, not only does it make more sense grammatically and syntactically that eph’ ho should be taken as a causal conjunction but also the context supports this interpretation.
This interpretation emphasizes that God considered the entire human race as sinning the moment Adam committed his act of sin in the Garden of Eden.
“All sinned” is composed of the nominative masculine plural form of the adjective pas, “all” and the third person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb hamartano, “sinned.”
The adjective pas is again used in a distributive sense referring to “each and every” member of the human race without exception, both Jew and Gentile.
The verb hamartano is used intransitively (without a direct object) and refers to any mental, verbal or overt act of sin that is contrary to the will and law of God.
The distributive of pas along with this constative aorist tense of the verb hamartano indicates that Paul is teaching that each and every member of the human race sinned the moment Adam sinned.
In other words, Adam is both the “federal” and “seminal” head of the human race, we thus became sinners by nature, the moment Adam sinned.
The verb hamartano means, “to miss the mark,” and which mark is the absolute perfection of God’s character, which is His holiness.
Each and every member of the human race has missed the mark of the absolute perfection of God’s character, i.e. His holiness that was perfectly manifested by the Lord Jesus Christ during His First Advent.
The aorist tense of the verb hamartano is a “constative” aorist describing in summary fashion that the entire human race without exception or distinction sinned the exact moment Adam disobeyed the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and which disobedience involved his posterity.
Therefore, the aorist tense of the verb hamartano along with the distributive use of the adjective pas and Paul’s statements in Romans 5:15b, 16a, 17a, 18a and 19a indicate clearly that the entire human race was condemned by God the moment Adam sinned.
This interpretation emphasizes that Adam’s sin brought condemnation upon Adam’s posterity and the only way to be delivered from this condemnation is through One Man, Jesus Christ.
So when Paul says that “all sinned” he is referring to the fact that the moment Adam sinned, he not only died spiritually and then eventually physically but also his posterity did the same.
Therefore, in Romans 5:12, Paul is saying that because of Adam’s act of disobedience each and every member of the human race possesses a sin nature, which through the function of human volition produces mental, verbal and overt acts of sin resulting in spiritual death and eventually, physical death and the second death for those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior.
Romans 5:12 Therefore, based on this (principle), just as, through one man, the sin nature entered into the human race so that spiritual death entered through this sin nature. Thus, in this manner, spiritual death spread to each and every member of the human race without exception because each and every member of the human race sinned (the moment Adam sinned). (Lecturer’s translation)
Paul is teaching in Romans 5:12 that each and every member of the human race-past, present and future, are sinners by nature since they are under both the “federal” and “seminal” headships of Adam.
So in Romans 5:12-21, Paul presents Adam and Christ as “federal heads” of two groups of people.
Bible Knowledge Commentary writes, “The federal headship view considers Adam, the first man, as the representative of the human race that generated from him. As the representative of all humans, Adam’s act of sin was considered by God to be the act of all people and his penalty of death was judicially made the penalty of everybody.”
There is also the “seminal” or “natural” headship view.
Bible Knowledge Commentary writes, “The natural headship view, on the other hand, recognizes that the entire human race was seminally and physically in Adam, the first man. As a result God considered all people as participating in the act of sin which Adam committed and as receiving the penalty he received. Even adherents of the federal headship view must admit that Adam is the natural head of the human race physically; the issue is the relationship spiritually. Biblical evidence supports the natural headship of Adam. When presenting the superiority of Melchizedek’s priesthood to Aaron’s, the author of Hebrews argued that Levi, the head of the priestly tribe, ‘who collects the 10th, paid the 10th through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor’” (Heb. 7:9-10).
S. Lewis Johnson favors the ‘immediate federal imputation view’ which says that “Adam is the federal head of the race. Men are regarded as having stood their probation in him as their representative. His act was, therefore, deemed to be their act. He, the covenantal head of the race, fell, and in him the race fell. The fact that he was the head of the race is indicated by the fact the threats that were given him by God on the condition of his failure of the probation have been carried out on Adam and his posterity. All men, and not simply Adam, die.”
Both the “federal” and “natural” or “seminal” headship views are present in Romans 5:12-21.