Romans / Question
Romans says sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and death came through sin. Paul uses Adam to explain the spread of sin and death, then contrasts Adam with Christ, whose obedience brings grace, righteousness, and life.
Romans 5:12-21 comes after Paul's teaching on justification and reconciliation. The passage widens the frame from individual guilt to the reign of sin and death, and then to the greater reign of grace through Jesus Christ.
This passage shows the scale of the gospel. Christ does not merely improve religious life; he answers the old reign of sin and death with a new reign of grace.
Hold together the Adam-Christ comparison central. Paul is not only explaining Adam; he is magnifying the abundance of grace in Christ.
Original wording grounded in Romans 5:12-21.
12Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.