What is sin?  Almost everyone who studies the issue of sin comes to the understanding that there is a type of sin that brings condemnation and there is a type of sin that does not bring condemnation.  The variant definitions of sin are contained in two major domains of sin: Original Sin and Actual Sin.

      Original sin is primarily derived from Roman 5, let’s look at this passage closely in its context.

Rom 5:10  For if while being enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life;

Rom 5:11  and not only so, but also glorying in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now received the reconciliation.

Rom 5:12  Because of this, even as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death passed to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.

Sin entered the world through Adam not because all men are guilty of Adam’s sin but because all sinned. What did we all get from Adam that forces us to admit that “sin dwells in…”us? 1Co 15:49  And as we bore the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. We all bore his image. How does the Bible describe the body? Paul writes…

1Co 15:42-44  ….It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

“God created man in His own image” (Gen 1:28) and at that point “everything that He made…was very good” (Gen 1:31) Sin entered the world through one man and we bear the image of the earthly man, we receive a corrupt, dishonorable, weak, natural body. Is sin charged through the image we inherit and bear from Adam?

Rom 5:13  For sin was in the world until Law, but sin is not charged where there is no law;

Sin, not the guilt of sin, but the power of sin is in the world in the image of the earthly man, in a body that is sown in corruption, dishonor, and weakness. Sin is there as a power… but sin is not charged where there is no law. This verse introduces sin without the law. Sin is in the world until the law but sin is not charged where there is no law. This is repeated Romans 4:15 and 7:9. Ever since sin entered the world through Adam, sin is as universal as bacteria. Just as bacteria is not known to us without microscopes and diagnostic tests, so sin is not known and charged to us without the law. Every minute (tiny) sin is conspicuous in the sight of God but God does not charge sin to anyone without the law.

We can only correctly understand Scripture in the context of these Biblical categories of sin; (1) sins that are charged and (2) sins that are not charged

One may conclude; if sin is not charged without the law then there is no death for those who are without the law?

Rom 5:14  but death reigned from Adam until Moses, even on those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a type of the coming One.

Adam’s sin had consequences even on those who did not disobey in the form or likeness of Adam. Death reigned even over those who did not disobey an expressed command of God. In Ro 2:14, 15 we read… Rom 2:14  For when the nations, who do not have the Law, do by nature the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law unto themselves;  Rom 2:15  who show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and the thoughts between one another accusing or even excusing one another, God is not limited to the law written in stone at Sinai, God works on the conscience of men, through laws that are self-evident in nature, and in this way even those without the law from Sinai are charged with sin in their conscience.

Yet from Ro 5:14 we observe that death reigned even over infants because even infants bear the image of Adam with all its liabilities of corruption.

Rom 5:15  But the free gift is not also like the deviation. For if by the deviation of the one the many died, much more the grace of God, and the gift in grace, which is of the one Man, Jesus Christ, did abound to the many.

When the gift of grace abounded and overflowed did it save everyone? No, because the grace of God can be received in vain. Paul pleads with us…

We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (2 Cor 6:1)

Adam’s deviation caused sin and death to reign, and because of Jesus grace abounds to us. But what does grace do?  When Paul wrote to Timothy we read…

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (Titus 2:11)

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Titus 2:12)

According Romans 5:15 grace does abound much more than Adam’s deviation but we must not receive it in vain, we must permit grace to teach us, we must choose to use it…

God gives grace, and he expects all to use it. He supplies the power if the human mind feels any need or any disposition to receive. He never asks us to do anything without supplying the grace and power to do that very thing. All his biddings are enablings. {RH November 9, 1897, par. 5}

What was Adam’s judgement?

Rom 5:16  And the gift is not as by one having sinned; for indeed the judgment was of one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many deviations to justification.

What was Adam’s condemnation? Gen 3:19  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until your return to the ground. For you have been taken out of it; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Gen 3:22  And Jehovah God said, Behold! The man has become as one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and also take from the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever, Gen 3:23  Jehovah God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground out of which he was taken. Gen 3:24  And He drove the man out. And He lodged the cherubs at the east of the Garden of Eden, and the flaming sword whirling around to guard the way of the Tree of Life.

Adam’s judgement prevented him and his descendants from eating from the tree of life to immortalize evil. Man was doomed to death, but not without the promise that the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head and the free gift of “the heavenly Man” (1 Cor 15.48)

Rom 5:17  For if by the deviation of the one death reigned through the one, much more those who are receiving the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall rule in life by the One, Jesus Christ.

Rom 5:18  So then, as through one deviation it was toward all men to condemnation, so also through one righteous act toward all men to justification of life.

Many translators add…

So then, as through one deviation judgment came upon [in the first clause] all men EIS condemnation, so also through one righteous act the free gift came upon all men [in the second clause] EIS  justification of life. [read only bold parts]

Supplying wording is usually logical and makes the reading of the text comprehensible, but in some instances the supplied text supports a theological viewpoint. The viewpoint here is original sin which lends to the belief that all will be saved, (a.k.a. universalism).

The supplied text is imposed on the preposition EIS, which means to or into …sometimes it used in “expressing motion (literally or figuratively)”. This is how it read with the Greek preposition…

So then, as through one deviation EIS all men EIS condemnation, so also through one righteous act EIS all men EIS  justification of life.

Green’s literal translation expresses this best. Rom 5:18  So then, as through one deviation it was toward all men to condemnation, so also through one righteous act toward all men to justification of life.

In summary Adam’s one deviation moves toward everyone pointing them to condemnation. Christ’s righteous act moves toward everyone pointing them to justification and life. This does not mean that all are saved, but it means Adam’s way points everyone condemnation and death and Christ’s way points everyone to justification and life.