John Calvin Commentary Romans 5:12

"Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned:--" — Romans 5:12 (ASV)

Wherefore as, etc. He now begins to expand on the same doctrine by comparing it with what is of an opposite character. For since Christ came to redeem us from the calamity into which Adam had fallen, and had plunged all his posterity with him, we cannot see as clearly what we have in Christ as when we have what we lost in Adam set before us. However, not all things on both sides are similar; therefore, Paul adds an exception, which we will note in its place. We will also point out any other difference that may occur. The incompleteness of the sentence sometimes makes it obscure, as when the second clause, which corresponds to the first, is not expressed. But we will endeavor to make both clear when we come to those parts.

Sin entered into the world, etc. Observe the order that he maintains here, for he says that sin preceded, and that death followed from sin. Indeed, some contend that we are lost through Adam’s sin as though we perished through no fault of our own, but only because he had sinned for us.

But Paul distinctly affirms that sin extends to all who suffer its punishment. He later declares this more fully when he assigns a reason why all the posterity of Adam are subject to the dominion of death; and it is this: because, he says, we have all sinned.

But to sin, in this case, is to become corrupt and vicious. For the natural depravity that we bring from our mother’s womb, though it does not immediately bring forth its own fruits, is nevertheless sin before God and deserves His vengeance. And this is the sin that they call original.

For just as Adam at his creation had received the gifts of God’s favor for us as well as for himself, so by falling away from the Lord, he in himself corrupted, debased, depraved, and ruined our nature. For having been stripped of God’s likeness, he could not have produced offspring other than those like himself. Therefore, we have all sinned, for we are all imbued with natural corruption and so have become sinful and wicked.

The interpretation was therefore frivolous by which the Pelagians formerly tried to evade Paul’s words, holding that sin descended by imitation from Adam to the whole human race; for Christ would, in that case, become only the exemplar and not the cause of righteousness.

Besides, we may easily conclude that Paul is not speaking here of actual sin. For if everyone contracted guilt for himself, why did Paul make a comparison between Adam and Christ? It then follows that our innate and hereditary depravity is what is being referred to here.