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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 5:13 - 5:13
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13. ἄχρι γὰρ νόμου = just so far as there was law there was sin. It has been shown (Rom 2:14-15) that there was law, in a certain and true sense, before the law given to Moses; action against this law was sin, and the fact that it was so is here confirmed by the consideration that the penalty of sin, death, was obviously present in the world before the law of Moses was given. γὰρ then introduces a fresh piece of evidence of the universality of sin—for death, as understood by sinners, was there, therefore sin, sin in proportion to knowledge. So I take ἄχρι ν. = up to the degree of law, just to the extent to which law was present. So ἁμαρτία, anarthrous—men’s acts had the character of sin. See Additional Note, p. 210.
ἁμαρτία δὲ, sc. but that law was present, and therefore men’s acts were sins, is shown by the reign of death; the law in question is shown to be the law described in Rom 2:14 f., because the reign of death, the punishment of sin, extended over men who did not sin as Adam did against a positive external command. The two Rom 5:13-14 together justify the statement πάντες ἥμαρτον. See Add. Note, p. 213.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
B. ON Rom 5:13
The usual interpretation takes ἄχρι νόμου = till the Mosaic law was given, and understands S. Paul to deny that sin could be imputed in the full sense to those who were ignorant of that law: consequently πάντες ἥμαρτον is regarded as = all men sinned in Adam. It cannot be denied that this interpretation is highly strained; but the extreme complexity of the passage might be taken to excuse that, if two further objections did not arise: (1) By supplying ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ with π. ἥ. we assume the omission by the writer of words essential to the understanding of the passage; (2) by taking ἄχρι νόμου = until the Mosaic law was given, and making the consequent assumption that sin was not imputed to Gentiles till they were aware of the Mosaic law (for the interpretation must extend so far), we make S. Paul say here that sin could not be imputed to the Gentiles, including Adam and the Patriarchs up to Abraham, because they had no law. But this is in direct contradiction with one main argument of the preceding chapters, and of course with the whole teaching as to the sinful state of Gentiles. I should further urge that for this meaning here the article would be indispensable before νόμου, as there is a specific reference to the Mosaic law as and when given. The interpretation given in the notes involves the difficulty (which I do not minimise) of translating ἄχρι νόμου = so far as there was law. ἄχρι is used frequently of time and place (Act 20:4, alibi): the gen. expresses generally the point of time or space reached; but sometimes expresses also the interval before that point is reached; cf. ἄχρι καιροῦ, for a season (Luk 4:13; Act 13:11); ἄχρι ταύτης τῆς ἡμέρας w. perfect (Act 23:1), ἄχρι τούτου τοῦ λόγου w. imperfect (Act 22:22). The extension of meaning to = just in the degree that law, so far as there was law and no further, seems justifiable. If this meaning can be taken, then ἀλλὰ ἐβασίλευσεν κ.τ.λ. goes closely with ἁμ. οὐκ ἐλλογᾶται, as an indication that the punishment of sin being in evidence sin itself must have been there. καὶ ἐπὶ κ.τ.λ. brings out the fact that the sin was not on all fours with that of Adam, so making explicit the restriction hinted in ἄχρι νόμου, the unlikeness consisting in the fact that Adam sinned against a positive revealed command, men in general sinned against the internal law of a conscience, enlightened, if only partially. This interpretation is in strict agreement with the view put forward in the early chapters, and does not make S. Paul say anything but what he says explicitly.