Paul’s statements in Rom 5:13-14 have long perplexed commentators. The fact that they constitute a parenthesis tempts the interpreter, if not to bypass them, to marginalize their place and importance within the broader argument of Rom 5:12-21 and of Rom 5:1-8:39. In fact, Paul’s three references to Moses and to the law in these verses hint at the promise this text carries not only for the interpretation of 5:12-21 but also for one’s understanding of Paul and the law.
This paper will explore Rom 5:12-21 as both an eschatological and a covenantal text. Often recognized is the antithetical parallelism that Paul delineates between the two (covenantal) representatives, Adam and Christ. Not as frequently recognized is the constructive role that Rom 5:13-14 plays within Paul’s explication of this bicovenantal framework. Paul here isolates the period of time between Adam’s failure and the giving of Torah at Sinai as one within which sin was present in the world and death reigned. For Paul this state of affairs demonstrates the claim of 5:12, namely, that all have sinned by virtue of the one sin of the one man, Adam. In this paper, we will offer, in conversation with recent interpretation, a reading of Rom 5:13-14 as a coherent argument in support of Rom 5:12. We will further explore the way in which this argument underscores what, for Paul, is a characteristic function of the law in redemptive history. We will also chart the way in which these verses testify to the intersection of the law and the Adamic covenant and thereby bolster Paul’s argumentative purposes in Rom 5-8.