Christian Standard Bible
Romans 5:13
13In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law.
Romans 5:13 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
- New International Version (NIV)To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.
- English Standard Version (ESV)for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
- New King James Version (NKJV)(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Context of Romans 5:13
11And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation. 12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned. In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law. 14Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One. 15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.
Read all of Romans 5Romans 5:13 word by word
ἄχρι γὰρ νόμου ἁμαρτία ἦν ἐν κόσμῳ, ἁμαρτία δὲ οὐκ ἐλλογεῖται μὴ ὄντος νόμου·Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Romans 5:13
- Genesis 4:7If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
- Genesis 6:5When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time,
- Genesis 8:21When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.
- Genesis 13:13(Now the men of Sodom were evil, sinning immensely against the Lord.)
- Genesis 18:20Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious.
- Genesis 19:4Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house.
- Genesis 38:7Now Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the Lord’s sight, and the Lord put him to death.
- Romans 4:15because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
- 1 Corinthians 15:56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
- 1 John 3:4Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
Commentaries on Romans 5:13
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 13For until the law sin was in the world - As death reigned from Adam to Moses, so also did sin. Now, as there was no written law from Adam to that given to Moses, the death that prevailed could not be the breach of that law; for sin, so as to be punished with temporal death, is not imputed where there is no law, which shows the penalty of sin to be death. Therefore, men are not subjected to death for their own personal transgressions, but for the sin of…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12-21Verses 12-21 Romans 5:12-21 has been usually regarded as the most difficult part of the New Testament. It is not the design of these notes to enter into a minute criticism of contested points like this. They who wish to see a full discussion of the passage, may find it in the professedly critical commentaries; and especially in the commentaries of Tholuck and of Professor Stuart on the Romans. The meaning of the passage in its general bearing is not…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-14Verses 12-14 The design of what follows is plain. It is to exalt our views respecting the blessings Christ has procured for us, by comparing them with the evil which followed upon the fall of our first father; and by showing that these blessings not only extend to the removal of these evils, but far beyond. Adam sinning, his nature became guilty and corrupted, and so came to his children. Thus in him all have sinned. And death is by sin; for death is the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13-14Paul continues his explanation of "all sinned"(5:12) by stating that people who died between the times of Adam and Moses were not subject to specific commandments from God. Therefore, their condemnation was not only because of their own sin. It was because of their union with Adam, who sinned by violating a clear commandment of God.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 13-1413-14. For until the law sin was in the world--that is during all the period from Adam "until the law" of Moses was given, God continued to treat men as sinners. but sin is not imputed where there is no law--"There must therefore have been a law during that period, because sin was then imputed"; as is now to be shown.Read the comment
Topics related to Romans 5:13
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Romans 5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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