This verse begins with a transitional formula (Revised Standard Version “therefore”), which both commentators and translators find difficult to handle. The question is whether it relates back to verse 11 alone, or to 5.1-11, or to the entire section of 1.17–5.11. Most probably it is to be taken in relation to the passage immediately preceding, 5.1-11. This transition is indicated by translators in a number of ways. The Good News Translation handles it by introducing a new paragraph and a new section heading, “Adam and Christ”. The Jerusalem Bible also introduces a new section heading and a paragraph beginning with the words “well, then.” The New English Bible begins this paragraph with “mark what follows”; An American Translation* “it is just like the way”; Phillips “this, then, is what has happened”; and Moffatt “thus, then.”

Paul’s beginning point is the account in Genesis 1–3. It was traditional for the Jewish interpreters to relate closely the concepts of sin and death, and so what Paul introduces in this initial verse is in keeping with good Jewish theology. Paul indicates that Adam sinned, and as a result of his sin death came into the human race. However, it is important to realize that Paul does not make men guilty of Adam’s sin or indicate that all men die because of the sin of Adam. Paul says rather that death spread to the whole human race, because all men sinned. The verb rendered sinned in this passage is an aorist, and some few have tried to interpret this as meaning that when Adam sinned all of his physical descendants sinned along with him. It must be admitted that a meaning similar to this could be arrived at on the basis of verse 19, but that is not the meaning of the present passage. In this verse Paul is saying that death became a universal experience because all men sinned.

Verse 12 poses a number of serious difficulties in languages which have no nouns for sin and death. In such cases one cannot say “sin came into the world” or “sin brought death.” In almost all languages, however, one can speak of “evil deeds” or “doing evil,” but in some languages it is quite impossible to speak of sin without relating such sin to specific events or actions. One may, accordingly, render the first sentence of verse 12 as “one man caused evil deeds in the world, and because he sinned he died.” The second sentence of verse 12 also causes difficulty, since in some languages one cannot speak of “death spreading.” The only equivalent may be “all human beings (or persons) must die.”

There is some difficulty involved in relating the phrase as a result and the clause because all men sinned to the principal clause of the second sentence. In order to avoid the impression that Adam’s sin caused all men to die, the phrase as a result may be translated as “and in this way” or “and hence.” This second sentence may therefore be rendered as “and hence, finally, all persons have had to die because all persons have sinned.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .