Audio commentary on this verse

Note 2 at Rom. 5:13: Verses 13-17 are a parenthetical phrase. In verse 12, Paul begins likening imputed righteousness to imputed sin. He interrupts that thought to briefly explain how God dealt with the sin nature of man from the time of Adam until the time of the law of Moses. Therefore, the point that Paul is making can be received by skipping directly from verse 12 to 18. However, some very important information is revealed in this parenthetical phrase.

Paul said that until the time that the law was given, sin was not imputed unto men. As explained in note 6 at Romans 4:3, p. 762, the most used Greek word for impute is "logizomai" which is an accounting term meaning that God was not entering men's sins in the account book. In this instance, there is a different Greek word used ("ellogao"- used only one other time in N.T.-Phile. 18) but it has virtually the same meaning. This is a radical statement.

Most people have interpreted God's dealings with man after the sin of Adam to be immediate rejection and banishment from His presence. In other words, an immediate imputing of man's sins. However, Paul is stating just the opposite. God was not holding men's sins against them until the time that the law of Moses was given.

With this in mind, it should change the way we think about God's dealings with man between the fall and the giving of the law. Adam and Eve were not driven from the Garden of Eden because God could not stand them in His presence anymore. God's dealings with Adam and Eve and their children in Genesis 4 prove His presence was still with them. The reason He drove them from Eden is clearly stated in Genesis 3:22- 23. It was to keep them from eating of the tree of life and living forever.

Instead of this being a punitive act, it was actually an act of mercy. It would have been terrible for man to live forever in a sinful body, subject to all the emotions and diseases that sin brings. God had a better plan through Jesus.

In accordance with what Paul was revealing here, God was merciful to the first murderer (Gen. 4:9-15), even to the point of placing a mark on his forehead and promising vengeance if anyone tried to kill him. In contrast, once the law was given, the first man to break the ordinance of the Sabbath was stoned to death for picking up sticks. That doesn't seem equitable. But the answer is that before the law God was not imputing men's sins unto them as He was after the giving of the law (see note 3 at v. 14, p. 773).

It would appear that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the flood of Noah were two notable exceptions to this. Actually, these were not exceptions. While these two acts of judgment were punitive on the individuals who received the judgment, they were actually acts of mercy on the human race as a whole. In the same way as a limb or organ will sometimes be sacrificed to save a life, so God had to destroy these sinners to continue His mercy on the human race. The people in Noah's day and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were so vile that they were like a cancer that had to be killed.

So, for the first 2,000 years after man's fall (approximate time between fall and the giving of the law) God was not holding man's sins against them. That is why Abram was not killed for marrying his half sister and Jacob for marrying his wife's sister (see note 3 at Rom. 4:15, p. 765).

Therefore, we can see that God's immediate reaction to man's sin was mercy and not judgment. It was over 2,000 years before God began to impute man's sins unto them and according to Galatians 3:19 ,23-24, that was only a temporary way of dealing with sin until Jesus could come. Through Jesus, God is once again reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing men's sins unto them (2 Cor. 5:19).