Audio commentary on this verse

Note 6 at Rom. 5:19: Some people think it is our individual acts of sin that make us a sinner but that is not what Paul is saying in these verses. These scriptures clearly state that Adam's one sin made all men sinners (see note 17 at Jn. 8:44, p. 293). It is man's sin nature that produces sins, not his sins that produce a sin nature.

Therefore, anyone who is trying to obtain righteousness through their actions is totally missing the point. Even if an individual could stop all sins, he could not change his sin nature which he was born with. That's the reason we must be born again (see note 2 at Jn. 3:3, p. 92).

Note 7 at Rom. 5:19: These scriptures should provide the ultimate argument for righteousness by faith to everyone who believes the scriptures to be inspired by God. Paul repeatedly says that believers are made righteous through faith in Christ independent of their actions in the same way that everyone was made sinners not through their individual sins but through Adam's one sin.