In the next 3 verses people have strung two divergent thoughts together: 1) For until the Law, sin was in the world: And the statement that creates a traffic jam: 2) but sin is not imputed when there is no law.' By itself it is true. But string these two thoughts together and you get something that reads like this.'For until the Law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.' It reads like sin was never imputed until the Law; it reads like all those people from Adam to Moses got away scot free with sin because there was no Law. Simply not true!

If Paul meant the Law of Moses (as in the past), he would have said, 'but sin was not imputed when there was no Law.' As it is, he says, sin is not imputed when there is no law. He is not referencing the law of Moses. He is saying a person is not guilty of a law that does not exist. He is not saying that people on the earth for 2500 years got away with sin. Adam was cast from the garden. In Noah's day the wicked were drowned. In Abraham's day Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed. All of this occurred before Moses and the Law.

In verses 12-14 you have the foundation of thoughts that Paul elaborates on in subsequent verses.

The overriding theme is:

• Sin is not imputed when there is no law.

But these basic truths occurred because there was the law of God:

• Sin entered the world by one man.

• Death came as a result of the sin of Adam.

• Death passed upon all men.

• Until the Law sin was in the world.

• Sin and death reigned from Adam to Moses.

Sin and death reigned until Christ overcame death on the cross. Since that day we have not been spiritually separated! Christ dwells in our hearts. We have access to the throne of grace. We experience union with Christ. We are put right with God through faith in Jesus Christ! That is why we say as the title expresses: 'For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all are made alive.' 1 Corinthians 15:22

'Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.' Romans 5: 12-14