What Does Romans 5:12 Mean in the King James?
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:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Sin comes in and death passes through: two movements that English renders differently share one Greek verb root.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now as a chain: a missing enters the shared human world, and death goes through to everyone. Its final clause joins this shared condition to personal participation: everyone has also missed.
THE ROOT
εἰσῆλθεν
eisēlthen
GROWS FROM
ἔρχομαι
erchomai
to come or go; the shared verb base of these two compounds
“entered / passed” in this verse is eisēlthen. The verse uses one compound of this verb for sin coming in and another for death going through to everyone. English gives them different verbs, while the Greek keeps the two movements connected.
ALSO GROWS
eiserchomai: to enter, come in
εἰσέρχομαι
The εἰς- prefix marks the coming movement as entry: sin comes into the world.
dierchomai: to go through, pass across
διέρχομαι
The διά- prefix marks movement through: death passes through to all people.
ἁμαρτία
hamartia
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
hamart-
to miss, fail to reach
“sin / have sinned” in this verse is hamartia. The verse names ἁμαρτία in its first half, then uses a verb from the same family in its final clause: all have missed. Missing is both the condition entering the shared human world and an action attributed to everyone.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: to miss; to do wrong
ἁμαρτάνω
This verb family appears in the verse’s closing phrase, linking each person’s action to the condition named earlier.
hamartōlos: sinner; one who sins
ἁμαρτωλός
This related word names a person through the same missing-word family, keeping the person and the action connected.
THE PATTERN
A missing that enters human life through one becomes a shared condition whose reach extends to all.
What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.THE THREAD
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.Romans 5:12 describes missing entering the human world and death passing through everyone; Romans 6:23 brings that same pairing together in one line. Its second half places the life of the ages opposite the death named here.
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