by Rev. William M. Brennan, TH.D.
I. Introduction
Few Pauline statements have generated more exegetical and theological debate than Romans 5:12:
“Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death spread to all men, ἐφ’ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον (‘for which reason all sinned’).”
The interpretive crux lies in the phrase ἐφ’ ᾧ, whose antecedent determines the logic of universal sin. Traditional Augustinian exegesis, following the Latin in quo omnes peccaverunt, construes it as “in whom,” identifying Adam as the locus of humanity’s guilt. Modern philology, however, recognizes ἐφ’ ᾧ as a causal conjunction meaning “for which reason” or “because of which.” This reading shifts Paul’s emphasis from inherited guilt to the causal relationship between death’s reign and universal sinning.
The question arises: if ἐφ’ ᾧ refers to death rather than Adam, how can this interpretation be reconciled with a theology that also affirms the preexistence of souls—a doctrine found in Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and echoed in certain early Christian and Platonic sources? The present essay seeks to show that the causal reading of Romans 5:12 not only harmonizes with, but actually complements, the doctrine of preexistence when both are understood within a covenantal and restorative cosmology.
II. The Causal Force of ἐφ’ ᾧ in Romans 5:12
1. Philological Considerations
Grammatically, ἐφ’ ᾧ combines the preposition ἐπί (“upon,” “on account of”) with the relative pronoun ὅς in the dative or accusative, yielding the idiomatic sense “for which reason” or “because of which.” This causal usage is well attested in both Hellenistic and New Testament Greek (cf. Philippians 3:12; 2 Corinthians 5:4; Polybius, Histories 3.61.4). The singular form ᾧ cannot naturally refer to the plural ἀνθρώπους (“men”) but agrees more readily with θάνατος (“death”), the nearest singular antecedent. Thus the most natural syntactic reading is:
“Death spread to all men, for which reason all sinned.”
2. Contextual Flow
Paul’s argument in Romans 5:12–21 unfolds in a chain of causation: Adam’s transgression introduced sin; sin introduced death; death became universal; therefore all sinned. The verse does not seek to identify the metaphysical origin of sin in each individual but to describe how the cosmic condition of mortality perpetuates sin’s universality. Death, as corruption and separation from divine life, functions as the environment in which human freedom is deformed and sin inevitably manifests.
III. The Preexistence of Souls and the Problem of Sin’s Origin
1. The Origenian Framework
Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–254 CE) posited that rational souls (logika) were created equal and free within the divine Logos. Some turned from the contemplation of God through negligence and fell from their original state, thereby becoming embodied as a form of pedagogical discipline (De Principiis 2.9.6). Embodiment, then, is not the cause but the consequence of a primordial self-determination away from the Good.
This preexistence doctrine preserves divine justice—since no soul suffers undeservedly—and locates the source of evil in the misuse of created freedom, not in the Creator’s decree. It also explains why all human beings share a propensity toward sin prior to conscious choice: each enters bodily life already burdened by a disordered inclination formed before birth.
2. Gregory of Nyssa’s Refinement
Gregory of Nyssa did not teach the pre-existence of souls. In On the Making of Man and On the Soul and the Resurrection he argues that soul and body originate together, with the soul created by God for the body. Gregory therefore diverges from Origen’s hypothesis of pre-temporal declension. What he retains is a robust account of mortality as remedial pedagogy: death and corruptibility, introduced through Adam, become the arena in which God heals the will and restores the image. Gregory’s occasional language about humanity “in idea (logos)” refers to the divine archetype and providential plan, not to a prior, personal life of each soul. Thus, while Gregory rejects pre-existence, his soteriology still harmonizes with the causal reading of ἐφ’ ᾧ in Romans 5:12: death’s universal reign is the condition “for which reason” all sin—and also the very instrument God employs to cure sin through Christ’s victory over death.
Thus, for Gregory, the universality of sin is grounded not in Adamic imputation but in a shared metaphysical fallenness that finds expression in the mortal condition inaugurated by Adam’s act.
IV. Integrating the Doctrines: Death as the Historical Vehicle of Preexistent Corruption
When these two strands—Paul’s causal logic and the doctrine of preexistence—are woven together, a coherent synthesis emerges.
1. Adam as the Catalyst of Corporeal Corruption
Adam’s transgression represents the historical point at which spiritual rebellion became embodied. His act “opened the door” for death to enter the physical cosmos, transforming mortality into the medium through which preexistent souls experience the consequences of their alienation. Death, therefore, is not merely biological cessation but the cosmic manifestation of the soul’s prior separation from divine life.
2. Death as the Environment of Sin
If ἐφ’ ᾧ points back to death, Paul’s assertion—“for which reason all sinned”—describes how mortality and corruption occasion sin’s universal expression. The souls that had fallen in preexistence are now immersed in a world whose very structure reflects that fall. The corruptible body and the fear of death intensify self-preserving instincts, passions, and ignorance, which in turn produce actual sin in time. Thus, while the tendency to sin preexisted embodiment, death provides the occasion and theater of its manifestation.
3. Divine Pedagogy and Universal Restoration
This reading also preserves the redemptive teleology central to both Origen and Paul. Death, though a consequence of sin, becomes the instrument of God’s mercy: the crucible in which the soul learns dependence, humility, and love. In this way, the causal clause “for which reason all sinned” describes not merely a tragedy but a providential stage within the larger economy of apokatastasis—the universal restoration in Christ.
As Origen writes, “The end is like the beginning, and as all were made through the Word, so through the Word all will be restored” (Comm. in Rom. 5.1). Gregory echoes: “Death becomes the physician of sin; through corruption the corrupt is healed” (Catech. 8).
V. Theological Implications
1. Sin and Solidarity
The causal reading of ἐφ’ ᾧ shifts the doctrine of original sin from juridical imputation to ontological solidarity. Humanity shares not Adam’s guilt but his condition—a mortal existence within which the will, already weakened by preexistent estrangement, inevitably fails. This harmonizes with Paul’s realism: “The mind of the flesh is death” (Rom 8:6).
2. Christ as the Second Adam
If Adam’s act materialized death, Christ’s resurrection dematerializes it. The Second Adam inaugurates the reversal of the causal chain: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22). The preexistent souls, embodied through judgment, are now re-embodied through grace, so that the very arena of their fall becomes the stage of restoration. The Logos, by assuming flesh, heals the diseased medium that occasioned sin “for which reason all sinned.”
3. A Universalist Soteriology
Within a Reformed Universalist framework, this synthesis vindicates divine sovereignty and goodness. God’s decree encompasses both the fall into mortality and the final deliverance from it. The universality of sin (Rom 5:18) is thus matched by the universality of grace: “As one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.” Death is not the final word; it is the womb of resurrection.
VI. Conclusion
The causal interpretation of ἐφ’ ᾧ in Romans 5:12—“for which reason all sinned”—does not conflict with the doctrine of preexistence; rather, it provides its historical corollary. Preexistent souls, having fallen from divine communion, enter the mortal world Adam’s sin inaugurated. Death becomes the existential condition through which their latent disorder is externalized and ultimately healed in Christ.
Paul’s statement, therefore, describes not a single act of transgression inherited by propagation but a cosmic pedagogy in which mortality serves as both judgment and mercy. Through one man sin entered the world, and through one Man—“the last Adam”—life and immortality are restored. The causal nexus between death and sin is thus subordinated to a higher causal nexus between death and resurrection: “For which reason,” as Gregory might paraphrase, “all shall be made righteous.”
Select Bibliography
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Origen. De Principiis. Trans. G. W. Butterworth. London: SPCK, 1936.
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Origen. Commentary on Romans. In Fathers of the Church, vol. 103. Washington: CUA Press, 2001.
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Gregory of Nyssa. On the Making of Man and The Great Catechism. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, vol. 5.
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Chrysostom, John. Homilies on Romans. NPNF I, vol. 11.
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Augustine. Contra Duas Epistolas Pelagianorum.
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Cranfield, C. E. B. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Romans. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1975.
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Moo, Douglas J. The Epistle to the Romans. NICNT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.
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Nyssa, Gregory of. Catechetical Oration.
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Brennan, William M. Hope for the Lost: The Case for Evangelical Universalism.
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