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Calvinists love the book of Romans, believing it strongly supports their doctrine of Total Hereditary Depravity, particularly chapter 5. I suggest their reading of Romans 5 fails to grasp the true teaching of the apostle Paul (and the rest of Scripture). Advocates of the depravity doctrine often cite several verses in this chapter:

• Romans 5:12, “…through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…”
• Romans 5:15, “…by the one man’s offense many died…”
• Romans 5:18, “…through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation…”
• Romans 5:19, “…by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners…”

Without careful study, one might conclude we died “in Adam” – that his specific sin brought spiritual death to every infant born thereafter. But there is a phrase at the end of verse 12 that serves as the master key to the entire context. Paul’s point is not that we inherited a sinful nature from Adam (as Arminius suggested) or the legal guilt of his sin (as Calvin taught). While death indeed entered the world through Adam’s transgression, the apostle explicitly stated that it spread to all men, not because of Adam’s sin, but “because all sinned.”