Romans 5: 12 -- Why Translators Will Not Translate It Right

I received my understanding of Romans 5: 12's meaning from

my Romans Instructor at Melodyland School of Theology, Ray

Shelton. It was the basis for his doctoral dissertation. He

was more right than he knew (but don't blame him for this).

In Romans 5: 12, Paul said something very significant. It

is virtually a watershed, for if what it means is one thing,

all of our understanding of scripture has to be built upon

that meaning; but if it means the opposite, then all of our

understanding has to be built upon that. The proper

translation of Romans 5: 12 is critical.

Interestingly, the translators of the Bible already had 

their understanding built, so when they came to this verse,

they translated it according to their understanding instead

of what it actually says.

You or I might say, "Well, they have got to change their

translation and build a new understanding based upon the

correct meaning of God's revealed truth. The translators,

though, say, "No, no. We know that our worldview is correct,

because everything checks out except for this one verse. If

this verse meant what it says, then all of our understanding

of scripture would be wrong. And we know that is not the

case, because, well, because then all of our understanding

of scripture would be wrong."

So they translate the Greek in Romans 5: 12 according to

their understanding of scripture instead of adjusting their

understanding of scripture to accord with the Greek. And

we all do the same thing when we read the Bible or any other

scripture: we all mentally frame what we read to agree with

what we already know instead of abandoning what we know for

what we discover when we read. Usually. Such is the nature

of man.

The matter in Romans 5: 12 hinges on the Greek word 'o

("ho"), which means, as it is used, "of which." It is a

relative pronoun used with the Greek word for 'because,'

giving the meaning: "because of which." As a pronoun, it

refers to death.

The translation commonly accepted is, "and so death passed

upon all men, for that (because of) all have sinned"

(parenthesis mine). We understand this -- we have been

taught that we all have died spiritually because we have

sinned in our life. We understand that Adam sinned as

mankind's federal head, and we, though born innocent, were

separate from God and soon fell into sin and died, like Adam

died, as a consequence of our sin. "Death passed upon all

men, for that (because of) all have sinned".

But Romans 5: 12 doesn't say that. It says, "because of

which," which is opposite of the "because of" the

translators have read into the passage to make it match

their understanding.

Sin is not the cause of death; spiritual death is the cause

of sin. Sin is the consequence of our being dead. We were

born into this world in the condition of being spiritually

dead, because of which we have sinned. "So death passed upon

all men, for that (because of death) all have sinned."

Well, if we were dead before we sinned, and sinned because

we were spiritually dead, what do we do now with "Christ

died for the ungodly" (Romans 5: 6), "Christ died for us"

(Romans 5: 8) "reconciled to God by the death of His Son"

(Romans 5: 10), and "for us also, to whom it shall be

imputed, if we have believed on Him that raised up Jesus

our Lord from the dead"?

What we do is take the whole counsel of God's Word and

build up a new understanding according to Romans 5: 12's

meaning what it actually says, which is that we sin

because death has "passed upon all men."

Keep in mind the witness, "Hear, O Israel, YHWH our God is
One compound unity YHWH" (Deuteronomy 6: 4). Putting death

in its proper place, I think the story will look like this:

The ineffable, Most High God, whatever It may be, had an

idea. That idea was to expand into something we call form.

That form would be Itself and an expansion of this idea,

which idea was also Itself. This Idea is the Son, the child

or nursling we read about in Proverbs 8: 30 and elsewhere.

This Son is the Power and the Wisdom of the Ineffable, the
effulgence if Its Glory IN MOVEMENT. In Mark 3: 11, unclean

spirits tried to make Him known, saying, "Thou art THAT Son

of God!" -- that is, Jesus Christ (lit.; see the Aramaic

translation of the New Testament by Victor Alexander,

v-a.com/bible; emphasis mine). The invisible Idea/Son of

the Ineffable is the Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday,

today and forever.

I hope you are holding onto the idea of Oneness. The

eternal has all day to get everything done. No hurries

here in making his perfect likeness in all dimensions of

the Son. The Son is the Ineffable's delight, who is

bringing everything about through him. Remember, the Son

is the idea of the Father -- they are not separate beings.

The word 'beings' does not even approach what they are.

(How separate are you from your ideas?)

The idea is for the Ineffable to exist here in form through

the Son. The Ineffable being here . . .  what would that be

like? Consciousness ("Light"), Life, Love having existence

in dead matter . . . what would the Ineffable's experience

be in death, the opaqueness of ultimate contraction? (There

is no such thing as death, as all matter is formed from

consciousness, which is life, but that is another essay.)

Well, what is death's experience? What does matter know?
think? feel? How can it become the Ineffable's form and
likeness in Life? The Ineffable, via the Son, has to

animate matter with Its consciousness AT THE LEVEL OF THE

MATTER'S EXISTENCE. All the Son knows of being the

effulgence of the Ineffable's Glory he has to forget. It

has to "die" to it and flip into being consciousness on

the level of man -- dumb as a rock.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
- that Son -- that whosoever believeth on Him should not
perish but have everlasting life. The point at which we

"died" was the point at which the Son flipped into being
individualized as our consciousnesses in this death, the
forgetting of the nature of deity which occurred at birth.

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the

world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

"Uh, that kind of makes us the Son." Bravo, brother,

sister. That also kind of makes us the Father, the

Ineffable who is the Son. "It" is all One! The One died of

knowledge of divine oneness, became dumbed-down to our

level, and, so self-ignoranced, He sins from maintaining

His own nature. It is He who does it, and He that He does

it to (for He is playing all the parts), so we, in actuality

being He, are forgiven. And we, imbued with the Consciousness

of Holiness, get smart and remember what we were before we

descended, ascend back to our Father as individualities of

the Son, and live with the Father, of whom we are.

There is no division or separation; YHWH is a compound

unity, a compound Whole. It all fits together, but His

"death" in becoming us is where we start, not end.