Romans 5:14 (WEB)

Passage

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.

Nearby Context

Romans 5:12 Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.

Romans 5:13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.

Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.

Romans 5:15 But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

Romans 5:16 The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "nevertheless", "death", "reigned", "adam", "until", "moses", "even", and "over". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "nevertheless" and "death", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 13's "For until the law sin was in..." into verse 15's "But the free gift isn t like...", so "nevertheless" and "death" belong inside that flow. In Romans context, the local focus is righteousness by faith, union with Christ, life in the Spirit, and God's covenant faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "nevertheless" and "death" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.