Evidence · Case 06 · Problem of Evil
Paul’s letter to the Romans on sin and death
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
Paul reads the Genesis account back to its source, saying sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so that death spread to everyone. This is the New Testament tracing the whole tangle of evil and mortality to that first human rebellion.
Sources
Romans 5:12, NASB
Objections & responses
- Paul says death came through one man. If Adam wasn’t a historical individual, as most scientists and many theologians now think, doesn’t Paul’s argument collapse?
This is a live debate among Christians. Some hold to a historical Adam, possibly as a representative head of an existing population rather than the sole first human; others read Paul as arguing from the Genesis narrative as a shared story about humanity’s condition, with the theological point (that all are under sin and death, and that Christ reverses it) not depending on Adam’s biology. The claim here is that Scripture diagnoses evil as a break with God, and either reading supports that.