Daily Truth host explores Romans 13:13-14, arguing that sin predated the Mosaic Law given at Mount Sinai around 1500 BC. While acknowledging the King James Version's use of "imputed," the speaker clarifies that divine law existed eternally as both natural/moral principles and the command against eating from the tree of knowledge. This initial transgression by Adam justly caused death to reign until Moses, proving God's law reflects His eternal nature rather than being a new invention. Ultimately, the discussion asserts that the Law of Moses merely made sin visible, reinforcing that divine justice operates independently of written statutes. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
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Sin Imputed As Death00:06:00
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Jesus said, Man cannot live on bread alone, but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
You're listening to Daily Truth.
Verses 13 through 14.
We see that there was always a law of God.
In your notes, I've written the following.
Our text continues in verse 13 by saying, For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
This verse serves as an undeniable proof that sin entered into the world long before the law of Moses was provided on tablets of stone.
Now, the King James Version is very helpful in regards to this particular verse.
For until the law, says the King James, sin was in the world.
But sin is not imputed.
The ESV and other translations say counted.
Imputed meaning it was not accredited to those who sinned.
It was not counted to those who sinned.
It was not imputed when there is no law.
For until, let me read it again, for until the law, sin was in the world.
That is, until the giving of the law on tablets of stone by Moses at Mount Sinai.
Until that point in real human history, 1500 BC.
Until that point, sin was still in the world.
But sin is not imputed.
It is not counted against us as condemnation where there is no law.
Now, when sin is said to be in the world until the law, the apostle does not mean to infer that sin merely existed up until the point of the law of Moses when it appeared at Mount Sinai and then somehow suddenly ceased.
For the law of Moses did not and could not ever take away sin.
To the contrary, sin only increased upon the entrance of the law, according to Romans 5, verse 20.
That is to say, sin became more known or more visible by the entrance of the law on tablets of stone.
So on the surface, verse 13 of our text appears to be an objection.
If there was no law before Moses' time, then there was no sin, not in any real sense.
Furthermore, no action of man could have been known to himself.
As sinful.
And therefore, no action, no negative action of man could be known to himself as sinful or justly imputed to him as condemnation, according to verse 13.
Simply put, where there is no law, sin is not imputed for condemnation.
That's what the author is saying in verse 13.
So, how is it that death entered the world?
That is condemnation.
Through sin came death.
That is sin being imputed as death, as condemnation.
And we know that all of this happened long before Moses ever came on the scene.
So, what point is the author trying to make?
The point is simple.
He's saying that there was a law before that law of Moses, both the natural law of God, or the moral law of God, and one positive law, namely, not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And both of these laws, one set of laws and one positive law, were transgressed by Adam.
Therefore, this transgression was justly imputed to all mankind as to condemnation and death.
And we see this point, this conclusion, rather, illustrated in the very beginning of verse 14, the next verse, which says, Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses.
See, death did not just appear at the time of Moses, death did not get its start at Mount Sinai when the law was written.
On tablets of stone and presented before the people.
Death did not come on the scene starting with Moses.
The logical progression is this death only exists because of sin, and sin that can be justly counted or imputed to us as condemnation as death is only there if there is a law.
So if the law never appeared until Mount Sinai, then sin in any real sense could not appear until Mount Sinai, which means death would not have come on the scene until Mount Sinai.
But the point is.
Is clear the very beginning of verse 14.
Yet death reigned not from Moses all the way to the present day, but from Adam all the way to Moses.
Death came into the world from Adam, and death only came into the world from Adam because sin came into the world through Adam.
And sin that can be counted as condemnation and death, sin that can be imputed for death and condemnation, only has its power.
If there is a law, the point is this there was always a law of God.
Always a law of God.
Never has there been a time in the history of the world where there was not a law of God.
The law of God is as eternal as God Himself.
For the law of God is merely a reflection of God's own nature, His own character.
The Eternal Law Of God00:00:16
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