Romans 5:14

14. Nevertheless, death reigned The previous verse assumed that there was sin during the patriarchate; this verse proves it from the existence of death. That death implies sin he assumes from the account of the fall in Genesis. Changing the order of the steps of the apostle’s reasoning in these two verses, we arrange it thus: During the patriarchate there was death, therefore sin, therefore law. The inference is, if that period is covered by death, sin, and law, it is included in the parallel ruin from Adam and redemption by Christ; and the Messiah and justification must not be monopolized by Judaism.

Sinned after… Adam’s transgression Referring not to infants, but to all who lived during the patriarchate. They did not, like Adam, (nor like the Jews,) transgress a revealed law, but only the inner law written on the heart. (See note Romans 2:14.)

Paul now specifies three particulars of the antithesis, namely, the quality, the number, and the results, showing in each the excess of the good in Christ over the evil in Adam.