Morality From Adam To Moses

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. (Romans 5:12-14)

         This is one of those passages that people much wiser than I are reluctant to address. I share that reluctance, but it’s the next passage, so I feel obligated to at least try. What we know from the first three chapters of Romans is that God is sufficiently evident in the universe for people to understand at least a little about Him. We recognize that there are things we should do that we don’t, and things that we don’t do that we should, even without a law being stated. We do to others as we don’t want them to do to us, and we don’t do to others as we want them to do to us. We want to be “like God,” generally meaning we want to take His place. We know, even if no one has told us “Thou shalt not….”
       There are natural penalties for sin. Death is the greatest of them, and death reigned during the time when there was no law, between Adam and Moses. What was lacking before Moses wasn’t the knowledge that judgment was deserved. I have been told that sin is an archery term. It is the distance between the bull’s eye and where the arrow strikes. Before Moses, people knew they weren’t hitting the bull’s eye. They just didn’t know for sure where the bull’s eye was or how small it was. Read Job and Genesis. They tell about that time. God was not unknown. Morality existed, and righteousness was by faith, just as it is now.