Yes. In the middle of Romans 5:12 Paul briefly explains why we can be sure that sin has reached all people: they all die. Death is the consequence of God’s wrath (Romans 1:32), and so from the universality of death on earth, we can deduce that sin has affected everyone.

The final words of the abruptly concluded sentence in Romans 5:12 is therefore: all sinned. This is proven by the universality of death. It says that all sinned eph’ hoi. If we were to translate this Greek phrase as in him everyone sinned, we could look back to Adam, and in that case, what Paul would be saying is that the sin of all people is already comprised in the sin of the one man, Adam. That is why this text is often used in support of the doctrine of original guilt and original sin. However, the connection between the conclusion of Romans 5:12 and the man Adam is not really plausible for two reasons:

1. Adam is mentioned much earlier in the sentence, so his name is too far removed from the conclusion; and

2. if eph’ hoi meant in whom, then it would be referring back to the aforementioned death. Moreover, the phrase eph’ hoi is usually translated as because or insofar as. Paul is therefore indicating that there is a close connection between the death of people and their guilt before God which is apparent from the reality of that death.¹