1 Corinthians 15:22

“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

1 Corinthians 15:22

Context

1 Corinthians 15 is the New Testament’s most extensive chapter on the resurrection of the dead. Against Corinthian doubters (v. 12: “how do some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”) Paul defends the bodily resurrection. The whole chapter concerns the relationship between dying and rising — not the imputation of guilt, justification, or the origin of sin. V. 22 stands in the midst of this argument and must be read in its light.

Immediately before (vv. 20–21) Paul has introduced Christ as the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” and coined the twofold formula: “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.” V. 22 unfolds precisely this antithesis: the one man (Adam) stands for death, the other (Christ) for the resurrection. What is at issue, then, is death and the resurrection of the body, not inherited guilt and its remission.

The continuation confirms it: v. 23 sets the making-alive in an order (“each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then those who belong to Christ”); v. 26 calls death “the last enemy” to be destroyed; vv. 42–44 describe the difference between the perishable and the imperishable body; v. 45 contrasts the “first man Adam” (a living soul) with the “last Adam” (a life-giving spirit). The whole horizon is mortality versus imperishability, not guilt versus acquittal.

The hermeneutical frame of v. 22 is thus unambiguously set: where Paul speaks of “dying in Adam,” he means the very dying that the resurrection reverses — bodily death. An interpretation that turns “dying” into an inherited status of guilt (reatus) or a corrupted nature (peccatum originale) bursts the arc of the chapter’s argument.

The Socinian core thesis

Read in the Socinian way, 1 Corinthians 15:22 states what passes from Adam to the human race: mortality. Adam truly and consequentially sinned; through him death became the universal condition of humankind. But “in Adam all die” asserts no transmission of guilt, but the transmission of subjection to death. What a person inherits from Adam is a mortal body, not an account of guilt.

The burden of proof is carried by the parallel structure. The Greek hôsper…houtôs (“just as…so also”) requires that both halves correspond to each other. The second half — “in Christ shall be made alive” (zôopoiêthêsontai) — indisputably refers to the bodily resurrection, for that is the theme of the chapter. Therefore the first half — “in Adam die” — refers to bodily death. What Christ reverses is death; what Adam introduced is death. A shift of meaning in the middle of the comparison (there bodily death, here inherited guilt) would be an exegetical rupture.

Likewise the symmetry of the formulas en tô Adám / en Christô tells against the inherited-guilt reading. “To be in Christ” means, in Paul, belonging to Christ’s dominion, not a physical implantation of another’s merits. Correspondingly, “to be in Adam” means belonging to the mortal human race, not a metaphysical co-presence in Adam’s loins in which one would have sinned along with him. Solidarity in destiny, not transmission of guilt.

The verse is therefore no proof-text for the doctrine of original sin, but a text about mortality and resurrection. It fits seamlessly into the biblical baseline that each bears only his own sin (Ezek. 18:20; Deut. 24:16), while death, as a bodily consequence, reigns over the whole race descended from Adam — until Christ, the last Adam, overcomes it as a life-giving spirit.

Exegesis: key terms and word-field

Four philological observations in the resurrection chapter decide the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15:22:

apothnêskousin — “dying” as bodily death

The verb apothnêskô stands in the present tense (apothnêskousin, “they die”) and describes the ongoing, empirically observable process of dying, not a one-time status of guilt imputed at birth. Throughout the chapter the same word-field denotes bodily dying: v. 31 (“I die daily”), v. 32 (“let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die”), v. 36 (“what you sow does not come to life unless it dies”).

To read an inherited state of guilt into v. 22a, the same verb would have to mean two different things within a few verses. The context does not allow it: “dying” throughout means the bodily dying that the resurrection undoes. Precisely this dying, Paul says, is what befalls all “in Adam.”

The verse is thus a statement about human mortality. Adam is the beginning of a mortal race; whoever descends from him according to the flesh is subject to death. Of an imputation of Adam’s guilt the wording says nothing.

zôopoiêthêsontai — “being made alive” as a resurrection term

Zôopoiéô (“to make alive”) is in the New Testament the technical term for the raising of the dead: John 5:21 (the Son gives life to whom he will), Rom. 8:11 (God will give life to your mortal bodies), 1 Cor. 15:36 and 15:45 (the last Adam as a life-giving spirit). The future passive zôopoiêthêsontai is a divine passive: God will raise them.

Because this second member indisputably denotes the bodily resurrection, the meaning of the first member is fixed. The comparison runs: as death (bodily) came through Adam, so life (bodily) through Christ. Both sides speak of the same thing — of the destiny of the body, not the status of guilt.

This also shows what Socinian redemption consists in: not in the cancellation of an innate guilt, but in the gift of life through resurrection. Christ overcomes what Adam introduced — and Adam brought death, not the condemnation of his descendants.

en tô Adám / en Christô — belonging, not infusion

The parallel locative formulas “in Adam” and “in Christ” are related to each other and must be understood in the same way. “To be in Christ” is, in Paul, the basic formula for belonging to Christ’s realm of dominion and salvation (Rom. 8:1; 2 Cor. 5:17) — not a physical implanting of another’s righteousness into a person’s substance.

Therefore “to be in Adam” likewise means belonging to the mortal human race descended from Adam, not a seminal co-presence in which the whole posterity physically sinned along with him (thus the Augustinian notion of the peccatum in massa). The formula denotes solidarity in destiny, not a collectivization of guilt.

With this the metaphysical substructure of the doctrine of original sin falls away. What happens “in Adam” is participation in mortality; what happens “in Christ” is participation in the resurrection. Both are belonging to a realm, not a transfer of substance.

pántes…pántes — the two “all”

The verse sets two “all” over against each other. The first (“in Adam all die”) is comprehensive: the whole human race is mortal. The second (“made alive in Christ”) is specified by v. 23: “each in his own order… those who belong to Christ.” The frame “in Adam” / “in Christ” determines the scope in each case.

This symmetry at the same time refutes two overextensions: the passage teaches neither an automatic universal reconciliation (the second “all” refers to those who belong to Christ) nor an inherited collective guilt (the first “all” refers to dying, not to a verdict of guilt). Both sides speak of belonging and its respective destiny.

The “all” of the first half is thus empirical: all human beings actually die. It is no forensic statement about a state of guilt that all would bear from birth — otherwise the verse would have to condemn expressly even infants and the righteous of the Old Covenant, which it does not.

Comparison of interpretations

On Fausto Sozzini

Fausto Sozzini treated the Adam–Christ parallel explicitly in his treatise On Justification (De iustificatione). His argument fits 1 Corinthians 15:22 exactly: what comes from Adam is subjection to death, not guilt — and it is imputed to no one who has not himself sinned.

For just as all who are born of Adam according to the flesh are subject to death, although they have not sinned as Adam sinned, for whom, because of his sin, the penalty of death was appointed: so all who are born spiritually of Christ attain life, although they do not obey as Christ himself obeyed, whose obedience was appointed life as its reward.

Fausto Sozzini, On Justification, marginal note 4 (on ‘That fiction of original sin’)

Here Sozzini formulates exactly the structure of 1 Corinthians 15:22 without naming the verse: from Adam death comes upon all, “although they have not sinned as Adam sinned” — that is, those born after him inherit Adam’s death-penalty as a destiny, not as their own culpability. Likewise those born of Christ receive life, although they have not themselves rendered Christ’s obedience. On both sides what is passed on is a destiny (death or life, respectively), not a merit or a guilt.

Elsewhere Sozzini calls the doctrine of inherited guilt by its name: “That invention of original sin, or of the guilt of one’s parents, is in fact a Jewish fable.” His standard is the justice of God: “But it would be unjust that we should have to atone for what we have not sinned, since God himself has affirmed that the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, but that each shall die for his own guilt.”

Sozzini also draws on the exegetical observation: when Paul “convicted both Jews and Gentiles of sin,” he “did not charge the sin of one’s parents or of Adam or a corrupted nature, but imputed the guilt to those very persons who sinned.” Guilt is always personal; death, by contrast, is the common condition of the race descended from Adam. Precisely this distinction carries the Socinian interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15:22.

Overview of Sozzini’s writings

Logical arguments

From 1 Corinthians 15:22 and its context the following arguments against the inherited-guilt reading arise:

1. Argument from the resurrection context. The whole of chapter 15 concerns the bodily resurrection of the dead (vv. 12–13). The “death” of which v. 22 speaks is therefore the bodily death that the resurrection undoes — not an inherited status of guilt, which no resurrection but only an acquittal could cancel.
2. Argument from the parallel structure. The hôsper…houtôs (“just as…so”) requires correspondence. Because the second member (“being made alive”) means the bodily resurrection, the first member (“dying”) must mean bodily death. A shift of meaning in the middle of the comparison is methodologically inadmissible.
3. Argument from the usage of zôopoiéô. “To make alive” is the New Testament technical term for resurrection (John 5:21; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 15:45). It denotes the giving of life, not a forensic imputation. Therefore its counterpart too — “dying in Adam” — is a process affecting the body, not a legal verdict.
4. Argument from the symmetry en Adám / en Christô. “To be in Christ” is belonging to Christ’s realm, not a physical infusion of another’s righteousness. Correspondingly, “to be in Adam” is belonging to the mortal race, not a transfer of Adam’s guilt onto the substance of his descendants.
5. Argument from Ezekiel 18 and Deuteronomy 24:16. Scripture expressly determines: “The soul who sins shall die; the son shall not bear the guilt of the father” (Ezek. 18:20); “each one shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deut. 24:16). 1 Corinthians 15:22 cannot contradict these principles — therefore it speaks of mortality, not of inherited guilt.
6. Argument from the “last Adam” (v. 45). Paul himself interprets the parallel: the first Adam became “a living soul,” the last Adam “a life-giving spirit.” The image is the giving of life and resurrection, not a transfer of guilt and acquittal. The Adam–Christ axis runs along death and life.
7. Argument from the justice of God. If “in Adam all die” asserted an innate guilt, God would have to condemn human beings for a deed they did not commit. That contradicts his justice attested in Scripture. The mortality reading preserves it: death is a common destiny, guilt remains personal.

Biblical cross-references

The following passages set 1 Corinthians 15:22 within the whole biblical witness:

1 Corinthians 15:21 — death and resurrection each through one man

“For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.” The immediately preceding verse fixes the axis of meaning: what is at stake is death and resurrection, not guilt and acquittal. V. 22 repeats and reinforces this with the formulas “in Adam” / “in Christ.”

1 Corinthians 15:45 — the last Adam, a life-giving spirit

“The first man Adam became a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving spirit.” Paul himself interprets the Adam–Christ parallel: it runs along life and resurrection, not along inherited guilt and justification. This confirms the Socinian reading of v. 22.

Romans 5:12 — “because all have sinned”

The parallel passage in Romans holds that death spread to all because all sinned (eph’ hô causal). Adam opens the condition of mortality; the personal sin of each individual actualizes the sentence of death. Cf. the detailed treatment at Romans 5:12.

Genesis 3:19 — the origin of mortality

“You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” In the original text the consequence of Adam’s sin is determined as a return to dust — as mortality, not as the passing on of a verdict of guilt. Precisely this mortality is what Paul means by “dying in Adam.”

Ezekiel 18:20 — no inherited guilt

“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father.” The prophetic principle excludes the transfer of guilt. 1 Corinthians 15:22 must not contradict it; therefore the verse speaks of the common destiny of death, not of collective guilt. Cf. Ezekiel 18:20.

Romans 6:23 — death as wages, life as gift

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.” The death/life antithesis coincides with that of 1 Corinthians 15:22: what follows from the nexus of sin is death; what Christ gives is life. Both are destinies, not imputations of another’s deeds.

Objections and Socinian replies

Objection 1: “‘In Adam all die’ surely proves original sin!”

The verse says that all die “in Adam” — not that all become guilty in Adam. The word is apothnêskousin (they die), not an expression for culpability or imputation. What the text states is the universal mortality that proceeds from Adam.

That Adam’s sin brought death into the world no one denies; the Socinian interpretation teaches this too. The only point in dispute is whether this death is an inherited guilt or an inherited mortality. The resurrection context decides for mortality: what Christ reverses is bodily death.

Moreover, the rest of Scripture forbids the guilt-reading. Ezekiel 18:20 and Deuteronomy 24:16 rule out that anyone bears another’s guilt. A single verse, especially one in the resurrection chapter, cannot overturn this baseline.

Sozzini sums it up: from Adam all are “subjected to death,” “although they have not sinned as Adam sinned.” What is passed on is the destiny of death, not the perpetration.

Objection 2: “Why then do infants die, if they bear no guilt?”

The objection confuses destiny and punishment. Infants die because they belong to the mortal human race descended from Adam — not because a guilt is imputed to them. Death “reigns” over all (Rom. 5:14), even over those who have not transgressed as Adam did.

Mortality is not a penal verdict but the condition of a fallen race. God does not act unjustly when a mortal being dies; it would be unjust only to impute to it another’s deed as guilt — and precisely this the text does not do.

The answer to the death of the innocent is given in the same chapter: the resurrection. “In Christ all shall be made alive”; the destiny of death inherited from Adam is reversed by the last Adam. Not an acquittal from inherited guilt, but the resurrection is the answer of salvation.

Thus God’s justice is preserved: he punishes no one for another’s sin, and he overcomes death, which came upon the children of Adam as a destiny, not as a deserved punishment.

Objection 3: “Paul sets Adam and Christ in parallel — if Christ’s righteousness is imputed, then so is Adam’s guilt.”

The parallel runs not along guilt and merit, but along death and life. The verse itself shows this: “dying” stands over against “being made alive,” not “being condemned” over against “being acquitted.” On both sides what is passed on is a bodily destiny.

Sozzini’s formulation keeps the symmetry clean: as those born of Adam die, “although they have not sinned as Adam did,” so those born of Christ receive life, “although they do not obey as Christ did.” On both sides a merit is not imputed, but a condition of life is imparted.

Romans 5:13 supports this too: “sin is not counted where there is no law.” The sin meant in the Adamic sequence is therefore no guilt imputed independently of one’s own deed. The symmetry precisely does not compel inherited guilt.

The actual correspondence reads: in Adam all are mortal, in Christ all become partakers of life. Imputation of another’s guilt is not contained in this image.

Objection 4: “Then the verse teaches universal reconciliation — ‘all’ are made alive.”

The two “all” are determined by their respective frames: “in Adam” comprises the whole mortal race, “in Christ” comprises those who belong to Christ. V. 23 says it expressly: “each in his own order… those who belong to Christ.”

The first “all” is empirically universal (all human beings die), the second refers to belonging to Christ. An automatic universal reconciliation does not follow from it — no more than an inherited collective guilt.

The objection therefore only shows that both overextensions — inherited guilt as well as universal reconciliation — suffer from the same error: they detach the “all” from its frame “in Adam” / “in Christ.” If one reads the frame along with it, the apparent contradiction dissolves.

The verse thus remains a statement about mortality and resurrection: all the children of Adam die, all the members of Christ are raised — each in his own order.

Objection 5: “Augustine and the whole Church read the verse as original sin — do you mean to overturn that?”

The consensus is smaller than the objection assumes. The Greek Fathers — Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret — read the Adam texts primarily as statements about mortality; the dogmatic sharpening into inherited guilt is essentially Latin and hangs on the Vulgate’s rendering of Romans 5:12.

What is decisive is not the age of an interpretation, but the text in its context. And the context of 1 Corinthians 15 is the bodily resurrection; it determines “dying” as bodily death. Against this no tradition, however widespread, can prevail.

Sozzini openly calls the doctrine of inherited guilt a “Jewish fable,” introduced into the Church only later in order to prop up further tenets. Whether one shares the judgment or not, it shows that the doctrine counts as an interpretation, not as a finding of the text.

The Reformation principle itself gives Scripture precedence over tradition. Whoever takes it seriously must decide the question at the text — and there stand “dying” and “being made alive,” not “guilty” and “acquitted.”

Theological consequences

Linked verses

The following passages support, deepen, or contrast the interpretation presented here:

• Romans 5:12 — The locus classicus of the original-sin debate; eph’ hô causal: “because all have sinned.”
• Ezekiel 18:20 — “The son shall not bear the guilt of the father” — the prophetic prohibition of the transfer of guilt.
• Romans 2:6 — God repays each according to his works — personal, not inherited imputation.
• James 1:14-15 — Sin arises from one’s own desire, not from inherited guilt.
• Romans 6:23 — Death as the wages of sin, eternal life as a gift — destinies, not imputations.

Summary

1 Corinthians 15:22 stands in the great chapter on the resurrection and is to be read in its light. The “death” that all inherit “in Adam” is bodily mortality — the very thing the resurrection undoes — not an inherited guilt or corrupted nature. The parallel structure “as…so” and the resurrection term zôopoiéô fix this meaning.

The verse thus fits seamlessly into the biblical baseline that each bears only his own sin (Ezek. 18:20; Deut. 24:16), while death, as a bodily destiny, reigns over the whole race descended from Adam. What Adam passes on is mortality; what Christ gives is life.

Understood in the Socinian way, 1 Corinthians 15:22 is no proof-text for original sin, but a text of resurrection hope: Christ, the last Adam, as a life-giving spirit makes his own alive and overcomes the death that proceeded from Adam — each in his own order.