With great respect, particularly in the present context, I have to align
myself with those who have not been convinced by Joseph Fitzmyer’s (Romans, 413-17) understanding of the phrase in a consecutive sense. Though based upon
an impressive array of linguistic usage and, at first sight, seeming to offer a
better connection to what immediately follows the assertion of the universal
prevalence of sin in v. 13—the consecutive interpretation runs counter to the
overall thrust of the thought, both with respect to the passage as a whole and
the preceding clauses (v. 12a-c), to the effect that sin is a cause rather than
a consequence of death. Whatever we may say about v. 13, it is the clear
implication of v. 14 that death’s universal prevalence is a consequence of sin.
(Brendan Byrne, “Adam, Christ, and the
Law in Romans 5-8,” in Celebrating Paul: Festschrift in Honor of Jerome
Murphy-O’Connor, O.P. and Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., ed. Peter Spitaler [The
Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 48; Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf and Stock,
2012], 215 n. 14)
