Does Romans 5:12 allow for animal death before sin?
Before we get to that, Iโll give you a little backstory. I recently put out a video responding to a short clip of apologist Dr. Frank Turek answering a question regarding Genesis and the age of the earth to students at a university. He believes in an old earth, adding millions of years into Genesis.ย
After that video, Frank Turek responded with a video, and as part of that video, he claimed that Romans 5:12 only says that death came to mankind because of sin, not that animal death came into this world because of sin. Does the argument hold up?
Hereโs Romans 5:12: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
Now weโve long used Romans 5:12 as an example of the New Testament confirming the historicity of Genesis: Paul is referring to Adam as a historical person whose choice to sin brought death to โall men.โ But we donโt use this verse in regard to animal death because it is specially about man. Unsurprisingly, we start in Genesis to discuss the topic of death related to animals and man.
Genesis 1:31 tells us, “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”
Godโs original creation was very goodโit was perfect. There was no death, suffering, or disease, and this would have included the animals that weโre explicitly told were created vegetarian (Genesis 1:30). When Adam sinned, all of creation, which was under his dominion, was cursed (see Genesis 3), and now all of creation is groaning (as Romans 8 clearly teaches, itโs not just human death that came because of sin. It was the curse on all of creation!). In the fossil record, there is evidence of animals eating other animals and diseases like cancer evident in bones of various creatures.
No, there could not have been animal death or disease before sin. Scripture is clear!
Dr. Terry Mortenson and I recently responded to Frank Turek, breaking down his arguments and showing why this really is a vital issue of Biblical authority. I strongly encourage you to watch it and share it with others who, like Frank Turek, may be tempted to compromise on the clear teaching of Genesis.
Yes, Godโs Word is clear, and itโnot fallible manโmust be our authority in all areas.
