Sin is one of the great themes of Romans. The word hamartia occurs 48 times in this book.
Jews and Gentiles are both of them under sin, which Paul has proven (3:9). No one shall be justified by the deeds of the law because the law brings knowledge of sin (3:20). This being the case, the man whose sins are covered is blessed indeed (4:7). The man to whom God does not impute sin is also blessed (4:8)
Adam brought sin into the world, and death by sin, because all sinned.(5:12) Sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not imputed apart from the law (5:13) Where sin abounded (planet earth), grace abounded all the more (5:20). And as sin reigned unto death, so grace reigns to life (5:21)
Shall we then sin, so that grace may abound (6:1)? Not a bit of it. How can we who are dead to sin still live in it 6:2)? We died with Christ so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so that we would not serve sin (6:6). A man who is dead is freed from sin (6:7). Christ died to sin once (6:10). We should therefore reckon ourselves dead to sin in a similar way (6:11). We must not allow sin to reign in our bodies (6:12). Neither should we yield our members as instruments to sin (6:13). Sin is not to have dominion over us (6:14) because we are under grace, not law. You are slaves to the one you obey, and if you obey sin, you are the slave of it (6:16). But we used to be slaves to sin, but now have been set free (6:17). Set free from sin, we are servants of righteousness (6:18) When we were slaves of sin, we were free from righteousness (6:20). We have now been set free from sin (6:22). The wages of sin is death (6:23).
When we were in the flesh, the motions of sin brought us to death (7:5). Does this make the law sin (7:7)? Not at all. Paul would not have known what sin was apart from it (7:7). Sin took advantage of the commandment, using it to create lust (7:8). Apart from the law, sin is dead (7:8). Sin revived when the law came, and Paul died (7:9). Sin used the commandment as an occasion for deception (7:11). Sin, in order to appear as sin, worked death through a good instrument, in order to become really sinful (7:13). In this condition, Paul was sold under sin (7:14). Trapped this way, he isn’t doing it, but the sin is (7:17). He repeats that point again; sin is the one doing it (7:20). The law of sin is in his members, and holds him captive (7:23). Whatever he might do with his mind, with his flesh he serves the law of sin (7:25).
But the law of the Spirit of life liberated him from the law of sin (8:2). Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh (8:3a). This was done “for sin” (8:3b), and so God God condemned sin in the flesh (8:3c). The bodies of Christians still die — because of sin (8:10). This is the fulfillment of God’s goodness because God’s covenant was that He would take away sins (11:27). As Christians, we must live in the light of this liberation, even in the details of life because whatever is not from faith is sin (14:23).