It is not surprising that the book of Romans, the book that shows the revelation of God’s righteousness, does so against the backdrop of man’s sinfulness. There are so many uses of the words we have been considering that we will have to divide our treatment of this book in two, with the first installment being a consideration of hamartano.
All those who have sinned apart from the Torah will perish apart from the Torah (2:12). And those who have sinned in the face of the Torah will be judged by it (2:12). This means, obviously, that the Torah heightens man’s sense of sin, and awareness of it, but it does not create that moral responsibility. Men can sin without ever having heard of the Torah.
This is why Paul argues that all have sinned, Jew and Gentile both (3:23). Sin was in the world long before there were any Jews in the world. One man, Adam, brought sin into the world, and death came to all men because all sinned (5:12). Death reigned over all, even those who had not sinned against great light as Adam had (5:14). The gift of Christ was not like that of the one who sinned (5:16)
Understanding these things, shall we sin because we are under grace and not under the law (6:15)? God forbid it, Paul says.