“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).
“Obedience” and “disobedience” are two seemingly familiar terms. The first involves compliance and acceptance, while the second involves an act of refusal or a failure to obey. However, the original language of this passage highlights two aspects of the word “disobedience” that enhance our understanding of this verse…
“‘Disobedience’ is parakoe. This is one of the nine words for sin in the New Testament. It describes the nature of Adam’s first act of sin, the one act that plunged the entire race into sin with its accompanying degradation and misery. The word is made up of akouo, ‘to hear,’ and para, ‘alongside,’ the compound word meaning, ‘to hear alongside.’
Trench says, ‘Parakoe is in its strictest sense a failing to hear or a hearing amiss, the notion of active disobedience which follows on this inattentive or careless hearing, being superinduced upon the word; or, it may be, the sin being regarded as already committed in the failing to listen when God is speaking. It need hardly be observed how continually in the O.T., disobedience is described as a refusing to hear (Jer_11:10; Jer_35:17); and it appears literally as such at Act_7:57.” (1)
This same commentator adds…
“The nature of the sin of Adam was a careless, indifferent attitude towards the commands of God. The particular word which is translated ‘disobedience’ in Rom_5:19 (parakoe) means literally ‘to hear alongside,’ thus, ‘a failing to hear, a hearing amiss.’ But this failure to hear is due to a carelessness in paying attention to what God had to say. Back of that carelessness is the desire to have our own will.” (2)
This should prompt us to make a careful assessment of the chain of events that unfolded within the Garden of Eden. For instance, it has often been noted that Eve misquoted God’s directive regarding the forbidden fruit in her interaction with the serpent (compare Genesis 2:16-17 with Genesis 3:2-3). Knowing this, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that Eve failed to listen closely as Adam conveyed those instructions.
But that conclusion relies on the assumption that Adam accurately communicated those instructions to Eve. With this in mind, we should consider the possibility that Adam was the one who wasn’t listening. If Adam had been listening to God’s directive carelessly or inattentively, it might explain why Eve misquoted God’s prohibition and why the serpent deceived her.
Perhaps Eve quoted Adam accurately, but Adam quoted God inaccurately. If so, then Adam may have failed to communicate the deadly seriousness of breaking God’s command. If that was the case, then we might consider the possibility that Adam set his wife up to fail through his inattention to God’s Word.
(1) Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament [Romans 5:19] Copyright © 1942-55 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
(2) Wuest, Ibid. [Hebrews 2:1]