What does it mean that sin is not imputed when there is no law?
Scripture teaches that sin existed in the world before the law, but it is not imputed when there is no law. This means people were not charged with transgression as Adam was, yet death still reigned from Adam to Moses over those who had not sinned after Adam's similitude.
Les explains that the need for justification by faith began in the Garden when Adam fell and death came with sin. The human race is now faced with the dilemma of being sinners and in a circumstance of death—spiritual death has already taken place, and we are born dead; physically, every human being will approach it someday. Paul concludes that by one man Adam sin entered the world, and death came with sin, so death passed upon all men because all have sinned; the two become synonymous. Until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned as a king from Adam to Moses at the giving of the law, even over those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression. In other words, they were not faced with a tree and a forbidden fruit.
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.