Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man, namely Adam, our first parent, original sin entered into this world—that is, into the human beings dwelling in this world—and through sin bodily death, which followed upon guilt (cf. Genesis 3). For although death is natural to man when one considers the nature of his body as composed of contraries, nevertheless, if he had not sinned, he would not have incurred death by reason of the gift of grace or by virtue of original justice. And thus, considering the supernatural institution of man, death followed guilt and not nature. And so death passed into all human beings. For just as all are born without original justice, so also they are deprived of immortality, which accompanied that justice.
In that one man, namely Adam, all sinned—not equally, but virtually, by incurring original sin, which is imputed to them as guilt, insofar as in some manner they were in that first parent and were the same with him. For they were in him as in the first principle of human generation. And just as there are many members in one body and many individuals in one species, so in a certain way all of us were in the first parent according to bodily substance or material propagation. Moreover, original justice was given to the first parent so that it might be transfused into his descendants. Therefore, since the first parent was deprived of this justice, his descendants are justly deprived of the same. Nor is any injustice done to them, because neither to the first parent nor to them was this justice owed or due by nature; nor did they deserve to be deprived of the beatific vision on account of the loss of this justice.
From what is said, “in whom all sinned,” Christ the man is to be excepted, who was not begotten according to the natural order or through concupiscence. Rightly, therefore, I said that all sinned in one. For until the law—that is, until the giving of the Mosaic law, namely from the beginning of the world when there was only the natural law—sin was in the world in the human race, both original and actual. Or, even up to and including the written law, sin was in the world, because the law of Moses could not take away sin, just as the law of grace does; for as the Apostle says to the Jews: “Through Jesus forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
But sin, says Augustine, was not imputed when there was no law. Augustine and others explain this thus: whatever sin was not imputed, that is, it was not recognized or considered to be sin by human beings whose reason had been darkened by vices. Nevertheless, it was imputed by God. Yet this can also be explained in this way: that sin was not imputed by God to human beings, not that it was not imputed at all, but because it was not imputed so gravely when there was no written law. For then it was more excusable than after legislation, according to which sense the Apostle says in the preceding chapter of Romans: “Where there is no law, neither is there transgression.”
But death reigned—that is, bodily death prevailed, or the death of original guilt, which is the very lack of original justice due to existence; or the death of limbo, which can be called the delay of beatific life and detention in the pit of hell. From Adam until Moses, that is, until Christ came—namely during both the time of the natural law and the Mosaic law—even over those who did not sin by actual sin or by their own will, such as little children who died before the age of discretion; or over those who did not sin mortally, if there were any such, such as those sanctified in the womb, for example Jeremiah and others. For all these, on account of the guilt of original sin, suffered bodily death and were held in limbo until Christ made satisfaction for them, freeing them from the guilt of original sin.
Moreover, death reigned more before Moses than after. For through the law of Moses many were restrained from the death of guilt, and they began to know life after this life and the future resurrection, and thus they feared temporal death less than before. Furthermore, the Savior destroyed the kingdom of death and by the example of His passion armed us against the fear of death and made temporal death the gateway to eternal life. For this reason He says through the prophet: “From the hand of death I will free them; from death I will redeem them. O death, I will be your death; O hell, I will be your bite.” And the Apostle says: “That through death He might free those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to servitude.” Thus death reigned even over those who did not sin in the likeness of the transgression of Adam—that is, on account of the assimilation of original guilt, by which they were made like Adam.
Who is the figure of the future—that is, the figure of Christ, who in the time of Adam was to come so that He might be judged in the world, but now is to come so that He might judge the world. He is called a figure of Christ because, just as Adam is the principle of all human beings with respect to propagation and natural existence, so Christ is with respect to the infusion of grace and spiritual existence. Secondly, because just as Adam was formed from the slime of the earth by supernatural power and order, so Christ was born of a Virgin by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. Likewise, just as from the side of Adam while sleeping a rib was taken from which Eve was formed, so from the side of Christ while dying flowed the sacraments by which the Church is formed. But this reason is reduced to the first.
After this he shows that Christ was more powerful to save than Adam or Adam’s sin was to destroy. But it is not as the offense of Adam so also is the gift—that is, the grace of Christ—rather, grace excels. For wisdom has conquered malice. For if in the one offense—that is, in the original sin of Adam—many died by losing the life of grace and incurring the necessity of dying (namely those into whom original sin was transmitted), much more did the grace of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit abound in grace—that is, through the singular and supreme grace of the perfection of virtues and the merit of the one man Jesus Christ, who is God and man—unto many. Not unto many in number, for the sin of Adam passed to all; but through Christ the grace of God passes to all the elect. Here it is not necessary to include the Virgin Mother.
In Christ there was the grace of union, which is not something created but is God graciously and freely uniting to Himself in personal unity the human nature of Christ. And in Him there is the grace of the head, by which He flows into all His members, that is, into all the faithful, because “of His fullness we have all received.” Thus the grace of God is infused into us through the grace of Christ and abounds in many. Grace, however, is immediately created by God; but Christ, through the fullness of His grace, is the meritorious cause and mediator through whom God bestows grace upon us.
And it is not as through one sin so also through the gift; that is, it did not happen through the gift of Christ’s grace in the same way as it happened through the one original sin of Adam, but the effect of Adam’s sin and the grace of Christ are unequal. For judgment—that is, the sentence of God—proceeded from one original sin of Adam unto condemnation of those into whom that sin is transfused, namely that they be deprived of the divine vision on account of that sin unless they are otherwise helped. But the grace of Christ proceeds from many offenses unto justification—that is, it not only destroys one original sin but also all actual sins, and formally justifies by placing the soul in spiritual and meritorious being, so that it is filled with virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Therefore Adam’s sin infects others only with one sin, namely original sin; but the gift of Christ’s grace removes all sins and bestows many goods.
For if through the one offense—that is, if because of the original sin of the first parent—bodily death reigned in all infected with original sin through the one Adam from whom this guilt is contracted, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness—that is, forgiveness of sins, or the gift of virtues which are infused together with habitual grace, and righteousness, that is, good operation—will reign in eternal life, that is, in consummated beatitude, through the one Jesus Christ, through whom they are led to the heavenly kingdom. All the blessed, however, reign in their homeland most perfectly over themselves, serving God without rebellion, to whom to serve is to reign. Moreover, all lower things and demons are subject to them. Hence they confess, speaking to Christ: “You have made us to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.” And elsewhere it is written: “They shall judge nations and rule over peoples.”
Therefore, just as through the one—that is, Adam’s—original offense (which was also actual and personal as regards Adam himself) the sentence of God went forth unto condemnation upon all human beings infected with that sin, as was said, so also through the one—namely Christ’s—justice, that is, just sanctification and most holy conduct, the sentence of God went forth upon all human beings unto the justification of their life, that is, unto the remission of sins and the infusion of virtues. For by the merit of Christ all are justified and saved insofar as it is on the part of the Savior. Some, however, place an obstacle to salvation and grace; others are deprived of the application of the power and merit of grace, and for this reason are impeded from attaining beatitude, such as unbaptized children. In this way, therefore, all are justified through Christ, just as all are blessed in Him.
For just as through the disobedience of one man—that is, through the transgression of the first parent—many were constituted sinners by drawing original sin from him or by following his disobedience, so also through the obedience of one—namely Christ, who was made obedient for us unto death, who says: “As the Father has commanded Me, so I do”—many will be constituted just by receiving forgiveness and by imitating His justice. For Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow in His footsteps.
Having declared the abundance and sufficiency of the grace of Christ, the Apostle shows the insufficiency of the law, so that all the hope of human beings might be placed in Christ and all might flee to His mercy. The written law given through Moses entered in after the natural law and after the darkening of natural reason, so that the offense might abound. This expression is taken here consequentially, not causally. For from the giving of the law there followed a multiplication of iniquity and an aggravation of it: first, because the more sin was known after the law, the more grievous it was; second, because after the law many things were unlawful which before were lawful; third, because the law, by prohibiting sins, showed sins and thus provoked concupiscence, for “we strive for what is forbidden and always desire what is denied”; fourth, because it did not provide the help of grace by which sins are avoided. God willed this insufficiency to be in the law so that all might flee to Christ, desiring His coming and not trusting in their own strength.
But where offense abounded—namely among the Jews placed under the law, to whom the law was given so that offense might abound in them—grace superabounded through Christ, who was made under the law and born from the Jewish people. For this reason He says: “Salvation is from the Jews.” And elsewhere: “I am not sent except to the sheep that have perished of the house of Israel.” Finally, the Apostles, who received the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit, and the primitive Church, to whom Christ granted the greatest grace, were from the Jewish people. In this same tenor grace superabounded where offense abounded, so that just as sin reigned unto death—that is, by its unhappy dominion and demerit it led into death, indeed introduced death of eternal damnation and deprivation of grace, which is the death of the soul in the present—for sin removes grace and introduces punishment—so also the grace of God might reign in us through justice—that is, through the exercise of justice, so that the habit of grace might tend to act and thus lead into eternal life, which is the reward of justice and its consummation, through Jesus Christ our Lord, without whose help we can do nothing good.
Moreover, we see in many the fulfillment of what the Apostle here says: for often those who have sinned more grievously, after their conversion, are more fervent than others, and thus in those whose hearts malice abounded, grace also abounds. For evil is occasionally a cause of good, insofar as the memory of past iniquity makes a man despise himself more, fear eternal damnation more, admire the mercy of God more fully, and love more ardently. Hence the Savior testifies in the Gospel: “To whom more is forgiven, he loves more.” Yet this does not always happen, because, speaking absolutely and all other things being equal, the innocent is more bound to love God and is loved more by God than the converted sinner, according to Thomas.
CONTINUE
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