V. 12
"Therefore," he says, "as through one man sin entered into the world,
and through sin death, and so death passed through to all men, in whom
all sinned." For death entered, as I said, on account of sin into the
first man and into the origins of our race, but soon it also seized the
entire race. Moreover, the dragon, inventor of sin, after he had
prevailed against Adam by his wickedness, opened for himself access to
the mind of man. For "all have turned aside, together they have become
worthless." Therefore, turned away from the sight of the most holy God,
because the mind of man from his youth diligently inclines toward vice,
we lived an insane life and conquering death devoured us, as the prophet
says: "Hell has enlarged its soul and opened its mouth that it may not
cease." For because we imitated Adam's transgression, inasmuch as all
sinned, we incurred the same punishment as he. Nevertheless, the world
was not without help, for sin has been blotted out, Satan has been laid
low, and finally death itself has lost its strength.
V. 13
"For until the law, sin was in the world." The law of Moses, as I said,
was a reproof of the weakness of those sinning, not an absolution of
sin—rather, a provocation of wrath. For transgressors necessarily had to
undergo the punishments defined by the law. But where in any way there
was transgression, there also entirely was sin. But if sin brings death,
it must undoubtedly be said that death also, born from sin, is
strengthened at the same time; but on the contrary, when this is
removed, death is equally weakened and perishes with its parent.
"Therefore," he says, "until the law, death was in the world." For as
long as the law remained, so long did the charge of transgression
prevail against the fallen; but with the law removed, the accusation of
transgression likewise ceased. Moreover, with guilt ceasing, death also,
as I said, will cease.
V. 14
"But death reigned from Adam to Moses." But someone will say: if the
matter stands thus, how did death also dominate on earth even before the
law? Here some things seem to be omitted in the codex. Then it is
written τοῦ αὐτοῦ, "OF THE SAME," with what follows: For even if some
were not guilty of violating the law because the law had not yet been
enacted, nevertheless they too fell into corruption in the likeness of
Adam the transgressor. As if to say: with death invading, just as
happened to Adam, his entire progeny, like a tree whose root had been
corrupted—for it was plainly necessary that the shoots sprouting from
there also wither. He says that Adam is a type of the future—that is, of
Christ—although He had already appeared and accomplished the mystery of
the Incarnation. Therefore perhaps someone will ask how he calls Christ
"future." For having set before us the first man and mentioned the time
of transgression, he then designated Christ by the name of Adam as one
who would come afterward and at the end. For He had been predestined by
the will and providence of God the Father as Savior and Liberator; He
appeared, however, in His proper times, which indeed He willed, as Lord.
These times, however, are the last times, and as it were of this age
verging toward its setting. Therefore, with the second proposed
according to the pattern of the first, he seems somehow to inquire of
the hearer and, with a certain pause in the speech and as if
questioning, says what follows:
15
"But not as the trespass, so also is the gift," etc. He says, indeed:
we were condemned to death because on account of Adam's fault, the
entire nature of men incurred this stain with him who was the origin of
the race. Nevertheless, in turn in Christ we flourished again unto life.
Adam was a type of the future—that is, of Christ—conferring upon us
grace equal to the evil of our forebears. He says therefore: "Have I
fallen from truth? Do I wander from the right path of discourse? Is it
not that as the trespass, so also the gift? What? Was death strong on
account of one's fault but life will be weak on account of one? Why
should it not rather be said: If on account of one's fall many died, by
greater right the grace of God and the free gift of one man, Jesus
Christ, overflowed to the benefit of many?" For the benignity of the
Creator will not allow that death should prevail on account of one, but
life should not take strength on account of one likewise; indeed, grace
will overcome the force of wrath.
V. 16
"And not as through one who sinned, so also is the gift." He
establishes the weight of the matter and the force of reasoning in what
is fitting for God. For if, he says, condemnation from one Adam, or on
account of him alone, flowed to all in the likeness of the race—for
corruption, as I said, had seized the root of our stock—why should it
not also be both credible and pleasing to God that on account of one's
righteousness many should be justified from many sins? For does it not
please God more to save than to destroy? Just as therefore condemned
Adam and likewise the curse of Moses obtained force to consign all men
to corruption, so because the second Adam, Christ, was justified,
justification will certainly pass through the same path also to us.
Moreover, we say Christ was justified not because He was previously
unjust and afterward advancing arrived at justification, but that He
first and alone among men "committed no sin on earth, nor was deceit
found in His mouth."
V. 17
"For if by the trespass of one, death reigned through one," etc.
Observe again how much more powerful he defines the justifying grace to
be than the condemning curse. For no one, he says, will affirm that it
is such that the cause of one should prevail in the world for death, but
life should not have equal force on the contrary. For by greater right
those who have the grace of Christ and have obtained righteousness by
the gift of super-worthiness will repel the power of death from
themselves and will reign with Christ over all things.
V. 18
"Therefore as by the trespass of one unto all unto condemnation," etc.
As a kind of crown to the above-mentioned sentences, St. Paul says thus:
"Therefore as by the fall," and the rest. For we were condemned, as I
said before, in Adam, and from the first root death was propagated to
every shoot born from it. But afterward we were justified, reborn unto
life, Christ having been justified for us. For having despised the
commandment imposed upon Him, He offended God and experienced the effect
of divine wrath, incurring the necessity of corruption. Then sin also
seized human nature, and "many were constituted sinners"—that is, they
exist in the world.
But
someone will say: "Granted that Adam fell and, having neglected the
divine commandment, was consigned to corruption and death, why does it
follow that many are sinners on account of him? How can it be that his
fault pertains to us, or why on earth did we, who were not yet born,
undergo condemnation with him, when He said on the contrary, 'Fathers
shall not die for sons, nor sons for fathers, but the soul that sins, it
shall die'?"
What
defense, therefore, shall we make of this doctrine? "The soul," I say,
"that sins, it shall die." But we were made sinners on account of Adam's
disobedience in this manner: He indeed had been created unto
incorruption and life, and his ways in the paradise of delights were
holy; his mind was always intent on divine visions, his body sound and
tranquil, lacking every base pleasure, for absurd motions were not
tumultuous in it. But after he fell into sin and lay open to corruption,
immediately impure pleasures crept into the nature of the flesh, and at
the same time the fierce law of the members was born in us. Therefore
nature contracted the disease of sin on account of the disobedience of
one—that is, Adam—and thus many were constituted sinners, not because
they sinned together with Adam (for they were not yet in existence at
all), but because they are of the same nature as Adam, which fell under
the law of sin.
Just
as therefore human nature in Adam, on account of disobedience, obtained
the weakness of corruption and passions invaded it, so the same was
afterward liberated through Christ, who was obedient to God the Father
and committed no sin.
CONTINUE
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