Chapter 46.—The Reign of Death, What It Is; The Figure of the Future Adam; How All Men are Justified Through Christ.

But what else is meant even by the apostle’s subsequent words? For after he had said the above, he added, “For until the law sin was in the world,”232    Rom. v. 13. as much as to say that not even the law was able to take away sin. “But sin,” adds he, “was not imputed when there was no law.”233    Rom. v. 13. It existed then, but was not imputed, for it was not set forth so that it might be imputed. It is on the same principle, indeed, that he says in another passage: “By the law is the knowledge of sin.”234    Rom. iii. 20. “Nevertheless,” says he, “death reigned from Adam to Moses;”235    Rom. v. 14. that is, as he had already expressed it, “until the law.” Not that there was no sin after Moses, but because even the law, which was given by Moses, was unable to deprive death of its power, which, of course, reigns only by sin. Its reign, too, is such as to plunge mortal man even into that second death which is to endure for evermore. “Death reigned,” but over whom? “Even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come.”236    Rom. v. 14. Of whom that was to come, if not Christ? And in what sort a figure, except in the way of contrariety? which he elsewhere briefly expresses: “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”237    1 Cor. xv. 22. The one condition was in one, even as the other condition was in the other; this is the figure. But this figure is not conformable in every respect; accordingly the apostle, following up the same idea, added, “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead; much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”238    Rom. v. 15. But why “hath it much more abounded,” except it be that all who are delivered through Christ suffer temporal death on Adam’s account, but have everlasting life in store for the sake of Christ Himself? “And not as it was by one that sinned,” says he, “so is the gift: for the judgment was from one to condemnation, but the free gift is from many offences unto justification.”239    Rom. v. 15. “By one” what, but offence? since it is added, “the free gift is from many offences.” Let these objectors tell us how it can be “by one offence unto condemnation,” unless it be that even the one original sin which has passed over unto all men is sufficient for condemnation? Whereas the free gift delivers from many offences to justification, because it not only cancels the one offence, which is derived from the primal sin, but all others also which are added in every individual man by the motion of his own will. “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, by the offence of one upon all men to condemnation; so by the righteousness of one upon all men unto justification of life.”240    Rom. v. 17, 18. Let them after this persist in their vain imaginations, and maintain that one man did not hand on sin by propagation, but only set the example of committing it. How is it, then, that by one’s offence judgment comes on all men to condemnation, and not rather by each man’s own numerous sins, unless it be that even if there were but that one sin, it is sufficient, without the addition of any more, to lead to condemnation,—as, indeed, it does lead all who die in infancy who are born of Adam, without being born again in Christ? Why, then, does he, when he refuses to hear the apostle, ask us for an answer to his question, “By what means may sin be discovered in an infant,—through the will, or through marriage, or through its parents?” Let him listen in silence, and hear by what means sin may be discovered in an infant. “By the offence of one,” says the apostle, “upon all men to condemnation.” He said, moreover, all to condemnation through Adam, and all to justification through Christ: not, of course, that Christ removes to life all those who die in Adam; but he said “all” and “all,” because, as without Adam no one goes to death, so without Christ no man to life. Just as we say of a teacher of letters, when he is alone in a town: This man teaches all their learning; not because all the inhabitants take lessons, but because no man who learns at all is taught by any but him. Indeed, the apostle afterwards designates as many those whom he had previously described as all, meaning the self-same persons by the two different terms. “For,” says he, “as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”241    Rom. v. 19.

46. Quid autem aliud indicant etiam sequentia verba apostolica? Cum enim hoc dixisset, adjunxit, Usque enim ad legem peccatum in mundo fuit: id est, quia nec lex potuit auferre peccatum. Peccatum autem, inquit, non deputabatur, cum lex non esset. Erat ergo, sed non deputabatur; quia non ostendebatur, quod deputaretur. Sicut enim alibi dicit, Per legem cognitio peccati (Rom. III, 20). Sed regnavit, inquit, mors ab Adam usque ad Moysen; hoc est quod supra dixerat, usque ad legem; non ut a Moyse deinceps non esset peccatum, sed quia nec per Moysen lex data regnum potuit mortis auferre, quae non regnat utique nisi per peccatum. Regnum porro ejus est, ut hominem mortalem in secundam etiam, quae sempiterna est, praecipitet mortem. Regnavit autem: in quibus? Et in his, inquit, qui non peccaverunt in similitudinem praevaricationis Adae, qui est forma futuri. Cujus futuri, nisi Christi? Et qualis forma, nisi a contrario? Quod alibi etiam breviter dicit: Sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur, ita et in Christo omnes vivificabuntur (I Cor. XV, 22). Sicut in illo illud, ita in isto istud: ipsa est forma. Sed haec forma non omni ex parte conformis est: unde hinc Apostolus secutus adjunxit, Sed non sicut delictum, ita et donatio. Si enim ob unius delictum multi mortui sunt, multo magis gratia Dei et donum in gratia unius hominis Jesu Christi in multos abundavit. Quid est, multo magis, abundavit, nisi quia omnes qui per Christum liberantur, temporaliter propter Adam moriuntur, propter 0463 ipsum autem Christum sine fine victuri sunt? Et non, inquit, sicut per unum peccantem, ita est et donum. Nam judicium quidem ex uno in condemnationem, gratia autem ex multis delictis in justificationem. Ex uno ergo, quid, nisi delicto? quia sequitur, gratia autem ex multis delictis. Dicant isti, quomodo ex uno delicto in condemnationem, nisi quia sufficit ad condemnationem etiam unum originale peccatum, quod in omnes homines pertransiit? Gratia vero ideo ex multis delictis in justificationem, quia non solum illud unum solvit, quod originaliter trahitur, sed etiam caetera, quae in unoquoque homine motu propriae voluntatis adduntur. Si enim ob unius delictum mors regnavit per unum, multo magis qui abundantiam gratiae et justitiae accipiunt, in vita regnabunt per unum Jesum Christum. Itaque sicut per unius delictum in omnes homines ad condemnationem, ita et per unius justificationem in omnes homines ad justificationem vitae. Adhuc permaneant in vanitate mentis suae, et dicant unum hominem non propaginem trajecisse, sed exemplum praebuisse peccati. Quomodo ergo per unius delictum in omnes homines ad condemnationem, et non potius per multa sua cujusque delicta: nisi quia etiam si illud unum sit tantum, idoneum est perducere ad condemnationem, etiam nullis additis caeteris; sicut perducit parvulos morientes qui ex Adam nascuntur, si in Christo non renascantur? Quid ergo a nobis quaerit iste, quod non vult ad Apostolo audire, «per quid peccatum inveniatur in parvulo; utrum per voluntatem, an per nuptias, an per parentes?» Ecce audiat per quid, audiat et taceat, per quid peccatum inveniatur in parvulo: Per unius delictum, inquit Apostolus, in omnes homines ad condemnationem. Omnes autem dixit ad condemnationem per Adam, et omnes ad justificationem per Christum; cum utique non omnes eos qui moriuntur in Adam, transferat Christus ad vitam: sed omnes dixit atque omnes, quia sicut sine Adam nullus ad mortem, ita sine Christo nullus ad vitam. Sicut dicimus de litterarum magistro, si in civitate solus est, Omnes iste hic litteras docet: non quia omnes discunt, sed quia nemo nisi ab ipso. Denique quos ante omnes dixerat, multos postea dixit, eosdem ipsos tamen omnes multosque significans. Sicut enim, inquit, per inobedientiam unius hominis peccatores constituti sunt multi, ita et per unius obedientiam justi constituentur multi (Rom. V, 12-19).