Chapter 13 [VII.]—The Error of Jovinianus Did Not Extend So Far.

A few years ago there lived at Rome one Jovinian,470    [This “Christian Epicurus,” as he is called by the intemperate zeal of the asceticism of his day, was condemned as a heretic by councils at Rome and Milan in 390. According to Jerome, who wrote a book against him, he not only opposed asceticism, but also contended for the essential equality of all sins and of the punishments and rewards of the next world, and for the sinlessness of those baptized by the Spirit.—W.] who is said to have persuaded nuns of even advanced age to marry,—not, indeed, by seduction, as if he wanted to make any of them his wife, but by contending that virgins who dedicated themselves to the ascetic life had no more merit before God than believing wives. It never entered his mind, however, along with this conceit, to venture to affirm that children of men are born without original sin. If, indeed, he had added such an opinion, the women might have more readily consented to marry, to give birth to such pure offspring. When this man’s writings (for he dared to write) were by the brethren forwarded to Jerome to refute, he not only discovered no such error in them, but, while looking out his conceits for refutation, he found among other passages this very clear testimony to the doctrine of man’s original sin, from which Jerome indeed felt satisfied of the man’s belief of that doctrine.471    See Jerome’s work Against Jovinian, ii. near the beginning. These are his words when treating of it: “He who says that he abides in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked.472    John ii. 6. We give our opponent the option to choose which alternative he likes. Does he abide in Christ, or does he not? If he does, then, let him walk like Christ. If, however, it is a rash thing to undertake to resemble the excellences of Christ, he abides not in Christ, because he walks not as Christ did. He did no sin, neither was any guile found in His mouth;473    Isa. liii. 9. who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth;474    Isa. liii. 7. to whom the prince of this world came, and found nothing in Him;475    John xiv. 30. whom, though He had done no sin, God made sin for us.476    2 Cor. v. 21. We, however, according to the Epistle of James, all commit many sins;477    Jas. iii. 2. and none of us is pure from uncleanness, even if his life should be but of one day.478    Job xiv. 5. For who shall boast that he has a clean heart? Or who shall be confident that he is pure from sins? We are held guilty according to the likeness of Adam’s transgression. Accordingly David also says: ‘Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.’”479    Ps. li. 5.

CAPUT VII.

13. Joviniani error. Disputatorum quorumlibet sententiae non tanquam auctoritas canonica. Peccatum originale quomodo alienum. Omnes in Adam unus homo fuimus. Ante paucos annos Romae quidam exstitit Jovinianus, qui sanctimonialibus etiam aetate jam provectioribus nuptias persuasisse dicitur, non illiciendo quo earum aliquam ducere vellet uxorem, sed disputando virgines sanctimonio dicatas nihil amplius fidelibus conjugatis apud Deum habere meritorum. Nunquam tamen ei hoc commentum venit in mentem, ut asserere conaretur sine originali peccato nasci hominum filios. Et utique si hoc astrueret, multo proclivius vellent feminae nubere, fetus mundissimos pariturae. Hujus sane scripta, nam et scribere ausus est, cum fratres ad Hieronymum refellenda misissent, non solum in eis nihil tale comperit, verum etiam ad quaedam ejus vana refutanda hoc tanquam certissimum de hominis originali peccato, unde utique nec ipsum dubitare credebat, inter multa sua documenta deprompsit (Hieron. lib. 2 contra Jovinianum, paulo post initium). Id agentis haec verba sunt: «Qui dicit se,» inquit, «in Christo manere, debet sicut ille ambulavit, et ipse ambulare» (I Joan. II, 6). Eligat adversarius e duobus quod vult, optionem ei damus. Manet in Christo, an non manet? Si manet, ita ergo ambulet ut Christus. Si autem temerarium est, similitudinem virtutum Domini polliceri, non manet in Christo, quia non ingreditur ut Christus. Ille peccatum non fecit, neque inventus est dolus in ore ejus, qui cum malediceretur, non remaledixit, et tanquam agnus coram tondente, sic non aperuit os suum (Isai. LIII, 9, et I Petr. II, 22, 23); ad quem venit princeps mundi istius, et invenit in eo nihil (Joan. XIV, 30); qui cum peccatum non fecisset, pro nobis peccatum eum fecit Deus (II Cor. V, 21). Nos autem, juxta Epistolam Jacobi, «multa peccamus omnes» (Jacobi III, 2), et nemo mundus a peccatis, 0194nec si unius quidem diei fuerit vita ejus (Job. XIV, 5). Quis enim gloriabitur castum se habere cor, aut quis confidet mundum se esse a peccatis (Prov. XX, 9)? Tenemurque rei in similitudinem praevaricationis Adam. Unde et David dicit, «Ecce in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, et in delictis concepit me mater mea» (Psal. L, 7).