35. Ego, inquit, lux in saeculum veni, ut omnis qui crediderit in me, non maneat in tenebris
Chapter 37 [XXIII.]—The Corruption of Nature is by Sin, Its Renovation is by Christ.
From this law of sin is born the flesh of sin, which requires cleansing through the sacrament of Him who came in the likeness of sinful flesh, that the body of sin might be destroyed, which is also called “the body of this death,” from which only God’s grace delivers wretched man through Jesus Christ our Lord.388 Rom. vii. 24, 25. For this law, the origin of death, passed on from the first pair to their posterity, as is seen in the labour with which all men toil in the earth, and the travail of women in the pains of childbirth. For these sufferings they merited by the sentence of God, when they were convicted of sin; and we see them fulfilled not only in them, but also in their descendants, in some more, in others less, but nevertheless in all. Whereas, however, the primeval righteousness of the first human beings consisted in obeying God, and not having in their members the law of their own concupiscence against the law of their mind; now, since their sin, in our sinful flesh which is born of them, it is obtained by those who obey God, as a great acquisition, that they do not obey the desires of this evil concupiscence, but crucify in themselves the flesh with its affections and lusts, in order that they may be Jesus Christ’s, who on His cross symbolized this, and who gave them power through His grace to become the sons of God. For it is not to all men, but to as many as have received Him, that He has given to be born again to God of the Spirit, after they were born to the world by the flesh. Of these indeed it is written: “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God; which were born, not of the flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.”389 John i. 12, 13.
CAPUT XXIII.
37. Naturae corruptio per peccatum, et renovatio per Christum. De hac lege peccati nascitur caro peccati, expianda per illius sacramentum, qui venit in similitudine carnis peccati, ut evacuetur corpus peccati (Rom. VIII, 3), quod et corpus mortis hujus appellatur: unde miserum hominem non liberat nisi gratia Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum (Id. VII, 24, 25). Sic enim ab eis transitum fecit in posteros ista lex initium mortis, quemadmodum labor quo cuncti homines laborant in terra, quemadmodum in feminas parturitio cum doloribus. Haec enim, cum de peccato arguerentur, Dei sententia meruerunt, quae non in eis solis, sed etiam in successoribus eorum, in aliis magis, in aliis minus, tamen in omnibus videmus impleri. Cum itaque primorum illorum hominum fuerit prima justitia obedire Deo, et hanc in membris adversus legem mentis suae legem concupiscentiae non habere: nunc post eorum peccatum nata ex eis nostra carne peccati, pro magno obtinetur ab his qui obediunt Deo, desideriis ejusdem concupiscentiae non obedire, et crucifigere in se carnem cum passionibus et concupiscentiis; ut sint Jesu Christi, qui hoc in sua cruce figuravit , quibus per gratiam suam dedit potestatem filios Dei 0174 fieri. Non enim omnibus hominibus dedit, sed quotquot receperunt eum, ut Deo renascerentur spiritu, qui saeculo nati erant carne. Sic enim de his dictum est: Quotquot autem receperunt eum, dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri, qui non ex carne, non ex sanguine, non ex voluntate viri, non ex voluntate carnis, sed ex Deo nati sunt.