Letters & Polemics (CSEL) 5 part 71/118

Since, then, in both, that is, both in judgment and in grace, as concerns the one and the many offences, there is one and the same principle, let these people tell us why he said that judgment leads from one offence unto condemnation, but grace from many offences unto justification—or else let them acquiesce that it was so said because in this case two men are set up: Adam, from whom subsists carnal generation, and Christ, from whom spiritual regeneration. But because that one was only man, while this One is both God and man, it is not the case that, as that generation binds by one offence, which is from Adam, so this regeneration looses only the one offence, which is from Adam;

but for that generation the connection with one offence suffices for condemnation—for whatever men afterward add from their own evil works pertains not to that generation but to human conduct—whereas for this regeneration it does not suffice to loose only that offence which is drawn from Adam, but also whatever afterward accrues from the wicked works of human conduct. Therefore judgment is from one unto condemnation, but grace is from many offences unto justification. 'For if by one man's offence death reigned through one'—from which offence little ones are cleansed through baptism—'much more they who receive abundance of grace and of righteousness shall reign in life through one, Jesus Christ';

much more assuredly shall they reign in life, because it will be the kingdom of eternal life, while death in them passes temporally, not reigning for ever. Therefore, as by the offence of one upon all men unto condemnation—from which condemnation little ones are to be freed through the sacrament of baptism—so also by the righteousness of one upon all men unto justification of life. And here he said 'all,' and there too, not because all men come to the grace of Christ's justification—since so many, alienated from it, die for ever—but because all who are reborn unto justification are reborn only through Christ, just as all who are born unto condemnation are born only through Adam.

For no one is in that generation apart from Adam, no one in this regeneration apart from Christ; therefore 'all' and 'all,' and the same 'all' he afterward also calls 'many,' adding: 'As by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so also by the obedience of one man shall many be made righteous.' And who are these 'many,' but those whom just a little before he had called 'all'?

See in what manner he commends 'the one' and 'the one,' that is, Adam and Christ—the former unto condemnation, the latter unto justification—although Christ came in the flesh so long after Adam, that we may know that even the ancient righteous, whoever they could be, were freed only through the same faith by which we too are freed, namely faith in the incarnation of Christ, which was foretold to them, just as it is announced to us. Therefore here he calls Christ 'man,' though He is also God, lest anyone should suppose that the ancient righteous could have been freed only through Christ as God, that is, through the Word who was in the beginning, and not also through faith in His incarnation, by which He is also called man, Christ. For that judgment cannot be overthrown, concerning which he says elsewhere:

'By one man came death, and by one man the resurrection of the dead; for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.' Assuredly he speaks of the resurrection of the righteous, where there is eternal life, not of the resurrection of the wicked, where there will be eternal death; therefore he says 'shall be made alive,' because those others shall be damned. Hence also, in the ancient sacraments, circumcision of infants was commanded to be done on the eighth day, since Christ, in whom is made the stripping off of carnal offence which circumcision signifies, rose again on the Lord's day, which is the eighth after the seventh of the sabbath. This faith, then, was also that of the ancient righteous. Whence the Apostle also says: 'Having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written:

I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore also speak.' He would not say 'the same spirit of faith' unless he were reminding us that the ancient righteous also had that same spirit of faith, that is, of the incarnation of Christ. But because to them there was foretold as future what to us is announced as already done, and in the time of the Old Testament that was veiled which in the time of the New Testament is revealed, therefore its sacraments were varied, so that there were some in the Old Testament, others in the New, although the faith itself is not varied and is true, since, as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But as to what he adds to those words which we were treating, saying:

'But the law entered in secretly, that sin might abound,' this no longer pertains to that offence which is drawn from Adam, of which he said above: 'Death reigned through one'; for whether we understand the natural law, which appears in the ages of those who can already use reason, or the written law, which was given through Moses—because neither of these could give life and free from the law of sin and death which is drawn from Adam, but rather added increases of transgression; for 'where there is no law,' says the same Apostle, 'neither is there transgression.'

Accordingly, since law is also in the reason of man who already uses the choice of liberty—naturally written in the heart, by which it is suggested that no one should do to another any evil which he himself does not wish to suffer—according to this law all are transgressors, even those who did not receive the law given through Moses, of whom it is sung in the psalm: 'I counted all the sinners of the earth transgressors.' For not all the sinners of the earth transgressed the law given through Moses; but yet, unless they had transgressed some law, they would not be called transgressors; for where there is no law, neither is there transgression. Therefore, the law having been transgressed which was given in paradise, man is born of Adam with the law of sin and death, of which it is said:

'I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and leading me captive under the law of sin which is in my members.' Yet this law, unless it be strengthened afterward by evil habit, is more easily overcome—though not except by the grace of God. But when that other law is transgressed, which is in the use of the reason of the rational soul in the age of a man now using reason, all the sinners of the earth become transgressors. And when that law also is transgressed which was given through Moses, offence abounds much more. 'For if a law had been given which could give life, righteousness would altogether be by the law; but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.' These words, if you acknowledge them, are the Apostle's.

Concerning which law he again says: 'The law was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom it was promised, being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator,' commending Christ. By whose grace all are made safe—whether little ones, from the law of sin and death with which we were born, or the older, who, wrongly using the choice of the will, transgressed the natural law of reason itself, or those who received the law which was given through Moses, and, transgressing it, were slain by the letter. But when a man transgresses even the evangelical precepts, he may be reckoned as one dead four days; yet not even of him is one to despair, on account of the grace of Him who said not slowly, but cried with a great voice: 'Lazarus, come forth.'

The law, therefore, entered in secretly, that sin might abound—whether when men neglect what God commands, or when, presuming on their own strength, they do not implore the help of grace and add pride to weakness. But when, by divine calling, they understand for what they must groan, and call upon Him in whom they rightly believe, saying: 'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy great mercy'; and: 'I said, Lord, be merciful unto me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee'; and: 'In Thy righteousness quicken me'; and: 'Remove from me the way of iniquity, and by Thy law have mercy upon me'; and: 'Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of sinners move me'; and: 'Order my steps according to Thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me';

for 'the steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and He shall approve his way,' and many other things which were written for this reason: to admonish us to seek from Him the help for fulfilling those things which are commanded us—from Him by whom they are commanded. When, therefore, a man has stretched himself out toward Him and has thus groaned, there shall come to pass what follows: 'Where sin abounded, grace did super-abound'; and: 'Her many sins are forgiven her, for she loved much'; and the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, whence comes the fullness of the law—not by the powers of the choice which is in us, but by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. For assuredly he knew the law who said: 'I delight in the law of God after the inward man'—and yet he added:

'But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and leading me captive under the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Why did he not rather say 'my own free will,' unless because liberty without the grace of God is not liberty but obstinacy? When, therefore, the Apostle had said: 'The law entered in secretly, that sin might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did super-abound,' he went on and added: 'That, as sin hath reigned unto death, so also might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Now when he had said:

'That, as sin hath reigned unto death,' he did not say 'through one man' or 'through the first man' or 'through Adam,' because he had already said: 'The law entered in secretly, that sin might abound'—which abounding of offence pertains not to the propagation of the first man but to the transgression of human conduct, which has been added, in the greater ages, out of an abundance of iniquity, to that one offence by which alone infants are held bound. But because this whole—even that which pertains not to the origin of that one offence—the grace of the Saviour is nonetheless fit to loose, therefore, when he had said: 'So also might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life,' he added: 'Through Jesus Christ our Lord.'

Therefore let no man's argumentations brought forth against these apostolic words hinder little ones from the salvation which is in Christ Jesus our Lord; for we ought to speak on their behalf all the more, in proportion as they themselves cannot speak for themselves. 'By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death, and so it passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.' As from that one man, so from that same sin infants cannot be immune, unless they be released from its guilt through the baptism of Christ. 'For until the law sin was in the world.' This was said not because thereafter it was in no one, but because it could not be taken away by the letter of the law, which could be taken away only by the Spirit of grace.

Therefore, lest anyone, trusting in the powers—I will not say of his will, but rather of his vanity—should think that the law could have sufficed for free will, and should deride the grace of Christ, the Apostle therefore says: 'For until the law sin was in the world; but sin was not imputed, when there was no law.' He did not say 'was not,' but 'was not imputed,' because there was no law by whose accusing it might be shown—whether the law of reason in the little one, or the law of the letter in the people. 'But death,' he says, 'reigned from Adam unto Moses,' because not even the law given through Moses could take away the reign of death, which only the grace of Christ took away. And over whom it reigned, see: 'Even over them,' he says, 'who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression.'

Death, therefore, reigned even over those who had not sinned. But why it reigned he showed, when he said: 'After the likeness of Adam's transgression.' For this is the better understanding of these words: that, when he had said, 'Death reigned over those who had not sinned,' as though it should move us why it reigned over those who had not sinned, he added: 'After the likeness of Adam's transgression'—that is, because there was in their members the likeness of Adam's transgression. It can also be understood thus:

Death reigned from Adam unto Moses even over those who did not sin after the likeness of Adam's transgression, because in themselves, since they had already been born, they neither yet used the reason which he used when he sinned, nor had they received the precept which he transgressed, but were held bound by original fault alone, through which the reign of death drew them unto condemnation.

This reign of death is not in those alone who, reborn by the grace of Christ, belong to His kingdom; since temporal death, although it too be propagated from the original offence, destroys the body in them, but does not draw the soul to punishment—where he wished the reign of death to be understood, so that the soul, renewed by grace, may no longer die in gehenna, that is, may not be alienated, may not be separated, from the life of God; while temporal death of the body, even in those who are redeemed by the death of Christ, is left for the time being for the exercise of faith and the contest of the present struggle, in which the martyrs also fought, but shall itself likewise be done away in the renewal of the body which the resurrection promises.

For there death shall be utterly swallowed up in victory, death from whom the grace of Christ even now takes away its kingdom, lest it drag the souls of His own down to the punishments of hell. Some manuscripts, to be sure, do not read 'upon those who did not sin,' but 'upon those who sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression'; yet by these words that meaning is in no way removed. For according to this they are understood to have sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression in accordance with what was said above: 'In whom all sinned.' But nevertheless the Greek manuscripts, from which the Scripture was translated into Latin, have in the greater number that reading which we have stated. But as for what he added concerning Adam, 'who is the figure of Him that was to come,' this too is not understood in one way only.

For either Christ is a figure by way of contrast, so that, just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive, and just as through the disobedience of the one many were made sinners, so through the obedience of Christ many shall be made righteous; or else he called Adam the figure of the one to come because he himself inflicted upon his posterity the pattern of death. Yet that is the better understanding, that he should be believed to be a figure by way of contrast, which the Apostle much commends. Finally, lest in this figure the same contrary things be reckoned altogether on equal terms, he adds and says: 'But the gift is not as the trespass';

for if by the trespass of one many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abound unto many, so that it is understood not 'unto more many'—since the wicked, who shall be damned, are the more numerous—but 'it abounded more,' because in those who are redeemed through Christ the pattern of death from Adam prevails only for a time, whereas the pattern of life through Christ shall prevail forever. Therefore although Adam, he says, is a figure of the one to come by way of contrast, yet Christ bestows far more upon the regenerate than that one had harmed those he begot. 'And not as through one that sinned, so is the gift; for the judgment indeed was of one unto condemnation, but the grace is of many trespasses unto justification.'

He says that not only in this respect is the figure unequal—because that one harmed only for a time those whom Christ redeemed for eternity—but also because by the one trespass of that one man his posterity, unless they be redeemed by Christ, are handed over to condemnation, whereas the redemption of Christ dissolves even the many trespasses which the abundance of that transgressor's iniquity added to that one trespass; concerning which we have already argued above. Against these words of the Apostle and their sound understanding, consent to no one, if you wish to live for Christ and in Christ.

For if, as those people say, the Apostle had recalled these things for this reason—that we might understand men to belong as sinners to the first man because we did not draw the trespass from him by being born, but sin by imitating him—he would rather have set down the devil, who both sinned first and from whom the human race drew no propagation of substance, but was followed only by imitation, so that he might be called the father of the impious, just as Abraham is called our father on account of the imitation of faith, not on account of the origin of the flesh. For it is for this reason that it was said of the devil himself: 'But they that are of his part imitate him.'

Then, if the Apostle in this place were recalling the first man on account of imitation—because he was the first sinner among men, so that on that account he might say all men belonged as sinners to him—why did he not set down holy Abel, since he was the first righteous man among men, to whom all the righteous would belong on account of the imitation of righteousness? But he set down Adam, against whom he set down none but Christ, because just as that man by his own trespass corrupted his posterity, so this One, God-man, by His own righteousness saved His inheritance: the one by transmitting the uncleanness of the flesh, which the impious devil could not do; the other by bestowing the grace of the Spirit, which righteous Abel could not do.

Much have we said concerning these questions in our other little works and in ecclesiastical sermons. For there have been even among us certain men who, wherever they could, would scatter these new seeds of their error; of whom the mercy of the Lord, through our ministry and that of our brethren, has healed not a few of that plague. Yet I do not think that here too some are lacking, especially at Carthage, but they now mutter secretly, fearing the most firmly grounded faith of the Church. For one of them by name Caelestius had already begun to creep up to the honor of the presbyterate in the church of that same city, but by the most faithful boldness of the brethren, on account of these very disputations against the grace of Christ, he was brought before the episcopal court.

Nevertheless he was compelled, on account of the baptizing of little ones, to confess that redemption is necessary even for them. And although in that matter he was unwilling to say anything more explicit concerning original sin, yet by the very name of redemption he prescribed for himself no small conclusion. For from what are they to be redeemed except from the power of the devil, in which they could not be except by the bond of original sin? Or at what price are they redeemed except by the blood of Christ, of which it is most plainly written that it was poured out for the remission of sins? But because he departed rather convicted and detested by the Church than corrected and reconciled, I was afraid lest perhaps he himself might be there who attempts to disturb your faith; therefore I thought that mention of his very name should be made.

But whether it be he himself or others who share his error—for they are more numerous than we can hope, and where they are not refuted they seduce still others to their sect and so multiply, so that I know not where they will break out—we nevertheless prefer that they be healed within the framework of the Church rather than be cut off from her body like incurable members, provided that very necessity permit this. For it is to be feared lest more parts rot while the rotten ones are spared. But the mercy of our Lord is powerful, which may rather set them free from this plague; and this it will without doubt do, if they faithfully heed and hold to what is written: 'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' Now hear a few words about the rich, which follows in your letter to be inquired into.

For you have set down that they say this: that a rich man remaining in his riches cannot enter the kingdom of God unless he sells all that he has, nor can it profit him if perchance out of those very riches he has kept the commandments. Our fathers Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who so long ago departed from this life, escaped the disputations of these men; for all these had no small riches, as the most faithful Scripture bears witness; yet He Himself who for our sake was made poor, though He was truly rich, foretold by a most truthful promise that many would come from the east and from the west and would recline, not above them or outside them but with them, in the kingdom of heaven.

And although the proud rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day, was tormented in death among the dead, yet, if he had shown mercy to the ulcerous poor man who lay despised before his gate, he too would have merited mercy. And if for that poor man it had been need, not righteousness, that was his merit, he would surely not have been carried by the angels into the bosom of Abraham, who had been rich here. But that it might be shown to us that neither in the one was poverty of itself divinely honored, nor in the other were riches condemned, but rather in the one it was piety, in the other impiety, that had their several outcomes, thus did the torment of fire receive the impious rich man, so that yet the bosom of a rich man might receive the pious poor man.

Who indeed, while that rich man lived here, held riches in such a way and set so little store by them for the sake of God's precepts, that even by the very sacrifice of him he was unwilling to offend God who commanded, God whom he both hoped and desired to make the heir of his riches. Here indeed they say that the ancient fathers did not for this reason sell all that they had and give to the poor, because the Lord had not commanded this of them. For the New Testament not yet being revealed—which ought not to come about except in the fullness of time—their virtue also was not yet to be revealed, by which virtue God knew that they could most easily do this in their hearts, He who bore so distinguished a testimony to them, so that, though He is the God of all the saints and righteous, He deigned to speak of them as of His chief friends:

'I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob; this is my name forever.' But after the great sacrament of piety was manifested in the flesh and the coming of Christ shone forth for the calling of all the nations—in whom those fathers also had believed, but they were keeping the olive of this faith, to be made manifest in its own time, in the root, as it were, of that tree of which the Apostle speaks—it was said to the rich man: 'Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.' If they say these things, they seem to say something reasonably. But let them hear the whole, let them attend to the whole; let them not open their ears in part and be deaf in part. For to whom did the Lord give this command?

Assuredly to that rich man who was seeking to receive counsel for obtaining eternal life; for this he had said to the Lord: 'What shall I do to obtain eternal life?' But He did not answer him: 'If thou wilt come to life, go, sell all that thou hast,' but: 'If thou wilt come to life,' He says, 'keep the commandments.' And when the young man said that he had kept from his youth the commandments recalled to him by the Lord out of the law, and had asked what still was lacking to him, he received the answer: 'If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast and give to the poor.' And lest he should think that he was losing in this way those things which he greatly loved: 'And thou shalt have,' He says, 'treasure in heaven.' Then He added: 'And come, follow me,' lest it be supposed that anything profits anyone when he has done this,

if he does not follow Christ. But that man indeed went away sorrowful, one who may have seen in what manner he had kept those commandments of the law; for I think he had answered that he had kept them more arrogantly than truly. Nevertheless the good Master distinguished the commandments of the law from that more excellent perfection; for there He said: 'If thou wilt come to life, keep the commandments,' but here: 'If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast,' and the rest. Why then do we deny that the rich, although they fall short of that perfection, may yet come to life, if they have kept the commandments and have given, that it may be given to them, have forgiven, that it may be forgiven them? For we believe that the Apostle Paul was a minister of the New Testament, when writing to Timothy he said:

'Charge the rich of this world not to be high-minded nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, who giveth us all things abundantly to enjoy. Let them do good, let them be rich in good works, let them give readily, communicate, lay up in store for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on true life,' concerning which it was said also to that young man: 'If thou wilt come to life.' I think that the Apostle, in giving these charges, was instructing the rich, not deceiving them—he who did not say: 'Charge the rich of this world to sell all that they have, to give to the poor, and to follow the Lord,' but: 'Not to be high-minded nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches.'

It was that pride which brought that rich man, who despised the righteous poor man lying before his gate, and that hope in the uncertainty of riches, by which on account of purple and fine linen and sumptuous feasts he thought himself blessed—it was these, not the riches themselves, that led him down to the torments of hell. Or is it perhaps because the Lord added and said: 'Amen I say to you, hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven; and again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven'—is it for this reason that these people think a rich man, even if he does those things which the Apostle wrote should be charged upon the rich, cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven? What then is it? Does the Apostle speak against the Lord, or do these people not know what he speaks?

Which of these he should believe, let the Christian choose. I think it better that we believe these people do not know what they say, than that Paul speaks against the Lord. Then why do they not also hear, in what follows, the Lord Himself saying to His disciples, who were saddened over the misery of the rich: 'What is impossible with men, is easy with God'?