Chapter 36: On the first state of the human being
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX. On the first state of the human being.
There stand the states through which the human being is led to the highest perfection for which he was made. II. And it is either the first or that which followed the first. Theologians commonly distinguish four states of the human: of creation, of falling, of regeneration, and of blessedness — or of constitution, defection, restoration, and perfection — or of innocence, sin, grace, and glory.
III. The first is that in which the human was made by God the creator and circumscribed by a peculiar law. The formula of the law prescribed to the human in this state stands in Genesis 2:16-17 and is repeated in Sirach 15:14-18. Adam could easily keep it and violated it compelled by no necessity. For if he had necessarily violated it, that necessity would have been from nature, or from the Devil, or from God. It was not from nature, because the human was made of free choice; nor, if it were otherwise, would Adam have concealed it when laboring under accusation of himself (Genesis 3:12). Nor was it from the devil, because he could persuade, not compel. For the devil would not have deceived the human unless he had already begun to please himself, as Augustine says (City of God XIV.13). Nor from God, because He made him good and after His own image (Genesis 1:27; 5:1).
Latin
CAPUT TRICESIMUM SEXTUM, De primo hominis statu. STant status, per quos ad summam perfectionem, ad quam conditus est, perducitur. II. Estque primus aut primum secutus. Quatuor status hominis communiter distinguuntur a Theologis: creationis, lapsionis, regenerationis et beatitudinis, seu confectionis, defectionis, refectionis et perfectionis, seu innocentiae, peccati, gratiae et gloriae. III. Primus est, in quo homo a Deo creatore conditus ac lege peculiari circumscriptus est. Legis formula homini in hoc statu praescripta exstat Gen. 2:16-17, ac repetitur Siracid. 15:14-18. Quam Adamus facile praestare potuit et nulla necessitate compulsus violavit. Si enim necessario violasset, ea necessitas fuisset aut a natura aut a Diabolo aut a Deo. A natura non fuit, quia homo conditus est liberi arbitrii, neque aliter si esset, id dissimulasset Adamus cum de accusatione sui laboraret (Gen. 3:12). Neque a diabolo fuit, quia suadere potuit, cogere non potuit. Neque enim diabolus hominem decepisset, nisi iam ille sibi placere coepisset, ut ait Augustinus (de Civ. Dei XIV.13). Neque a Deo, quia fecit eum bonum et ad imaginem sui (Gen. 1:27; 5:1).