Theological Theses · §263

Circumcision a seal of faith's righteousness — promise covers women and pre-day-eight males (Rom. 4; Lombard)

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With Paul we call circumcision a seal of the righteousness of faith (Rom. 4), not a rite that by outward application wiped original sin away.

Adults — men and women — were set right by faith in the divine promises.

Abraham's promise, I will be your God and of your seed, covered women as well as men.

By that promise God remitted original sin to covenant infants who died before reason, circumcised or not — including girls and boys before day eight.

Male circumcision sealed the promise for the whole household.

Even Lombard (and Gregory) taught Bellarmine that women and pre-circumcision infants were saved by faith — their own or their parents' — without a bodily sacrament.

Latin

XIX. Sed quicquid hac de re dicant, vel sentiant adversarii, nos cum Apostolo dicimus circumcisionem fuisse, non remedium aliquod cujus externa applicatione tolleretur statim & aboleretur peccatum originale, sed, ut loquitur Apostolus, Sigillum justitiae fidei, Rom. 4. Itaque verum justitiae medium, & originalis peccati remedium in adultis omnibus, tam viris quam foeminis, fuit fides promissionibus divinis adhibita. Ista vero promissio quam fides accipiebat, & a qua gratia & salus pendebat, erat haec Abrahamo facta, Ero Deus tuus & seminis tui post te; sub quo semine non masculi solum, sed foeminae quoque comprehendebantur. Hujus promissionis virtute, non autem externi alicujus signi, Deus originale peccatum condonabat omnibus infantibus qui ante usum rationis in foedere moriebantur, sive circumcisionem illi accepissent, sive propter sexum muliebrem, aut aetatem immaturam, illam non accepissent. Quod vero cujusque familiae masculis circumcisionis signum imprimebatur, hoc promissionem toti familiae obsignabat, & in masculis foeminae Deo consecrabantur. Et certe quod absque externo sacramento in proprio corpore suscepto potuerint olim servari foeminae sub Veteri Testamento, & etiam masculi ante octavum diem, ex Lombardo poterat discere Bellarminus. Is enim lib. 4. dist. 1. litter. G. docet mulieres olim salutem & justitiam adeptas fuisse per fidem & operationem bonam, vel suam, si adultae erant, vel parentum, si parvulae. Et similiter parvulos ante circumcisionem in fide parentum servatos fuisse, idque Gregorii Papae testimonio confirmat.

About this text

Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu, Sedan Theses, newly rendered from Latin: from theology proper through the Roman theses I–77 and the Reformed theses of Part Two. The theses only — not the collected works.

English follows locked Pitt Latin through Imaginum CLOSED + Sanctorum Cultu Romana CLOSED + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL. 1675 PDF ~384-390 (book ~370-376); Vision OCR + pdftotext + tess. No modern English. This slice densifies Sanctorum Pars Secunda I-XL. Next: Pars Secunda XLI–fin (~CI). Claim stays claimed (book densify not done).

Catalogue & scope

ESTC R17887; Wing L802. IA bub_gb_eOkHAW4G0-wC (+ EEBO 1675 for gap leaves). Densify through Sanctorum Cultu Romana I-LXXVII + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL (Pars Secunda not closed; not whole folio).

Witnesses

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.