On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §256

Man. Post. Cap. IV: GAR 4 — Decalogue metaphors; PLAC tip before Denique

e grant that laws should be framed in ordinary, commonly known words. But who says metaphorical or improper words are not ordinary? Metaphors are nowhere more common than in framing laws, which often pack many and very different things into one word that cannot be reduced to a single proper sense—as the Decalogue's precepts show.

say metaphorical and improper words are unused? I said only that 'death' in the metaphorical, improper sense that means spiritual death—or the privation of original righteousness—is unused in the Old Testament. I never denied that laws sometimes use metaphors; I denied using metaphors that were unusual when the laws were made, and I denied that the same word, used once in the same law, must be read both properly and metaphorically at once. Metaphor comes in only when something blocks taking the word properly. That does not make me deny Scripture's double sense, literal and mystical: the first belongs to the words, the second rather to the things. In the Decalogue I see no word that must be read both properly and improperly—or metaphorically—together.

Latin

GAR. 4. Verbis usitatis, id est, vulgo notis leges concipi debere fatemur. Sed quis dicat verba metaphorica & impropria non esse usitata? Imo metaphoris nihil communius, etiam in legibus sanciendis, quae saepe una voce multa complectuntur, eaque diversissima, ut ad unius vocabuli proprietatem redigi non possint, sicuti patet in praeceptis Decalogi. PLAC. Dixine verba metaphorica, & impropria non esse usitata? Dixi tantum nomen mortis eo sensu metaphorico & improprio, quo significat mortem spiritualem, seu privationem justitiae originalis, non esse usitatum in vetere Testamento. Non negavi quin usurpentur interdum metaphorae in legibus, tantum negavi eas usurpari, quae sunt eo tempore, quo leges feruntur, inusitatae: negavi etiam eandem vocem in eadem lege semel usurpatam, simul & proprie & metaphorice intelligi debere. Tum enim demum accipi debet metaphorice, cum aliquid obest, quominus accipi possit aut debeat proprie. Neque propterea duplicem sensum Scripturae nego, literalem & mysticum: ille enim est verborum, hic potius rerum. In praeceptis Decalogi nullam vocem video, quae simul & proprie & improprie, seu metaphorice debeat exponi.

About this text

New English, free to read. Open any section below.

English follows the locked 1661 Saumur Latin of Capita I–XIV partial through Man. Post. Caput IX (eph-ho / eph-ho pantes) before eph-ho / eph-ho pantes, reconstructed from IA PDF page images with Vision OCR and pdftotext as check. No modern English was copied. Cap. IX deepen+ remain.

Catalogue & scope

IA deimputationepri00lapl. Densify: Capita I–XII + Caput XIV + Man. Post. Cap. II–VI through Cap. X Rom. 5:14 tip. Not whole Disputatio; Cap. X Rom. 5:14+ / ~494 pp Disputatio remain.

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.