FathersVia Patrum

On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §67

Cap. VIII: Mode likeness denied — Calvin's two Adam–Christ differences

But as to the minor: we have already denied several times that the likeness must be pressed in the mode by which we have condemnation from Adam and justification from Christ. And we have confirmed this both by the authority of great men and by several examples. Hear Calvin, if you please: "Further, it is worth noting here two differences between Christ and Adam: which the Apostle did not omit because he judged them negligible, but because it did not serve the present argument to enumerate them. The first is that we are not damned by Adam's sin through imputation alone, as if the penalty of another's sin were being exacted from us: but we therefore bear his penalty because we are also guilty of the fault, inasmuch as our nature, corrupted in him, is bound before God under the guilt of iniquity. But by Christ's righteousness we are restored to salvation in another way: for it is not therefore credited to us because it is within us, but because we possess Christ himself with all his goods, given to us by the Father's bounty. And so the gift of righteousness signifies not a quality with which God imbues us, as some wrongly interpret, but the free imputation of righteousness."

Latin

Ad minorem autem quod spectat, jam aliquoties negavimus urgeri debere similitudinem in modo, quo ab Adamo condemnationem, & a Christo iustificationem habemus. Idque cum autoritate magnorum virorum, tum aliquot exemplis comprobavimus. Audi, si placet, Calvinum, Porro duas hic differentias inter Christum & Adamum notare operae pretium est: quas non ideo praeteriit Apostolus, quia negligendas censeret, sed quia praesentis argumenti nihil referebat eas enumerare. Prior est quod peccato Adae non per solam imputationem damnamur, ac si alieni peccati exigeretur a nobis poena: sed ideo poenam eius sustinemus, quia & culpae sumus rei, quatenus scilicet natura nostra in ipso vitiata, iniquitatis reatu astringitur apud Deum. At per Christi iustitiam alio modo in salutem restituimur: neque enim ideo nobis accepta fertur, quia intra nos sit: sed quod Christum ipsum cum bonis suis omnibus, Patris largitate nobis donatum possidemus. Itaque donum iustitiae, non qualitatem qua nos Deus imbuat, ut perperam quidam interpretantur, sed gratuitam iustitiae imputationem significat.

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.