FathersVia Patrum

On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §675

Man. Post. Cap. X: PLAC — Paul adds ἄχρι νόμου; Calvin: the doubt was only before the law

To this argument let another be added, drawn from this: that the Apostle does not simply say sin was in the world, but adds ἄχρι νόμου, until the law.

And he no doubt means the law of Moses, which in verse 20 he teaches entered besides, that sin might abound.

And so in place of ἄχρι νόμου he said in the following verse μέχρι Μωϋσέως, until Moses.

But why did the Apostle use ‘until the law,’ not ‘until Moses’?

Namely, to use Calvin’s words, it could be doubted whether there was sin in the world before the law.

That there was after the law was not at all doubtful.

The question stuck only on the time preceding the law.

It was therefore enough to prove that sin was in the world from Adam until the law.

Latin

Huic argumento accedat alterum hinc petitum, quod Apostolus non simpliciter dicit peccatum fuisse in mundo, sed addit ἄχρι νόμου, usque ad legem. Intelligit autem proculdubio legem Mosis, quam versu 20. praeterea ingressam ut abundaret peccatum docet. Itaque loco ἄχρι νόμου dixit versu sequente μέχρι Μωϋσέως, usque ad Mosen. Cur autem Apostolus illud usurpaviti usque ad legem, non usque ad Mosen? Nempe, ut verbis utar Calvini, dubitari poterat anne ante legem esset peccatum in mundo. Post legem fuisse minime dubium erat. Tantum haerebat quaestio in tempore legem praecedente. Satis igitur fuit probare peccatum fuisse in mundo ab Adam usque ad legem.

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.