FathersVia Patrum

On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §91

Cap. VIII: Chamier ἁμαρτωλούς; Martyr — no sinner by alien vice alone

Hear rather his predecessor Chamier. "This too must not be omitted: through one man's disobedience many were constituted sinners — sinners; Martyrence, he meant nothing else than that by that sin of Adam it was brought about that all human beings were truly sinners in themselves." And elsewhere: that Paul teaches original sin is numerically one in all is strikingly false. For against it stands: "Through one man's disobedience many were constituted sinners." In the same chapter: "A sinner is one who himself has his own sin, not one to whom an alien sin is imputed." Again: "In Adam we all sinned, because Adam first sinned, and from that the beginning of sin was made in all human beings; yet we also sin in ourselves, because by his sin we were constituted sinners — that is, sin was propagated from him into us. And by his disobedience we were all constituted sinners in the same way we are already truly sinners by our own; otherwise it would be false that we were constituted sinners by his disobedience." Elsewhere he says we were constituted sinners through Adam's disobedience not formally but causally, because it is the efficient cause of that quality by which we are formally sinners: "Just as," he says, "a gouty parent, or gout in the parent, is the cause of a gouty child, yet is not the child's gout." Hear also Peter Martyr arguing against them. "Here," he says, "we will note that when the Apostle says, 'Through one man's disobedience many were constituted sinners,' an argument is had from these words against those who think original sin is not each person's own, but that only one existed, and that it was in Adam, by which we are bound and obligated to death and damnation. For when they are said to be constituted sinners, they themselves must have sin, or at least have had it. For no one is called a sinner by an alien vice."

Latin

Audiamus ergo potius ejus Antecessorem Chamierum, Illud etiam non omittendum: per unius inobedientiam multos esse constitutos peccatores ἁμαρτωλούς; quod vocabulum in Scripturis sumitur pro iis in quibus est re vera peccatum contrarium legi Dei. Et paulo post. Uno verbo. Nunquam ἁμαρτωλὸς dicitur de simplici reatu, & absque ullo vitio aut peccato. Ergo, cum dixit Paulus multos esse constitutos peccatores per unius inobedientiam: NIHIL ALIUD intellexit, nisi eo Adami peccato effectum esse, ut omnes homines re vera, & in se se peccatores essent. Et alio loco, A Paulo autem doceri unicum esse numero in omnibus peccatum originale, hoc vero insigniter falsum. Nam contra. Per unius inobedientiam peccatores constituti sunt multi. Eodem capite. Peccator autem est, qui ipse habet peccatum suum: non autem cui alienum imputatur. Et rursus. In Adamo peccavimus omnes: quia Adamus primus peccavit: & inde initium factum peccati in omnibus hominibus: at in nobis etiam peccamus: quia ejus peccato constituti sumus peccatores: id est, ab eo in nos peccatum propagatum. Et illius inobedientia eodem modo sumus omnes constituti peccatores: quo nostra etiam propria jam vere sumus peccatores: alioqui falsum esset, nos illius inobedientia constitutos esse peccatores. Alio loco ait nos per inobedientiam Adami constitutos esse peccatores, non formaliter, sed causaliter, quia est causa efficiens qualitatis illius per quam sumus formaliter peccatores: Sicut, inquit, podagrici causa est parens podagricus, sive podagra in parente: quae tamen non est podagra filii. Audiamus etiam Petrum Martyrem contra argumentantem. Hic, inquit, annotabimus, cum Apostolus dicit, Per unius inobedientiam peccatores multos esse constitutos, ex his verbis argumentum haberi adversus eos, qui putant peccatum originis non esse cuique proprium: sed unum tantum extitisse, illudque fuisse in Adamo, quo nos nexi, obligati sumus ad mortem & damnationem. Quum enim dicantur peccatores constituti, oportet, ut ipsi aut peccatum habeant, aut saltem habuerint. Nam alieno vitio nemo dicitur peccator.

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.