On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §99

Cap. IX: Responsio 2 — ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν softens bold Levi speech; not Adam-imputation foundation

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

The second reply, then, as he reports it, is this: the Apostle, foreseeing that what he was about to say about Levi's being tithed in Abraham would seem harsh, forestalled the point by saying, "In Abraham even Levi himself was tithed" — ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, "so to speak." Softening of that kind is used only where the speech is bolder, or more unusual, than one may press hard, or draw a conclusion from by reasoning. This, then, must not be twisted so that from it one gathers that Adam's sin is imputed to all, or so that it is laid under as a foundation for a matter which, of itself, is either obscure, or altogether takes away its own credit.

Latin

Responsio igitur secunda, eo referente, est, Apostolum, quia praevidebat fore, ut durum videretur, quod dicturus erat de decimatione Levi in Abrahamo, praeoccupasse dicendo, In Abrahamo decimatus est & ipse Levi, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, ut ita loquar. Quae ratio molliendi non usurpatur, nisi ubi locutio audacior est, aut inusitatior, quam ut eam liceat urgere vehementius, aut ex ea quippiam colligere ratiocinando. Hoc igitur non debet eo traduci, ut inde colligatur peccatum Adami omnibus imputari, aut ut tanquam fundamentum substernatur rei, quae ipsa per se vel obscura est, vel omnino fidem ipsa sibi derogat.

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.