Annotatio CLXXIX

”For behold, in iniquities was I conceived.” — Psalm 50:7

Theodoret, in the commentaries on the Psalms, upon the little verse of this Psalm, is believed to have been in the opinion of those who assert that the sin of origin, contracted from Adam, is simply¹ and in itself is not sin, but only the occasion and incitement of sin: which [occasion], if anyone repels it by the judgment of reason, he will be free from all sin; but if he consents to it, he will fall into sin, and be condemned to the punishment of sin. For his words written below hint at this in a certain manner — translated by us from the Greek exemplar: “David, therefore, does not accuse marriage, nor does he call the nuptial communion a transgression, as certain persons have imprudently presumed, thus understanding that [text], ‘In iniquities was I conceived, and in sins did my mother conceive me’: but he brings forth into the midst the transgression once dared of old by the first men, and says that this begot the fountain of these defluxions. For unless they had sinned, they would not have received death, which is the penalty of sin; but, being free from mortality, they would have been more powerful to conquer sin — for with incorruption there would have been also all impassibility; and, impassibility governing, there would have been no place for sin. But since they sinned, they were delivered to corruption; and, being made corruptible, they begot sons very like themselves — whom desires, fears, pleasures, griefs, anger, and envy pursued; and with these [passions], and with the things born from them, reason contends: which reason, if it shall have conquered, is honored, and is crowned with victorious crowns; but if conquered, it is punished with confusion and torn with penalties.” These things Theodoret repeats more openly in the exposition of the fifth chapter to the Romans; in the censures of which — [as to] what is said there — thou shalt see Annotation 236 of the following book.