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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Five — the state of innocence

QUESTION III. Whether Adam before sin ought to be said to have been mortal or immortal

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QUESTION III. Whether Adam before sin ought to be said to have been mortal or immortal.1

QUAESTIO III. Utrum Adam ante peccatum dici debeat fuisse mortalis, an immortalis.

Sed existit quaestio: cum Adam ante peccatum & secundum naturam suam fuerit mortalis, & singulari dono, ac munere Dei fuerit immortalis, utrum simpliciter dici debeat immortalis, an potius mortalis. Ponam hic primo sententiam beati Augustini: deinde ad quaestionem propositam scholastico more breviter, & distincte respondebo. Sic igitur in libro septimo de Genesi ad litteram, cap. 25 scribit Augustinus:
But the question arises: since Adam before sin was both mortal according to his own nature, and immortal by a singular gift and bounty of God, whether he ought to be called immortal simply, or rather mortal. I shall here set down first the opinion of blessed Augustine; then I shall answer the proposed question briefly and distinctly in the scholastic manner. Thus, then, in the seventh book On Genesis according to the Letter, chapter 25, Augustine writes:2

Adam's body before sin was both mortal, because it could die, and immortal, because it could not-die. For it is one thing not to be able to die, as God created certain immortal natures; but it is another thing to be able not to die, in which manner the first man was created immortal: which was bestowed on him from the tree of life, not from the constitution of his nature; from which tree he was separated when he had sinned, so that he could die; whereas, had he not sinned, he could have not-died. He was therefore mortal by the condition of his animal body, but immortal by the benefit of his Creator. For if the body was animal, then assuredly mortal, because it could indeed die; yet immortal too, on this account, because it could also not-die. For nothing will be immortal in the sense of being utterly unable to die except the spiritual body, which is promised to us as to be in the resurrection. And on this account that body was animal, and on this account mortal, which for the sake of justice would become spiritual; and on this account it was made wholly mortal because of sin—not 'mortal,' which it was even before, but 'dead,' which could have not come to pass, had man not sinned. Thus Augustine.3

Corpus Adami ante peccatum, & mortale erat quia poterat mori, & immortale quia poterat non mori. Aliud est enim non posse mori, sicut quasdam naturas immortales creavit Deus: aliud est autem posse non mori, secundum quem modum primus creatus est homo immortalis: quod ei praestabatur de ligno vitae, non de constitutione naturae: a quo ligno separatus est cum peccasset, ut posset mori: qui nisi peccasset, posset non mori. Mortalis ergo erat conditione corporis animalis, immortalis autem beneficio conditoris. Si enim corpus animale, utique mortale, quia & mori poterat; quamvis & immortale ideo, quia & non mori poterat. Neque enim immortale quod mori omnino non possit erit nisi spirituale, quod nobis futurum in resurrectione promittitur. Ac per hoc illud animale, & ob hoc mortale, quod propter iustitiam spirituale fieret: & ob hoc mortale omnimodo factum est propter peccatum non mortale, quod & antea erat, sed mortuum, quod posset non fieri, si homo non peccasset. Sic Augustinus.

Sed nos ad propositam quaestionem, multiplici adhibita distinctione, ita respondemus. Vox Immortalis, vel significat negationem actus moriendi, ut idem sonet atque non moriturus: & hac significatione, sine dubitatione dicendum est Adamum & fuisse, & vere potuisse appellari immortalem: si enim legi divinae paruisset, nunquam in mortem incurrisset. Hoc profecto indicavit Deus cum dixit Adamo, In quacunque die ex ea comederis, morte morieris. Si igitur nunquam comedisset, nunquam mortuus fuisset. Paulus quoque ad Romanos quinto, & auctor libri Sapientiae, capite secundo, affirmate pronuntiarunt mortem accidisse homini propter peccatum, & per invidiam diaboli; ipsum enim hominem factum esse a Deo inexterminabilem, vel ut Graeca verba significantius habent, In integritate & incorruptione, quod sane rationi admodum erat consentaneum.
But we, to the proposed question, with manifold distinction applied, answer thus. The word 'Immortal' either signifies the negation of the act of dying, so that it sounds the same as 'not-going-to-die': and in this signification it must be said without doubt that Adam both was, and could truly be called, immortal; for if he had obeyed the divine law, he would never have run into death. This God assuredly indicated when he said to Adam, 'On whatever day you eat of it, you shall die the death' (Gen. 2:17). If, therefore, he had never eaten, he would never have died. Paul too, to the Romans in the fifth chapter, and the author of the book of Wisdom in the second chapter, affirmatively declared that death befell man because of sin, and through the envy of the devil; for that man himself was made by God 'inexterminable,' or, as the Greek words have it more expressively, 'in integrity and incorruption'—which was indeed quite consonant with reason.4
Etenim status innocentiae, velut quaedam erat inchoatio futuri coelestis gloriae status, in quo praeter alia, tria sunt praecipua bona: consummatio gratiae, & impotentia peccandi, & impotentia moriendi: conveniens igitur erat, ut in statu innocentiae, si non consummata, copiosa certe daretur homini gratia: & si non impotentia moriendi & peccandi, saltem potentia non moriendi & non peccandi tribueretur.
For the state of innocence was, as it were, a certain inception of the future state of heavenly glory, in which, besides other things, there are three chief goods: the consummation of grace, the inability to sin, and the inability to die. It was fitting, therefore, that in the state of innocence, if not consummate grace, at least abundant grace should be given to man; and that, if not the inability to die and to sin, at least the ability not to die and not to sin should be bestowed.5
Vel potest vox Immortalis significare non actum moriendi, sed vel impotentiam moriendi, vel potentiam non moriendi. Si impotentiam moriendi significet, absolute & simpliciter non conveniebat Adamo, ut eventus ipse declaravit: mortuus enim est, ex suppositione tamen,
Or the word 'Immortal' can signify not the act of dying, but either the inability to die, or the ability not to die. If it signifies the inability to die, it did not belong to Adam absolutely and simply, as the outcome itself declared; for he did die—yet on a supposition,6
...ex suppositione tamen, ut loquuntur Theologi, poterat in eum competere: permanente enim statu innocentiae, & posita Dei voluntate ac decreto, ut Adam si legem sibi positam servaret nunquam moreretur, vere dici poterat hac ratione non posse mori, & ita sentit Bonaventura, quod nescio cur Scoto non placuerit, cum idem de praedestinato aliquo homine in scholis dici soleat, eum scilicet & posse damnari, & non posse damnari: simpliciter quidem & absolute posse damnari, ex suppositione autem, hoc est, prout iam est a Deo praedestinatus, non posse damnari.
...yet on a supposition, as the Theologians speak, it could apply to him: for, the state of innocence remaining, and the will and decree of God being posited that Adam, if he kept the law set for him, would never die, he could on this account truly be said unable to die; and so Bonaventure holds—which I do not know why it did not please Scotus, since the same is wont to be said in the schools of some predestined man, namely that he both can be damned and cannot be damned: simply and absolutely he can be damned, but on a supposition—that is, inasmuch as he is already predestined by God—he cannot be damned.7
Sin autem vox Immortalis significet potentiam non moriendi, ea potentia duplex cogitari potest: vel quae naturaliter & intrinsecus esset in Adamo, & hanc certe non habuit ille; vel quae adesset ei ex supernaturali Dei dono, & extrinsecus propter continuam Dei custodiam & protectionem. Denique potentia non moriendi vel fuit in Adamo ad certum aliquod dumtaxat tempus, quo nimirum exacto transferendus erat in statum aeternae vitae & coelestis gloriae, ita ut ultra illius temporis terminum defecisset Adam; vel habuit potentiam non moriendi in perpetuum. Nobis verisimilius fit, potentiam illam non moriendi quam habuit Adam, fuisse prioris generis: siquidem vera sunt quae nos in libro tertio quem de Paradiso inscripsimus, de vi & efficacitate arboris vitae disputavimus.
But if the word 'Immortal' signifies the ability not to die, that ability can be conceived as twofold: either one that would be naturally and intrinsically in Adam—and this assuredly he did not have; or one that would be present to him from the supernatural gift of God, and extrinsically, on account of God's continual keeping and protection. Finally, the ability not to die was in Adam either only for a certain definite time—at the expiry of which he was, of course, to be transferred into the state of eternal life and heavenly glory, so that beyond the term of that time Adam would have failed; or he had the ability not to die in perpetuity. To us it seems more probable that that ability not to die which Adam had was of the former kind: if indeed the things are true which we, in the third book which we entitled On Paradise, disputed concerning the power and efficacy of the tree of life.8
Quoniam autem divina Scriptura Adamum dicit fuisse inexterminabilem, & Patres dicere solent eum affectum esse dono immortalitatis & fuisse immortalem, idque multum facit ad pernoscendam differentiam huius nostri status, & illius status innocentiae in quo est a Deo creatus Adam: propter has causas videtur potius dicendum Adamum fuisse immortalem quam mortalem.
But since divine Scripture says that Adam was 'inexterminable,' and the Fathers are wont to say that he was endowed with the gift of immortality and was immortal, and since this contributes much to discerning thoroughly the difference between this state of ours and that state of innocence in which Adam was created by God: for these reasons it seems rather to be said that Adam was immortal than mortal.9

Translator’s notes

  1. Third question of the disputation on immortality. ↩
  2. Statement of QUAESTIO III. Citation: Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram, lib. VII, c. 25 (quoted in the following paragraph). ↩
  3. Verbatim quotation of Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram VII.25, distinguishing 'unable to die' (non posse mori) from 'able not to die' (posse non mori), and 'mortal' (mortale) from 'dead' (mortuum). Closes 'Sic Augustinus.' ↩
  4. Marginal gloss: 'Observanda huius vocis immortalis variae significationes' (The various significations of this word 'immortal' are to be noted). First sense of 'immortal' = negation of the act of dying. Citations: Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:12; Wisdom 2:23-24. The phrase 'In integritate & incorruptione' is Pererius's Latin rendering of the Greek of Wisdom 2:23 (ep' aphtharsiai); the Greek itself is NOT set in type here, so there is no glyph to magnify. ↩
  5. The state of innocence as an inchoatio (beginning) of celestial glory, whose three goods (consummate grace, impotentia peccandi, impotentia moriendi) are present in innocence in a lesser, conditional mode (abundant grace; potentia non moriendi/peccandi). ↩
  6. Second/third senses introduced: impotentia moriendi (inability to die) vs. potentia non moriendi (ability not to die). The 'inability to die' did not belong to Adam absolutely; sentence continues on the next page (catchword 'tamen'). ↩
  7. Marginal gloss: 'Bonaventura in 2. Sent. dist. 19. art. 2. q. 1.' Adam could be called 'unable to die' ex suppositione (on the supposition of persevering innocence + God's decree), parallel to the scholastic analysis of a predestined man who 'cannot' be damned ex suppositione. ↩
  8. Analysis of potentia non moriendi: not intrinsic but extrinsic (from God's gift and protection); and temporary (until translation to glory) rather than perpetual. Pererius favors the temporary reading, cross-referencing his own earlier book 'De Paradiso' on the tree of life. ↩
  9. Conclusion of QUAESTIO III: on balance Adam should rather be called immortal than mortal. ↩