Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Grace of the First Man
Chapter 9: That the immortality of the first man was supernatural, not natural
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. V, De Gratia Primi Hominis. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
Now that the immortality of the first man was supernatural, not natural, is the constant judgment of the holy Fathers. St. Augustine, book 6 On Genesis to the Letter, chapter 25: “It is one thing not to be able to die, another to be able not to die. According to a certain mode the first man was created immortal; which was furnished him from the tree of life, not from the constitution of his nature.” And a little after: “He was mortal, then, by the condition of his animal body; immortal by the benefit of the Creator.” Book 13 On the City of God, chapter 20 [al. 23], speaking of the immortality of the first human beings: “Which state was furnished them, by the wonderful grace of God, from the tree of life, which was in the midst of paradise together with the forbidden tree.” And book 1 On the Merits and Remission of Sins, chapter 4 [al. 3]: “If God granted to the garments and shoes of the Israelites that through so many years they were not worn out, what wonder if to man, being obedient, it should be granted by the power of the same, that, having an animal and mortal body, he should have in it a certain state whereby he would be full of years without decay, and, at the time God willed, would pass from mortality to immortality without intervening death? For as this very flesh which we now have is not therefore invulnerable because it is not necessary that it be wounded, so that flesh was not therefore mortal [read: was mortal] though it was not necessary that it die. Such a habitude, I think, was granted, while still in the animal and mortal body, even to those who have been translated hence without death; for neither did Enoch and Elijah wither with old age through so long an age.” In this place Augustine teaches in many ways that the body of our first parent was by its nature mortal, and only by the grace of the Creator immortal. First, because he compares the immortality of the first man with the garments and shoes of the Israelites, which in the wilderness through forty years were not worn out; and it cannot be doubted that those garments and shoes ought naturally to have decayed. Second, because he compares the state of the first man before sin with the state of Enoch and Elijah, who certainly have a mortal body, and one that will at some time die, although by divine grace it is preserved through the courses of so many ages. Third, because he says twice or thrice that the body of the first man was mortal, and would at some time pass from mortality to immortality without intervening death; and if it was mortal, certainly it was mortal by nature — unless one be so foolish as to ascribe the mortality of the first man to grace, and his immortality to nature. Fourth, because he says that that body was mortal, though it would never have died, in the way that our flesh is vulnerable, though it is not necessary that it be wounded. But our flesh is by nature vulnerable, though by diligent guarding it can come to pass that it is never wounded; therefore that body too was by nature mortal, but by divine grace it was to be that it should never die. St. Cyril, book 1 on John, chapter 15 [al. 9]: “Man, a rational animal, brought forth by God, since by his own nature he could not be incorruptible and perpetual, being sealed with the spirit of life obtained the good of immortality above his own nature.” The same judgment the scholastic theologians hold with the Master of the Sentences, book 2, distinction 19; and evident and sure reason also confirms it. For since the nature of man consists of contrary elements and humors, it has an intrinsic potency to corruption; hence immortality is to it beside nature, or rather above nature, and mortality natural. Besides, man in the state of innocence was capable of generation, since it was said to him, Genesis 1, Increase and multiply; therefore he was also corruptible by his own nature, though by the divine benefit it was to be that he should not be corrupted. Likewise in the state of innocence human nature needed food and drink, as is evident from chapter 1 of Genesis, where herbs and the fruits of trees are given for food both to man and to the other living creatures; but a body which needs food that it may be preserved, and which perishes if it be not nourished, is certainly convicted of being mortal by its own nature. Hither, finally, pertains that place of Scripture, Genesis 3, “dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return,” as we deduced above at the beginning of the disputation.
Someone will object the testimony of St. Augustine from book 13 On the City of God, chapter 15, where we read thus: “It is settled among Christians truly holding the Catholic faith that even this very death of the body was inflicted on us not by the law of nature, but by the desert of sin.” I answer: St. Augustine signifies by these words that the necessity of dying, which would have followed from the nature of man, was taken away through the grace of God; and that therefore the death which now reigns in us was inflicted not by the law of nature, but by the desert of sin. Second, there could be objected the testimony of the Second Council of Orange, canon 2, where those are said to give injustice to God who assert that men would have died though they had not sinned. For if death were natural to man, assuredly men could die without any injustice of God, as the other living creatures die without any injustice of God. I answer: if man had been created in pure naturals, he could indeed have died without any injustice of God; but because by the kindness of God the necessity of dying had been taken away from the nature of man, and changed into the wages of sin, it could not without injustice come to pass that man should die without any desert of fault. Besides, death, which for man created in pure naturals would have been a debt of nature, is now without doubt a punishment; and a punishment cannot be just unless fault preceded it. Wherefore he would now give injustice to God who said that man ends his life from the debt of nature, and not from the desert of sin. Lastly it could be objected that the rational soul is by nature immortal, and hence a body ought to have been given it which would be naturally immortal; and thereby immortality is natural to man, and mortality beside nature. I answer: to the rational soul, as it is immortal, an immortal body was most aptly congruent; yet because the same soul is the form of the body, there was simply to be assigned to it a body which would be apt for the functions which the same soul was to exercise in the body. Now the functions which we now exercise, and which would have been ours to exercise even in the state of innocence, require a body tempered of contrary humors and qualities; and from that tempering the necessity of dying naturally follows. And so, absolutely, the body of the first man had to be called mortal by its own nature, immortal through the grace of the Maker.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
fuisse , non naturalem. Jam vero primi hominis immortalitatem supernaturalem fuisse, non naturalem, con¬ stans est sanctorum Patrum sententia. S. Au¬ gustinus lib. vr. de Genes, ad litteram, cap. 25. « Aliud est, inquit, non posse mori, aliud posse non mori, secundum quemdam modum primus creatus est homo immortalis, quod ei praestabatur de ligno vitae, non de consti¬ tutione naturae. » Et paulo post : « Mortalis ergo erat conditione corporis animalis, im¬ mortalis autem beneficio conditoris. » Lib. xiii. de civitat. Dei, cap. xx. loqucns de iin- 493 • mortalitate primorum hominum : « Qui sta¬ tus, inquit, eis de ligno vitae, quod in medio paradisi cum arbore vetita simul erat, mira¬ bili Dei gratia praestabatur. » Et lib. i. de peccat, merit. et remiss. caip. iv. « Si Deus, inquit, Israelitarum vestimentis, et calcea¬ mentis praestitit, quod per tot annos non sunt obtrita, quid mirum si obedienti homi¬ ni ejusdem potentia praestaretur, ut animale, et mortale habens corpus, haberet in eo quemdam statum, quo sine defectu esset an¬ nosus tempore quo Deus vellet a mortalitate ad immortalitatem sine media morte ventu¬ rus ? Sicut enim haec ipsa caro, quam nunc habemus, non ideo non est vulnerabilis, quia non esse necesse, ut vulneretur, sic illa non ideo fuit mortalis, quia non erat necesse ut moreretur. Talem puto habitudinem adhuc in corpore animali, atque mortali etiam illis qui sine morte hinc translati sunt, fuisse con¬ cessam. Neque enim Henoch et Ilelias per tam longam mtatem senectute marcuerunt. Hoc loco multis modis docet Augustinus, ' primi nostri parentis corpus natura sua fuis¬ se mortale, sola autem gratia conditoris im¬ mortale. Primo, quia comparat immortalita¬ tem primi hominis cum vestimentis, et cal¬ ceamentis Israelitarum, quae in solitudine per annos quadraginta obtrita non sunt.Neque enim dubitari potest, quin ea, vestimenta et calceamenta naturaliter corrumpi debuerint . Secundo quia comparat statum primi homi¬ nis ante peccatum cum statu Henoch, et Ilelim, quos certum est corpus habere mor¬ tale, et aliquando moriturum, tametsi divina gratia per tot saeculorum curricula conserve¬ tur. Tertio, quia bis terve dicit, corpus primi hominis fuisse mortale, et a mortalitate ad immortalitatem quandoque sine media mor¬ te venturum. Quod si mortale erat, certe natura mortale erat, nisi quis ita desipiat, ut mortalitatem primi hominis adseribat gra- tife, immortalitatem naturae. Quarto, quia dicit, sic fuisse mortale corpus illud, quam¬ vis numquam moriturum, quemadmodum caro nostra vulnerabilis est, quamvis non sit eam necesse vulnerari. Caro autem nostra natura vulnerabilis est, sed diligenti custo¬ dia fieri potest, ut nunquam vulneretur : Igitur et illud corpus natura mortale erat, sed divina gratia futurum erat, ut nunquam moreretur, S. Cyrillus lib. i. in Joan. cap. 15 : <> Ra- (1) Psal. XC, 7; Psal. XC, 41. — (2) Gen. II, 40. 194 LIBER I. tionale, inquit, animal homo a Deo produ¬ ctus, quia natura sua incorruptibilis, atque perpetuus esse non poterat, spiritu vitae sig¬ natus immortalitatis bonum super naturam suam consecutus est. » Eamdem sententiam habent Theologi Scholastici cum Magistro scntent. lib ii. dist. 19. quam etiam ratio evidens, ac certa confirmat. Nam cum homi¬ nis natura ex contrariis elementis, atque hu¬ moribus constet, intrinsecam potentiam ad corruptionem habet : proinde immortalitas est ei praeter naturam, vel potius supra na¬ turam, mortalitas autem naturalis. Praeterea homo in statu innocentiae generabilis erat, cum ei dictum esset Genes, i : Crescite et mul¬ tiplicamini (1) : igitur et corruptibilis natura sua, quamvis divino beneficio futurum erat ut non corrumperetur. Item in statu inno¬ centiae natura humana cibo et potu indige¬ bat, ut perspicuum est ex cap. i. Genes, ubi dantur herbae, atque arborum fructus tum homini, tum animantibus caeteris in escam : At corpus, quod cibo indiget, ut conservetur, et si non alatur, perit, certe mortale natura sua esse convincetur. Huc denique pertinet locus illae Scripturae Genes. 3. « Pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris , ut supra initio dispu¬ tationis deduximus. Objiciet aliquis testimonium S. Augustini ex lib. xm. de civit. Dei, cap. 15. ubi sic legimus : « Constat inter Christianos veraci¬ ter Catholicam tenentes fidem, etiam ipsam nobis corporis mortem, non lege naturae, sed merito inflictam esse peccati. » Respondeo, significat his verbis S. Augustinus, morien¬ di necessitatem, quae ex natura hominis se¬ cutura erat, per Dei gratiam fuisse sublatam, et ideo mortem, quae nunc regnat in nobis, non lege naturae, sed merito inflictam esse peccati. Secundo posset objici testimonium Concilii II. Arausicani, canon. 2. ubi dicuntur inju¬ stitiam Deo dare, qui asserunt homines mori¬ turos fuisse, quamvis non peccassent. Nam si mors homini naturalis esset, profecto sine ulla Dei injustitia homines mori possent : quemadmodum animantia caetera sine ulla Dei injustitia moriuntur. Respondeo : Si in puris naturalibus homo fuisset conditus , po¬ tuisset utique sine ulla Dei justitia mori : quia vero Dei benignitate moriendi necessitas ab hominis natura sublata, et in peccati stipen¬ dium commutata fuerat : non potuit sine injustitia fieri, ut homo sine ullo culpae me¬ rito moreretur. Praeterea mors, homini in puris naturalibus condito natura debitum fuisset, nunc sine dubio poena est : Poena autem justa esse non potest, nisi quam culpa praecessit. Quare injustitiam nunc Deo daret, qui diceret homin6m ex naturae debito, non ex peccati merito vitam finire. Objici posset ultimo, Animam rationalem natura immortalem esse, proinde corpus illi dandum fuisse, quod esset naturaliter immor¬ tale, ac per hoc immortalitatem homini na¬ turalem esse, mortalitatem autem praeter naturam. Respondeo : Anima; rationali, qua immortalis est, corpus immortale aptissime congruebat : quia tamen eadem anima cor¬ poris forma est, simpliciter ei corpus attri¬ buendum fuit, quod esset aptum adfunctiones, quas eadem anima in corpore exercere debe¬ bat. Porro functiones, quas nunc exercemus, et quae nobis etiam in statu innocentia; exer¬ cenda; fuissent, requirunt corpus ex contra¬ riis humoribus et qualitatibus temperatum, ex qua temperatione moriendi necessitas na¬ turaliter sequitur. Itaque absolute corpus primi hominis natura sua mortale dici debuit per gratiam opificis immortale. CAPUT X. Paradisum terrestrem, corporalemque fuisse,