Sentences, Books I–II

Chapter 1 (110).

1. On man's first state before sin, namely what he was like in body and soul. Many questions are usually asked about man's first state before sin: what man was like before he sinned, both in body and soul; whether he was mortal or immortal, passible or impassible; the limit of earthly life and the passage to the higher life; the manner in which children would be propagated; and many other matters. These are not useless to know, although at times they are asked from curiosity.

Apparatus: 2 sed] potentialiter sed add. BC, potentialiter vel add. sed exp. R. 25–26 Rubrica om. MTVW. 5 Gennadii] Gignasius OPX, om. N.

1 Lib. IX, cc. 17–18, nn. 31–34 (PL 34, 406s; CSEL 28-I, 290–293); unde et num. 3 infra. 2 Resp. Num. 17, 8. 3 Cf. Gen. 18, 10–14; 21, 2; Luc. 1, 13–25. 4 Resp. Num. 22, 28. 5 August., De Genesi ad litt., lib. VII et X (PL 34, 54), et Epistola 166 (ad Hieron.), cc. 1–2 (PL 33, 720ss; CSEL 44, 455–554), et Epist. 190 (ad Optatum), cc. 1–2 (PL 33, 857ss; CSEL 57, 137–144). Auctoritates plures apud P. Abaelardum, Sic et non, c. 115 (PL 178, 1513ss).

1 Cf. DS nn. 360–361, 403, 456, 685. 2 Liber sive definitio eccl. dogmatum, c. 14 (PL 42, 1216). 3 Contra Ioan. Hierosol., n. 22 (PL 23 [1845], 373 A); cf. Epist. 126 (ad Marcellinum et Anapsychiam), n. 1 (PL 22 [1859], 1086; CSEL 56, 143s); Ps-Hieron. (i. e. Pelagius), Libellus fidei, n. 9 (PL 45, 1718). 4 Ps. 32, 15.

Chapter 7, nos. 1 and 4: From Summa sententiarum II.3 (PL 171, 1121 B; 176, 94 B); compare also the Master’s Gloss on Psalm 32:15 (PL 191, 334 A). Chapter 1, no. 1: From Hugh, On the Sacraments I.6.11 (PL 176, 270 B); compare also Summa sententiarum III.4 (PL 171, 1121 C; 176, 94 B). Then no. 3 is from the same work, I.6.18 (PL 176, 275 B–C).

2. Before proceeding to matters pertaining to the soul, he says what man was like before sin in body, and considers certain other matters*. Before we proceed with matters pertaining to the quality of the soul, let us examine his bodily condition, the manner in which children would be propagated, and certain other matters.

3. In the first state, before sin, man was mortal and immortal in body; in the second state, after sin, he was mortal and subject to death; in the third state he will be wholly immortal, that is, unable to die*. The first man, according to the nature of his earthly body, was in a certain way immortal in one respect, because he could avoid death; and in a certain way mortal, because he could die. In that first state he had the capacity to die and the capacity not to die; this was the first immortality of the human body, namely the capacity not to die. In the second state, after sin, he had the capacity to die and not the capacity not to die, because in this state there is a necessity of dying. In the third state he will have the capacity not to die and the impossibility of dying, because the impossibility of dying belongs to that state; this will come from grace, not from nature.

Chapter 2 (111).

1. How man is said to have been made a living soul. In the first state man's body was animal, that is, in need of nourishment from food. Hence man is said to have been made a living soul,¹ not a spiritual one—that is, into a soul that gives sensation to a body that was still animal, not spiritual, and needed food in order to live through the soul. Therefore he was made a living soul, that is, one giving life to the body, though by means of food's support. At that time the body was mortal and immortal, because it could die and could avoid death. After sin, however, it became dead, as the Apostle says:² The body is dead because of sin, that is, it has within itself the necessity of dying.

Chapter 3 (112).

2. At the resurrection it will be spiritual, namely agile and in need of no food, and immortal: not merely as it was in the first state, in that it could avoid death, but also in that it will be unable to die. Hence Augustine, On Genesis¹: “The Apostle says:² The body is dead because of sin, and so forth. At first the body was formed from the earth's dust as an animal body, not a spiritual one like the body with which we shall rise. For we shall be renewed from our old state, not into an animal body like the one we had, but into something better, that is, spiritual, when this mortal body puts on immortality³—the state into which Adam was to be changed, had he not deserved the death of the body of animal life by sinning. The Apostle did not say:⁴ The body is mortal because of sin, but dead.”

3. Before sin the human body was mortal and immortal*. “Before sin it was both mortal and immortal, because it could die and not die. It is one thing to be unable to die, another to be able not to die. Therefore through sin it became not mortal, as it had been, but dead, which would not have happened unless it had sinned. For this body is no longer animal as the first man's was, but has become worse: it has the necessity of dying.” Here Augustine clearly shows that before sin man's body was mortal and immortal, but not in the way it will be at the resurrection.

4. In what sense the body is called dead*. On this same subject Bede says in his Commentary on Genesis⁶: “One must not believe that before sin bodies were dead in the way they are now. For the Apostle says:⁷ The body is dead because of sin. Although they were animal and not yet spiritual, they were not dead in the sense that they necessarily had to die.”

Apparatus (p. 422): 8 scilicet] id est BCX. 9 igitur om. NVX. 10 secundum aliquid om. LMTVWX. 14 peccatum] scilicet add. MNT.

Apparatus (p. 423): 2 statu primo trp. LNR. 6 resurgemus] et add. BCOP, quod exp. P. Renovabimur] renovabitur BCOPRX, corr. ex renovabitur N. 8 induet] induerit NTV, corr. in induerit R. 15 per] propter BCR. 16 peccaret] peccasset T (Aug., Gloss). 20 Rubrica om. BWX. 23 animalia] et add. LMNTV.

1 Gen. 2, 7; I Cor. 15, 44–45: Seminatur corpus animale, surget corpus spirituale ... Scriptum est: Factus est primus homo Adam in animam viventem. 2 Rom. 8, 10.

1 Lib. VI, c. 19, n. 30; cc. 23–24, nn. 34–36 (PL 34, 351, 353s; CSEL 28-I, 192s, 196s). 2 Rom. 8, 10. 3 I Cor. 15, 54. 4 Resp. Rom. 8, 10. 5 August., De Genesi ad litt., VI, cc. 25–26 (PL 34, 354; CSEL 28-I, 197s). 6 In Gen. 2, 18 (PL 91, 48 C; CCL 118A, 53); ex August., De Genesi ad litt., IX, c. 10, n. 16 (PL 34, 399; CSEL 28-I, 278). 7 Rom. 8, 10.

No. 1: Summa sententiarum III.4 (PL 171, 1121 D–1122 A; 176, 94 D); Master’s Gloss on Rom. 8:10 (PL 191, 1436 C); Master on 1 Cor. 15:44–45 (PL 191, 1687 B, 1687 D–1688 A); Anselm of Laon, Book of Pancrisis, no. 41 (O. Lottin, Psychology and Morality, V, 37). No. 2: Augustine, Ordinary Gloss on Gen. 2:7 (Lyra I, 35c–d; v 16b–c).

Chapter 3, no. 1: same Gloss on Genesis (35d; v 16c). No. 2: Ordinary Gloss on Gen. 2:17 (Lyra I, 37d; v 20d).

Chapter 4 (113).

1. Whether the immortality he had before sin belonged to the condition of nature or came from the gift of grace. Since the first man had a body that was both mortal and immortal, it is customary to ask here whether he had both by the condition of the body's nature, or whether one of them—immortality, that is, the capacity not to die—was a benefit of grace.

2. The reply: one belonged to the condition of nature, namely the capacity to die; the other came from the gift of grace, namely the capacity not to die*. One may reply that he had one in the body's nature, namely the capacity to die; the other, the capacity not to die, came to him from the tree of life, that is, from the gift of grace. Hence Augustine, On Genesis¹: “In a certain way man was created immortal, an immortality that came to him from the tree of life, not from the condition of nature. He was mortal by the condition of his animal body, immortal by the benefit of the Creator. For that was not immortal which could not die at all; this will be so only when it is spiritual.” He says plainly that the capacity not to die came not from nature but from the tree of life.

3. Some say that if Adam did not use the tree of life, he would not live forever, because he would sin*. For this reason some² say that unless he used that tree, he would not live forever, because he would sin. He would sin if he did not use that tree, since he was commanded to eat from every tree in paradise except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.³ Therefore, just as he sinned by eating what was forbidden, so too he would sin if he did not eat what was commanded.

Chapter 5 (114).

1. If there had been no command to eat from that tree and he used the others, could he have avoided dying? But it is still asked: if there had been no command to eat from the tree of life, and he ate from the others but not from that one, could he have avoided dying? If he would live forever without using that tree, the capacity not to die did not come to him from that tree; but if he could not live forever, that capacity came to him from the tree.

2. The opinion of some who say that he could avoid dying even if he did not eat from that tree, provided he used the others*. Some say that if he had not been commanded to eat from that tree, and ate from the others but not from it, he would live forever. They thus interpret what Augustine said above,¹ namely, “It came to him from the tree of life, not from the condition of nature,” as meaning only this: it came to him not from the condition of nature alone, but also from that tree.

3. Others assert that the capacity not to die and to live forever came to him from that tree*. Others² think that the capacity not to die came to him from the tree of life, not from nature; for he is said to have been able not to die because he could use that tree, eating from which he would not die.

Chapter 6 (115).

1. Augustine's question: how man was made immortal. Concerning this immortality of man and its nature, Augustine, On Genesis,³ raises the question and says: “It is asked how man was made immortal in comparison with the other animals, and how he received nourishment in common with them.”

2. He begins to solve it*. “But the immortality of the flesh that we received in Adam is one thing, and that which we hope for through Christ in the resurrection is another. That man was made immortal so that he could not die if he did not sin, but would die if he sinned; the children of the resurrection, however, will be able neither to sin nor to die any longer. Our flesh then will have no need of refreshment from food, because no …”

Apparatus: 5 habuerit] habuit CLOPR. 12 det] ex CMV. 7 vesci] de add. BNVW. 12–13 Rubrica om. LVW. 24 non posset trp. NVW. 26 quia] tunc add. TW, add. interl. L.

1 Lib. VI, c. 25 (PL 34, 354; CSEL 28-I, 197). 2 Sententiam similem, sed non penitus eandem tenet Summa sent., III, 4: «Ad quod dicimus quod non solum peccarent si de ligno vetito comederent, sed etiam si concessis non uterentur ... In hoc enim facerent contra naturae rationem» (PL 171, 1122 D; 176, 95 C). Vide infra, c. 6, num. 2; et Dist. 24, c. 4, num. 5 (p. 430s). 3 Resp. Gen. 2, 16–17.

1 Scil. in cap. 4, n. 2 (p. 424). 2 Ita Hugo, De sacram., I, 6, 18 (PL 176, 275 D–276 A). 3 Immo Beda, In Gen. 1, 29–30 (PL 91, 32 B–D; CCL 118A, 30s). Vide aliam notam infra.

Chapter 4, no. 1: Augustine, Ordinary Gloss on Gen. 2:1 (Lyra I, 35a; v 16a) and Gen. 2:17 (Lyra I, 37d; v 20d). No. 2: Augustine, Ordinary Gloss on Gen. 2:1 (Lyra I, 35a; v 16a); Hugh, On the Sacraments I.6.18.

Chapter 6, no. 1: Bede, In Genesim; manuscript v, f. 12c; Lyra I, 28a; A. Landgraf, The Position of Early Scholasticism on Peter Lombard’s Scientific Method, Collect. Franc. 4 (1934), 519. It could be a deficiency. Adam’s flesh before sin was created immortal in such a way that, sustained by nourishment, it would be free from death and pain. Thus the human flesh was created immortal and incorruptible so that it might preserve its immortality and incorruptibility by observing God’s commandments. (Note that among the precepts given by God to the first man was this: he should eat from every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil *.) These commandments included eating from the permitted trees and abstaining from the forbidden one 1; through food from these trees he would preserve the gifts of immortality until, brought by bodily growth to the age pleasing to the Creator and with his offspring multiplied, he should, at God’s command, eat from the tree of life. Having thereby become perfectly immortal, he would no longer need food for sustenance».

3. He briefly sums up the sense of the foregoing words *. Behold, by these words Augustine seems to teach that the flesh of the first man possessed an immortality that was to be preserved by food until the time of its translation to a better state, when he would eat from the tree of life and become wholly immortal, so that he could not die.

4. From what has been said it seems to follow that, by the condition of his nature, man was in a certain way immortal, but would not become wholly immortal without sharing in the tree of life. For this reason some 2 say that he had immortality by nature, by which he could avoid dying and which could be preserved by eating from the other trees; but it could be brought to completion only by partaking of the tree of life. — Augustine seems to hold this view in On the Literal Meaning of Genesis 3, saying: «I add this too: that tree provided such food as would strengthen the human body with lasting health—not as other food does, but through a hidden infusion of health». Here he seems to suggest that the body could be sustained by other foods as well, while by this food it would be strengthened with unfailing health. — It therefore seems to follow that, just as man had within his nature a certain mortality, namely the capacity to die, so he had within his nature some immortality, that is, the capacity not to die when helped by food; but if he had remained, the perfection of immortality would have come to him from the tree of life.

5. But those who teach this should carefully inquire how it does not contradict Augustine’s preceding words, in which he says that man was immortal by means of the tree of life.