De natura et gratia libri III, cum Apologia contra Catharinum

1. If anyone does not confess that the first man Adam, when he had transgressed the commandment of God in paradise, immediately lost the holiness and justice in which he was created, and incurred through the offense of this transgression the wrath and indignation of God, and thus death, which God had previously threatened to him, and with death captivity under the power of him who from then on had the empire of death, that is, the devil, and that the whole Adam, and thus we, through that offense of transgression, were changed for the worse according to body and soul, let him be anathema.

2. If anyone asserts that the transgression of Adam harmed only him and not also others and his posterity, and that he lost the holiness and justice received from God not for us but for himself alone, and that he, being polluted by the sin of disobedience, transmitted only death and the punishments of the body to the whole human race, and that according to the common law, but not also the sin, to which both deaths were owed as punishment, namely of the body and of the soul, let him be anathema. Since he contradicts the Apostle saying, Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and so death passed into all men, in whom all have sinned.

3. If anyone asserts that this disease of original sin, which is one in origin and resides in us diffused by propagation, not by imitation, proper to each one, is removed either by the powers of human nature or by any other remedy than by the merit of the one Lord our Jesus Christ, who reconciled us to God in his blood, being made for us sanctification, justice, and redemption: or denies that the same merit is applied to us through faith and the sacrament of baptism, let him be anathema. For to him all the prophets bear witness that all who believe in him receive remission of sins through his hand, and that there is no other name under heaven given to men, in which we must be saved. Hence that voice, Behold the lamb of God, behold he who takes away the sins of the world, and that, Whoever of you have been baptized, have put on Christ.

4. If anyone denies that infants newly come from their mothers' wombs are to be baptized, even if they were born of baptized parents, or says that they are indeed baptized for the remission of sins, but that they draw nothing from Adam of original sin which must be expiated by the laver of regeneration to obtain eternal life, whence it follows that in them the form of baptism for the remission of sins is understood not to be true but false, let him be anathema. For that which the Apostle says, Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and so death passed into all men, in whom all have sinned, must not be understood otherwise than as the Catholic Church spread everywhere has always understood it. For on account of this rule of faith from the tradition of the Apostles, even infants, who have as yet been able to commit no sins in themselves, are therefore truly baptized for the remission of sins, so that what they contracted by generation may be cleansed in them by regeneration. For unless one is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Imitating this norm of faith and of the holy Fathers, this holy Synod confesses and declares that in baptism, through the grace of Jesus Christ, which it confers and contains, not only is the guilt of original sin remitted, but all that which has the true and proper nature of sin is taken away.

5. If anyone therefore denies that through the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord, which is conferred in baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted: or also asserts that all that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away, but says that it is only shaved off: or that it is not imputed, let him be anathema. For in those who are reborn God hates nothing, because there is nothing of condemnation for those who are truly buried together with Christ through baptism into death, who do not walk according to the flesh, but putting off the old man, and putting on the new, who was created according to God: they have been made innocent, spotless, pure, harmless, and beloved of God, heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ, so that nothing at all delays them from the entrance of heaven. But that concupiscence, or tinder, remains in the baptized, this holy Synod confesses and holds, which, since it has been left for the struggle, cannot harm those who do not consent and who manfully resist through the grace of Jesus Christ; indeed, he who has fought lawfully will be crowned. This concupiscence, which the Apostle sometimes calls sin, the holy Synod declares that the Catholic Church has never understood to be called sin in the sense that it is truly and properly sin in those who are reborn, but because it is from sin and inclines to sin. If anyone however thinks the contrary, let him be anathema.