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Chapter
XL.
But as he asserts that “the Mosaic narrative
most impiously represents God as in a state of weakness from the very
commencement (of things), and as unable to gain over (to obedience)
even one single man whom He Himself had formed,” we say in answer
that the objection3869 is much the same as
if one were to find fault with the existence of evil, which God has not
been able to prevent even in the case of a single individual, so that
one man might be found from the very beginning of things who was
born into the world untainted by sin. For as those whose business
it is to defend the doctrine of providence do so by means of arguments
which are not to be despised,3870 so also the
subjects of Adam and his son will be philosophically dealt with by
those who are aware that in the Hebrew language Adam signifies man; and
that in those parts of the narrative which appear to refer to Adam as
an individual, Moses is discoursing upon the nature of man in
general.3871
3871 φυσιολογεῖ
Μωϋσῆς τὰ
περὶ τοῦ
ἀνθρώπου
φύσεως. | For “in
Adam” (as the Scripture3872
3872 Cf. 1
Cor. xv. 22 with Rom. v. 14. | says) “all
die,” and were condemned in the likeness of Adam’s
transgression, the word of God asserting this not so much of one
particular individual as of the whole human race. For
in the connected series of statements which appears to apply as to one
particular individual, the curse pronounced upon Adam is regarded as
common to all (the members of the race), and what was spoken with
reference to the woman is spoken of every woman without
exception.3873
3873 οὐκ ἔστι
καθ᾽ ἧς οὐ
λέγεται. | And the
expulsion of the man and woman from paradise, and their being clothed
with tunics of skins (which God, because of the transgression of men,
made for those who had sinned), contain a certain secret and mystical
doctrine (far transcending that of Plato) of the souls losing its
wings,3874
3874 πτεροῤῥυούσης.
This is a correction for πτεροφυούσης,
the textual reading in the Benedictine and Spencer’s edd. | and being borne
downwards to earth, until it can lay hold of some stable
resting-place.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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