On the Virginal Conception, and On Original Sin: Chapter 9
ON THE VIRGINAL CONCEPTION, AND ON ORIGINAL SIN
on its own to possess the justice that it abandoned. Indeed, a soul that is weighed down by a corrupted body25 cannot even understand justice, and what does not understand justice cannot preserve or possess justice. Now if it can be shown that the seed received from the Virgin is free from these necessities, it will be clear that it did not contract any necessity of sin.
It can be easily demonstrated that that seed does not suffer from the necessity according to which human nature on its own cannot recover justice by its own power, and by which the body that is corrupted weighs down the soul, so that in its fully developed state it requires the help of grace to preserve the justice it has received, and in infancy it cannot even understand justice.We can show this on the basis of the personal unity of the assuming nature and the assumed nature, provided that we first exempt that seed from the necessity of making recompense for the sins of our first parents as well as those of its more immediate ancestors. Now if it can be understood to be free from the debt of our first parents, there will be no question that no debt accrues to it from its more immediate ancestors either. Therefore, with God's help I will try first to look for a way to make this evident, so that once I have demonstrated it, there will be no need to devote much effort to other matters.
Chapter 9 Why the sin by which the human race is damned is ascribed to Adam more than to Eve, even though he sinned after her and because of her
I think the first question that needs to be asked in this regard is why the sin by which the human race is damned is more often and more particularly ascribed to Adam than to Eve, even though she sinned first, and Adam sinned after her and because of her. For the Apostle says,"Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of the transgression of Adam."26
And many other passages seem to incriminate Adam rather than Eve.
This is done, I think, because the two of them are understood together in the name of the chief member of the couple, in the way that a whole is often signified by the part; or because Adam, together with his rib, could still be called 'Adam', even though his rib was fashioned into a woman—for we read that God "made them male and female and blessed them, and he called their name 'Adam' on the day in which they were created";27 or else because if only
Eve had sinned and not Adam,it would not have been necessary for the whole human race to perish but only for Eve. For God could have made another
25 Wisdom 9:15
26 Romans 5:14.
27 Genesis 5:2.