Maurists, of CSEL, and presumably the other manuscripts. But here 1 think Augustine is
320 The Literal Meaning of Genesis from fruit trees could have been necessary for immortal and "enspirited" bodies? However, ifno other solution can be found it is better that we should opt for understanding Paradise in a spiritual sense, than that we should either think that man is not renewed, when scripture mentions this so often, or reckon that he has something restored to him which there is no indication that he ever lost. Add to this, that the very death of the man, which so much scriptural evidence agrees that he earned by his sin, indicates that he would have gone without dying if he had not sinned. So then, how was he mortal, if he was not going to die? Or how was he not mortal, if he only had an "ensouled" body?
22, 33. For this reason some people consider that it was not the death of the body which he earned by sin, but the death of the soul, which iniquity brings about.29 They believe, you see, that because of his "ensouled" body, he would have departed this body, to the rest, that is, which is enjoyed by the saints who have already fallen asleep, and at the end of the world would receive back the same organism in immortal form. What this means is that the death of the body would have occurred, apparently, from natural causes as with other animals, not from sin. But the apostle again opposes these people, and says: The body indeed is dead because of sin, while the spirit is life because ofjustice. But ifthe Spirit of him who raised up Christfrom the dead dwells in you, the one who raised up Christ from the dead will also raise up your mortal bodies through his Spirit dwelling in you (Rom 8: 10-1 1). And thus the death of the body too comes from sin. So then, if Adam had not sinned he would not have died in the body either, and accordingly he would have had an immortal body too. So the question remains, in what way immortal, if merely "ensouled"?
23, 34. But again, those who think that his body was changed in Paradise, to become "enspirited" from being merely "ensouled," fail to see that if he had not sinned, there was nothing to prevent him after life in Paradise, which he would have lived obediently and justly, from receiving this very same change of body for eternal life, where he would no longer be needing bodily, material food. So why should we be necessarily obliged, just for this reason, to understand Para dise in a figurative and not a proper historical sense, because the body would not be able to die, except for sin? It is indeed true that he would not have died even in the body, unless he had sinned; the apostle in fact says in so many words: the body is dead because of sin ( 1 Cor 1 5:45). All the same, it could still be merely "ensouled" before his sin, and after a life lived justly be "enspirited" when God willed.
29. Reading/acir with one manuscript, instead offecit, "brought about," which is the reading of the Maurists, of CSEL, and presumably the other manuscripts. But here 1 think Augustine is making, or quoting "some people" as making, the general statement applying to all iniquity, rather than a particular one which only applies to Adam's sin; they are fitting that sin into a general category. The change from one to the other, by copyists or stenographers, could have come about as easily in either direction.