author of sin, if he gives a soul to flesh in which it must necessarily sin, or
408 The Literal Meaning of Genesis soul from above, without deriving it from his parents, then that would certainly have to be understood to apply to all the rest, even with scripture remaining silent about them.
The bearing on the matter ofa text to do with original sin, Romans 5:12 etc.
1 1 , 1 8. So now let us also consider another text, and see if it can be accommo dated to each of these opinions, without confirming either of them: the text where it is written: Through one man sin entered into this world and through sin death, and thus itpassed into all men, in whom all sinned (Rom 5:12); and a little later: just as through the offense of one to all men unto condemnation, so too through thejustification of one to all men unto thejustification of life. Forjust as through the disobedience of one man many have been constituted sinners, so too through the obedience of one shallmany be constitutedasjust (Rom 5:18-19).
Those, you see, who maintain that souls are propagated, strive to support their opinion from these words of the apostle like this: "If sin and sinner can be under stood as referring solely to the flesh," they say, "we are not obliged by these words to believe that the soul comes from one's parents. But if, while granting it is through the allurements of the flesh, it is still nonetheless only the soul that does the sinning, how are we to take what it says here: in whom all sinned, if the soul also has not been propagated, like the flesh, from Adam? Or how are people constituted sinners through his disobedience, if they were only in him as regards the flesh and not also as regards the soul?"
19. What we have to beware of, you see, is either making God appear to be the author of sin, if he gives a soul to flesh in which it must necessarily sin, or suggesting that there can be any soul besides that of Christ himself which is not in need of Christian grace to set it free, because it did not sin in Adam, if it is said that all sinned in him only as regards the flesh which has been created from him, not also as regards the soul. This is in fact directly opposed to the Church's faith, to the extent that it would mean parents hasten in vain12 even with tiny tots and infants to receive the grace of baptism; if it is from the bonds of a sin only affecting the flesh, not also the soul, that they are being absolved, the question naturally arises what harm it would do them if they departed from the body at that age without baptism.
After all, if by this sacrament care was being taken for their bodies, not also for their souls, they ought to be baptized even when they have died. But we see in fact that the Church everywhere holds that parents should hasten with their
12. Yet again, 1 emend a syntactically chaotic text, this time by assuming the addition of a single word, frustra. Without it, he would seem to be suggesting that it is contrary to the Church's faith for parents to hasten to get their small children and babies baptized. Of course, if there is one thing Augustine would never be suggesting, this is it.