Death through Adam, Life through Christ
…by the old charges, and our sin is not washed away. In vain, too, did the inspired singer say, “Lord, you were pleased with your land; you forgave your people their iniquities; you covered all their sins” (Psalm 85:1–2); and again, “Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin” (Psalm 32:1–2). And yet the blessed Paul says, in his Letter to the Romans, that the blessing spoken in these words reaches both the circumcision and those from the Gentiles (Romans 4:9). For we have been justified in Christ, “who was handed over for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25).
“Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (1 Corinthians 15:18). For it seems they have been deceived and have laid down their lives for him without reward, if Christ has not been raised. If the hope of the saints is not full of immortality, if they do not look to reign with him, then perhaps they have perished; and since they endured even death itself for nothing of use, their labors have brought them only loss. Away with such dreadful ignorance! For “the dead shall rise, and those in the tombs shall be raised,” as the prophet says (Isaiah 26:19); and he who hands out the crowns weighs out to each the one most fitting for him, and he will surely bring punishment on the ungodly; for as God he is the judge of all.
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” and so on (1 Corinthians 15:20). From here he takes it as agreed that we must believe that Christ came to life again and became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, the first of those on earth to trample down death, just as our forefather Adam was the first to step into it and became the firstfruits of those who slipped into corruption. And that the resurrection of the dead will follow the resurrection of our Savior he adds when he says, “For as death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man” (1 Corinthians 15:21).
See how he shows once more that the mystery of the dispensation in the flesh is full of a skill worthy of God. For it was needful, truly needful, he says, that a man should conquer death for us. For this reason God the Word, who shone forth from God, did not take hold of angels, as Paul himself says, but of the seed of Abraham, so that he might be made like his brothers in every way (Hebrews 2:16–17). For, as I said, what had fallen sick had to be healed, and what had fallen had to rise. What had come under death through transgression and sin had to overcome death through obedience and righteousness. That is why the Only-begotten Word of God, who knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), became man: so that, as in Adam we have all been condemned, when human nature suffered death, so also, justified in Christ, we might strip off, together with sin, the death that sprang from it. The inspired Paul himself will bear witness, saying, “For as by the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners” (Romans 5:19).
So, as in Adam all die (1 Corinthians 15:22), since, as I said, human nature was condemned in him because of the transgression, so in Christ they will be made alive, since in him human nature is blessed again in the same way because of the justification. The second, then, is the undoing of the first. For “he was handed over for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25). So when he was raised, we too were raised with him. For the Word who is from God is Life by nature; and he surely does not give the good that belongs to his nature, I mean life, to his own flesh alone, but passes it on to the whole of human nature.
Christ, as all agree, has been raised as the firstfruits, “so that he himself might have first place in all things” (Colossians 1:18), as it is written. Yet in due time the others will follow in coming to life again, though, as is fitting, not in a confused mass, but in order, rank by rank, and as at a word of command (compare 1 Thessalonians 4:16). For after the firstfruits, that is, Christ, he says, those who are his will be raised (1 Corinthians 15:23). Clearly he means those who belong to the time…
Greek
τοῖς ἀρχαίοις ἐγκλήμασιν, ἀναπόνιπτον ἔχομεν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν· μάτην καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος 21 ἔφη μελῳδός "Εὐδόκησας κύριε τὴν γῆν σοῦ, ἀφῆκας τὰς "ἀνομίας τῷ λαῷ σου, ἐκάλυψας πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας "αὐτῶν·" καὶ πάλιν "Μακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι, "καὶ ὧν ἐπεκαλύφθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι· μακάριος ἀνὴρ ᾧ οὐ "μὴ λογίσηται Κύριος ἁμαρτίαν·" καίτοι τὸν ἔν γε τούτοις μακαρισμὸν ἐπί τε τὴν περιτομὴν καὶ τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν κατευρύνεσθαι, φησὶν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους· δεδικαιώμεθα γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ, "Ὃς παρεδόθη διὰ τὰ παρα"πτώματα ἡμῶν καὶ ἠγέρθη διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν ἡμῶν." Ἄρα καὶ οἱ κοιμηθέντες ἐν Χριστῷ ἀπώλοντο. Ἠπάτηνται γὰρ ὡς ἔοικεν καὶ ἀμισθὶ τεθείκασιν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν, εἴ γε μὴ ἐγήγερται Χριστός· εἰ μὴ ἀθανασίας ἐστὶ πλήρης τῶν ἁγίων ἡ ἐλπὶς, εἰ μὴ προσδοκῶσι συμβασιλεύειν αὐτῷ, ἀπολώλασι τάχα που, καὶ ἐπ' οὐδενὶ τῶν χρησίμων καὶ αὐτὸν ἀνατλάντες τὸν θάνατον ζημίαν ἔχουσι πόνων· ἄπαγε τῆς οὕτω δεινῆς ἀμαθίας· "ἀναστήσονται "γὰρ οἱ νεκροὶ, καὶ ἐγερθήσονται οἱ ἐν τοῖς μνημείοις," κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴν, καὶ ταλαντεύει ἑκάστῳ τὸ ὅτι 303 μάλιστα πρέπον αὐτῷ τῶν στεφάνων ὁ διανομεὺς, ἐποίσει δὲ πάντως τοῖς δυσσεβοῦσιν τὴν κόλασιν· κρίτης γάρ ἐστιν τῶν ὅλων ὡς Θεός. Νυνὶ δὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων ἐγένετο κ.τ.λ. ∆έχεται λοιπὸν ὡς ὁμολογούμενον τὸ χρῆναι πιστεύειν, ὡς ἀνεβίω μὲν Χριστὸς, καὶ γέγονεν ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων, πρῶτος τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς πατήσας τὸν θάνατον· καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ ὁ προπάτωρ Ἀδὰμ πρῶτος εἰς αὐτὸν ἐμβέβηκεν, καὶ γέγονεν ἀπαρχὴ τῶν ὠλισθηκότων εἰς φθοράν· ἕψεται δὲ ὅτι τῇ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀναστάσει καὶ ἡ τῶν νεκρῶν, προσεπάγει λέγων Ὥσπερ γὰρ δι' ἀνθρώπου θάνατος καὶ δι' ἀνθρώπου ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν. ἄθρει δὲ ὅπως τῆς μετὰ σαρκὸς οἰκονομίας τὸ μυστήριον θεοπρεποῦς ἀνάμεστον εὐτεχνίας ἀποφαίνει πάλιν· ἔδει γὰρ ἔδει, φησὶν, ἄνθρωπον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν νικῆσαι τὸν θάνατον· ταύτης τε ἕνεκα τῆς αἰτίας ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ πεφηνὼς Θεὸς Λόγος, οὐκ ἀγγέλων ἐπελάβετο, καθά φησιν αὐτὸς, ἀλλὰ σπέρματος Ἁβραὰμ, ἵνα κατὰ πάντα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ὁμοιωθῇ· ἔδει γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, θεραπεύεσθαι τὸ ἠῤῥωστηκὸς, ἀναστῆναι τὸ πεπτωκός· ἔδει καταθλῆσαι θανάτου δι' ὑπακοῆς καὶ δικαιοσύνης τὸ ὑπ' αὐτῷ γεγονὸς διὰ παραβάσεως καὶ ἁμαρτίας· ταύτῃ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος οὐκ εἰδὼς ἁμαρτίαν ὁ Μονογενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ἵν' ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ πάντες κατακεκρίμεθα, τῆς ἀνθρώπου φύσεως παθούσης τὸν θάνατον, οὕτω καὶ δικαιωθέντες ἐν Χριστῷ συναποδυσόμεθα τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ τὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀναφύντα θάνατον. 304 καὶ μαρτυρήσει λέγων αὐτὸς ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος "Ὥσπερ "γὰρ διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἁμαρτωλοὶ κατ"εστάθησαν οἱ πολλοί." οὐκοῦν ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ πάντες ἀποθνήσκουσι, καταδεδικασμένης ὡς ἔφην ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς φύσεως διὰ τὴν παράβασιν, οὕτως ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ ζωοποιηθήσονται, πάλιν εὐλογουμένης ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς φύσεως κατὰ τὸν ἴσον τρόπον διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν. λύσις οὖν ἄρα τῶν πρώτων τὰ δεύτερα· "Παρεδόθη γὰρ διὰ τὰ παραπτώματα ἡμῶν καὶ ἠγέρθη διὰ "τὴν δικαίωσιν ἡμῶν·" ἐγηγερμένῳ δὴ οὖν συνεγηγέρμεθα καὶ ἡμεῖς· ζωὴ γάρ ἐστι κατὰ φύσιν ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγος· οὐχὶ δήπου μόνῃ τῇ ἰδίᾳ σαρκὶ τὸ τῆς αὐτοῦ φύσεως ἀγαθὸν δωρούμενος, φημὶ δὴ τὴν ζωὴν, ἀλλ' εἰς ὅλην αὐτὸ παραπέμπων τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσιν. ἐγήγερται μὲν γὰρ ὁμολογουμένως ὡς ἀπαρχὴ Χριστὸς, "ἵνα γένηται ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς "πρωτεύων," κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· ἕψεται γεμὴν ἐν καιρῷ τὸ ἀναβιῶναι τοὺς ἄλλους, πλὴν κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς οὐ χύδην, ἀλλ' ἐν κόσμῳ τε καὶ διακεκριμένως καὶ οἷον ἐν κελεύσματι. μετὰ γάρ τοι τὴν ἀπαρχὴν, τουτέστι Χριστὸν, τοὺς αὐτοῦ φησιν ἐγερθήσεσθαι· δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τοὺς ἐν καιρῷ