On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §217 · Josué de la Place (Placeus)

Chapter 4: tree of life — continuation of sanctity not promised

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On the same plural 'chayyim'm'm' you would have the tree of life give Adam a sure hope of continuing these lives. It could not give a sure hope of continuing the sanctity in which you place spiritual life. God was requiring that continuance from Adam, not promising it to him. Had He promised it, He would beyond doubt have made Adam unable to sin—for the promise would have been absurd: I will make you persevere in sanctity and justice, provided you do not sin.

Latin

Eodem nixus plurali חַיִּים vis arborem vitae certam spem fecisse Adamo harum vitarum continuandarum. Atqui non potuit certam spem fecisse continuandae sanctitatis, in qua vitam spiritualem ponis. Hanc enim continuationem Deus ab Adamo exigebat, non ipsi promittebat: qui si eam promisisset, fecisset procul dubio Adamum impeccabilem: fuisset enim promissio ridicula, efficiam ut perseveres in sanctitate & justitia, modo ne pecces.

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Josué de la Place (Placeus) on the imputation of Adam's first sin: chapters 1 to 12 and 14, and the later disputation up to its chapter on Romans 5:14, from the Latin. The rest is not yet translated.

Josué de la Place (c. 1596–1655), known in Latin as Placeus, was pastor at Nantes and from 1633 professor of theology at the Academy of Saumur, the school of Cameron and Amyraut.

On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin argues the distinctive Saumur thesis: Adam's sin reaches his posterity only mediately, through the inherited corruption — never by immediate reckoning of a sin they did not commit. Fellow Reformed theologians rejected the view, but the book remains its classic statement.

Part only: Chapters 1–12 and 14, and the disputation up to Romans 5:14

Datec. 1645–1655 AD (written after the 1645 Synod of Charenton, and read in draft by Drelincourt by 10 December 1653; printed posthumously at Saumur, 1661; Reformed / Amyraldian circle)

The English is made from the 1661 Saumur Latin of chapters 1 to 12 and 14 and part of the later disputation. No earlier English was copied.

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Translated from Latin (Saumur 1661) (Latin)
Also checked Text extract of Caput Primum (Latin)
Also checked machine-read text of the 1661 volume (Latin)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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