Übersetzung ausblenden
The Fifteen Books of Aurelius Augustinus, Bishop of Hippo, on the Trinity

Chapter 12.--All, on Account of the Sin of Adam, Were Delivered into the Power of the Devil.

16. By the justice of God in some sense, the human race was delivered into the power of the devil; the sin of the first man passing over originally into all of both sexes in their birth through conjugal union, and the debt of our first parents binding their whole posterity. This delivering up is first signified in Genesis, where, when it had been said to the serpent, "Dust shalt thou eat," it was said to the man, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shall return." ¹ In the words, "Unto dust shalt thou return," the death of the body is fore-announced, because he would not have experienced that either, if he had continued to the end upright as he was made; but in that it is said to him whilst still living, "Dust thou art," it is shown that the whole man was changed for the worse. For "Dust thou art" is much the same as, "My spirit shall not always remain in these men, for that they also are flesh." ² Therefore it was at that time shown, that he was delivered to him, in that it had been said to him, "Dust shall thou eat." But the apostle declares this more clearly, where he says: "And you who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of unfaithfulness; among whom we also had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." ³ The "children of unfaithfulness" are the unbelievers; and who is not this before he becomes a believer? And therefore all men are originally under the prince of the power of the air, "who worketh in the children of unfaithfulness." And that which I have expressed by "originally" is the same that the apostle expresses when he speaks of themselves who "by nature" were as others; viz. by nature as it has been depraved by sin, not as it was created upright from the beginning. But the way in which man was thus delivered into the power of the devil, ought not to be so understood as if God did this, or commanded it to be done; but that He only permitted it, yet that justly. For when He abandoned the sinner, the author of the sin immediately entered. Yet God did not certainly so abandon His own creature as not to show Himself to him as God creating and quickening, and among penal evils bestowing also many good things upon the evil. For He hath not in anger shut up His tender mercies. ⁴ Nor did He dismiss man from the law of His own power, when He permitted him to be in the power of the devil; since even the devil himself is not separated from the power of the Omnipotent, as neither from His goodness. For whence do even the evil angels subsist in whatever manner of life they have, except through Him who quickens all things? If, therefore, the commission of sins through the just anger of God subjected man to the devil, doubtless the remission of sins through the merciful reconciliation of God rescues man from the devil.

Edition ausblenden
De Trinitate

XII.

[XII 16] Quadam iustitia dei in potestatem diaboli traditum est genus humanum peccato primi hominis in omnes utriusque sexus commixtione nascentes originaliter transeunte et parentum primorum debito universos posteros obligante. Haec traditio prius in genesi significata est ubi cum serpenti dictum esset: Terram manducabis, homini dictum est: Terra es et in terram ibis. Eo quod dictum est in terram ibis, mors corporis praenuntiata est quia nec ipsam fuerat experturus si permansisset ut factus est rectus; quod vero viventi ait, Terra es, ostendit totum hominem in deterius commutatum. Tale est enim, Terra es, quale illud, Non permanebit spiritus meus in hominibus istis quoniam caro sunt. Tunc ergo demonstravit ei traditum cui dictum fuerat: Terram manducabis. Apostolus autem apertius hoc praedicat ubi dicit: Et vos cum essetis mortui delictis et peccatis vestris in quibus aliquando ambulastis secundum saeculum mundi huius, secundum principem potestatis aeris, spiritus eius qui nunc operatur in filiis diffidentiae in quibus et nos omnes aliquando conversati sumus in desideriis carnis nostrae facientes voluntates carnis et affectionum, et eramus natura filii irae sicut et ceteri.

Filii diffidentiae sunt infideles, et quis hoc non est antequam fidelis fiat? Quocirca omnes homines ab origine sub principe sunt potestatis aeris qui operatur in filiis diffidentiae. Et quod dixi, ‚ab origine,‘ hoc est quod dicit apostolus, natura, et se fuisse sicut et ceteros, natura scilicet ut est depravata peccato non ut recta creata est ab initio. Modus autem iste quo traditus est homo in diaboli potestatem non ita debet intellegi tamquam hoc deus fecerit aut fieri iusserit, sed quod tantum permiserit, iuste tamen. Illo enim deserente peccantem peccati auctor ilico invasit. Nec ita sane deus deseruit creaturam suam ut non se illi exhiberet deum creantem et vivificantem et inter poenalia mala etiam bona malis multa praestantem; non enim continuit in ira sua miserationes suas. Nec hominem a lege suae potestatis amisit quando in diaboli potestate esse permisit quia nec ipse diabolus a potestate omnipotentis alienus est sicut neque a bonitate. Nam et maligni angeli unde qualicumque subsisterent vita nisi per eum qui vivificat omnia? Si ergo commissio peccatorum per iram dei iustam hominem subdidit diabolo, profecto remissio peccatorum per reconciliationem dei benignam eruit hominem a diabolo.