The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

justly subject to damnation, and in a great majority of cases actually
reaches eternal damnation. We do not hesitate to say, that though the
doctrine has been held by good men, who have guarded with great care
against obvious abuse, it could be pressed until it would assume almost the
character of a "Doctrine of Devils."
The third view is that of Traducianism, or mediate Creationism: the
theory that both body and soul are derived from the parents. This theory
corresponds with the prevailing and clear statements of the Holy
Scriptures, as, e. g. Gen. v. 3; Acts xvii. 24-26. It is a doctrine absolutely
demanded by the existence of original sin, and the doctrine that God is not
the author of sin. This view is defended, among the Fathers, especially by
Tertullian, Athanasius, Gregory of Nissen, and many others. Augustine
remained undecided, confessing his ignorance, yet leaning strongly to the
Traducian View. The Lutheran Divines, with very few exceptions, are
Traducian. The expressions in the Symbolical Books, such as in the
Catechism, "I believe that God has created me," and in the Formula of
Concord, "God has created our souls and bodies after the fall," are meant
of the mediate creation, not of the direct.
The true theory of Traducianism is, that it is a creation by God, of
which the parents are the divinely ordained organ. The soul of the child is
related mysteriously, yet as closely, to the soul of the parent as its body is
to theirs, and the inscrutable mystery of the eternal generation of God's
Son from the absolute Spirit, mirrors itself in the origin of the human soul.
Status integritatis, or the state of integrity.
5. This Article presupposes, antecedent to all human sin, a state of
integrity. God said, Gen. i. 26, "Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness." This image of God in man is something which is not absolutely
lost, but is fearfully marred. See 1 Cor. xi. 7; James iii. 9; Eph. iv. 24; and
Col. iii. 10. The traditions of the race preserve the memory of a golden age,
a time of innocence and happiness; the Confession implies that the race
has fallen from a condition of glory and bliss. Man was created with an
ability not to sin, which, had he been faithful, would have been merged into
a condition, in which he could not sin: the "posse