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

nature, supervenes. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God; for they are foolishness unto Him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. ii. 14.
Eighth Thesis. Original Sin is truly sin.
VIII. The essence of original sin involves that this disease or vice of
origin is truly sin. Conf. Latin: "Quodque hie morbus seu vitium originis
vere sit peccatum." German: "Dass auch dieselbige angeborene Seuche
und Erbsünde wahrhaftiglich Sünde sei."
On the names by which original sin is designated in the Confession.
The application of a particular name to a thing raises the question,
first, whether that name has more than On the names one sense, and
secondly, if it have, in what sense by it is applied in the particular case
under consideration. Is the name to be taken literally or figuratively?
The following names are applied to original sin in the Augsburg
Confession: In the Latin, "vitium, morbus, peccatum"; in the German,
"Seuche" and "Sünde." As these names have been most carefully
employed, we must weigh them to realize their full force, and to reach with
precision the doctrine which they are designed to convey.
These terms may be classified thus:
1. The terms that are used metaphorically, or by adaptation. 2. The
terms used literally. To the first of these belong "vitium," and "morbus,"
and "Seuche"; to the second, "peccatum" and "Sünde."
I. MORBUS. The word "morbus" is nowhere used in the Vulgate.
The word used where we might anticipate "morbus" is usually "languor,"
and sometimes "aegritudo." Morbus is defined by lexicographers as a
"sickness, disease, evil affection of body contrary to nature." Original Sin
as "morbus" is, in general, sickness in spirit, analogous to disease in body.
The metaphorical transfer is very easy and obvious. The Confession does
not at all mean that original sin is literally a sickness or morbus. The
Apology, 253 with just severity, characterizes the scholastic absurdities: "Of
the fomenting inclination (fomes) - they maintain that it is a quality of
body,
253 79,7.