Daniel Tossanus Disputation on Adam and Christ (Part 2)
Disputatio Theologica: De illo loco d. Pauli 1 Cor 15:22. Sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur: Ita et in Christo omnes vivificabuntur: Et de hac quaestione: An Christus pro omnibus sit mortuus?
11. For just as all indeed who have been born in Adam die in him, so, in Christ all who are born again from him are made alive, and are made members of his body.
12. Moreover, generally the Apostle himself [in 1 Cor 15] so restricts that [i.e., “being made alive”], as he makes clear from the preceding and subsequent passages and from the circumstances of this passage. For he shows also in verse 18 that he speaks about those who have fallen asleep in Christ and in verse 23 of those who are in Christ, lest we understand this vivification as if it were about that general resurrection of the dead (which ought not to be confounded with this vivification); instead [he speaks] concerning the special one, by which those who have believed will be awakened to eternal life:[1]
13. So again, the Apostle does the same thing in Rom. 5 in that antithesis between the first and second Adam. He juxtaposes the all, death was spread to all people, with the many in verse 15, namely, those who receive the abundance of that grace. Also, in Hebrews chapter 2, where the Apostle says that Christ tasted death for all; following v.10 and 13, he provided that benefit to many sons given to Christ by the Father.
14. And in the same way Augustine interprets this same place (Book 13 of the City of God, ch. 23). Just as in Adam all died, so also in Christ all will be made alive: not because all who died in Adam are members of Christ (for from these a great many will be punished in eternal death) but it thus says all because as no one with a living body dies except in Adam, so no one with a spiritual body is made alive except in Christ.
15. Similarly in Sermon 2 to the brothers in Eremo: As the human spirit never makes alive its limbs unless they have been united: so neither does the Spirit make us alive, unless we are united by the bond of peace in Christ.
16. And certainly, all of Scripture (divine justice demands that very thing) maintains that the impious and incredulous who persevere in impiety are neither saved nor made alive; according to that axiom: the one who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.[2]
17. For that reason, although salvation and life are seriously declared to all people through the preaching of the Gospel, nevertheless, it is communicated to those only who receive him, as is fitting, or to those who are implanted by faith into Christ, and cling to him.
18. For just as a palm from a vine, or a branch from a tree is not able to derive vital sap unless former clings to latter, and just as limbs from the head are not able to derive motion, sense, and life, so neither can people obtain righteousness and saving life from Christ unless they cling to him.
19. Therefore, Luther rightly reminds us in his commentary on Galatians 3 that this antithesis ought to be observed [with the phrase] all nations to be blessed: or as the words in the Hebrew text express it, all nations shall be blessed or shall be regarded as blessed in that seed of Abraham (namely by faith in him), Christ, as Paul interprets it in Gal. 3: Those who from faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. And, again, all those, whether Jews or Greeks, are accursed outside of faith; indeed, there is one way to evade that curse, viz., to believe that Christ was made sin and a curse (that is, by imputation), in order that we might be imputed righteousness, and be blessed.
20. Moreover, what some cruel men and bitter critics of the Reformed churches say, that Christ died for all, even for the impious and reprobate, and equally paid a payment price for them, both for Paul and Peter, and that the Reprobate are not damned on account of their sin, which was actually expiated by the blood of Christ, but are damned on account of unbelief, by which they reject that expiation, we will show that this is asserted not without great error and against the clear testimony of Scripture.