Against Heresies: Book III
Chapter 23: Arguments Against Tatian, Showing that it was in Line with Divine Justice and Mercy for the First Adam to be the First to Partake in the Salvation Offered to All by Christ
Therefore, it was necessary for the Lord, coming to save the lost sheep and summarizing such a comprehensive plan, and seeking after His own creation, to save the very man, Adam, who had been made in His image and likeness, filling the times of his condemnation incurred through disobedience—times "which the Father had placed in His own power." This was also necessary since the entire plan of salvation for humanity happened according to the good pleasure of the Father, so that God would not be defeated nor His wisdom diminished in the eyes of His creatures.
For if man, who had been created by God to live, after losing life through the serpent’s deception, could not return to life and was forever abandoned to death, God would have been defeated, and the wickedness of the serpent would have prevailed over God's will.
But because God is invincible and patient, He showed patience with man's correction and the testing of all, as I have already mentioned. Through the second man, He bound the strong man, plundered his belongings, and abolished death, bringing life to the man who had been in a state of death.
For just as the first Adam became a vessel under Satan’s control, held in bondage by sin imposed on him unjustly and with the false promise of immortality that brought death to him. By promising they would be like gods, which was impossible, Satan worked death in them.
Therefore, the one who led man captive was justly captured by God in turn, but man, who had been led captive, was freed from the bonds of condemnation.
2. This is Adam, if the truth is to be told, the first man created, of whom the Scripture says that the Lord spoke, “Let Us make man in Our own image and likeness;” and we are all from him. Since we all come from him, we have inherited his title. As man is saved, it is right that the one who was created as the original man should also be saved. It is too unreasonable to claim that he, having been deeply harmed by the enemy and the first to suffer captivity, was not rescued by Him who conquered the enemy, while his children were—those who were born in the same captivity. The enemy wouldn’t truly seem defeated if the old spoils remained with him. For example, if a hostile force had overcome certain enemies, bound them, led them away captive, and held them in servitude for a long time, so that they had children among them, and someone, feeling compassion for those made slaves, overcame this same hostile force, it wouldn’t be fair for them to liberate the children of those captives and leave the parents, who suffered the original capture, still under the enemy's control. This is especially true since the retaliation aimed to avenge the fathers’ cause—the children gaining freedom through this, but not leaving the fathers, who endured the original capture, in bondage. For God is neither powerless nor unjust, as He has provided help to man and restored him to His own liberty.
It was for this reason, too, that immediately after Adam had sinned, as the Scripture relates, God did not directly curse Adam, but instead cursed the ground in relation to his works, as an ancient person observed: “God transferred the curse to the earth so it would not remain on man.” But as punishment for his sin, man received the burden of tilling the earth, eating bread by the sweat of his brow, and returning to the dust from which he was made.
Similarly, the woman received toil, labor, groans, the pains of childbirth, and a state of subjection, meaning she would serve her husband, so that they would neither be completely destroyed by God's curse nor remain without reprimand and thus despise God. The full curse fell on the serpent who deceived them. It is said, “God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above all the beasts of the field.” The Lord also says the same thing in the Gospel to those found on the left hand: “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels,” indicating that eternal fire was not originally prepared for humans, but for the one who deceived humankind and caused them to sin—for him who is the chief of the rebellion, and for the angels who became rebels with him.
Indeed, this fire will also be justly experienced by those who, like him, continue in works of wickedness without repentance and without turning back.
Cain acted similarly when, after being advised by God to keep quiet because he had not fairly divided what his brother was entitled to, he, driven by envy and malice, thought he could dominate him. Not only did he refuse to comply, but he also added sin to sin, revealing his mindset through his actions. What he planned, he carried out: he oppressed and killed his brother; God allowing the just to be subjected to the unjust to demonstrate the righteousness of the just through their suffering and the injustice of the wicked through their actions. Even after this, he was not softened, nor did he stop after committing the evil act; when asked where his brother was, he said, “I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?” thus extending and worsening his wickedness with his answer. For if it is wicked to kill a brother, it is much worse to respond so insolently and irreverently to the all-knowing God as if capable of opposing Him. Because of this, he carried a curse with him, as he offered his sin without reverence for God, not being humbled by his act of fratricide.
The situation of Adam, however, was entirely different and had no comparison to this. Having been deceived by another under the guise of immortality, he is immediately filled with fear and hides himself; not as though he could escape from God, but because in his confusion over having broken God's command, he feels unworthy to appear before and speak with God. The "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;" the awareness of sin leads to repentance, and God grants His compassion on those who repent.
Adam demonstrated his repentance by his actions, using a girdle to cover himself with fig leaves, even though there were many other leaves that would have irritated his body less. He chose clothing in line with his disobedience, being awed by the fear of God, and resisting the erring, lustful urges of his flesh (since he had lost his natural disposition and child-like mind, and had come to know evil things), he fastened a restraint of self-control on himself and his wife, fearing God and waiting for His coming, and suggesting, as it were, the following: By disobedience, he says, I have lost that robe of sanctity which I received from the Spirit, and I now acknowledge that I deserve a covering like this, which provides no comfort but instead irritates the body.
He likely would have retained this clothing forever, thus humbling himself, if God, who is merciful, had not clothed them with tunics of skins instead of fig leaves. For this reason, too, He questioned them so that the blame could fall on the woman; and again, He questioned her so she might pass the blame to the serpent. She explained what happened: "The serpent," she says, "deceived me, and I ate." However, He did not question the serpent, because He knew it was the main instigator in the wrongdoing; but He first pronounced the curse on the serpent so that it might come upon man with a lessened rebuke.
For God despised the one who led man astray, but little by little, He showed compassion to the one who was deceived.
Therefore, He drove him out of Paradise and moved him far from the tree of life, not because He envied him the tree of life, as some dare to claim, but because He pitied him and did not want him to remain a sinner forever, nor for the sin surrounding him to be immortal, and evil never-ending and unchangeable. Instead, He set a limit to his state of sin by introducing death, thereby causing sin to end by the dissolution of the flesh, which would occur in the earth, so that man, ultimately ceasing to live in sin and dying to it, might begin to live to God.
For this purpose, He created enmity between the serpent and the woman and her offspring, with both maintaining it: He, whose heel would be bitten, also had the power to crush the enemy’s head; but the other, biting, killing, and impeding humanity’s progress, until the appointed offspring came to crush his head,—was born of Mary, about whom the prophet speaks: “You shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk; you shall trample down the lion and the dragon;”—indicating that sin, which was set against humanity and made it subject to death, would be deprived of its power, along with death, which rules over people; and that the lion, meaning the antichrist, who rises against humanity in the last days, would be defeated by Him; and that He would bind “the dragon, that old serpent” and put him under human control, who had been conquered so that all his might would be defeated.
Now Adam had been defeated, all life taken from him: therefore, when the enemy was defeated in turn, Adam received new life; and the final enemy, death, is destroyed, which first took control of humanity.
Therefore, when humanity is liberated, “what is written shall come to pass, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting?” This could not be justly said, if the man, over whom death first gained control, were not set free. For his salvation is death's destruction.
Therefore, when the Lord brings life to humanity, that is, Adam, death is simultaneously destroyed.
All who deny Adam's salvation speak falsely, excluding themselves from eternal life because they do not believe that the lost sheep has been found. If it has not been found, then the entire human race remains in a state of ruin. Therefore, the person who first proposed this idea, or rather, this ignorance and blindness—Tatian—is false. As I have already noted, he entangled himself with all the heretics. He invented this doctrine himself to introduce something new and speak vanity, thus attracting followers without faith, pretending to be a teacher. He tries from time to time to use phrases often used by Paul: “In Adam we all die,” yet he is ignorant that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Since this has been clearly demonstrated, let all his followers be ashamed, and let them argue about Adam, as if they would gain something significant if he isn't saved; when in fact, they gain nothing more than the serpent gained when persuading man to sin, that is, making him a transgressor, and claiming man as the first-fruits of his own rebellion. But the serpent did not understand God's power. In the same way, those who deny Adam's salvation gain nothing, except that they make themselves heretics and apostates from the truth, and reveal themselves as supporters of the serpent and death.