Quest. 26. How sinne is said to haue beene vnto the time of the lawe.

1. Some doe vnderstand this sentence inclusiuely, including also the time of the lawe: and expound vnto the lawe, vnto the ende and terme of the lawe: for sinne was both before and vnder the lawe, which could not take away sinne vntill Christ came: thus Augustine, lib. 1. de peccat. remission. c. 10. and Thodoret, likewise Haymo, who vnderstandeth by the lawe, finem legis, & initium gratiae, the ende of the lawe, and beginning of grace: and maketh it like vnto this speach: the Hunnes raigned vs{que} ad Attylam regem, vnto king At∣tylas, that is, vnto his death: But the words following are against this exposition: sinne is not imputed where is no lawe, for if the time vnder the lawe be here comprehended, how could it be said, that then sinne was not imputed, whereas by the lawe it is most of all imputed.

2. Origen hath this singular exposition by himselfe, he vnderstandeth here not the writ∣ten but the naturall lawe: and he supplieth the word mortuum, dead: sinne is dead vnto the time of the lawe, that is, till children come to yeares of discretion to vnderstand the lawe of nature, and light of reason, sinne is not imputed vnto them: As it is forbidden that a child should smite his parents, but in a boy of 4. or 5. yeare old it is counted no sinne so to doe, Page  252 and to this purpose he also interpreteth the word, world: the Apostle saith not among men, but in the world: because in the world there are vnreasonable creatures, which are not ca∣pable of sinne; and so he thinketh that S. Paul vnderstandeth children, which are not yet capable of reason: to this effect Origen: But first it is euident that the Apostle by the lawe, vnderstandeth the written lawe of Moses, as it followeth, v. 14. and againe it is too great bouldnesse to insert the word, dead: for thus we may make any sense of the Scripture.

3. Wherefore the Apostles meaning is, that from Adam vntill the lawe was giuen (for of the time after the lawe there could be no question) there was sinne in the world: for though they had not the written lawe, yet they had the lawe of nature, in transgressing the which they sinned, Lyran. Beza, Mart.