“Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”
Eccl. 7:29
“And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’ So God created man in his own image… And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
Gen. 1:26-27, 31
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Subsections
Image of God
Internal Relations of Adam’s Soul in Original Righteousness
Covenant of Works
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Order of Contents
Articles 6+
Historical 2
Latin 3
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Articles
1500’s
Calvin, John – 15. ‘State in which man was created. The faculties of the Soul—The Image of God—Free Will—Original Righteousness’ in Institutes of the Christian Religion tr. Henry Beveridge (1559; Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845), vol. 1, bk. 1, pp. 214-30
Beza, Theodore – A Brief & Pithy Sum of the Christian Faith made in Form of a Confession (London, 1565), Ch. 3
7. Why it was necessary that the first man should be created good and pure
9. How God has created men good
Viret, Pierre – A Christian Instruction… (d. 1571; London: Veale, 1573), The Exposition of the Preface of the Law
Zanchi, Girolamo – ch. 5, ’Of the Creation of the World, of Angels & of Man’s First Estate’ in Confession of the Christian Religion… (1586; Cambridge, 1599), pp. 21-26
Junius, Francis – pp. 149-50 of A Discussion on the Subject of Predestination between James Arminius & Francis Arminius in The Works of James Arminius… trans. Nichols & Bagnall (Auburn: Derby & Miller, 1853), vol. 3
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1600’s
Perkins, William – 9. Of Man & the Estate of Innocency in A Golden Chain (Cambridge: Legat, 1600)
Bucanus, William – Institutions of Christian Religion... (London: Snowdon, 1606)
10. ‘Of Original Righteousness’, pp. 104-6
What doctrine has affinity with the former touching the image of God?
Was the first man created of God in original righteousness?
Whether, if man had stood in his original righteousness, should he have had need of Christ the Mediator?
That same original righteousness wherein Adam was created, was it a substance or an accident?
What then was that original righteousness?
Why is it called original?
Now say that Adam had stood in that original righteousness, should it have been derived to all his posterity?
Whether should the grace of Christ have ensued that original righteousness?
Should they have been so confirmed in grace, as that they could sin no more?
What is the use of this doctrine?
What makes against this doctrine of original justice?
11. ‘Of Man’s Free Will before the Fall’ in Institutions of Christian Religion... (London: Snowdon, 1606), pp. 106-12
Is the word ‘free-will’ found in the Scriptures?
What are we to understand by this word ‘free-will’?
To what things is free-will attributed in the Scriptures?
What and of what kind is free-will which is attributed to God, spirits and man?
How do you prove this latter?
How far forth did the powers of free-will extend themselves in Adam before the Fall?
Did Adam besides these sound faculties stand in need of God’s grace?
But what kind of grace was that?
Why did God make Adam mutable, and not rather such a one who neither could nor would ever sin?
Ought the first man therefore to be excused from sin, and God to be accused?
What is the use of this doctrine?
Did God give Adam a mortal or an immortal body?
How came it to pass that it was mortal, and how that it was immortal?
Whether could he either be oppressed by external force, or die for famine or thirst, or be extinguished by diseases, or at length wear away with old age?
Did then the Tree of Life avail anything to the retaining of that immortality?
But how did it avail?
Whether beside the fruit of that Tree of Life, had Adam need of meats for the preservation of his life?
What then should have become of man in the conclusion if he had not sinned, should he have ever lived upon earth?
What things be contrary to this doctrine?
Wolleb, Johannes – 8. ‘God’s Rule over Men in the State of Innocence’ in Abridgment of Christian Divinity (1626) in ed. John Beardslee, Reformed Dogmatics: J. Wollebius, G. Voetius & F. Turretin (Oxford Univ. Press, 1965), bk. 1, pp. 64-66
Wolleb (1589–1629) was a Swiss reformed theologian. He was a student of Amandus Polanus.
Turretin, Francis – 9. ‘Was man created in puris naturalibus, or could he have been so created? We deny against the Pelagians and Scholastics.’ in Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr. (1679–1685; P&R, 1992), vol. 1
5th Topic
11. ‘Was original righteousness natural or supernatural? The former we affirm, the latter we deny against the Romanists.’ 470
12. ‘Did the first man before his fall possess immortality, or was he mortal in nature and condition? The former we affirm; the latter we deny against the Socinians.’ 473
8th Topic
1. ‘What was the liberty of Adam in his state of innocence?’ 569
2. ‘Did Adam have the power to believe in Christ?’ 571
5. ‘Why was it called the tree of life?’ 580
7. ‘Does the earthly paradise still exist? We deny.’ 586
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1700’s
Venema, Herman – 23. Man in Innocence in Translation of Hermann Venema’s inedited Institutes of Theology tr. Alexander W. Brown (d. 1787; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1850), pp. 384-95
ToC: His Moral Condition, Upright Proved by Scripture & Reason, Happy, Immortal, Dominion over Creatures, Names of this Condition, Image of God, in What Consists, Opinions, Anthropomorphites, Early Fathers, Socinians, Papists
Venema (1697-1787) was a professor at Franeker. Venema “maintained the fundamental line of confessional orthodoxy without drawing heavily on any of the newer philosophies… and maintained a fairly centrist Reformed position. Venema… evidence[s] the inroads of a rationalistic model…” – Richard Muller
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Historical Theology
On the Post-Reformation
Article
Muller, Richard – ‘status purorum naturalium’ in Dictionary of Latin & Greek Theological Terms… (Baker, 1985), p. 289
Here Muller does not address so precisely what Junius does above, but rather the late medieval, Franciscan concept that mankind was created in a purely natural state and was able, by their purely natural abilities (ex puris naturalibus) to congruently merit sanctifying grace. The reformed scholastics denied this and that man was ever in such an estate of pure nature. They often denied that man being created in such a state was even possible.
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On the 1800’s
Cangelosi, Caleb – “How Free was Adam’s Will? Examining John Lafayette Girardeau’s Critique of Jonathan Edwards’ View of Adam’s Will Before the Fall” in The Confessional Presbyterian #11 (2015) pp. 112-20
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Latin Articles
1600’s
Alsted, Henry
ch. 11, ‘State of Integrity’ in Distinctions through Universal Theology, taken out of the Canon of the Sacred Letters & Classical Theologians (Frankfurt: 1626), pp. 53-56
ch. 5, ‘On the First Integrity of our Nature’ in Theological Common Places Illustrated by Perpetual Similitudes (Frankfurt, 1630), pp. 34-38
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1700’s
Vitringa, Sr., Campegius – ‘On the State of Integrity’ in The Doctrine of the Christian Religion, Summarily Described through Aphorisms, vol. 2 (d. 1722; Leiden, 1769), pp. 216-36
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