The Works (Vol 7) by Thomas Goodwin (Available from Amazon or free here) - Continue Book II (Of the Creatures) by reading Chapter 10.
Following on from last week, Goodwin continues to compare Adam and Jesus Christ.
Firstly Goodwin compares Adam and Jesus in respect of their own persons by looking at the:
(i) substance whereof each consisted;
(ii) the infinitely differing conditions of their persons by virtue of that union of a soul to a body.
Secondly Goodwin examines the conveyance of an image by each of these persons to the posterity of each of them and the different manner of conveying it. He does this by showing three things, (but we read only the first two this week):
(i) What the state of Adam's body was when he was made a living soul;
(ii) How glorious the body of Christ was.
For instance, the immortality of Adam before the fall: 'Yet though his [Adam's] body was thus immortal, it was not immortal by virtue of its own principles ; his immortality was not natural to him, for he had the four elements in him, the one fighting against the other ; and had it not been for a promise that God would poise them, it would in the end have wrought old age and death. His immortality was natural indeed, as a natural due to such a creature created in God's image, while he stood in that state, but it was not natural, as arising from the principles of nature, and from the natural constitution that was in his body, but the contrary. Rather it was God's promise, 'Do this and thou shalt live,' and his protection over him, that made him immortal. Our divines use to say this, that Adam had a posse non mori, that he could not have died, but he had not a non posse mori ; that is, he had not such a principle as that no way he could die ; for he might die and he might live, as he might sin and he might not sin, he had but a conditional immortality ; he was not indeed moriturus, but he was mortalis ; he should not have died for the act, but take the power, and he might have died. There was a possibility of Adam's being killed if he had fallen off from on high, as well as any of us ; only the promise was, that God would keep him by his providence, and therein lay his immortality ; and he had the tree of life to eat of, for to repair nature, and so to live for ever.'
Unlike Adam's body, it will be impossible for my new body to die.
I must admit, I'm starting to look forward to my new body more and more as Goodwin unpacks fresh insights for me each week!
Next week's reading
Continue Book II (Of the Creatures) by reading Chapter 11.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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