Augustine: All in Adam Distinguished from All in Christ

Since you do not wish to understand the “many” he said later as meaning the “all” he said first, you declare he said “many” to keep us from thinking he meant “all”. You could do likewise about the seed of Abraham to whom all nations were promised, and say not all nations were promised him, because we read in another passage: “I have made thee a father of many nations.” Sound thinking shows that Scripture speaks in this way because there can be an “all” which are not “many,” as we speak of all the Gospels, yet they are only four in number. There can also be “many” which are not “all,” as we say many believe in Christ, yet not all believe; the Apostle says: “All men have not faith.” In the words, “In your seed all nations will be blessed” and “I have made thee a father of many nations,” it is clear that the same nations that are all are also many, and the same that are many are all. Similarly, when it is said that through one, sin passed unto all, and later, that through the disobedience of one, many were constituted sinners, those who are many are also all. In like manner, when it is said: “By the justice of the one the result is unto justification of life to all men,” and again: “By the obedience of the one many will be constituted just,” none is excepted; we must understand that those who are many are all not because all men are justified in Christ, but because all who are justified can be justified in no other way than in Christ. We can also say that all enter a certain house through one door, not because all men enter that house, but because no one enters except through that door. All, then, are unto death through Adam; all unto life through Christ. “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made to live.” That is to say, from the first origin of the human race, none is unto death except through Adam, and through Adam none is unto anything but death; and none is unto life except through Christ, and through Christ none is unto anything but life.

Cum vero Multos, quod dixit postea, non vis intellegi omnes, quod prius dixerat; ideo existimans "dictum fuisse multos, ne omnes intellegerentur": poteris hoc dicere et de semine Abrahae, cui promissae sunt omnes gentes , non omnes gentes ei fuisse promissas; quia dictum est alio loco: Patrem multarum gentium posui te. Est autem sanus intellectus, ideo sie locutam Scripturam, quia possunt esse aliqua omnia, quae non sunt multa; sicut omnia dicimus Evangelia, et tamen brevi numero, id est, quaternario continentur. Et rursus possunt aliqua esse multa, non tamen omnia; sicut multos dicimus credere in Christum, nec tamen omnes credunt. Non enim omnium est fides, ait Apostolus. Quod autem dictum est: In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes, et: Patrem multarum gentium posuit te, easdem omnes, multas; et easdem multas, omnes esse monstratum est. Ita etiam cum dictum est: Per unum in omnes transisse peccatum; et postea: Per unius inobedientiam peccatores constitutos multos; ipsi sunt multi, qui et omnes. Similiter cum dictum est: Per unius iustificationem in omnes homines, ad iustificationem vitae; et rursus dictum est: Per unius obedientiam iusti constituentur multi, non aliquibus exceptis, sed eosdem multos, omnes oportet intellegi; non quia omnes homines iustificantur in Christo, sed quia omnes qui iustificantur, non aliter possunt iustificari quam in Christo. Sicut possumus dicere, in aliquam domum per unam ianuam intrare omnes; non quia omnes homines intrant in eamdem domum, sed quia nemo intrat nisi per illam. Omnes ergo ad mortem per Adam, omnes ad vitam per Christum. Quia sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur, ita et in Christo omnes vivificabuntur; id est, ex prima origine generis humani nemo ad mortem nisi per Adam, et nemo per Adam nisi ad mortem; et nemo ad vitam nisi per Christum, et nemo per Christum nisi ad vitam.

- Augustine, Against Julian, Book VI, Chapter 24, Section 80, The Fathers Of The Church: A New Translation, Volume 35, "Saint Augustine Against Julian" (1957), pp. 391-92, Matthew A. Schumacher, C.S.C., translator (Latin)