Question One. Whether in the state of innocence procreated sons would at once have been confirmed in justice

Scotus, Sent.2 d.20 q.1
Thomas, ST Ia q.100
Richard of St. Victor, Sent.2 d.20 q.3
Durandus, Sent.2 d.20 q.5

1. About the twentieth distinction the first question to ask is whether in the state of innocence everyone would have been confirmed in good.

2. That we would have been: from Anselm Why God Man 1.18, ‘If the first parents had so lived that they would not have sinned at the start, they would, along with their progeny, have been so confirmed in good that they could no longer sin.’

3. On the contrary: they would have been wayfarers, therefore they were not confirmed [in good]. The antecedent is plain, because the good angels and our first parents were all wayfarers. For there is a state of meriting only while one is on the way, and merit precedes reward. The consequence is plain, because only that act is meritorious which is right and yet could have failed to be right. About Christ however there is a special difficulty, which will be discussed in Book 3.

To the Question

4. I reply by saying that there is a double confirmation [in good]. One is perfect where no one can sin, and only the blessed have it. The other is less perfect, which those had who were sanctified in the womb, and the Apostles had it after the sending of the Holy Spirit. But since in this way there is no sinning in fact, though the potency for sinning remains, there could be a doubt whether original justice would have been infused by Adam into his sons. I say that it would not have been, but that it would have been given to anyone by God’s free generosity, since it is a supernatural gift. But would the son have had this justice because of the merit of the parents? I say not by proportional merit, although God would so have ordained it that, if the first parents had overcome the first temptation, God would, of his own free generosity, have given this justice to all of Adam’s descendants.

5. To Anselm [n.2] I say that either he is expressing an opinion and not asserting, or he is speaking of the second sort of confirmation stated above [n.4],     etc .