These theologians often appeal to 1 Corinthians 15:26 and 2 Peter 1:4. Salvation becomes identified with the gift of immortality (cf. Wisdom of Solomon 8:13, 17; 6:18–19). This was indeed the emphasis in the early church. According to Jaroslav Pelikan the affliction that seemed to command the most attention at that time was the universality of death, not the inevitability of sin.3 While sin and the devil also played a significant role in the soteriology of patristic theologians, they generally