Chapter 32 [XIX.]—The Christian Faith Touching the Assistance of Grace.

Let no Christian then stray from this faith, which alone is the Christian one; nor let any one, when he has been made to feel ashamed to say that we become righteous through our own selves, without the grace of God working this in us,—because he sees, when such an allegation is made, how unable pious believers are to endure it,—resort to any subterfuge on this point, by affirming that the reason why we cannot become righteous without the operation of God’s grace is this, that He gave the law, He instituted its teaching, He commanded its precepts of good. For there is no doubt that, without His assisting grace, the law is “the letter which killeth;” but when the life-giving spirit is present, the law causes that to be loved as written within, which it once caused to be feared as written without.

Chapter 33.—The Prophecy of Jeremiah Concerning the New Testament.

Observe this also in that testimony which was given by the prophet on this subject in the clearest way: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will consummate a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. Because they continued not in my covenant, I also have rejected them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” 142    Jer. xxxi. 31–34. What say we to this? One nowhere, or hardly anywhere, except in this passage of the prophet, finds in the Old Testament Scriptures any mention so made of the New Testament as to indicate it by its very name. It is no doubt often referred to and foretold as about to be given, but not so plainly as to have its very name mentioned. Consider then carefully, what difference God has testified as existing between the two testaments—the old covenant and the new.

Chapter 34.—The Law; Grace.

After saying, “Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt,” observe what He adds: “Because they continued not in my covenant.” He reckons it as their own fault that they did not continue in God’s covenant, lest the law, which they received at that time, should seem to be deserving of blame. For it was the very law that Christ “came not to destroy, but to fulfil.” 143    Matt. v. 17. Nevertheless, it is not by that law that the ungodly are made righteous, but by grace; and this change is effected by the life-giving Spirit, without whom the letter kills. “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”144    Gal. iii. 21, 22. Out of this promise, that is, out of the kindness of God, the law is fulfilled, which without the said promise only makes men transgressors, either by the actual commission of some sinful deed, if the flame of concupiscence have greater power than even the restraints of fear, or at least by their mere will, if the fear of punishment transcend the pleasure of lust. In what he says, “The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe,” it is the benefit of this “conclusion” itself which is asserted. For what purposes “hath it concluded,” except as it is expressed in the next sentence: “Before, indeed, faith came, we were kept under the law, concluded for the faith which was afterwards revealed?”145    Gal. iii. 23. The law was therefore given, in order that grace might be sought; grace was given, in order that the law might be fulfilled. Now it was not through any fault of its own that the law was not fulfilled, but by the fault of the carnal mind; and this fault was to be demonstrated by the law, and healed by grace. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”146    Rom. viii. 3, 4. Accordingly, in the passage which we cited from the prophet, he says, “I will consummate a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,”147    Jer. xxxi. 31.—and what means I will consummate but I will fulfil?—“not, according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.”148    Jer. xxxi. 32.

CAPUT XIX.

32. Fides christiana de adjutorio gratiae. Prophetia Jeremiae de Novo Testamento. Lex. Gratia. Nemo ergo Christianorum aberret ab hac fide, quae sola christiana est; neque quisquam, cum verecundatus fuerit dicere, per nos ipsos fieri nos justos, non hoc in nobis operante gratia Dei, quia videt hoc a fidelibus et piis ferri non posse , cum dicitur, ad hoc se convertat ut dicat, ideo sine operatione gratiae Dei nos justos esse non posse, quia legem dedit, quia doctrinam instituit, quia bona praecepta mandavit. Illa enim sine adjuvante spiritu procul dubio est littera occidens: cum vero adest vivificans spiritus, hoc ipsum intus conscriptum facit diligi, quod foris scriptum lex faciebat timeri.

33. Inspice hoc paululum et in eo testimonio quod per prophetam de hac re praeclarissimum edictum est : Ecce dies veniunt , dicit Dominus, et consummabo super domum Israel et super domum Juda Testamentum Novum, non secundum Testamentum quod feci patribus eorum in die qua apprehendi manum eorum, ut educerem eosde terra Aegypti: quia ipsi non perseveraverunt in Testamento meo, et ego neglexi eos, dicit Dominus. Quia hoc Testamentum est quod ordinabo domui Israel: Post illos dies, dicit Dominus, dabo leges meas in cor illorum, et in mente eorum scribam eas: et ero eis in Deum, et ipsi erunt mihi in populum. Et non 0221docebit unusquisque civem suum et unusquisque fratrem suum, dicens, Cognosce Dominum: quia omnes cognoscent me, a minore usque ad majorem eorum; quia propitius ero iniquitati eorum, et peccata eorum non memorabor ultra (Jerem. XXXI, 31-34). Quid ad haec dicimus? Nempe in veteribus Libris aut nusquam aut difficile praeter hunc propheticum locum legitur facta commemoratio Testamenti Novi, ut omnino ipso nomine appellaretur: nam multis locis hoc significatur et praenuntiatur futurum, sed non ita ut etiam nomen legatur expressum. Considera igitur diligenter, quam differentiam inter duo Testamenta, id est, Vetus et Novum, Deus esse testatus sit.

34. Cum dixisset, Non secundum Testamentum quod feci patribus eorum in die qua apprehendi manum eorum, ut educerem eos de terra Aegypti; vide quid adjunxit: Quia ipsi non perseveraverunt in Testamento meo. Vitio eorum deputat, quod in Testamento Dei non permanserunt; ne lex, quam tunc acceperunt, culpanda videatur. Ipsa est enim, quam non venit Christus solvere, sed implere (Matth. V, 17). Non tamen per eamdem legem justificatis impiis, sed per gratiam: hoc quippe agit vivificans spiritus, sine quo littera occidit. Si enim data esset lex quae posset vivificare, omnino ex lege esset justitia: sed conclusit Scriptura omnia sub peccato, ut promissio ex fide Jesu Christi daretur credentibus. Ex hac promissione, hoc est, ex Dei beneficio ipsa lex impletur, sine qua promissione praevaricatores facit; vel usque ad effectum mali operis, si etiam repagula timoris concupiscentiae flamma transcenderit, vel certe in sola voluntate, si timor poenae suavitatem libidinis vicerit. Quod enim ait, Conclusit Scriptura omnia sub peccato, ut promissio ex fide Jesu Christi daretur credentibus; ipsius conclusionis utilitas dicta est. Nam Conclusit ad quos usus, nisi quemadmodum alibi dicit, Priusquam autem veniret fides, sub lege custodebamur, conclusiin eam fidem quae postea revelata est (Galat. III, 21-23)? Lex ergo data est, ut gratia quaereretur: gratia data est, ut lex impleretur. Neque enim suo vitio non implebatur lex, sed vitio prudentiae carnis: quod vitium per legem demonstrandum, per gratiam sanandum fuit. Quod enim impossibile erat legis , in quo infirmabatur per carnem, misit Deus Filium suum in similitudine carnis peccati, et de peccato damnavit peccatum in carne, ut justitia legis impleretur in nobis, qui non secundum carnem ambulamus, sed secundum spiritum (Rom. VIII, 3, 4). Unde et in isto prophetico testimonio, Consummabo, inquit, super domum Israel et super domum Juda Testamentum Novum: quid est, Consummabo, nisi, Implebo? non secundum Testamentum quod feci patribus eorum in die qua apprehendi manum eorum, ut educerem eos de terra Aegypti.