Chapter 56.—The Faith of Those Who are Under the Law Different from the Faith of Others.

But there is yet another distinction to be observed,—since they who are under the law both attempt to work their own righteousness through fear of punishment, and fail to do God’s righteousness, because this is accomplished by the love to which only what is lawful is pleasing, and never by the fear which is forced to have in its work the thing which is lawful, although it has something else in its will which would prefer, if it were only possible, that to be lawful which is not lawful. These persons also believe in God; for if they had no faith in Him at all, neither would they of course have any dread of the penalty of His law. This, however, is not the faith which the apostle commends. He says: “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”308    Rom. viii. 15. The fear, then, of which we speak is slavish; and therefore, even though there be in it a belief in the Lord, yet righteousness is not loved by it, but condemnation is feared. God’s children, however, exclaim, “Abba, Father,”—one of which words they of the circumcision utter; the other, they of the uncircumcision,—the Jew first, and then the Greek;309    Rom. ii. 9. since there is “one God, which justifieth the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.”310    Rom. iii. 30. When indeed they utter this call, they seek something; and what do they seek, but that which they hunger and thirst after? And what else is this but that which is said of them, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled?”311    Matt. v. 6. Let, then, those who are under the law pass over hither, and become sons instead of slaves; and yet not so as to cease to be slaves, but so as, while they are sons, still to serve their Lord and Father freely. For even this have they received; for the Only-begotten “gave them power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name;”312    John i. 12. and He advised them to ask, to seek, and to knock, in order to receive, to find, and to have the gate opened to them,313    See Matt. vii. 7. adding by way of rebuke, the words : “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?”314    Matt. vii. 11. When, therefore, that strength of sin, the law,315    1 Cor. xv. 56. inflamed the sting of death, even sin, to take occasion and by the commandment work all manner of concupiscence in them,316    Rom. vii. 8. of whom were they to ask for the gift of continence but of Him who knows how to give good gifts to His children? Perhaps, however, a man, in his folly, is unaware that no one can be continent except God give him the gift. To know this, indeed, he requires Wisdom herself.317    Wisd. viii. 21. Why, then, does he not listen to the Spirit of his Father, speaking through Christ’s apostle, or even Christ Himself, who says in His gospel, “Seek and ye shall find;”318    Matt. vii. 7. and who also says to us, speaking by His apostle: “If any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given to him. Let him, however, ask in faith, nothing wavering?”319    Jas. i. 5, 6. This is the faith by which the just man lives;320    Rom. i. 17. this is the faith whereby he believes on Him who justifies the ungodly;321    Rom. iv. 5. this is the faith through which boasting is excluded,322    Rom. iii. 27. either by the retreat of that with which we become self-inflated, or by the rising of that with which we glory in the Lord. This, again, is the faith by which we procure that largess of the Spirit, of which it is said: “We indeed through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”323    Gal. v. 5. But this admits of the further question, Whether he meant by “the hope of righteousness” that by which righteousness hopes, or that whereby righteousness is itself hoped for? For the just man, who lives by faith, hopes undoubtedly for eternal life; and the faith likewise, which hungers and thirsts for righteousness, makes progress therein by the renewal of the inward man day by day,324    2 Cor. iv. 16. and hopes to be satiated therewith in that eternal life, where shall be realized that which is said of God by the psalm: “Who satisfieth thy desire with good things.”325    Ps. ciii. 5. This, moreover, is the faith whereby they are saved to whom it is said: “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”326    Eph. ii. 8–10. This, in short, is the faith which works not by fear, but by love;327    Gal. v. 6. not by dreading punishment, but by loving righteousness. Whence, therefore, arises this love,—that is to say, this charity,—by which faith works, if not from the source whence faith itself obtained it? For it would not be within us, to what extent soever it is in us, if it were not diffused in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us.328    Rom. v. 5. Now “the love of God” is said to be shed abroad in our hearts, not because He loves us, but because He makes us lovers of Himself; just as “the righteousness of God”329    Rom. iii. 21. is used in the sense of our being made righteous by His gift; and “the salvation of the Lord,”330    Ps. iii. 8. in that we are saved by Him; and “the faith of Jesus Christ,”331    Gal. ii. 16. because He makes us believers in Him. This is that righteousness of God, which He not only teaches us by the precept of His law, but also bestows upon us by the gift of His Spirit.

CAPUT XXXII.

55. Quae fides laudanda. Cum 0236 ergo fides in potestate sit, quoniam cum vult quisque credit; et cum credit, volens credit, deinde quaerendum est, imo recolendum, quam fidem tanta conflictatione commendet Apostolus. Non enim quodlibet credere bonum est: nam unde est illud, Fratres, nolite omni spiritui credere; sed probate spiritum qui ex Deo est (I Joan. IV, 1)? Nec in laudibus charitatis quod dictum est, Omnia credit (I Cor. XIII, 7), sic accipiendum est, ut charitati cujuspiam derogemus, si non quod audierit, statim crediderit. Quid, quod eadem charitas admonet, non facile de fratre mali aliquid esse credendum, et cum tale aliquid dicitur, hoc ad se magis judicat pertinere ne credat? Postremo ipsa charitas qua omnia credit, non omni spiritui credit: ac per hoc, omnia quidem credit, sed Deo; quia non dictum est, Omnibus credit. Nulli itaque dubium est, eam fidem ab Apostolo commendari, qua creditur Deo.

56. Sed adhuc aliquid discernendum est : quoniam et illi qui sub lege sunt, et timore poenae justitiam suam facere conantur, et ideo non faciunt Dei justitiam, quia charitas eam facit, quam non libet nisi quod licet, non timor, qui cogitur in opere habere quod licet, cum aliud habeat in voluntate, qua mallet, si fieri posset, licere quod non licet: et illi ergo credunt Deo; nam si omnino non crederent, nec poenam legis utique formidarent. Sed non hanc fidem commendat Apostolus, qui dicit, Non enim accepistis spiritum servitutis iterum in timorem; sed accepistis spiritum adoptionis filiorum, in quo clamamus, Abba, Pater (Rom. VIII, 15). Timor ergo ille servilis est: et ideo quamvis in illo Domino credatur, non tamen justitia diligitur, sed damnatio timetur. Filii vero clamant Abba, Pater, quarum duarum vocum una est ex circumcisione, altera ex praeputio, Judaei primum et Graeci: quoniam unus est Deus, qui justificat circumcisionem ex fide, et praeputium per fidem (Id. III, 30). Cum autem clamant, aliquid petunt: et quid petunt nisi quod esuriunt et sitiunt? Et hoc quid est, nisi quod de illis dictum est, Beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam, quoniam ipsi saturabuntur (Matth. V, 6)? Huc ergo transeant qui sub lege sunt, ut ex servis filii fiant: nec sic tamen, ut servi esse desistant; sed ut tanquam filii domino et patri liberaliter serviant, quia et hoc acceperunt: dedit enim potestatem ille Unicus, filios Dei fieri credentibus in nomine ejus (Joan. I, 12): eosque admonuit petere, quaerere, pulsare, ut accipiant, et inveniant, et aperiatur eis; addens increpationem, et dicens, Si vos cum sitis mali, nostis bona data dare filiis vestris, quanto magis Pater vester qui in coelis est, dabit bona petentibus se (Matth. VII, 7-11)! Cum ergo virtus peccati lex inflammaverit aculeum mortis (I Cor. XV, 56), ut occasione accepta peccatum per mandatum operetur omnem concupiscentiam 0237 (Rom. VII, 8), a quo petenda est continentia, nisi ab illo qui novit bona data dare filiis suis? An forte nescit insipiens, quod nemo esse possit continens, nisi Deus det (Sap. VIII, 21)? Hoc ergo ut sciat, ipsa indiget sapientia. Cur itaque non audit Patris sui spiritum dicentem per apostolum Christi, vel ipsum Christum qui dicit in Evangelio suo, Petite, et accipietis (Matth. VII, 7)? loquentem etiam in apostolo suo, et dicentem, Si quis vestrum indiget sapientia, postulet a Deo, qui dat omnibus affluenter et non improperat, et dabitur illi; postulet autem in fide, nihil haesitans (Jacobi I, 5, 6)? Haec est fides, ex qua justus vivit (Rom. I, 17): haec est fides, qua creditur in eum qui justificat impium (Id. IV, 5): haec est fides, per quam excluditur gloriatio (Id. III, 27); sive ut abscedat qua in nobis inflamur, sive ut emineat qua in Domino gloriamur: haec est fides, qua impetratur largitas spiritus, de quo dicitur, Nos enim spiritu ex fide spem justitiae exspectamus (Galat. V, 5). Ubi quidem quaeri adhuc potest, utrum spem justitiae dixerit, qua sperat justitia , an qua speratur ipsa justitia: quoniam justus ex fide vivens, sperat utique vitam aeternam; itemque fides esuriens sitiensque justitiam renovatione de die in diem interioris hominis (II Cor. IV, 16) proficit in ea, et sperat in ea satiari in vita aeterna, ubi fiet id quod in Psalmo de Deo dicitur, Qui satiat in bonis desiderium tuum (Psal. CII, 5). Haec est fides, qua salvi fiunt, quibus dicitur: Gratia salvi facti estis per fidem; et hoc non ex vobis, sed Dei donum est: non ex operibus, ne forte quis extollatur. Ipsius enim sumus figmentum, creati in Christo Jesu in operibus bonis, quae praeparavit Deus ut in illis ambulemus (Ephes. II, 8-10). Postremo haec est fides, quae per dilectionem operatur (Galat. V, 6), non per timorem; non formidando poenam, sed amando justitiam. Unde ergo ista dilectio, id est, charitas per quam fides operatur, nisi unde illam fides ipsa impetravit? Neque enim esset in nobis, quantacumque sit in nobis, nisi diffunderetur in cordibus nostris per Spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis (Rom. V, 5). Charitas quippe Dei dicta est diffundi in cordibus nostris, non qua nos ipse diligit, sed qua nos facit dilectores suos: sicut justitia Dei, qua justi ejus munere efficimur (Id. III, 24); et Domini salus, qua nos salvos facit (Psal. III, 9); et fides Jesu Christi, qua nos fideles facit (Galat. II, 16). Haec est justitia Dei, quam non solum docet per legis praeceptum, verum etiam dat per spiritus donum.