(To First Part) (To Second Part)
(Third Part)98. Predestination to Eternal Life is Wholly of God's Free Grace.
And,
moreover, who will be so foolish and blasphemous as to say that God cannot
change the evil wills of men, whichever, whenever, and wheresoever He chooses,
and direct them to what is good? But when He does this He does it of mercy;
when He does it not, it is of justice that He does it not for He has mercy on
whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens. And when the apostle said
this, he was illustrating the grace of God, in connection with which he had
just spoken of the twins in the womb of Rebecca, who being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to
election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calls, it was said unto
her, The elder shall serve the younger. And in reference to this matter he
quotes another prophetic testimony: Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
But perceiving how what he had said might affect those who could not penetrate
by their understanding the depth of this grace: What shall we say then? he
says: Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For it seems unjust that,
in the absence of any merit or demerit, from good or evil works, God should love
the one and hate the other. Now, if the apostle had wished us to understand
that there were future good works of the one, and evil works of the other,
which of course God foreknew, he would never have said, not of works, but, of
future works, and in that way would have solved the difficulty, or rather there
would then have been no difficulty to solve. As it is, however, after
answering, God forbid; that is, God forbid that there should be unrighteousness
with God; he goes on to prove that there is no unrighteousness in God's doing
this, and says: For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Now, who but
a fool would think that God was unrighteous, either in inflicting penal justice
on those who had earned it, or in extending mercy to the unworthy? Then he
draws his conclusion: So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that
runs, but of God that shows mercy. Thus both the twins were born children of wrath,
not on account of any works of their own, but because they were bound in the
fetters of that original condemnation which came through Adam. But He who said,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, loved Jacob of His undeserved grace,
and hated Esau of His deserved judgment. And as this judgment was due to both,
the former learned from the case of the latter that the fact of the same
punishment not falling upon himself gave him no room to glory in any merit of
his own, but only in the riches of the divine grace; because it is not of him
that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. And indeed the
whole face, and, if I may use the expression, every lineament of the
countenance of Scripture conveys by a very profound analogy this wholesome
warning to every one who looks carefully into it, that he who glories should glory
in the Lord.
99. As God's Mercy is Free, So His Judgments
are Just, and Cannot Be Gainsaid.
Now
after commending the mercy of God, saying, So it is not of him that wills, nor
of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy, that he might commend His justice
also (for the man who does not obtain mercy finds, not iniquity, but justice,
there being no iniquity with God), he immediately adds: For the scripture says
unto Pharoah, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might
show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. And then he draws a conclusion that applies to both, that is, both to
His mercy and His justice: Therefore has He mercy on whom He will have mercy,
and whom He will He hardens. He has mercy of His great goodness, He hardens
without any injustice; so that neither can he that is pardoned glory in any
merit of his own, nor he that is condemned complain of anything but his own
demerit. For it is grace alone that separates the redeemed from the lost, all
having been involved in one common perdition through their common origin. Now
if any one, on hearing this, should say, Why does He yet find fault? For who
has resisted His will? as if a man ought not to be blamed for being bad,
because God has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens,
God forbid that we should be ashamed to answer as we see the apostle answered:
Nay, but, O man, who are you that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed
say to Him that formed it, Why have You made me thus? Hath not the potter power
over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto
dishonor? Now some foolish people, think that in this place the apostle had no
answer to give; and for want of a reason to render, rebuked the presumption of
his interrogator. But there is great weight in this saying: Nay, but, O man,
who are you? and in such a matter as this it suggests to a man in a single word
the limits of his capacity, and at the same time does in reality convey an
important reason. For if a man does not understand these matters, who is he
that he should reply against God? And if he does understand them, he finds no
further room for reply. For then he perceives that the whole human race was
condemned in its rebellious head by a divine judgment so just, that if not a
single member of the race had been redeemed, no one could justly have
questioned the justice of God; and that it was right that those who are
redeemed should be redeemed in such a way as to show, by the greater number who
are unredeemed and left in their just condemnation, what the whole race
deserved, and whither the deserved judgment of God would lead even the
redeemed, did not His undeserved mercy interpose, so that every mouth might be
stopped of those who wish to glory in their own merits, and that he that glories
might glory in the Lord.
100. The Will of God is Never Defeated,
Though Much is Done that is Contrary to His Will.
These
are the great works of the Lord, sought out according to all His pleasure, and
so wisely sought out, that when the intelligent creation, both angelic and human,
sinned, doing not His will but their own, He used the very will of the creature
which was working in opposition to the Creator's will as an instrument for
carrying out His will, the supremely Good thus turning to good account even
what is evil, to the condemnation of those whom in His justice He has predestined
to punishment, and to the salvation of those whom in His mercy He has predestined
to grace. For, as far as relates to their own consciousness, these creatures
did what God wished not to be done: but in view of God's omnipotence, they
could in no wise effect their purpose. For in the very fact that they acted in
opposition to His will, His will concerning them was fulfilled. And hence it is
that the works of the Lord are great, sought out according to all His pleasure,
because in a way unspeakably strange and wonderful, even what is done in
opposition to His will does not defeat His will. For it would not be done did
He not permit it (and of course His permission is not unwilling, but willing);
nor would a Good Being permit evil to be done only that in His omnipotence He
can turn evil into good.
101. The Will of God, Which is Always Good,
is Sometimes Fulfilled Through the Evil Will of Man.
Sometimes,
however, a man in the goodness of his will desires something that God does not
desire, even though God's will is also good, nay, much more fully and more
surely good (for His will never can be evil): for example, if a good son is
anxious that his father should live, when it is God's good will that he should
die. Again, it is possible for a man with evil will to desire what God wills in
His goodness: for example, if a bad son wishes his father to die, when this is
also the will of God. It is plain that the former wishes what God does not
wish, and that the latter wishes what God does wish; and yet the filial love of
the former is more in harmony with the good will of God, though its desire is
different from God's, than the want of filial affection of the latter, though
its desire is the same as God's. So necessary is it, in determining whether a
man's desire is one to be approved or disapproved, to consider what it is
proper for man, and what it is proper for God, to desire, and what is in each
case the real motive of the will. For God accomplishes some of His purposes,
which of course are all good, through the evil desires of wicked men: for
example, it was through the wicked designs of the Jews, working out the good
purpose of the Father, that Christ was slain and this event was so truly good,
that when the Apostle Peter expressed his unwillingness that it should take
place, he was designated Satan by Him who had come to be slain. How good seemed
the intentions of the pious believers who were unwilling that Paul should go up
to Jerusalem lest the evils which Agabus had foretold should there befall him!
And yet it was God's purpose that he should suffer these evils for preaching
the faith of Christ, and thereby become a witness for Christ. And this purpose
of His, which was good, God did not fulfill through the good counsels of the Christians,
but through the evil counsels of the Jews; so that those who opposed His purpose
were more truly His servants than those who were the willing instruments of its
accomplishment.
102. The Will of the Omnipotent God is Never
Defeated, and is Never Evil.
But
however strong may be the purposes either of angels or of men, whether of good
or bad, whether these purposes fall in with the will of God or run counter to
it, the will of the Omnipotent is never defeated; and His will never can be evil;
because even when it inflicts evil it is just, and what is just is certainly
not evil. The omnipotent God, then, whether in mercy He pities whom He will, or
in judgment hardens whom He will, is never unjust in what He does, never does
anything except of His own free-will, and never wills anything that He does not
perform.
103. Interpretation of the Expression in I
Tim. II. 4 "Who Will Have All Men to Be Saved."
Accordingly,
when we hear and read in Scripture that He will have all men to be saved,
although we know well that all men are not saved, we are not on that account to
restrict the omnipotence of God, but are rather to understand the Scripture,
Who will have all men to be saved, as meaning that no man is saved unless God
wills his salvation: not that there is no man whose salvation He does not will,
but that no man is saved apart from His will; and that, therefore, we should pray
Him to will our salvation, because if He will it, it must necessarily be
accomplished. And it was of prayer to God that the apostle was speaking when he
used this expression. And on the same principle we interpret the expression in
the Gospel: The true light which lights every man that comes into the world:
not that there is no man who is not enlightened, but that no man is enlightened
except by Him. Or, it is said, Who will have all men to be saved; not that
there is no man whose salvation He does not will (for how, then, explain the
fact that He was unwilling to work miracles in the presence of some who, He
said, would have repented if He had worked them?), but that we are to
understand by all men, the human race in all its varieties of rank and circumstances—kings,
subjects; noble, plebeian, high, low, learned, and unlearned; the sound in
body, the feeble, the clever, the dull, the foolish, the rich, the poor, and
those of middling circumstances; males, females, infants, boys, youths; young,
middle-aged, and old men; of every tongue, of every fashion, of all arts, of
all professions, with all the innumerable differences of will and conscience,
and whatever else there is that makes a distinction among men. For which of all
these classes is there out of which God does not will that men should be saved
in all nations through His only-begotten Son, our Lord, and therefore does save
them; for the Omnipotent cannot will in vain, whatsoever He may will? Now the
apostle had enjoined that prayers should be made for all men, and had
especially added, For kings, and for all that are in authority, who might be
supposed, in the pride and pomp of worldly station, to shrink from the humility
of the Christian faith. Then saying, For this is good and acceptable in the
sight of God our Saviour, that is, that prayers should be made for such as
these, he immediately adds, as if to remove any ground of despair, Who will
have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. God,
then, in His great condescension has judged it good to grant to the prayers of
the humble the salvation of the exalted; and assuredly we have many examples of
this. Our Lord, too, makes use of the same mode of speech in the Gospel, when
He says to the Pharisees: You tithe mint, and rue, and every herb. For the Pharisees
did not tithe what belonged to others, nor all the herbs of all the inhabitants
of other lands. As, then, in this place we must understand by every herb, every
kind of herbs, so in the former passage we may understand by all men, every
sort of men. And we may interpret it in any other way we please, so long as we
are not compelled to believe that the omnipotent God has willed anything to be
done which was not done: for setting aside all ambiguities, if He has done all
that He pleased in heaven and in earth, as the psalmist sings of Him, He
certainly did not will to do anything that He has not done.
104. God, Foreknowing the Sin of the First
Man, Ordered His Own Purposes Accordingly.
Wherefore,
God would have been willing to preserve even the first man in that state of salvation
in which he was created, and after he had begotten sons to remove him at a fit
time, without the intervention of death, to a better place, where he should
have been not only free from sin, but free even from the desire of sinning, if
He had foreseen that man would have the steadfast will to persist in the state
of innocence in which he was created. But as He foresaw that man would make a
bad use of his free-will, that is, would sin, God arranged His own designs
rather with a view to do good to man even in his sinfulness, that thus the good
will of the Omnipotent might not be made void by the evil will of man, but
might be fulfilled in spite of it.
105. Man Was So Created as to Be Able to
Choose Either Good or Evil: in the Future Life, the Choice of Evil Will Be
Impossible.
Now it
was expedient that man should be at first so created, as to have it in his
power both to will what was right and to will what was wrong; not without
reward if he willed the former, and not without punishment if he willed the
latter. But in the future life it shall not be in his power to will evil; and
yet this will constitute no restriction on the freedom of his will. On the
contrary, his will shall be much freer when it shall be wholly impossible for
him to be the slave of sin. We should never think of blaming the will, or
saying that it was no will, or that it was not to be called free, when we so
desire happiness, that not only do we shrink from misery, but find it utterly
impossible to do otherwise. As, then, the soul even now finds it impossible to
desire unhappiness, so in future it shall be wholly impossible for it to desire
sin. But God's arrangement was not to be broken, according to which He willed
to show how good is a rational being who is able even to refrain from sin, and
yet how much better is one who cannot sin at all; just as that was an inferior
sort of immortality, and yet it was immortality, when it was possible for man
to avoid death, although there is reserved for the future a more perfect immortality,
when it shall be impossible for man to die.
106. The Grace of God Was Necessary to Man's
Salvation Before the Fall as Well as After It.
The
former immortality man lost through the exercise of his free-will; the latter
he shall obtain through grace, whereas, if he had not sinned, he should have
obtained it by desert. Even in that case, however, there could have been no
merit without grace; because, although the mere exercise of man's free-will was
sufficient to bring in sin, his free-will would not have sufficed for his
maintenance in righteousness, unless God had assisted it by imparting a portion
of His unchangeable goodness. Just as it is in man's power to die whenever he
will (for, not to speak of other means, any one can put an end to himself by
simple abstinence from food), but the mere will cannot preserve life in the
absence of food and the other means of life; so man in paradise was able of his
mere will, simply by abandoning righteousness, to destroy himself; but to have
maintained a life of righteousness would have been too much for his will,
unless it had been sustained by the Creator's power. After the fall, however, a
more abundant exercise of God's mercy was required, because the will itself had
to be freed from the bondage in which it was held by sin and death. And the
will owes its freedom in no degree to itself, but solely to the grace of God
which comes by faith in Jesus Christ; so that the very will, through which we
accept all the other gifts of God which lead us on to His eternal gift, is
itself prepared of the Lord, as the Scripture says.
107. Eternal Life, Though the Reward of Good
Works, is Itself the Gift of God.
Wherefore,
even eternal life itself, which is surely the reward of good works, the apostle
calls the gift of God. For the wages of sin, he says, is death; but the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Wages (stipendium) is
paid as a recompense for military service; it is not a gift: wherefore he says,
the wages of sin is death, to show that death was not inflicted
undeservedly, but as the due recompense of sin. But a gift, unless it is wholly
unearned, is not a gift at all. We are to understand, then, that man's good
deserts are themselves the gift of God, so that when these obtain the
recompense of eternal life, it is simply grace given for grace. Man, therefore,
was thus made upright that, though unable to remain in his uprightness without
divine help, he could of his own mere will depart from it. And whichever of
these courses he had chosen, God's will would have been done, either by him, or
concerning him. Therefore, as he chose to do his own will rather than God's,
the will of God is fulfilled concerning him; for God, out of one and the same
heap of perdition which constitutes the race of man, makes one vessel to honor,
another to dishonor; to honor in mercy, to dishonor in judgment; that no one
may glory in man, and consequently not in himself.
108. A Mediator Was Necessary to Reconcile Us
to God; And Unless This Mediator Had Been God, He Could Not Have Been Our Redeemer.
For we
could not be redeemed, even through the one Mediator between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus, if He were not also God. Now when Adam was created, he, being
a righteous man, had no need of a mediator. But when sin had placed a wide gulf
between God and the human race, it was expedient that a Mediator, who alone of
the human race was born, lived, and died without sin, should reconcile us to God,
and procure even for our bodies a resurrection to eternal life, in order that
the pride of man might be exposed and cured through the humility of God; that
man might be shown how far he had departed from God, when God became incarnate to
bring him back; that an example might be set to disobedient man in the life of obedience
of the God-Man; that the fountain of grace might be opened by the Only-begotten
taking upon Himself the form of a servant, a form which had no antecedent
merit; that an earnest of that resurrection of the body which is promised to
the redeemed might be given in the resurrection of the Redeemer; that the devil
might be subdued by the same nature which it was his boast to have deceived,
and yet man not glorified, lest pride should again spring up; and, in fine,
with a view to all the advantages which the thoughtful can perceive and
describe, or perceive without being able to describe, as flowing from the
transcendent mystery of the person of the Mediator.
109. The State of the Soul During the
Interval Between Death and the Resurrection.
During
the time, moreover, which intervenes between a man's death and the final resurrection,
the soul dwells in a hidden retreat, where it enjoys rest or suffers affliction
just in proportion to the merit it has earned by the life which it led on
earth.
110. The Benefit to the Souls of the Dead
from the Sacraments and Alms of Their Living Friends.
Nor
can it be denied that the souls of the dead are benefited by the piety of their
living friends, who offer the sacrifice of the Mediator, or give alms in the
church on their behalf. But these services are of advantage only to those who
during their lives have earned such merit, that services of this kind can help
them. For there is a manner of life which is neither so good as not to require
these services after death, nor so bad that such services are of no avail after
death; there is, on the other hand, a kind of life so good as not to require
them; and again, one so bad that when life is over they render no help.
Therefore, it is in this life that all the merit or demerit is acquired, which can
either relieve or aggravate a man's sufferings after this life. No one, then,
need hope that after he is dead he shall obtain merit with God which he has
neglected to secure here. And accordingly it is plain that the services which
the church celebrates for the dead are in no way opposed to the apostle's
words: For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every
one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done,
whether it be good or bad; for the merit which renders such services as I speak
of profitable to a man, is earned while he lives in the body. It is not to
every one that these services are profitable. And why are they not profitable
to all, except because of the different kinds of lives that men lead in the
body? When, then, sacrifices either of the altar or of alms are offered on
behalf of all the baptized dead, they are thank-offerings for the very good,
they are propitiatory offerings for the not very bad, and in the case of the
very bad, even though they do not assist the dead, they are a species of
consolation to the living. And where they are profitable, their benefit
consists either in obtaining a full remission of sins, or at least in making
the condemnation more tolerable.
111. After the Resurrection There Shall Be
Two Distinct Kingdoms, One of Eternal Happiness, the Other of Eternal Misery.
After
the resurrection, however, when the final, universal judgment has been
completed, there shall be two kingdoms, each with its own distinct boundaries,
the one Christ's, the other the devil's; the one consisting of the good, the
other of the bad—both, however, consisting of angels and men. The former shall
have no will, the latter no power, to sin, and neither shall have any power to
choose death; but the former shall live truly and happily in eternal life, the
latter shall drag a miserable existence in eternal death without the power of
dying; for the life and the death shall both be without end. But among the
former there shall be degrees of happiness, one being more pre-eminently happy
than another; and among the latter there shall be degrees of misery, one being
more endurably miserable than another.
112. There is No Ground in Scripture for the
Opinion of Those Who Deny the Eternity of Future Punishments.
It is
in vain, then, that some, indeed very many, make moan over the eternal
punishment, and perpetual, unintermitted torments of the lost, and say they do
not believe it shall be so; not, indeed, that they directly oppose themselves
to Holy Scripture, but, at the suggestion of their own feelings, they soften down
everything that seems hard, and give a milder turn to statements which they
think are rather designed to terrify than to be received as literally true. For
Hath God they say, forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender
mercies? Now, they read this in one of the holy psalms. But without doubt we
are to understand it as spoken of those who are elsewhere called vessels of
mercy, because even they are freed from misery not on account of any merit of
their own, but solely through the pity of God. Or, if the men we speak of
insist that this passage applies to all mankind, there is no reason why they
should therefore suppose that there will be an end to the punishment of those
of whom it is said, These shall go away into everlasting punishment; for this
shall end in the same manner and at the same time as the happiness of those of
whom it is said, but the righteous unto life eternal. But let them suppose, if
the thought gives them pleasure, that the pains of the damned are, at certain
intervals, in some degree assuaged. For even in this case the wrath of God,
that is, their condemnation (for it is this, and not any disturbed feeling in
the mind of God that is called His wrath), abides upon them; that is, His wrath,
though it still remains, does not shut up His tender mercies; though His tender
mercies are exhibited, not in putting an end to their eternal punishment, but
in mitigating, or in granting them a respite from, their torments; for the
psalm does not say, to put an end to His anger, or, when His anger is passed
by, but in His anger. Now, if this anger stood alone, or if it existed in the
smallest conceivable degree, yet to be lost out of the kingdom of God, to be an
exile from the city of God, to be alienated from the life of God, to have no
share in that great goodness which God has laid up for them that fear Him, and
has wrought out for them that trust in Him, would be a punishment so great,
that, supposing it to be eternal, no torments that we know of, continued
through as many ages as man's imagination can conceive, could be compared with
it.
113. The Death of the Wicked Shall Be Eternal
in the Same Sense as the Life of the Saints.
This
perpetual death of the wicked, then, that is, their alienation from the life of
God, shall abide for ever, and shall be common to them all, whatever men,
prompted by their human affections, may conjecture as to a variety of
punishments, or as to a mitigation or intermission of their woes; just as the eternal
life of the saints shall abide for ever, and shall be common to them all,
whatever grades of rank and honor there may be among those who shine with an
harmonious effulgence.
Hope
114. Having Dealt with Faith, We Now Come to
Speak of Hope. Everything that Pertains to Hope is Embraced in the Lord's
Prayer.
Out of
this confession of faith, which is briefly comprehended in the Creed, and
which, carnally understood, is milk for babes, but, spiritually apprehended and
studied, is meat for strong men, springs the good hope of believers; and
this is accompanied by a holy love. But of these matters, all of which
are true objects of faith, those only pertain to hope which are embraced in the
Lord's Prayer. For, Cursed is the man that trusts in man is the testimony of holy
writ; and, consequently, this curse attaches also to the man who trusts in
himself. Therefore, except from God the Lord we ought to ask for nothing either
that we hope to do well, or hope to obtain as a reward of our good works.
115. The Seven Petitions of the Lord's
Prayer, According to Matthew.
Accordingly,
in the Gospel according to Matthew the Lord's Prayer seems to embrace seven
petitions, three of which ask for eternal blessings, and the remaining four for
temporal; these latter, however, being necessary antecedents to the attainment
of the eternal. For when we say, Hallowed be Your name: Your kingdom come: Your
will be done in earth, as it is in heaven (which some have interpreted, not
unfairly, in body as well as in spirit), we ask for blessings that are to be
enjoyed for ever; which are indeed begun in this world, and grow in us as we
grow in grace, but in their perfect state, which is to be looked for in another
life, shall be a possession for evermore. But when we say, Give us this day our
daily bread: and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: and lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, who does not see that we ask for
blessings that have reference to the wants of this present life? In that eternal
life, where we hope to live for ever, the hallowing of God's name, and His
kingdom, and His will in our spirit and body, shall be brought to perfection,
and shall endure to everlasting. But our daily bread is so called
because there is here constant need for as much nourishment as the spirit and
the flesh demand, whether we understand the expression spiritually, or
carnally, or in both senses. It is here too that we need the forgiveness that
we ask, for it is here that we commit the sins; here are the temptations which
allure or drive us into sin; here, in a word, is the evil from which we desire
deliverance: but in that other world there shall be none of these things.
116. Luke Expresses the Substance of These
Seven Petitions More Briefly in Five.
But
the Evangelist Luke in his version of the Lord's prayer embraces not seven, but
five petitions: not, of course, that there is any discrepancy between the two evangelists,
but that Luke indicates by his very brevity the mode in which the seven
petitions of Matthew are to be understood. For God's name is hallowed in the
spirit; and God's kingdom shall come in the resurrection of the body. Luke,
therefore, intending to show that the third petition is a sort of repetition of
the first two, has chosen to indicate that by omitting the third altogether.
Then he adds three others: one for daily bread, another for pardon of sin,
another for immunity from temptation. And what Matthew puts as the last
petition, but deliver us from evil, Luke has omitted, to show us that it is
embraced in the previous petition about temptation. Matthew, indeed, himself
says, but deliver, not and deliver, as if to show that the
petitions are virtually one: do not this, but this; so that every man is to
understand that he is delivered from evil in the very fact of his not being led
into temptation.
Love
117. Love, Which is Greater Than Faith and
Hope, is Shed Abroad in Our Hearts by the Holy Ghost.
And
now as to love, which the apostle declares to be greater than the other
two graces, that is, than faith and hope, the greater the measure in which it
dwells in a man, the better is the man in whom it dwells. For when there is a
question as to whether a man is good, one does not ask what he believes, or
what he hopes, but what he loves. For the man who loves aright no doubt believes
and hopes aright; whereas the man who has not love believes in vain, even
though his beliefs are true; and hopes in vain, even though the objects of his
hope are a real part of true happiness; unless, indeed, he believes and hopes
for this, that he may obtain by prayer the blessing of love. For, although it
is not possible to hope without love, it may yet happen that a man does not love
that which is necessary to the attainment of his hope; as, for example, if he
hopes for eternal life (and who is there that does not desire this?) and yet
does not love righteousness, without which no one can attain to eternal life.
Now this is the true faith of Christ which the apostle speaks of, which works
by love; and if there is anything that it does not yet embrace in its love,
asks that it may receive, seeks that it may find, and knocks that it may be
opened unto it. For faith obtains through prayer that which the law commands.
For without the gift of God, that is, without the Holy Spirit, through whom love
is shed abroad in our hearts, the law can command, but it cannot assist; and,
moreover, it makes a man a transgressor, for he can no longer excuse himself on
the plea of ignorance. Now carnal lust reigns where there is not the love of God.
118. The Four Stages of the Christian's Life,
and the Four Corresponding Stages of the Church's History.
When,
sunk in the darkest depths of ignorance, man lives according to the flesh
undisturbed by any struggle of reason or conscience, this is his first state.
Afterwards, when through the law has come the knowledge of sin, and the Spirit
of God has not yet interposed His aid, man, striving to live according to the
law, is thwarted in his efforts and falls into conscious sin, and so, being
overcome of sin, becomes its slave (for of whom a man is overcome, of the same
is he brought in bondage ); and thus the effect produced by the knowledge of
the commandment is this, that sin works in man all manner of concupiscence, and
he is involved in the additional guilt of willful transgression, and that is
fulfilled which is written: The, law entered that the offense might abound.
This is man's second state. But if God has regard to him, and inspires him with
faith in God's help, and the Spirit of God begins to work in him, then the
mightier power of love strives against the power of the flesh; and although
there is still in the man's own nature a power that fights against him (for his
disease is not completely cured), yet he lives the life of the just by faith,
and lives in righteousness so far as he does not yield to evil lust, but
conquers it by the love of holiness. This is the third state of a man of good
hope; and he who by steadfast piety advances in this course, shall attain at
last to peace, that peace which, after this life is over, shall be perfected in
the repose of the spirit, and finally in the resurrection of the body. Of these
four different stages the first is before the law, the second is under the law,
the third is under grace, and the fourth is in full and perfect peace. Thus,
too, has the history of God's people been ordered according to His pleasure who
disposes all things in number, and measure, and weight. For the church existed
at first before the law; then under the law, which was given by Moses; then
under grace, which was first made manifest in the coming of the Mediator. Not,
indeed, that this grace was absent previously, but, in harmony with the
arrangements of the time, it was veiled and hidden. For none, even of the just
men of old, could find salvation apart from the faith of Christ; nor unless He
had been known to them could their ministry have been used to convey prophecies
concerning Him to us, some more plain, and some more obscure.
119. The Grace of Regeneration Washes Away
All Past Sin and All Original Guilt.
Now in
whichever of these four stages (as we may call them) the grace of regeneration
finds any particular man, all his past sins are there and then pardoned, and
the guilt which he contracted in his birth is removed in his new birth; and so true
is it that the wind blows where it lists, that some have never known the second
stage, that of slavery under the law, but have received the divine assistance
as soon as they received the commandment.
120. Death Cannot Injure Those Who Have
Received the Grace of Regeneration.
But
before a man can receive the commandment, it is necessary that he should live
according to the flesh. But if once he has received the grace of regeneration,
death shall not injure him, even if he should immediately depart from this
life; for to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be
Lord both of the dead and the living; nor shall death retain dominion over him
for whom Christ freely died.
121. Love is the End of All the Commandments,
and God Himself is Love.
All
the commandments of God, then, are embraced in love, of which the apostle says:
Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience,
and of faith unfeigned. Thus the end of every commandment is charity, that is,
every commandment has love for its aim. But whatever is done either through fear
of punishment or from some other carnal motive, and has not for its principle
that love which the Spirit of God sheds abroad in the heart, is not done as it
ought to be done, however it may appear to men. For this love embraces both the
love of God and the love of our neighbor, and on these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets, we may add the Gospel and the apostles. For it is
from these that we hear this voice: The end of the commandment is charity, and
God is love. Wherefore, all God's commandments, one of which is, You shall not
commit adultery, and all those precepts which are not commandments but special
counsels, one of which is, It is good for a man not to touch a woman, are
rightly carried out only when the motive principle of action is the love of God,
and the love of our neighbor in God. And this applies both to the present and the
future life. We love God now by faith, then we shall love Him through sight.
Now we love even our neighbor by faith; for we who are ourselves mortal know
not the hearts of mortal men. But in the future life, the Lord both will bring
to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of
the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God; for every man shall love
and praise in his neighbor the virtue which, that it may not be hid, the Lord Himself
shall bring to light. Moreover, lust diminishes as love grows, till the latter
grows to such a height that it can grow no higher here. For greater love has no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Who then can tell
how great love shall be in the future world, when there shall be no lust for it
to restrain and conquer? For that will be the perfection of health when there
shall be no struggle with death.
122. Conclusion.
(To First Part) (To Second Part)