Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Loss of Grace · Book I: On Sin, Mortal and Venial
Chapter 6: The objections of the Pelagians are dissolved
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. V, De Amissione Gratiae et Statu Peccati, Book I. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
The Pelagians (as the holy Fathers Jerome and Augustine report) urged certain places from the Scriptures, from which they judged it was made out that men can and ought to be free from all sins, and thereby that there is no sin which is not repugnant to justice.
The first objection is taken from those testimonies which teach that men ought to be perfect. Deuteronomy 18: Thou shalt be perfect… with the Lord thy God. Matthew 5: Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect. Certainly he cannot be called perfect to whom something is wanting; and that something is wanting to him who is in sins cannot be denied. We can therefore, and ought, to be free from every sin; and this God commands — that we be perfect, if we would be his friends and children. Answer: perfection in the Scriptures is not taken in one way only. For sometimes they are called perfect who always actually love God, and actually refer to him all that they do; with which perfection no sin, not even venial, can stand. But this perfection is proper to the blessed, nor is it commanded us by the Lord in this life; and so the Apostle, speaking of this degree of perfection in the epistle to the Philippians, chapter 3, says: Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect; but I follow after, if I may by any means apprehend, etc. Sometimes they are called perfect who, though they do not always actually think of and love God, as the blessed do, yet consecrate themselves wholly to God, and forsake all things that they may please God — according to that of Matthew 19: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me. And this perfection is not commanded, but counseled, as St. Augustine teaches in epistle 89, question 4, and before him St. Ambrose in the book On Widows, and St. Jerome in the book against Vigilantius. Finally they are called perfect — and that very frequently — who love God above all things, and, though they do not actually forsake their possessions, are yet prepared rather to suffer the loss of all things, and of life itself, than to lose the grace and friendship of God; and thus they keep all the divine commandments, while they admit nothing which is repugnant to charity, which is the end of the commandment. This degree of perfection Christ commanded when he said, Be ye perfect, Matthew 5; and of the same the Scripture speaks, Genesis 6, when it says: Noe was a just and perfect man; and chapter 17: walk before me, and be perfect; and Deuteronomy 18: Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God; and Philippians 3: Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded. Now these two degrees of perfection do not exclude all sins, but those only which are repugnant to charity. For the Apostles were perfect, according to that just cited, Philippians 3: as many as are perfect; and in the first to the Corinthians, chapter 2: we speak wisdom among the perfect; and yet it was Apostles who said: If we say that we have no sin, etc.; and: In many things we all offend; and the Lord taught the Apostles to pray: Forgive us our debts.
The second objection is taken from those testimonies which affirm that true justice must be free from every spot. Psalm 14: Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? or who shall rest in thy holy hill? He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice. Psalm 17: I shall be spotless with him: and shall keep myself from my iniquity. Psalm 118: Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Ephesians 1: he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted. Answer: St. Augustine, in the book On the Perfection of Justice, says that the holy in this life can be called unspotted, not because they contract no spots, but because they desire and strive to contract none, and, if they contract any, straightway wipe them away through prayer. It could also be answered that a spot properly arises not from venial sin, but only from mortal, as St. Thomas teaches, 1-2, question 89, article 1. But whether we say with St. Augustine that the just in this life are named unspotted because they are such in desire and endeavor, or with St. Thomas, because venial sin does not effect a spot, this cannot be denied: that in the Scriptures they too are called unspotted who lack not venial sins — since, if of any men it can be said, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way,” and, “He that walketh without blemish,” and, “that we should be holy and unspotted,” it can without doubt be said of the Apostles; and yet one of them cries: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.
The third objection is taken from that testimony of 1 John 3: Whosoever is born of God, committeth not sin: for his seed abideth in him, and he can not sin, because he is born of God. Answer: St. Augustine, book 2 On the Merits and Remission of Sins, chapter 7, says that the just in this life are partly sons of God, by reason of justifying grace, partly sons of this age, by reason of the carnal concupiscence which from the sin of the first man is left in us; and that indeed as sons of God they sin not, but are daily perfected more and more, yet as sons of this age, by reason of the infirmity not yet altogether taken away, they at times slip. St. Bernard, sermon 1 on Septuagesima, refers this place to predestination, and says that the sons of God sin not, in the sense that they remain not in sin: “Whosoever is born of God sins not — that is, remains not in sin, because the heavenly generation, which cannot be deceived, preserves him” (so that, namely, he cannot perish). But best of all seem to have expounded this place St. Augustine, tractate 5 on the epistle of St. John, and St. Jerome, book 1 against the Pelagians, who teach that just men, while they are just, cannot sin with that kind of sin which is repugnant to justice, or to charity, which is the truest and most perfect justice. And so of venial sins, which fight not with charity, St. John wrote: If we say that we have no sin, etc.; but of deadly ones: He that is born of God sinneth not, etc.
The fourth objection is taken from that testimony of Luke 1: they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame. For in this place the holy Evangelist Luke, after he had said, “they were both just,” seems to have wished to explain what it is to be just, and therefore to have adjoined, “walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame” — which explanation seems to remove from the just man all sins, not only grave but even light. And Pelagius confirmed this argument from the commentary of St. Ambrose on this place of the Gospel, where St. Ambrose inveighs against those who think men cannot live without sin. Answer: to the place of the Gospel St. Augustine answers, in the book On the Perfection of Justice, and in the book On the Grace of Christ, chapters 48 and 49, that it is one thing to live without blame, another to live without sin: for he lives without blame of whom men cannot complain — who harms no one, profits all, gives scandal to none, though before God he lack not venial sins; and that such were Zachary and Elizabeth. To the commentary of St. Ambrose Augustine answers in the same place that St. Ambrose either afterward humbly corrected his judgment, or wished only to signify that men can live without sin not absolutely, but according to a certain manner — so that they converse among men without blame. For the same Ambrose, in the commentary on Isaias (which Augustine cites in that place), openly writes that no one in this life can be without sin, or altogether unspotted.
But it is to be observed in this place that, although we have said that no one, however just and holy, could in this life live without venial sins, yet we always except our Lord Jesus Christ, and his mother, the ever-Virgin Mary. For the chief cause why we cannot in this life be altogether freed from venial sins is that concupiscence of the flesh which by the theologians is also called the tinder of sin, which we contracted from the loss of original justice; but Christ altogether lacked that concupiscence, seeing that he was conceived of a Virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the holy Virgin herself (as St. Thomas teaches in part 3, question 27, article 3) in her first sanctification either was plainly freed from the tinder, or (which he himself more approves) was filled with so great an abundance of grace that the tinder remained bound in her, and then, in the very conception of her Son, was utterly taken away. And so of Christ we read: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, 1 Peter 2; but of the Virgin: Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee, Canticle 4. Of the same, St. Cyprian (or whoever was the author — without doubt ancient and learned), in the sermon on the Nativity of Christ: “Differing very much from the rest, (Mary) shared their nature, not their fault.” Of the same, St. Ambrose, last sermon on Psalm 118: “Receive me not from Sara, but from Mary — that it be an incorrupt virgin, but a virgin through grace whole from every stain of sin.” And St. Augustine, book On Nature and Grace, chapter 36: “Excepting the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, for the honor of the Lord, I will have no question at all when sins are treated of. For thence we know that more grace was conferred on her for conquering sin on every side, because she deserved to conceive and bear him who, it is agreed, had no sin.” And St. Anselm, book On the Virginal Conception, chapter 18: “It was fitting that the Virgin should shine with such purity that under God no greater can be conceived.” And St. Bernard in epistle 174: “I think that a more copious blessing of sanctification descended into her, which not only sanctified her birth, but also kept her life thenceforth immune from every sin — which is believed to have been given to no other among those born of women. It befitted, assuredly, the Queen of virgins, by the privilege of a singular sanctity, to lead a life without all sin, who, while she bore the destroyer of sin and death, obtained the gift of life and justice for all.” The same teaches St. Thomas, part 3, question 27, article 4; St. Bonaventure and the other theologians on book 3 of the Sentences, distinction 3; and copiously Richard of St. Victor in book 2 On Emmanuel. Finally, the Council of Trent, session 6, canon 23, thus concludes: “If anyone shall say that a man once justified can through his whole life avoid all sins, even venial, except by a special privilege of God, as the Church holds concerning the blessed Virgin: let him be anathema.” Nor ought the testimonies of Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Augustine to move us, which Calvin cites against this in the Antidote to this canon of the Council of Trent. For the testimony of Ambrose which he cites nowhere exists; the testimony of Augustine is general, and admits the exception which Augustine himself applies in another place, as we have shown; Chrysostom does indeed seem to say something against what the Fathers commonly teach, yet his words can be benignly expounded, and he himself will without doubt suffer the common consensus of the Fathers to be preferred to himself — and the Greek Liturgies themselves, in which the Blessed Virgin is asserted to be plainly unreproved and uncontaminated, holier than the Cherubim and Seraphim. See more in our Canisius, book 1 On the Blessed Virgin, chapter 10, and book 4, last chapter.
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CAPUT VI. Diluuntur objectiones Pelagianorum. Pelagiani (ut referunt sancti Patres Hiero¬ nymus et Augustinus) loca quaedam ex Scri¬ pturis urgebant, ex quibus effici arbitraban¬ tur, posse ac debere homines peccatis omni¬ bus carere, ac per hoc nullum esse pecca¬ tum, quod justitiae non repugnet. Prima objectio sumitur ex illis testimoniis, qua; docent, homines debere esse perfectos, Deuter. xvm : Tu autem perfectus eris coram Domino Deo tuo. Matth. v : Estote perfr fJ, cti, sicut Pater vester coelestis perfectus est (1). Certe perfectus dici non potest, cui aliquid deest ; deesse autem aliquid ei, qui in pecca¬ tis est negari non potest. Possumus igitur et debemus omni peccato carere, et hoc Deus jubet ut simus perfecti, si amici et filii ejus esse volumus. Responsio : Perfectio in Scripturis non uno modo accipitur. Interdum enim perfecti dicuntur, qui semper actu diligunt Deum, et omnia quae faciunt, in ipsum actu referunt. Cum qua perfectione nullum peccatum, ac ne veniale quidem consistere potest. Sed haec perfectio propria beatorum est, neque nobis in hac vita a Domino imperatur. Itaque A- postolus de hoc perfectionis gradu loquens in epistola ad Philippenses, cap. m, ait : Non quocl jam acceperim : aut jam perfectus sim. Sequor autem si comprehendam , etc. (2). Interdum : Perfecti dicuntur, qui tametsi non semper actu Deum cogitent et diligant, ut beati faoiunt, tamen totos se Deo conse¬ crant, atque omnia deserunt, ut Deo pla¬ ceant, juxta illud Matth. xix : Si vis perft- ctus esse, vade, vende omnia quae habes , et da pauperibus, et habebis thesaurum in coelo, et veni sequere me (3). Atque haec perfectio non imperatur, sed consulitur, ut S. Augustinus docet in epist. 89. qu. 4. et ante eum san¬ ctus Ambrosius in libro de viduis, et S. Hie¬ ronymus in libro contra Vigilantium. Deni¬ que perfecti dicuntur, et quidem valde fre¬ quenter, qui Deum super omnia diligunt, et licet non deserant actu res suas, tamen para¬ ti sunt potius omnium rerum, et ipsius vitae jacturam facere, quam Dei gratiam et ami¬ citiam perdere ; atque ita servant omnia di- (1) Deut. XVIII, 13; Matth. V, 4 S. — (2) Philip. III, 12. — (3) Matth, XIX, 21. 2-22 LIBER I. vina mandata, dum nihil admittunt, quod charitati, qua; finis est praecepti, repugnet. Hunc perfectionis gradum Christus impe¬ ravit, cum ait : Estote perfecti. Matth. v, et de eodem loquitur Scriptura Gen. vi. cum ait : Noe vir justus atque perfectus fuit. Et cap. xvii : Ambula coram me, et esto perfe¬ ctus. Et Deut. xvill : Tu autem perfectus eris cum Domino Deo tuo. Et Philip, m : Quicumque perfecti sumus, hoc sentiamus (4). Isti autem duo gradus perfectionis non ex¬ cludunt omnia peccata, sed ea solum, qua; charitati repugnant. Nam Apostoli perfecti erant juxta illud jam citatum ad Philip, ni : Quicumque perfecti sumus. Et in priore ad Corinth. cap. ii : Sapientiam loquimur inter perfectos (2). Et tamen Apostoli erant, qui dicebant : Si dixerimus , quia peccatum non habemus etc. Et ; In multis offendimus omnes. Et Apostolos Dominus orare docuit : Dimitte nobis debita nostra. Secunda objectio sumitur ex illis testimo¬ niis, quae veram justitiam omni macula ca¬ rere oportere affirmant.jPsalm. xiv : Domine, quis habitabit in tabernaculo tuo , aut quis re¬ quiescet in monte sancto tuo ? Qui ingreditur sine macula , et operatur justitiam. Psalm. xvii : Ero immaculatus cum eo, et observabo me ab iniquitate mea. Psalm. cxvm : Beati immaculati in via, qui ambulant in lege Do¬ mini. Ephes. i : Elegit nos in ipso ante mun¬ di constitutionem , ut essemus sancti et imma¬ culati (3). Responsio : S. Augustinus in libro de per¬ fectione justitiae, dicit, sanctos in hac vita appellari posse immaculatos , non quod nul¬ las contrahant maculas, sed quia cupiunt ac student nullas contrahere, et si quas contra¬ hunt, continuo eas per orationem tergunt. Posset etiam responderi, maculam proprie non oriri ex peccato veniali, sed solum mor¬ tali, ut S.Thomas docet 1. 2. quaest. 89. art. 1. Sive autem dicamus cum S. Augustino, justos in hac vita nominari immaculatos, quia sunt desiderio, ac studio tales, sive cum S. Thoma, quia veniale peccatum non efficit maculam, illud negari non potest, in Scripturis vocari immaculatos etiam eos, qui venialibus peccatis non carent, cum si de ullis hominibus dici possit : Beati imma¬ culati in via, et : Qui ingreditur sine macula, et : Ut essemus sancti, et immaculati, id sine dubio de Apostolis dici possit, et tamen clamat unus ex ipsis : Si dixerimus, quia peccatum non habemus , nos ipsus seduci¬ mus (4). Objectio tertia sumitur ex testimonio illo I. Joan. m : Omnis qui natus est ex Deo, pecca¬ tum non facit , quoniam semen ipsius manet in eo, et non potest peccare, quoniam ex Deo natus est (3). Responsio : S. Augustinus lib. ii. de peccator, merit. et remiss. cap. 7. dicit, justos in hac vita partim esse filios Dei ra¬ tione gratia; justificantis, partim filios hujus saeculi, ratione carnalis concupiscentia;, quae ex peccato primi hominis in nobis relicta est ; et quidem ut filios Dei non peccare, sed per¬ fici quotidie magis ac magis ; tamen ut filios hujus saeculi ratione infirmitatis nondum omnino sublatae aliquando labi. S. Bernar- dus serm. 1. de Septuagesima, refert hunc locum ad praedestinationem, ac dicit, filios Dei non peccare, ita ut in peccato non per¬ maneant? « Omnis, inquit, qui natus est ex Deo, non peccat, id est, non permanet in pec¬ cato, quia conservat illum (utique ut perire non possit) quae falli non potest, generatio coelestis. » Sed optime omnium videntur hunc locum exposuisse S. Augustinus tract. 5. in epistola S. Joannis, et S. Hieronymus lib. i. adversus Pelagianos, qui docent, ho¬ mines justos, dum justi sunt, non posse pec¬ care eo peccati genere, quod repugnat ju¬ stitiae, sive charitati, quae est verissima , perfectissimaque justitia. Itaque de veniali¬ bus peccatis, quae cum charitate non pug¬ nant, scripsit S. Joannes : Si dixerimus, quia peccatum non habemus etc. De lelhalibus autem : Qui natus est ex Deo, non peccat , etc. (6). , Objectio quarta sumitur ex testimonio illo Luc. i : Erant autem justi ambo, incedentes in omnibus mandatis, et justificationibus Do¬ mini sine querela (7). Videtur enim hoc loco sanctus Evangelista Lucas, posteaquam di¬ xerat, Erant autem justi ambo, explicare voluisse quid sit esse justum, et ideo adjun¬ xisse, incedentes in omnibus mandatis, et ju¬ stificationibus Domini sine querela. Quae ex¬ plicatio removere videtur ab homine justo peccata omnia non solum gravia, sed etiam levia. Et confirmabat hoc argumentum Pe- (1) Gen. VI, 9; ibid XVII, 1 ; Deut. XVIII , 13; Philip. IIP, 15. - (2) I Corinth. II, 6. — (3) Psal. XIV, 1 ; ibid. XVII, 24; ibid. CXVIII, 1; Eph. I, 4. — (!) Psal. CXIII ; Psal, XIV, 2; Eph. I, 4; I Joan. I, 8. — (5i I Joan. III, 9. — (6) I Joan. I, 8. — (7) Luc. I, 6. CAPUT VI. 223 lagius ex commentario S. Ambrosii in hunc locum Evangelii, ubi S. Ambrosius invehi¬ tur m eos, qui putant homines non posse absque peccato vivere. Responsio : Ad locum Evangelii respondet S. Augustin. in lib. de perfectione justitiae, et in libro de gratia Christi, cap. 48. et 49. aliud esse vivere sine querela, aliud vivere sine peccato : illum enim sine querela vive¬ re, de quo homines queri non possunt, qui nemini noceat, omnibus prosit, scandalum nulli tribuat, licet coram Deo peccatis ve¬ nialibus non careat, et tales fuisse Zacha- riam, et Elisabeth. Ad commentarium S. Am¬ brosii respondet ibidem Augustinus, S. Am¬ brosium aut postea sententiam suam humi¬ liter correxisse, aut solum significare voluisse posse homines sine peccato vivere non abso¬ lute, sed secundum quemdam modum, ita ut sine querela inter homines conversentur. Nam idem Ambrosius in commentario Isaiae (quem Augustinus eo loco citat) aperte scri¬ bit, neminem in hac vita sine peccato , aut omnino immaculatum esse posse. Est autem hoc loco observandum, quod tametsi dixerimus, nullum, quantumvis ju¬ stum et sanctum, potuisse in hac vita sine peccatis venialibus vivere, semper tamen excipimus Dominum nostrum Jesum Chri¬ stum , et ejus matrem semper Virginem Mariam. Nam potissima causa, cur a pecca¬ tis venialibus omnino liberari nequeamus in hac vita, est concupiscentia illa carnis, qure et peccati fomes a Theologis dicitur, quam ex justitiae originalis amissione contraximus ; Christus autem concupiscentia illa omnino caruit, quippe qui de Virgine virtute Spiri¬ tus sancti conceptus fuit. Ipsa autem sancta Virgo (ut S. Thomas docet in 3. par. queest. 27. art. 3.) in prima sanctificatione, vel a fomite plane liberata, vel (quod ipse magis probat) tanta gratiae copia repleta fuit, ut fomes in ea ligatus manserit, ac deinde in ipsa filii conceptione penitus ablatus fuerit. Itaque de Christo legimus : Qui peccatum non fecit , nec inventus est dolus in ore ejus , I Pet. ii (1). De Virgine autem : Tota pulchra es amica mea , et macula non est in ic, Cant. iv (2). De eadem S. Cyprianus (vel quicumque fuit auctor, sine dubio antiquus et doctus) in serra, de Nativitate Christi : « Plurimum, inquit , a caeteris differens (Maria) natura communicabat, non culpa. » De eadem S. Ambrosius serm. ult. in Psalm. cxvm : « Suscipe, inquit, me non ex Sara, sed ex Maria, ut incorrup ta sit virgo, sed virgo per gratiam ab omni integra labe peccati. » Et S. Augustinus lib. de natura, et gratia, cap. 36 : « Excepta, inquit, sancta Virgine Maria , de qua propter honorem Domini nullam prorsus, cum de peccatis agitur, habere volo quaestionem. Inde enim scimus, quod ei plus gratiae collatum fuerit ad vin¬ cendum omni ex parte peccatum, quia con¬ cipere, ac parere meruit eum, quem constat nullum habuisse peccatum. » Et S. Anselmus lib. de conceptu virginali , cap. 18 : « De¬ cuit, inquit, ut ea puritate Virgo niteret, qua major sub Deo nequit intelligi. » Et S. Ber- nardus in epist. 174 : « Ego, inquit, puto, quod et copiosior sanctificationis benedictio in eam descenderit, quae ipsius non solum sanctificaret ortum, et vitam deinceps ab omni peccato custodiret immunem, quod ne¬ mini alteri in natis quidem mulierum cre¬ ditur esse denatum. Decuit nimirum Regi¬ nam virginum singularis privilegio sancti¬ tatis absque omni peccato ducere vitam quai dum peccati mortis que pareret peremptorem, munus vitae et justitia omnibus obtineret. » Idem docet S. Thomas in 3. par. quaest. 27. art. 4. S. Bonaventura, et caeteri Theologi in 3. Sentent. dist. 3. et copiose Richardus de S. Victore in ii. lib. de Emmanuele. Deni¬ que Concilium Tridentinum sess. 6. can. 23. ita concludit : « Si quis dixerit, hominem semel justificatum posse in tota vita peccata omnia etiam venialia vitare, nisi ex speciali Dei privilegio, quemadmodum de beata Vir¬ gine tenet Ecclesia, anathema sit. » Neque movere debent testimonia Chryso- stomi, Ambrosii, et Augustini , quae contra citat Calvinus in Antidoto hujus canonis Concilii Tridentini. Nam testimonium Am¬ brosii, quod ille citat, nusquam exstat; testi¬ monium autem Augustini generale est, et exceptionem admittit, quam ipse Augustinus in alio loco adhibet, ut nos ostendimus. Chrysostomus videtur quidem aliquid dicere adversus ea, quae communiter Patres docent : tamen et verba ejus benigne exponi possunt, et ipse sibi anteferri sine dubio patietur com¬ munem Patrum consensum, et ipsas groecas Liturgias, in quibus asseritur Beata Virgo plane irreprehensa, et incontaminata, san- (1) Pet. II, 22. - (2) Cant. IV, 7. ' 224 LIRER I. ctior Cherubin et Seraphin. Vide plura apud Canisiura nostrum lib. r. dc Beata Virgine, cap. 10. et lib. iv. cap. ult.