Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Loss of Grace · Book II: That God Is Not the Author of Sin
Chapter 11: The objections drawn from the divine writings are refuted
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. V, De Amissione Gratiae et Statu Peccati, Book II. 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).
It remains that we answer the arguments; and since many places of divine Scripture are brought by the adversaries, we shall recall them all to fixed heads.
First, then, are objected those testimonies by which it seems to be signified that God wills, and has decreed from all eternity, that evil works be done. Hither pertains that of Genesis 45: not by your counsel, but by the will of God, was I sent hither. And chapter 50: Fear not: can we resist the will of God? In which two places Joseph excuses the crime of his brothers, who had sold him to the Madianites, because God so willed, whose will no one can resist. Hither also pertain those: This same being delivered up, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hands of wicked men have crucified and slain, Acts 2. And: For of a truth there assembled together in this city against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, To do what thy hand and thy counsel decreed to be done, Acts 4.
Answer: in evil works it often happens that the action is evil and the passion good. For the selling of the Patriarch Joseph, and the slaying of our Lord Jesus Christ, if they be considered on the side of the agents — that is, of the sellers and the slayers — were most grave crimes; if on the side of the sufferers — namely, of Joseph and of Christ, bearing with an even mind the selling, or the death — they were works of the highest patience, and thereby exceedingly good. God, therefore, willed and predefined those works of virtue which consist in the passion, when he willed and predefined that Joseph be sold and Christ be slain; but the evil works of those selling Joseph and slaying Christ he neither willed nor predefined, but foreknew and permitted, as many holy Fathers cited above teach — and among them Augustine, Prosper, Fulgentius, who have discoursed more accurately on these matters. For, that what God had willed and predefined might infallibly be done — namely, that Joseph be sold and Christ slain — it was enough that God had foreseen the evil wills of Joseph's brothers, and of the Jews, and of Pilate, and at the same time had willed to permit that those evil wills should in their own time bring forth what they had wickedly conceived. And, to explain briefly the single places in the argument proposed: in chapters 45 and 50 of the book of Genesis Joseph does not say that his brothers were impelled by God to the crime, but that God turned their evil into good. For thus he says: You thought evil against me: but God turned it into good, that he might exalt me… and might save many people. Now Joseph consoles his brothers, showing the good outcome of the affair from the divine providence, which permitted that evil that it might draw thence many and great goods. For that is what those words of chapter 45 signify: Be not afraid, and let it not seem to you a hard case that you sold me into these countries: for God sent me before you into Egypt for your preservation. For it is no small consolation to him who has sinned, and whom the sin now repents, if he see that by occasion of his sin some great good has followed. And that saying — not by your counsel, but by the will of God, was I sent hither — falls back into the same sense. For it pertains (as Chrysostom expounds, homily 64 on Genesis) to the consolation of the brothers, and the sense is: unless God had willed to permit that which you were endeavoring to do concerning me, you could have effected nothing by your counsel; therefore I ascribe the cause of my entering into Egypt not to your counsel, but to the providence of God. Which St. Ambrose also teaches, book On Joseph, chapter 12, where he writes that St. Joseph attended not so much to this — that he had been sent by his brothers to death — as to this, that he had been sent by God to life; and that therefore with brotherly charity he endeavored to excuse their sin, and attributed the cause of his entering into Egypt not to their impiety, but to the providence of God. But that of chapter 50 — Fear not: can we resist the will of God? — has a far other sense than the words at first sight seem to bear. For it does not signify that Joseph's brothers could not resist the will of God, which was that Joseph be sold to the Egyptians; but that Joseph himself could not resist the will of God, which was that he forgive his brothers. For the Hebrew words are these: Fear not; for am I under God? — and the Greek and Chaldee texts agree; and the sense is, as Chrysostom expounds, last homily on Genesis: I fear God, and am subject to him, and therefore I ought to imitate him and obey him. Wherefore, since he has bestowed such great goods on me through the occasion of this selling, I ought not, nor can I, be angry with you, lest I seem ungrateful toward God. And so those words of the Latin interpreter — Can we resist the will of God? — are to be referred to Joseph alone, who speaks of himself in the plural number; which is not unusual, above all when he speaks of a matter which pertains to all who truly fear God. Nor do the two testimonies from the Acts of the Apostles demand another answer; of which St. Leo speaks thus, sermon 16 on the Passion of the Lord: “Very diverse, and very contrary, is that which was foreknown in the malignity of the Jews and that which was disposed in the passion of Christ. The will of slaying did not proceed thence, whence the will of dying; nor from one spirit came forth the atrocity of the crime and the endurance of the Redeemer. For the Lord did not send the impious hands of the raging upon himself, but admitted them; nor, by foreknowing what was to be done, did he compel it to be done — though he had taken flesh for this end, that it might be done.” Thus he. Nothing else, then, can be gathered from those places, save that God willed and defined that Christ should redeem the world by his passion and death; but that he did not will or define that Judas should betray Christ, the Jews bring him to Pilate, Pilate adjudge him to death, and the soldiers at last crucify and slay him; but that he foresaw that all these things would be, if he himself permitted, and willed, and decreed, to permit.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XI. Refelluntur objectiones deprompta ? ex divinis litteris. Superest ut ad argumenta respondeamus; et quoniam multa loca divinae Scripturae ab adversariis afferuntur, revocabimus omnia ad certa capita. Primum igitur objiciuntur ea testimonia, quibus significari videtur, Deum velle, et decrevisse, jam ab aeternitate, ut fiant mala opera. Huc pertinet illud Genes. xlv: Non vestro consilio, sed Dei voluntate huc missus sum. Etcap. L : Nolite timere, num Dei possu¬ mus resistere voluntati (i) ? In quibus duobus lo¬ cis excusat Joseph scelus fratrum suorum, qui eum vendiderant Madianitis, quia sic Deus voluerit, cujus voluntati resistere ne¬ mo possit. Huc etiam pertinent illa: Hunc definito consilio, et praescientia Dei traditum, per manus iniquorum affligentes intere mistis, Actor, n. Et : Convenerunt vere in civitate ista adversus sanctum puerum tuum Jesum, quem unxisti, Herodes et Pontius Pilatus cum gentibus, et populis Israel, facere qua: manus tua, et con¬ silium tuum decreverunt fieri. Actor, iv (1). Responsio: In malis operibus saepe accidit, ut actio sit mala, et passio bona. Venditio enim Patriarchae Joseph, et occisio Domini nostri Jesu Christi, si considerentur ex parte agentium, id est, vendentium et occiden¬ tium, scelera erant gravissima; si ex parte patientium, videlicet Josephi et Christi, aequo animo ferentium venditionem, vel mortem, opera erant summae patentiae, ac per hoc valde bona. Deus igitur voluit, ac praedefinivit opera ista virtutum, quae in pas¬ sione consistunt, cum voluit, ac praedefini¬ vit, ut Joseph venderetur, et Christus occi¬ deretur. Opera autem mala vendentium Joseph, et occidentium Christum, non voluit, nec prae¬ definivit, sed praescivit, et permisit, ut multi sancti Patres, supra citati docent, et in iis Augustinus, Prosper, Fulgentius, qui accu¬ ratius de iis rebus disseruerunt. Ad hoc enim, ut infallibiter fieret quod Deus voluerat et praedefinierat, ut videlicet Joseph vendere¬ tur, et Christus occideretur, satis erat Deum praevidisse malas voluntates fratrum Joseph, et Judaeorum, ac Pilati, et simul voluisse permittere, 'ut malae illae voluntates suo tem¬ pore parerent, quod scelerate conceperant. Ac ut singula loca in argumento proposi¬ to breviter explicemus, in cap. 45 et 50. libri Geneseos, non dicit Joseph a Deo impulsos fuisse fratres suos ad scelus, sed Deum con¬ vertisse malum eorum in bonum. Sic enim ait : Vos cogitastis de me malum, sed Dem vertit illud in bonum, ut exaltaret me, et sal¬ vos f aceret multos populos (3). Consolatur au¬ tem Joseph fratres suos, ostendens bonum rei eventum ex divina providentia, quae ma¬ lum illud permisit, ut multa, et magna bona inde eliceret. Id enim significant illa verba cap. 45 : Nolite timere , neque durum vobis videatur , quod me vendidistis in his regionibus. Pro salute enim vestra misit me Dominus ante vos (4). Neque enim parva consolatio est ei, qui peccavit, et quem peccati jam pcenitet, si videat occasione peccati sui magnum ali¬ quod bonum esse consecutum. Illud autem : Non vestro consilio, sed Dei voluntate huc missus sum, in eumdem sensum recidit. Pertinet enim (ut exponit Chryso- stomus homil. 64. in Genes.) ad consolatio nem fratrum, et sensus est : Nisi Deus per¬ mittere voluisset id, quod de me facere co¬ nabamini, non potuissetis vestro consilio, quidquam agere : propterea non vestro consi¬ lio, sed Dei providentiae adscribo causam in- gres sus mei in^Egyptum, quod etiam docet S. Ambrosius lib. de J oseph, cap. 12. ubi scri¬ bit, S. Josephnon tam attendisse quod a fratri¬ bus missus fuisse ad mortem, quam quod a Deo missus fuisset ad vitam, et ideo fraterna charitate conatum esse peccatum illorum excusare, et causam ingressus sui in ^Egy- ptum, non illorum impietati, sed Dei provi¬ dentiae tribuisse. (I) Gen. XLV, 8; ibid. L, 19. - (2) Act. II, 23; ibid. IV, 27. — (3) Gen. L, 20. — (4) Gen. XLV, 5. 272 UDEK [(. Illud autem cap. i. : Nolite timere, num Dei possumus resistere voluntati (1), longe alium sensum habet, quam prima fronte verba prae se ferre videantur. Non enim significat, non potuisse fratres Joseph resistere Dei volunta¬ ti, qua) erat, ut Joseph /Egyptiis venderetur: sed non potuisse ipsum Joseph resistere Dei voluntati, qua; erat, ut fratribus suis igno¬ sceret. Verba enim IIebra;aha)csunt, Nolite ti¬ mere nam sub Deo sum ego 135% pnnn “13 ISTCVbS et concordat textus Graecus et Chakkeus, et sensus est ut exponit Chry- sostomus homil. ult. in Genes. Deum timeo, et illisubjectus sum, et ideo illum imitari, ei- que obedire debeo. Quare cum ille tam mag¬ na bona mihi praestiterit per occasionem hujus venditionis, non debeo, nec possum vobis irasci, ne ingratus erga Deum videar. Itaque verba illa interpretis Latini : Num Dei possumus resistere voluntati? ad solum Jo¬ seph referenda sunt, qui de se in numero multitudinis loquitur, quod non est inusita¬ tum, praesertim cum de ea re loquatur, qua; ad omnes pertinet, qui vere Deum timent. Neque aliam responsionem exigunt duo testimonia ex actis Apostolorum, de quibus sic loquitur S. Leo scrm. 16. de pass. Do¬ mini: <( Multum diversum, multumque con¬ trarium est id, quod iu malignitate Juda;o- rum est praecognitum, et quod in Christi est passione dispositum. Non inde processit vo¬ luntas interficiendi, unde moriendi, nec de uno extitit spiritu atrocitas sceleris, et tole¬ rantia Redemptoris. Non enim impias furen¬ tium manus immisit in se Dominus, sed ad¬ misit; nec pra;sciendo quod faciendum esset; coegit ut fieret, cum tamen ad hoc carnem suscepisset, ut fieret. » Haec ille. Nihil igitur aliud ex locis illis colligi potest, nisi Deum voluisse, ac definivisse, ut Christus passione, ac morte sua mundum redimeret. Non au¬ tem voluisse aut definivisse, ut Judas Chri¬ stum proderet, Juda)i ad Pilatum adducerent, Pilatus morti adjudicaret, milites denique illum crucifigerent, et occiderent, sed haec omnia praevidisse futura, si ipse permitteret ; et voluisse, ac decrevisse permittere.