Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Church Militant · The Church Spread Throughout the Whole World
Chapter 8: On the Imperfect
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Ecclesia Militante, On the Church Militant (of the controversy On Councils and the Church). 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).
That the imperfect can be in the Church, against the opinion of the Pelagians and Anabaptists, can easily be proved; for if those who have some imperfection were not in the Church, there would have been, nor would be, nor would be to come, no Church on earth. For except Christ and the blessed Virgin, who alone do not make up the Church, there are none, however holy in this life, who have not some venial sins, which yet do not take away justice, nor make a man an enemy of God, as the Pelagians thought. Which the divine letters first of all testify. Psalm 31: Thou hast forgiven the impiety of my sin: for this shall every one that is holy pray to thee in a seasonable time. For what is for this, but for remission? And so someone is holy, and yet has that which he asks to be remitted to himself. 3 Kings 8: For there is no man who sinneth not. Proverbs 24: The just man shall fall seven times a day, and shall rise again. Ecclesiastes 7: There is no just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not. Matthew 6, all are commanded to say: Forgive us our debts. James 3: In many things we all offend. 1 John 1: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Which testimonies are certainly clearer than to need any explanation.
Likewise the Council of Milevis testifies, canons 7 and 8, where it is defined that the just say, not only humbly but also truly, and not only for others but also for themselves: Forgive us our debts.
The same the ancient Fathers testify. Saint Cyprian, in his sermon on almsgiving: “Whoever shall say himself blameless is either proud or foolish.” Saint Gregory Nazianzen, oration 2 against Julian: “To be wholly free from all sin, God has set above the measure of human nature.” Blessed Ambrose, sermon 16 on Psalm 118: “The just man cannot deny this, that no one is without sin.” Blessed Chrysostom on Psalm 39: “Nor does the whole Church consist of the perfect, but it has also those given to idleness and sloth, etc.” Saint Jerome, Book 2 against the Pelagians: “That they are just I grant, but that they are without all sin I do not assent.” And in almost the whole of Book 3 he proves this same, where yet he admits that a man can be for some very brief time without all sin, but not for long.
Blessed Augustine, book on the Spirit and the letter, last chapter, teaches that a man can, by a singular privilege of God, live without all sin; yet that in fact there is no one who so lives, or has lived, except Christ. The same he says, book on nature and grace, chapter 36, where yet he excepts also the blessed Virgin; and letters 89 and 93, and the whole book on the perfection of justice; and finally Book 1 against the two letters of the Pelagians, chapter 14: “No one in the Church could rightly be ordained a minister, if the Apostle had said, if any be without sin, where he said, if any be without crime; or if he had said, having no sin, where he said, having no crime. For many baptized faithful are without crime, but without sin in this life I would say no one is.” Blessed Gregory, Book 21 of the Morals, chapter 9: in this life indeed many are without crime, but without sin no one can be.
The arguments on the contrary are many, but not all are to be resolved here. For those which are brought to prove that by any sin justice is lost, or that a man can live without all sin, will need no solution, since a little after we shall show that in the Church there are the best and the worst of men. Only two are proper to this place. One from Canticle 4: Thou art all fair, my beloved, and there is no spot in thee. The other from Ephesians 5: That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Which place the Sixth Council of Toledo, chapter 1, teaches must be understood of the Catholic Church of this time; for, explaining the confession of faith, in place of that, "the holy Church," it says, "the Church without spot or wrinkle."
I answer to the first: whether that be understood of the Church by reason of one part only, that is, by reason of the just souls, or of the perfect soul, which I rather approve, that the just soul is called all fair, either by a hyperbole, which is familiar to lovers; or because the just and perfect soul lacks mortal sins, which properly leave a spot, and avoids venial ones as far as is allowed by human fragility, and if it commits any, straightway strives to blot them out. And although this is not to be immaculate simply, yet it is to be immaculate for the state of this life, as Augustine explains in his book on the perfection of justice. As also no one is perfect in this life absolutely, and yet many in the Scriptures are called perfect, because they were such for the state of this life. Genesis 6: Noe was a just and perfect man. Philippians 3: Let us, as many as are perfect, be thus minded. Nay, even those are called immaculate who without doubt do not lack venial sins. Psalm 17: And I shall be spotless with him. Psalm 118: Blessed are the undefiled in the way. Ephesians 1: He chose us in him that we should be holy and unspotted in truth.
To the second I say, first, that it can be understood of the Church, not as it now is, but as it will be after the resurrection: as expound Saint Jerome on chapter 31 of Jeremiah near the end, Saint Augustine in the book on the perfection of justice and elsewhere, and blessed Bernard in sermon 3 on the feast of All Saints. Nor does the Council of Toledo stand in the way; for although the Council understood those words of the Church of this time, yet it did not define that they must necessarily be so understood. Yet I say, secondly, that it is more probable that the Apostle speaks of the Church of this time, but attributes by synecdoche to the whole Church what befits one part. For those who are now just in the Church are glorious by the beauty of grace, which is inchoate glory; they are without spot, as was a little before explained; and they are without wrinkle, because through Baptism they are renewed, and, the old man being put off, have put on the new; for wrinkles are signs of oldness. So this passage is understood, besides the Council of Toledo already cited, by Chrysostom, Jerome, and Theophylact in their commentary.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT VIII. De non perfectis. Non perfectos in Ecclesia, contra Pelagia- norum et Anabaptistarum sententiam, esse posse, facile probari potest ; nam si non es¬ sent in Ecclesia ii , qui habent aliquam im¬ perfectionem, nulla fuisset, neque esset, ne¬ que futura esset Ecclesia in terris. Nam ex¬ cepto Christo, et B. Virgine, qui soli non fa¬ ciunt Ecclesiam , nulli sunt, «juamvis sanc¬ tissimi in hac vita , qui non habeant aliqua venialia peccata, qme «tamen non tollunt ju¬ stitiam, nec faciunt hominem Deo inimicum, ut Pelagiani putabant. Id quod testantur in primis divinee litterae. Psalm. XXXI: Tu re¬ misisti impietatem peccati mei , pro hac orabit ad te omnis sanctus in tempore opportuno. Quid est enim, pro hac , nisi pro remissio¬ ne? Et sanctus igitur est aliquis , et tamen habet, quod sibi postulet remitti , III . Reg. VIII : Nec enim est homo , qui non peccet. Pro- verb. XXIV : Septies in die cadet justus , et resurget. Eccles. VII : Non est homo justus in terra, qui faciat bonum , et non peccet. Matth. VI. jubentur omnes dicere : Dimitte nobis de¬ bita nostra. Jacobi III : In multis offendimus omnes. I. Joan. I : Si dixerimus , quia pecca¬ tum non habemus, nos ipsos seducimus , et veri¬ tas in nobis non est (2). Quse certe testimonia clariora sunt, quam ut explicatione ulla in¬ digeant. Item testatur Concilium Milevitanum, can. 7. et 8. ubi definitur, justos dicere, non so¬ lum humiliter , sed etiam veraciter , et non solum pro aliis, sed etiam pro se : Dimitte nobis debita nostra. Idem testantur veteres Patres, S. Cypria¬ nus sermone de eleemosyna : « Quisquis se inculpatum dixerit, aut superbus, aut stultus est. » S. Gregorius Nazianzenus orat. 2. in Julianum : « Omni prorsus peccato vacare, supra humanae naturae modum Deus consti¬ tuit. » B. Ambrosius sermon. 16. in Psalm. GXVIII : «Non potest, inquit, hoc justus ne¬ gare, quia nemo sine peccato est.» B.Ghry- sostomus in Psalm. XXXIX : « Nec ex per¬ fectis, inquit, universa constat Ecclesia, sed habet etiam otio , et socordiae deditos etc. » S. Hieronymus lib. II. contra Pelagianos : « Justos , inquit , esse concedo , sine omni autem peccato esse, non assentior. » Et lib. III. fere toto hoc idem probat , ubi tamen admittit, posse ad aliquod brevissimum tem¬ pus esse hominem sine omni peccato , non tamen diu. B. Augustinus lib. de spiritu et littera, c. ult. docet posse hominem ex privilegio Dei singulari vivere sine omni peccato : tamen re ipsa neminem esse, qui sic vivat, aut vi¬ xerit, excepto Christo. Idem dicit lib. de na¬ tura et gratia , cap. 36. ubi tamen excipit etiam B. Virginem, et epist. 89 et 93. et toto libro' de perfect. justitiae : ac demum lib. I. contra duas epistolas Pelagiani, cap. 14 : « Nullus in Ecclesia, inquit, recte posset or¬ dinari minister, si dixisset Apostolus, si quis sine peccato est, ubidixit, si quis sine crimine est; aut si dixisset, peccatum nullum haben¬ tes, ubi dixit, nullum crimen habentes. Multi quippe baptizati fideles sunt sine crimine, sine peccato autem in hac vita neminem di¬ xerim. » B. Gregorius lib. XXI. Moralium, cap. 9. et in hac vita quidem multi sine cri¬ mine; sine peccato esse nullus valet. Argumenta in contrarium multa sunt, sed non omnia hic solvenda, Quse enim adferun- tt) I. Joan. II. 5; Joan. VIII, 31. — (2) Psal. XXXI, 6; III. Reg. VIII, 46; Prov. XXIV, 16: Eecl. VII, 21 ; Matth. VI, 12; Jac. III, 2; I. Joan. I, 8. CAPUT IX. 331 tor ad probandum, per quodlibet peccatum perdi justitiam ; vel posse hominem vivere sine omni peccato, non egebunt solutione, cum paulo post ostenderimus, inEcelesia es¬ se optimos, et pessimos viros. Duo tantum sunt propria hujus loci. Unum ex Cant. IV : lota pulchra es amica mea , et macula non est in te. Alterum ex Ephes. V : Ut exhiberet ip¬ se sibi gloriosam Ecclesiam non habentem ma¬ culam , aut rugam, aut aliquid hujusmodi (i). Quem locum de Ecclesia Catholica hujus temporis intelligendum esse docet Concilium Toletanum VI, cap. I. explicans enim con¬ fessionem fidei, loco illius, sanctam Eccle¬ siam, ait, Ecclesiam sine macula, aut ruga. Respondeo ad Primum , sive intelligatur illud de Ecclesia ratione unius partis tantum, id est, ratione animarum justarum , sive de anima perfecta, quod magis probo, animam justam dici totam pulchram, vel per hyper- bolem , quae familiaris est amantibus : vel quia anima justa, et perfecta mortalibus ca¬ ret peccatis , quae proprie maculam relin¬ quunt , et vitat venialia , quantum licet per humanam fragilitatem : et si qua commit¬ tit, mox delere studet. Id etsi enim non est esse immaculatum simpliciter , est tamen immaculatum pro statu hujus vitae , ut Au¬ gustinus explicat libro de perfectione justi¬ tiae. Quomodo etiam nemo est pertectus in hac vita absolute, et tamen multi in Scriptu¬ ris dicuntur perfecti , quia erant tales pro statu hujus vitae Genes. VI : Noe vir justus fuit , atque perfectus. Philip. III : Quicumque perfecti sumus, hoc sentiamus. Imo etiam di¬ cuntur immaculati , qui sine dubio veniali¬ bus non carent. Psalm. XVII : Et ero imma¬ culatus cum eo. Psalm. CXVIII : Beati imma¬ culati in via. Ephes. I : Elegit nos in ipso, ut essemus sancti et immaculati in veritate (2). Ad Secundum dico, Primo intelligi posse de Ecclesia, non ut nunc est, sed ut erit post resurrectionem : ut exponunt S. Hierouymus in cap. 31. Hieremiae circa finem. S. Augus¬ tinus lib. de perfect. justit. et a 1 ibi : et B. Bernardus serm. 3. de festo omnium Sanc¬ torum. Neque obstat Concilium Toletanum ; nam etsi illa verba intellexit Concilium de Ecclesia hujus temporis , tamen non defini¬ vit, sic necessario esse inteliigenda Dico ta¬ men Secundo, probabilius esse quod loqua¬ tur Apostolus de Ecclesia hujus temporis, sed tribuat per Synecdochen toti Ecclesiae, quod uni parti convenit. Qui enim sunt nunc in Ecclesia justi , sunt gloriosi per gratiae pulchritudinem , quae est gloria inchoata : sunt sine macula , ut paulo ante expositum est, et sunt sine ruga, quia per Baptismum renovati sunt , depositoque vetere homine induerunt novum; rugae enim signa sunt ve¬ tustatis. Ita hunc locum intelligunt , praeter Concilium Toletanum jam citatum, Chrysos- tomus, Hieronymus , et Theophylactus in commentario.