Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Justification · Book I: On Justifying Faith
Chapter 2: The causes of justification are explained
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. VI, De Justificatione, 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 causes of all things are four: the end, the efficient, the matter, and the form. The end of the justification of the impious is the glory of God, and of Christ, and the eternal salvation of those who are justified. For so the Council of Trent teaches, session 6, chapter 7; and the doctrine of the Council agrees most openly with the holy Scriptures. For of the glory of God Isaias speaks thus, chapter 43: Every one that calleth upon my name, I have created him for my glory. And the Apostle to the Ephesians, chapter 1: Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children... unto the praise of the glory of his grace. Of the glory of Christ the same Apostle speaks thus, Hebrews 2: For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, who had brought many children into glory, to perfect the author of their salvation by his passion. Where you see that all things are for Christ’s sake, and thereby that his glory is the end of the whole work of human redemption. Which can also be understood from this: that since Christ is the head of all the just, upon him redounds all the glory of their justification; for it cannot be doubted that the beauty of the members pertains to the glory of the head. And so St. Gregory, book 32 of the Morals, chapter 5 [al. 23], writes that Christ in heaven is, as it were, to be clothed and adorned with the glory of all the Saints, according to that of Isaias 49: Thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament. Finally, that salvation is the proper end of justification the Apostle Paul teaches, Romans 6: But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting. And the Apostle Peter, in the first epistle, chapter 1: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
The primary efficient cause is the goodness and mercy of God; the efficient by way of merit is the passion of Christ; the efficient by way of conjoined instrument is the very humanity of Christ; by way of separated instrument are the word and the Sacraments, and they who administer them in the name of Christ. Of the primary efficient cause we read in the book of Job, chapter 14: Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed? is it not thou who only art? And Isaias, chapter 43: I am, I am he that blot out thy iniquities for my own sake. And Romans 3: It is one God that justifieth circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Finally, since the justification of the impious consists of the remission of sin and the infusion of the grace of the adoption of the sons of God — who can remit sins, that is, the debts contracted with God, but God himself? And who can adopt a slave and an enemy into a son of God, but the same God? Of the meritorious cause Isaias speaks, chapter 53: If he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed... and my just servant shall justify many. And the Apostle Paul, Romans 3: Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath proposed to be a propitiation, etc. And the Apostle Peter, in the first epistle, chapter 1: You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver,... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled. And the Apostle John, in the first epistle, chapter 2: He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. And it is here briefly to be noted that Christ is not the meritorious cause as though the Father had remitted our sins as a favor to the Son — in the way Kings often absolve the guilty as a favor to friends who petition — but because he exactly paid in full the price of redemption, and by the rigor of justice (as the Theologians speak) satisfied for the crimes of us all. For this the Scriptures signify when they use the word redemption; and this same the Council of Trent, in the place cited, wished to indicate, when it taught that Christ is the meritorious cause of our justification, since by his passion he satisfied wholly for our sins, and earned for us reconciliation and grace. Of the instrumental but conjoined cause Scripture speaks, when it names the Son of God, by reason of the assumed nature, the arm of the Lord, as Isaias 53: Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness, etc. See St. Cyril, book 4 on John, chapters 12, 14, and 23, and Damascene, book 3, chapter 15. Of the separated instrumental cause — that is, of the word of God and the Sacraments, and of the very ministers of the word and Sacraments — the divine Scripture speaks most frequently. Of the word, James, chapter 1: For of his own will hath he begotten us by the word of truth. Likewise: Receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls. Of the Sacraments, the Apostle [Paul, Titus 3]: He saved us by the laver of regeneration, etc. Of the Ministers, the same Paul, 1 Corinthians 3: We are God’s helpers. And 2 Corinthians [5]: He hath placed in us the word of reconciliation. And the Lord himself, John 20: Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
The material cause can be called the mind of man, or his very will, in which justice dwells as in its subject and proper seat. To the material cause pertain also the dispositions, which prepare the matter for receiving the form. And there are called dispositions toward justification all those acts of grace and of free choice by which the very gift of justification is acquired — such as are, according to the opinion of the Council of Trent, session 6, chapter 6, the acts of faith, fear, hope, love, penance; of which we shall discourse afterwards.
The intrinsic formal cause of justification is the very habit of grace, or of charity, infused — as we shall afterwards prove in its place. The extrinsic formal cause, which is also called exemplar, is the very justice of Christ: For whom he foreknew, God also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son, as the Apostle speaks, Romans 8; who also, 1 Corinthians 15, admonishes that we bear the image of the heavenly man, that is, of Christ, as we have borne the image of the earthly man, that is, of Adam. Finally, the formal cause, not in habit but in act, is the just works themselves, which can also be called effects of justice, or of justification. Of all these, only three are called into question: the dispositions, the intrinsic formal cause, and actual justice; for all the rest either are conceded by all, or have been explained by us in another place, according to the slenderness of our talent and strength.
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CAPUT II. Explicantur causae justificationis. Causae rerum omnium sunt quatuor, finis, ef¬ ficiens, materia, et forma. Finis justificationis impii, est gloria Dei, et Christi ; et salus aeterna eorum, qui justificantur. Ita enim Concilium Tridentinum docet sess. 6. cap. 7. et Concilii doctrina, cum Scripturis sanctis appertissime congruit. Nam de gloria Dei sic loquitur Isai. cap. 43. Omnem , qui invocat nomen meum, in gloriam meam creavi eum Et Apostolus ad Ephes. i. Praedestinavit nos in adoptionem 'fi- liorum in laudem gloriae gratiae suae. De gloria Christi sic loquitur idem Apostolus ad Hebr. H. Decebat eum, propter quem ontnia , et per quem omnia, qui multos filios in gloriam addu¬ xerat , auctorem salutis eorum per passionem consummari (6). Ubi vides, propter Christum esse omnia, ac per hoc ipsus gloriam finem esse totius operis redemptionis humanae. Quod etiam exeo potest intelligi, quod cum Christus sit caput omnium justorum, in ipsum redundatomnis gloria justificationis ipsorum, Neque enim dubitari potest, quin pulchritudo menbrorum pertineat ad gloriam capitis. Ita¬ que S. Gregorius lib. xxxn. Moralium, cap. 5, scribit, Christum in coelo quasi vestiendum, atque ornandum esse gloria omnium Sancto, (1) Matth. V, 20. - (2) Rom. IV, 2. — (3) Phil. III, 9. - (4) Psal. XXXI, 11 ; Ibid. XCVI, II. - (5) I Joan. III, 7. -(6) lsai. XL1II, 7 ; Eph. I, 6 : Heb. II, 10. CAPUT II. 151 rurn, juxta illud Isai. xlix. Omnibus his velut ornamento vestieris (1). Denique salutem propriam finem esse justi¬ ficationis, docet Apostolus Paulus ad Roman. vi. Nunc vero liberati a peccato, servi autem facti Deo , habetis fructum vestrum in sanctifi¬ cationem, finem vero vitam aeternam. Et Apo¬ stolus Petrus in epist. i. cap. i. Ut reportetis finem fidei vestrae , salutem animarum vestra¬ rum (2). Causa efficiens primaria est bonitas, et mi¬ sericordia Dei, efficiens per modum meriti, est Christi passio ; efficiens per modum in¬ strumenti conjuncti, est ipsa Christi humani¬ tas, per modum instrumenti separati, sunt verbum et Sacramenta, et qui ilia Christi no¬ mine administrant. De primaria causa efficiente legimus in lib. Job. cap. xiv. Quis potest facere mundum de immundo conceptum semine ? nonne tu qui so¬ lus es. Et Isai. cap. xliii. Ego sum, ego sum, qui deleo iniquitates tuas propter me. Et ad Roman. ni. Unus est Deus, qui justificat cir¬ cumcisionem ex fide, et praeputium per fi¬ dem (3). Denique cum justificatio impii constet ex remissione peccati, et infusione gratiae adoptionis filiorum Dei quis potest remittere peccata, id est, debita contracta cum Deo, nisi ipse Deus ? et quis potest adoptare servum et inimicum in filium Dei, nisi idem Deus? De causa meritoria loquitur Isaias, cap. liii : Si posuerit pro peccato animam suam , videbit semen longaevum, et justificabit ipse justus ser¬ vus meus multos Et Apostolus Paulus ad Roman. hi. justificati gratis per gratiam ip¬ sius per redemptionem, quae est in Christo Jesu, quem proposuit Deus propitiatorem, etc. Et Apostolus Petrus in epist. I. cap. i : Non cor¬ ruptibilibus auro, vel argento redempti estis, sed pretioso sanguine, quasi agni immaculati, et incontaminati Christi. Et Apostolus Joan- nes in epist. I. cap. w.Ipse est propitiatio pro peccatis nostris, non pro nostris autem tantum, sed etiam pro totius mundi (4). Est autem hoc loco breviter annotandum, Christum non esse causam meritoriam, quasi Pater in gratiam filii nobis peccata dimiserit, quomodo saepe Reges in gratiam amicorum petentium, reos absolvunt ; sed quonian pre¬ tium redemptionis exacte persolvit, et ex Ri¬ gore justitiae (ut Theologi loquuntur) pro no¬ stris omnium sceleribus satisfecit. Id enim si¬ gnificant Scripturae, cum vocabulo redem¬ ptionis utuntur, et hoc idem indicare voluit Concilium Tridentinum loco citato, cum do¬ cuit, Christum causam esse meritioriam no¬ strae justificationis, quoniam passione sua pro peccatis nostris integre satisfecit, et nobis re¬ conciliationem, gratiamque promeruit. Dc causa instrumentaria, sed conjuncta, loquitur Scriptura, cum Dei filium ratione assumptae naturae, brachium Domini nomi¬ nat, ut Isai. liii. Quis credidit auditui nostro et brachium Domini cui revelatum est ? ascen¬ det sicut virgultum coram eo, et tamquam ra¬ dix de terra sitienti, non est species ei, neque decor, etc. (5). Vide S. Cyrillum lib. iv in Jo- annem, cap. 12. 14. et 23. et Damascenum lib. iii. cap. 15. De causa instrumentaria separata, id est, de verbo Dei et Sacramentis et de ipsis mi¬ nistris verbi, et Sacramentorum, Scriptura divina frequentissime loquitur. De verbo, Jacob. cap. i. Voluntarie genuit nos verbo ve¬ ritatis. Item : Suscipite insitum verbum, quod potest salvare animas vestras. De Sacramentis Apostolus Petrus in epist. I. cap. iii. Salvos nos facit per lavacrum regenerationis, etc. De Ministris idem Paulus I. ad Corinth. iii Dei adjutores sumus. Et. II. ad Corinth. : Posuit in nobis verbum reconciliationis. Et Dominus ipse Joan. xx. Quorum remiseritis peccata, remittentur eis, et quorum retinueritis retenta sunt (6). Causa materialis dici potest animus homi¬ nis, sive ipsa ejus voluntas, in qua justitia, tamquam in subjecto, et sede propria com¬ moratur. Pertinent quoque ad materialem causam dispositiones, quae materiam praepa¬ rant ad recipiendam formam. Dicuntur au¬ tem dispositiones ad justificationem illi om¬ nes actus gratiae et liberi arbitrii, quibus do¬ num ipsum justificationis acquiritur, quales sunt ex sententia Concilii Tridentini, sess. 6. cap. C. actus fidei, timoris, spei, dilectionis, poenitentiae, de quibus postea disseremus. Causa formalis intrinsecajustificationiscst ipse habitus gratiae, sive charitatis infusus, ut post suo loco probabimus. Causa formalis extrinseca, quae et exemplaris dicitur, est ipsa Christi justitia : J\am quos praescivit, eos Deus praedestinavit, conformes fieri imaginis (1) Isai. XLIX, 18. — (2) Rom. VI, 18; I Pet. I, 9. — (3) Job. XIV, 4 ; Isai XLIII, 25 ; Ilom. III, 30. - (4) Isai LIII. 11 ; Rom. III, 24 ; I Pet. I, 18 ; I Joan II, 2. — (5) Isai LIII, 18. — (6) Jacob. I, 21 ; Ibid. ; I Pet. III, 21 ; Tit. III, 5 ; II Corin. V, 19 ; Joan. XX, 23. 152 LIBER I. filii sui, (1) ut Apostolus loquitur ad Itoman. viii. qui etiam I. ad Corinth xv. monet, ut portemus imaginem hominis coelestis, id est, Christi, sicut portavimus imaginem hominis terreni, id est, Adami. Denique formalis cau¬ sa, non in habitu, sed in actu, sunt ipsa o- pera justa, quse etiam effectus justitia;, vel justificationis dici possunt. Ex his omnibus solum tria in quajstionem vocantur, dispo¬ sitiones, causa formalis intrinseca, et justitia actualis. Caffera enim omnia vel conceduntur ab omnibus, vel sunt a nobis alio loco, pro tenuitate ingenii nostri et virium, explicata.