Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Justification · Book I: On Justifying Faith
Chapter 4: What justifying faith is, according to the opinion both of the heretics and of the Catholics
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 Sectaries are wont to distinguish three faiths: historical faith, the faith of miracles, and the faith of the promises — as can be understood from Calvin, book 3 of the Institutes, chapter 2, § 9, from Chemnitz in part 1 of the Examination of the Council of Trent, and from others. Historical faith they call that by which we believe to be true the things narrated in the sacred writings; of which it is written, Hebrews 11: By faith we believe that the worlds were framed by the word of God. The faith of miracles they call that by which miracles are done; of which the Apostle says, 1 Corinthians 13: If I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, etc. The faith of the promises, that which is borne toward the divine promises of the remission of sins — such as that of the last chapter of Mark: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Again, they teach that the faith of the promises is either general or special: general, by which we believe that salvation is promised to all who believe; special, by which each one, applying the divine promise to himself, believes — or rather trusts — that all his sins have been forgiven him through Christ. For almost all the Lutherans define faith to be not so much knowledge, or assent, as confidence; and that confidence of special mercy, at last, they teach to be justifying faith.
Now Philip Melanchthon, in the preface to the second tome of Luther, relates that Luther received this opinion on justifying faith — which was, as it were, the seed of all the heresies of this time — from a certain old man of his order, while he was still a Monk, who used to cite St. Bernard in sermon 1 on the Annunciation. Which place of Bernard, see explained by us below, in book 3, chapter 10 [al. 14]. But let us hear their own words. Luther, in the sermon for the second Sunday of Lent: “Faith is a certain confidence, seated most deeply in the mind, of the divine goodness and grace, known and manifest through the word of God.” And that Luther speaks of the confidence of special mercy is plain from the assertion of articles 1 and 15, and from very many other places. Hence also the Centuriators, when they hand down the common doctrine of their sect, Century 1, book 1, chapter 4, column 113, define faith thus: “Faith is confidence in mercy, for Christ’s sake.” And in the same book, chapter 6, near the end, they say that John the Baptist admitted no one to Baptism unless first diligently questioned whether he apprehended the Messias by that special faith. Philip Melanchthon too, in the Commonplaces, under the title of the word “faith,” speaks thus: “When blessed Paul says, we are justified by faith, he would have thee behold the Son of God, sitting at the right hand of the Father, the Mediator interceding for us. For he sets forth this victim, and teaches that for the sake of this Son of God remission is given. In order, then, that the word ‘faith’ may point to that Mediator, and apply him to us, faith signifies not only the knowledge of the history, but confidence in the mercy promised for the sake of the Son of God.” The same, in the same Commonplaces, under the title of good works, says that any punishments whatever are rather to be endured than that it be denied that in those Pauline sentences — “Abraham believed God,” and the like — faith signifies confidence. He has like things in the Augsburg Confession, article 20, and in the Apology of the same article. Finally, in the Colloquy of Altenburg, folio 3, the Electoral Theologians define justifying faith to be a confidence in the will and heart, resting in Christ the Mediator, firmly determining that for the Son’s sake God forgives us our sins freely, and accepts us as sons and heirs of eternal life. Further, John Calvin seems to philosophize a little otherwise about the signification, or nature, of justifying faith. For he defines it thus, book 3 of the Institutes, chapter 2, § 7: “Faith is a firm and certain knowledge of the divine benevolence toward us, which, founded on the truth of the free promise in Christ, is both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” In which definition he places, with the Lutherans, as the object of faith the mercy alone, or benevolence, of God; but he seems to dissent in this: that he calls faith not confidence, but knowledge — unless perhaps he meant confidence to be understood in those last words, “and sealed upon our hearts.” For in § 8 he writes that the assent of faith is of the heart rather than of the brain, and of the affection more than of the intelligence; whence also in § 10 [al. 15] he inserts much about confidence and the expectation of the promises of God.
Now indeed the Catholics acknowledge that the word “faith” in the divine writings is not always taken in one and the same way. For in Romans 3 — Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? — faith is taken for faithfulness, that is, constancy in keeping a promise. And 1 Timothy 5 — They have made void their first faith — faith signifies the promise itself, and the vow. And Romans 14 — All that is not of faith is sin — faith is set for conscience. And Ephesians 4 — One faith, one baptism — by the name of faith the very object of faith seems to be designated, so that the sense is: we all believe this same thing, even as we have been baptized with the same rite. Yet they teach that historical faith, and that of miracles, and that of the promises, is one and the same; and that this one is not properly knowledge, or confidence, but a certain and most firm assent, on account of the authority of the first truth; and that this one is justifying faith. Although, as to the words, Catholics do not use the name of historical faith, lest they seem to hold (as in very truth they do not hold) that the deeds of the Saints which are related in the Scriptures are believed only on account of the authority of the historian himself; but they call it simply the Catholic faith, or also dogmatic faith — which word Cyril uses, catecheses 5 and 9 [al. 4], and Chrysostom, homily 29 on the first to the Corinthians, explaining chapter 12.
And so the Catholics dissent from the heretics in three things. First, in the object of justifying faith, which the heretics restrict to the promise alone of special mercy; the Catholics will have it extend as widely as the word of God extends — nay rather, they contend that the certain promise of special mercy pertains not so much to faith as to presumption. Then, in the faculty and power of the mind which is the seat of faith. For they place faith in the will, when they define it to be confidence, and thereby confound it with hope; for confidence is nothing else than hope strengthened, as St. Thomas teaches in 2-2, question 129, article 6. The Catholics teach that faith has its seat in the intellect. Finally, in the very act of the intellect. For they define faith through knowledge; we through assent. For we assent to God, even though he propose to us to be believed things which we do not understand.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT IV. Quid sit /ales justificans, ex sententia tum hx- reticorum , tum etiam Catholicorum. Sectarii tres fides distinguere solent, fidem historicam, fidem miraculorum et fidem promissionum ; ut ex Calvino intelligi potest lib. m.Institut. cap.2. §. 9. ex Kemuitio in 1. part. Exam. Concilii Trident. et ex aliis. Fi¬ dem historicam vocant, qua credimus vera esse, quae narrantur in sacris litteris; de qua scriptum estadHcbr. xx. Fide credimus aptata esse saecula Verbo Dei. Fidem miraculorum appellant, qua fiunt miracula, de qua I. ad Coiinth. xm dicit Apostolus : Si habuero om¬ nem (idem, ita ut montes transferam , etc. Fi¬ dem promissionum, qua fertur in promissi¬ ones divinas de remissione peccatorum, qua¬ lis est illa Mare. ult. Qui crediderit, et bapti- zatus fuerit , salvus erit (1). Rursus fidem promissionum aliam genera¬ lem, aliam specialem esse docent ; generalem, qua credimus, promissam esse omnibus cre- dent.ibussalutem; specialem, qua unusquisque sibi promissionem divinam applicans credit, sive potius confidit, peccata omnia per Chri¬ stum sibi esse dimissa. Nam fidem Luthera- ni fere omnes non tam notitiam, vel assen¬ sum ; quam fiduciam esse definiunt. Atque eam demum fiduciam specialis misericordiee, fidem justificantem esse docent. Tradit autem Philippus Melanchthon in praifatione in secundum tomum Lutheri hanc sententiam de fide justificante, quae quasi se¬ men fuit omnium haeresum hujus temporis, accepisse Lutherum a quodam sene ordinis sui, cum adhuc Monachus esset, qui citabat S. Bernardum in serm. 1. de annunciatione. Quem locum Bernardi, vide a nobis explica¬ tum infra in lib. nr. cap. 10. Sed verba ipso¬ rum audiamus. Lutherus in sermone Domi¬ nicae 2. Quadrag. « Fides inquit, est certa, altissimeque animo insidens, divinae bonitatis et gratiae, per verbum Dei cognitae, atque manifestae fiducia » . Loqui autem Lutherum de fiducia specialis misericordiae, palam est ex assertione art. 1. et 15, et ex aliis locis plurimis. Hinc etiam Centuriatores, cum tra¬ dunt communem doctrinam suae sectae Cent. 1. lib. r. cap. 4. colum. 113. ita fidem defini¬ unt : t( Fides est fiducia misericordiae, pro¬ pter Christum)) . Et in eodemlib. cap 6. prope finem, dicunt, Joannem Baptistam nullum admisisse ad Baptismum, nisi prius diligen¬ ter interrogatum, utrum ista fide speciali Messiam apprehenderet. Philippus quoque Melanchthon in locis communibus, tit. de vocabulo fidei, ita lo¬ quitur, « Cum Beatus Paulus dicit, justifica¬ mur fide, vult te intueri filium Dei, seden¬ tem ad dexteram Patris, Mediatorem inter¬ pellantem pro nobis. Proponit enim hanc ‘victimam, et docet, propter hunc filium Dei dari remissionem. Ut igitur vocabulum, fi¬ des, monstret illum Mediatorem, et nobis applicet, significat fides non tantum histo¬ ria) notitiam, sed fiduciam misericordia) promissa) propter filium Dei ». Idem in iis¬ dem locis, titulo de bonis operibus, dicit, toleranda potius quaelibet esse supplicia, quam negandum in sententiis illis Paulinis : « Credidit Abraham Deo », et similibus, fi¬ dem non significare fiduciam. Similia habet in Confessione August. art. i. et in Apologia ejusdem articuli. Denique in Colloquio Altemburgensi fol. 3. Electorales Theologi definiunt fidem justi¬ ficantem, esse fiduciam in voluntate et cor¬ de, acquiescentem in Mediatore Christo, certo statuentem propter filium nobis remit¬ tere Deum peccata gratis, nosque acceptare in filios, ethieredes vita) aeterme. Porro Joannes Calvinus paulo aliter phi¬ losophari videtur de significatione, vel natu¬ ra fidei justificantis. Sic enim eam definit lib. m. Institut. cap. 2. § 7. « Fides est di¬ vina) erga nos benevolentiae firma, certaque cognitio, qua) gratuitae in Christo promis¬ sionis veritate fundata, per Spiritum san¬ ctum, et revelatur mentibus nostris et cordi¬ bus obsignatur ». In qua definitione pro ob¬ jectio fidei cum Lutheranis solam misericor¬ diam, sive benevolentiam Dei ponit. In eo vero dissentire videtur, quod fidem non fi¬ duciam, sed notitiam appellat. Nisi forte fi¬ duciam, intelligi voluerit in illis ultimis ver¬ bis : « Et cordibus obsignatur ». Nam §. 8. (1) Hcb. XI, 3; I Cor. XIII, 2; Mare X Vi, 10. Tom. YI. 11 LIBER. I. Io 4 scribit, assensionem fidei cordis potius esse, quam cerebri, et affectus magis, quam intel- ligentiae. Unde etiam §. 10. multa interserit de fiducia, etcxpectatione promissionum Dei. Jam vero Catholici agnoscunt quidem vo¬ cabulum fidei, in divinis litteris non semper uno, et eodem modo sumi. Nam ad Iio- man. m. Numquid incredulitas illorum fidem Dei evacuavit ? fides pro fidelitate, id est, constantia in servanda promissione accipi¬ tur. Et I ad Tirnoth. v. Primam fidem irri¬ tam fecerunt; fides promissionem ipsam, votumque significat. Et ad Roman. xiv. Quod non est ex fide , peccatum est ; fides pro conscientia posita est. Et ad Ephes. iv. Una fules , Unum Baptisma (1) ; fidei nomine ipsum fidei objectum designari videtur, ut sensus sit, id ipsum omnes credimus, quem¬ admodum eodem ritu baptizati sumus, ta¬ men fidem historicam, ct miraculorum, et promissionum unam et eamden» esse docent, atque illam unam non esse proprie notitiam, aut fiduciam, sed assensum certum, atque firmissimum, ob auctoritatem primre verita¬ tis ; et hanc unam esse fidem justifican¬ tem. Quamquam quod attinet ad voces, Catho¬ lici non utuntur nomine fidei historicae, ne videantur sentire (ut re vera non sentiunt) res gestas Sanctorum, quae referuntur in Scripturis non credi, nisi propter ipsius hi¬ storici auctoritatem : sed vocant simpliciter fidem Catholicam, aut etiam fidem dogma¬ ticam, qua voce utuntur Cyrillus cateches.,5. et 9. et Chrysostomus homil. 29. in priorem et ad Corinthios, explicans cap. 12. Itaque tribus in rebus ab haereticis Catho¬ lici dissentiunt ; primum, in objecto fidei justificantis, quod haeretici restringunt ad solam promissionem misericordiae specialis, Catholici tam late patere volunt, quam late patet verbum Dei ; quin potius certam pro¬ missionem specialis misericordiae, non tam ad fidem, quam ad praesumptionem pertine¬ re contendunt. Deinde in facultate, et poten¬ tia animi, quae sedes est fidei. Siquidem illi fidem collocant in voluntate, cum fiduciam, esse definiunt; ac per hoc eam cum spe confundunt. Fiducia enim nihil est aliud, ni¬ si spes roborata, ut S. Tbomas docet in 2. 2. quaest. 129. art. 6. Catholici fidem in in¬ tellectu sedem habere docent. Denique in ipso actu intellectus. Ipsi enim per notitiam fidem definiunt, nos per assensum. A?scn- timur enim Deo, quamvis ea nobis credenda * proponat, quae non intelligimu^.