Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Justification · Book I: On Justifying Faith
Chapter 9: It is proved from the Ecclesiastical tradition that justifying faith is not confidence in mercy, but assent to all things in the word of God
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).
Now indeed, what the ancient Church held and handed down concerning the faith necessary for justification and salvation — namely, what it is, and what object it has — cannot be more clearly understood than from the Symbol of faith, which is delivered to catechumens at the beginning, that they may approach the laver of regeneration with a right and sound faith — that is, that they may be justified from faith, and, justified, may attain eternal salvation.
There stands, then, first of all, the most ancient Symbol, which is called Apostolic, because the Apostles composed it, that it might be agreed among all what was the sum of the whole Christian faith. Of which thing the witnesses are Ambrose, in epistle 81 to Siricius; Jerome, in the epistle to Pammachius against John of Jerusalem; Augustine, in sermons 115 and 181 On the Season; Leo, epistle 13 to Pulcheria, and sermon 11 on the passion of the Lord; Maximus, in the sermon on the Symbol; and others. And that in the Symbol is contained, though briefly and in sum, the whole object of faith, St. Augustine, among others, teaches, in the place cited, sermon 115 On the Season, where he defines the Apostolic Symbol in these words: “The Symbol is a comprehension of our faith — simple, brief, full: that the simplicity may consult the rusticity of the hearers, the brevity their memory, the fulness their doctrine.” And sermon 119: “The Symbol is the rule of faith briefly comprised, that it may instruct the mind, and not burden the memory.” This Symbol we have explained a little more at large in the Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople, and again by St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria; but as the four Gospels are not so much four Gospels as one Gospel four times told, so the Apostolic, the Nicene, the Constantinopolitan, and St. Athanasius’s are not so much four Symbols as four expositions of the same Symbol.
In the Symbol of faith, then, are contained many things which must necessarily be believed if one would be justified from faith: of the unity and Trinity of God; of the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ; of the Church; of Baptism; of eternal life — but of special mercy not even a word. And so that alone was passed over which alone ought to have been set down, if the opinion of the Lutherans about the notion or definition of faith were true. But (says Luther, in the commentary on chapter 3 of the epistle to the Galatians) “in the Symbol is had, I believe the holy Church — which is nothing else than, I believe there is no more any sin, no death, in the Church.” But this objection is empty, for two causes. First, because we believe the Church to be holy since she has a holy spouse and many holy sons, and outside her no one is holy — not because all who are in her are holy; for we know the Church to be a threshing-floor, on which is chaff with the wheat; and a net, in which are good and bad fishes; and a house, in which are some vessels unto honor, others unto dishonor. Second, since he who believes the Church holy is not bound to believe that he himself is already a part of the holy Church. For the Catechumens believe the Church holy, and yet know that they are not yet a part of her; while they who are already baptized, and remain within, know that they are a part of the body of the Church — but whether they share her sanctity, which is placed chiefly in charity, they neither know, nor are bound to know or believe. But (says Philip, in the Apology of the Confession, in the article on faith) “the remission of sins is not omitted in the Symbol of faith; and that is what justifying faith properly gazes upon.” But this is easily rejected. For in the first place, if justifying faith were rightly defined as confidence in mercy for Christ’s sake, at least a great part of the Symbol, if not the whole, ought to agree with this definition. But we see the contrary to have been done: since of the twelve articles there is only one which seems capable of being in any way accommodated to confidence in mercy; for the remaining eleven neither teach anything about mercy, nor pertain by any means to confidence, but to mere believing (so to speak). Then, the article on the remission of sins does not teach a special and absolute benevolence, which the adversaries make the object of justifying faith, but a general benevolence, and one not lacking its own conditions, since it depends on the reception of baptism. For what is had in the Apostolic Symbol — “I believe the remission of sins” — is explained in the Constantinopolitan, when it is said, “I confess one baptism unto the remission of sins.” Wherefore the Catechumens, even before baptism, recite and believe the whole Symbol of faith; and yet they have not yet the remission of sins, but await its obtaining through the laver of regeneration. And so the sense of that article is not, “I believe, or trust, that my sins have been remitted to me,” but, “I believe and confess that in the Catholic Church there is the gift of the remission of sins, which is received through baptism and the other Sacraments.”
Besides this testimony of the whole Church delivering the Symbol of faith to the Catechumens, there can also be brought forward the testimonies of the several Fathers, who, when they discourse of justifying faith, always understand that which is called Catholic, and which regards the whole Symbol. St. Irenaeus, book 1, chapters 2, 3, and 4, explains the rule of the Christian faith — which same Tertullian does, in the book against Praxeas; and each teaches that nothing else is to be believed than the articles of the Apostolic Symbol, though they have not the name of the Symbol. St. Basil also, in the oration on the confession of faith, teaches that the faith necessary for salvation and justification is that by which are believed the things God has revealed; nor does he anywhere in that whole oration mention special faith. In like manner Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 5, writes that justifying faith is dogmatic faith, by which we believe that Jesus is the Christ, and rose from the dead, and other dogmas of that kind. The same also, Catechesis 18, explaining what is to be believed by catechumens that they may be baptized, delivers and expounds the whole Symbol, and nowhere mentions the confidence of special mercy. The same do Gregory Nazianzen, at the end of the Oration on the holy Laver, and in the tractate on the Nicene faith; Chrysostom, in the two homilies on the Symbol; Eusebius of Emesa, likewise in two homilies on the Symbol; Rufinus, in the explication of the Symbol; Augustine, in the book On Faith and the Symbol, in the unfinished book On Genesis, chapter 1, and in the Enchiridion through many chapters; Fulgentius, in the book On Faith, to Peter; and the author of the book On Ecclesiastical Dogmas — all of whom, when they explain the Symbol, profess that they are teaching all the things that pertain to the Christian faith; and yet there is none of them who even once mentions that special faith of the Lutherans.
But it pleases us to bring forward the very words from Augustine, and from those who followed him — Prosper, Leo, and Fulgentius. Augustine, then, in the Enchiridion, chapter 2 [al. 3], says that God is worshipped by faith, hope, and charity; and chapter 5 [al. 4], that the mind must be imbued with faith, that by living well it may tend toward the vision; and chapter 7, that salvation is acquired by these three: faith, and hope, and charity. For whosoever shall have called upon the name of the Lord shall be saved; but the name of the Lord cannot be called upon unless it be first believed; therefore faith believes, hope and charity pray. From which places we manifestly gather that he speaks of the justifying and saving faith. Of this justifying faith, then, soon after, in chapter 8, he teaches that it is distinguished from hope — and thereby also from confidence — not only in name, but also in object, whence is taken the proper notion and essence of a virtue: “There is faith,” says he, “both of evil things and of good, since both good things are believed and evil, and that by a good faith, not an evil one. There is also faith of things past, and present, and future. For we believe that Christ died, which is now past; we believe that he sits at the right hand of the Father, which now is; we believe that he will come to judge, which is future. Likewise faith is both of one’s own things and of others’. For each one believes both that he himself at some time began to be, and was certainly not everlasting; and other things, and yet others: nor only about other men do we believe many things pertaining to religion, but also about the Angels. But hope is only of good things, and only of future ones, and of things pertaining to him who is said to bear the hope of them. These things being so, for these causes faith will have to be distinguished from hope, as by name, so also by rational difference.” The same Augustine, in book 3 against the Two Epistles of the Pelagians, chapter 5: “Our faith — that is, the catholic faith — distinguishes the just from the unjust, not by the law of works, but by the very law of faith; for the just man liveth by faith.” Where St. Augustine speaks of justifying faith, which distinguishes the just from the unjust, and says that faith is the Catholic — that is, the dogmatic faith, common to the whole Church — not that special one which belongs only to him who believes, or trusts, that his sins have been remitted him. And a little below he says that this faith is the right faith, which is opposed to heresy, and by reason of which a twice-married catholic woman is better than a heretical virgin — where without doubt by justifying faith he understands the faith by which all the articles and dogmas are believed, without any admixture of perfidy. St. Leo, sermon 4 on the Epiphany: “This it is that justifies the impious; this it is that from sinners makes saints: if in one and the same our Lord Jesus Christ both the true Deity and the true humanity be believed.” St. Prosper, in book 1 On the Contemplative Life, chapter 18, briefly enumerates the sum of the faith concerning the Trinity and the Incarnation; then, in chapter 19, he says this very faith is the justifying: “He who shall not have believed, so as to have faith, will be able to have neither justice of heart nor salvation.” St. Fulgentius, in the book On Faith, to Peter, in the very prologue, speaking of the Catholic and dogmatic faith, which he expounds in that whole book: “I rejoice that thou bearest solicitude for keeping the true faith without any vice of perfidy — without which no conversion can profit, nay, cannot even be. For the Apostolic authority says that without faith it is impossible to please God. For faith is the foundation of all goods; faith is the beginning of human salvation. Without this faith no one can arrive at the number of the sons of God; because without it neither does anyone in this world obtain the grace of justification, nor will he possess eternal life in the world to come.” St. Bernard teaches this in many places, but it will suffice us at present to have cited one, sermon 6 [al. 5] on the vigil of the Nativity, when he was speaking of the faith of the Incarnation and the other mysteries: “Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed. This is our portion in the word of life — and truly not contemptible: from which, namely, one lives, and by which the world is conquered; for the just man liveth by faith, and this is the victory which conquereth the world, our faith. This is she who, like a kind of exemplar of eternity, comprehends in a certain most vast bosom things past and present and future together.” Where he says that justifying faith embraces things past, present, and future, because we believe all the articles revealed by God, of which some are of things past, others of present, others of future.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT IX. Probatur ex traditione Ecclesiastica, fidem justificantem non esse fiduciam misericor¬ diae, sed assensum ad omnia, quae in verbo Dei continentur. Jam yero quid vetus Ecclesia senserit, ac tradiderit de fide ad justificationem, et salu¬ tem necessaria, quid ea videlicet sit, et quod objectum habeat, non potest clarius intelligi, quam ex Symbolo fidei, quod catechumenis initio traditur, ut cum fide recta, et sana ad lavacrum regenerationis accedant, hoc est, ut ex fide justificentur, et justificati salutem consequantur aeternan^. Extat igitur in primis Symbolum antiquis¬ simum, quod Apostolicum dicitur, propterea quod Apostoli ipsum condiderint, ' ut inter omnes constaret, qusenam esset totius Chri¬ stianae fidei summa. Cujus rei testes sunt Ambrosius ifi epist 81. ad Siricium. Hiero¬ nymus in epist. ad Pammachium adversus Joannera Hierosolymitanum, Augustinus in serm. 115. et 181. de tempore. Leo epist. 13. ad Pulcheriam, et serm. 11. de passione Domini. Maximus in serm. de Symbolo et alii. Contineri autem Symbolo, quamvis bre¬ viter, et in summa, totum fidei objectum, docet pimter alios sanctus Augustinus, loco citato, serm. 115. de tempore, ubi Symbo¬ lum Apostolicum, his verbis definit : « Est, inquit, Symbolum comprehensio fidei no- (1) Act. VIII, 37. - (2) Rom. IV, 20. - (3) Ibid. X, 8. - (4) I Corin, XV, 1. - (4) I Joan. V, 1. CAPUT IX. 163 strse simplex, brevis, plena, ut simplicitas consulat audientium rusticitati, brevitas me¬ moria;, plenitudo doctimae ». Et serm. 419. <t Symbolum, inquit, est breviter complexa regula fidei, ut mentem instruat, nec oneret memoriam ». Hoc Symbolum habemus paulo latius ex¬ plicatum, in Conciliis QEcumenicis Nyceno et Constantinopolitano, et rursus a S. Atha- nasio Episcopo Alexandrino ; sed sicut qua- tuor Evangelia, non tam sunt quatuor Evan- gelia, quam quatuor Symbola, Apostolicum, Nycaenum, Constantinopolitanum, etS. Atha- nasii, non tam sunt quatuor Symbola, quam enarrationes quatuor ejusdem Symboli. In Symbolo igitur fidei continentur multa, qua; necessario credenda sunt, si quis ex fide justificari velit, de unitate et Trinitate Dei, de Incarnatione, Passione et Resurre¬ ctione Christi, de Ecclesia, de Baptismo, de vita aiterna, de speciali autem misericordia ne verbum quidem. Itaque id solum praeter- missum est, quod solum ponendum erat, si vera esset Lutheranorum de fidei notione vel definitione sententia. At (inquit Lutherus in comment. ad cap. 3. epist. ad Galat.) « in Symbolo habetur. Credo sanctam Ecclesiam, quod non est aliud, quam credo nullum esse amplius pec¬ catum, nullam mortem in Ecclesia ». Sed inanis ha;c objectio est duabus de causis. Primo, quia sanctam Ecclesiam esse credi¬ mus, quoniam sponsum habet sanctum et multos filios sanctos, et extra eam nullus est sanctus : non autem quoniam omnes, qui in ea sunt, sancti sint. Scimus enim, Ecclesiam esse aream, in qua sunt palea; cum tritico ; !et rete in quo sunt boni et mali pisces, et domum, in qua sunt vasa alia in honorem, alia in contumeliam. Secundo, quoniam qui credit Ecclesiam sanctam, non .tenetur ore- dere, se jam esse partem Ecclesia; sanctae. Catechumeni enim credunt Ecclesiam san¬ ctam, et tamen sciunt, se nondum partem ejus esse : qui vero jam baptizati sunt, et intus manent, sciunt se partem esse corporis Ecclesia;. Sed an sanctitatem ejus partici¬ pent, qua; potissimum iu charitate sita est, neque sciunt, neque scire, aut credere te¬ nentur. At (inquit Philippus, in Apologia confess. in articulo de fide) « Non est omissa remis¬ sio peccatorum in Symbolo fidei ; atque illa est, quam fides justificans proprie intuetur ». Sed facile hoc rejicitur. Nam in primis, si fides justificans recte definita esset fiducia misericordia; propter Christum ; deberet sal¬ tem magna pars Symboli, si non totum, cum hac definitione congruere. Contra autem fa¬ ctum esse videmus, cum ex articulis duode¬ cim, unus tantum sit, qui utcumque ad fidu¬ ciam misericordiae accommodari posse vi¬ deatur : nam reliqui undecim neque de mi¬ sericordia docent aliquid, neque ad fiduciam ulla ratione, sed ad solam credulitatem (ut sic loquamur) pertinent. Deinde, artioulus de remissione peccato¬ rum, non docet specialem et absolutam be¬ nevolentiam, quam adversarii objectum fidei justificantis faciunt, sed benevolentiam ge¬ neralem, et quae suis conditionibus non ca¬ ret, cum ex baptismi perceptione dependeat. Nam quod in Symbolo Apostolico habetur : .«Credo remissionem peccatorum », in Con¬ stantinopolitano explicatur, cum dicitur, « Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum ». Quocirca Catechumeni etiam ante baptismum ; totum fidei Symbolum re¬ citant et credunt ; et tamen nondum habent remissionem peccatorum, sed eam obtinen¬ dam per lavacrum regenerationis expectant. Itaque sensus illius articuli non est, credo aut confido mihi remissa esse peccata, sed credo et confiteor, in Ecclesia Catholica esse donum remissionis peccatorum, quod per baptismum, aliaque Sacramenta percipitur. Praeter lioc testimonium totius Ecclesiae Symbolum fidei Catechumenis tradentis, ad- ferri possunt etiam testimonia singulorum Patrum, qui de fide justificante cum disse-' runt, eam semper intelligunt, quae Catho¬ lica dicitur, quaeque totum Symbolum respi¬ cit. Sanctus Irenoeus, lib. i. cap. 2. 3. et 4. explicat regulam fidei Christianae, quod idem facit Tertullianus, in lib. adversus Praxeam ; uterque autem nihil aliud credendum do¬ cet, nisi articulos Symboli Apostolici, quam¬ vis nomen Symboli non habeant. Sanctus quoque Basilius, in oratione de confessione fidei, docet, fidem ad salutem et justificatio¬ nem necessariam illam esse, qua creduntur ea, quae Deus revelavit : neque fidei specia¬ lis in tota illa oratione usquam meminit. Pari ratione Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus, Catechesi 3. scribit, fidem justificantem esse fidem dogmaticam, qua credimus Jesum es¬ se Christum, et a mortuis resurrexisse, at • que alia id genus dogmata. Idem quoque Catechesi 18. explicans, quid sit credendum 46i LIBER I. catechumenis, ut baptizari possint, totum Sy bolum tradit, ot exponit, neque usquam meminit fiducia? specialis misericordia?. Idem faciunt Gregorius Nazianzenus, Ora¬ tione in sanctum Lavacrum extrema, et in tractatu de fide Nyceena ; Chrysostomus in duabus homiliis de Symbolo, Eusebius E- missenus in homiliis item duabus de Symbo¬ lo, Ruffinus, in explicatione Symboli, Au¬ gustinus, in lib. de Fide et Symbolo, in lib. de Genesi imperfecto, cap. 1 . Et in Enchiri¬ dio per multa capita ; Fulgentius, in lib. de fide ad Petrum, et auctor libri de Ecclesia¬ sticis dogmatibus, qui omnes, cum Symbo¬ lum explicant, tum profitentur, ea omnia' se docere, quse ad fidem Christianam pertinent; et tamen nemo est eorum, qui vel semel spe¬ cialis istius fidei Lutheranorum memine¬ rit. Sed placet ex Augustino, et qui eum se¬ cuti sunt, Prospero, Leone, .atque Fulgen- tio, verba ipsa proferre. Igitur Augustinus in Enchiridio, cap. 2. dicit, Deum fide, spe et charitate coli, et cap. 5. dicit, mentem imbui debere fide, ut bene vivendo tendat ad speciem. Et cap. 7. dicit, salutem his tri¬ bus acquiri fide, et spe, et charitate. Nam quicumque invocaverit nomen Domini sal¬ vus erit : sed non potest invocari nomen Domini nisi prius credatur ; ideo fides credit, spes et charitas orant. Ex quibus locis ma¬ nifeste colligimus eum loqui de fide justifi¬ cante et salvante. De hac igitur fide justificante, mox cap. 8. docet, eam distingui a spe, ac per hoc et¬ iam a fiducia non solum nomine, sed etiam objecto, unde sumitur ratio propria, essen¬ tiaque virtutem. « Est (inquit) fides et mala¬ rum rerum et bonarum, quia et bona cre¬ duntur et mala, et hoc lidc bona non mala. Est etiam fides et praeteritarum rerum, et praesentium, et futurarum. Credimus enim mortuum Christum, quod jam praeteriit, credimus spdere ad dexteram Patris, quod nunc est, credimus venturum ad judican¬ dum, quod futurum est, Item fides et. sua¬ rum rerum est et alienarum. Nam et se quis¬ que credit aliquando coepisse , nec fuisse utique sempiternum, et alia atque alia : nec solum de aliis hominibus multa, qua? ad re¬ ligionem pertinent, verum etiam de Angelis credimus. Spes autem non nisi bonarum re¬ rum est, nec nisi futurarum, et ad eum per ■ linentium, qui earum spem gerere perhibe¬ tur. Qua? cimi ita sint, propter has. causas distinguenda erit fides aspe, sicut vocabulo, ita et rationabili differentia ». Idem Augustinus in lib. m. contra duas epistolas Pelagianorum, cap. o. « Nostra (inquit) fides, hoc est, catholica fides, justos ab injustis non operum, sed ipsa fidei lege discernit. Quia justus ex fide vivit». Ubi sanctus Augustinus loquitur de fide justifi¬ cante, qua? discernit justum ab injusto, et dicit, eam fidem esse Catholicam, id est, fidem dogmaticam, communem toti Eccle¬ sia?, non specialem illam, qua? ejus tantum est, qui credit, vel confidit sibi remissa esse peccata. Et paulo infra, dicit, hanc fidem, esse fidem rectam, qua; ha?resi opponitur, et ratione cujus melior est mulier bis nupta catholica, quam virgo haeretica. Ubi sine dubio per fidemjustificantem intelligitfidem, qua creduntur articuli et dogmata omnia sine ulla permixtione perfidia?. Sanctus Leo ser. 4. de Epiphania : «lloc est (inquit) quod justificat impios, hoc est, quod ex peccatoribus facit sanctos, si in uno codemque Domino nostro Jesu Christo, et vera Deitas, et vera credatur humanitas». Sanctus Prosper in lib. i. de vita contempla¬ tiva, cap. -18. enumerat breviter summam fidei de Trinitate et Incarnatione. Deinde cap. 19. hanc ipsam dicit esse fidem justifi¬ cantem : « Qui non crediderit (inquit) ha¬ bendo fidem, nec justitiam cordis habere poterit, nec salutem ». Sanctus Fulgentius, in libro de Fide ad Petrum, in ipso prologo, loquens de fide Catholica et dogmatica, quam in toto eo li¬ bro exponit : « Gaudeo (inquit) quod pro fi¬ de vera, sine ullo perfidia? vitio custodienda sollicitudinem geris, sine qua nulla potest prodesse, imo nec esse conversio. Apostoli- ca quippe dicit auctoritas, quia sine fide im¬ possibile est placere Deo. Fides namque est bonorum omnium fundamentum, fides est humana? salutis initium. Sine hac fide, nemo ad filiorum Dei numerum potest pervenire : quia sine ipsa, nec in hoc sa?culo quisquam justificationis gratiam consequitur, nec in futuro vitam possidebit a?ternam ». Sanctus Bernardus, multis in locis hoc docet, sed unum in pra?sentia nobis citasse sufficiet, serm. fi. in vigilia Nativitatis, cum loqueretur de fide Incarnationis, et aliorum mysteriorum : Beati (inquit) qui non vide¬ runt, et crediderunt. Pars nostra ha?c in verbo vita?; nec sane contemptibilis, ex qua nimirum vivitur, et qua vincitur mundus, CAPUT X. 165 quoniam justus cx fide vivit : et htec est vi¬ ctoria, qua; vincit mundum, fides nostra. Haec est, qua; velut quoddam aeternitatis exem¬ plar praeterita simul et praesentia, ac futura sinu quodam vastissimo comprehendit ». li¬ bi fidem justificantem dicit, complecti prte- terita, praesentia et futura, quia credimus omnes articulos a Deo revelatos, quorum alii sunt de rebus praeteritis, alii de praesentibus, alii de futuris. v