Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Justification · Book I: On Justifying Faith
Chapter 24: The sixth argument from the Scriptures for faith alone is solved
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 last argument they take from those Scriptures which teach that the promise would be void, if it rested on the law or on works, and were not received by faith alone. Romans 4: If they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, the promise is abolished. And in the same place: Therefore it is of faith, that the promise might be firm. And Galatians 3: That the promise, by the faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe. And Galatians 5: You are made void of Christ, you who are justified in the law.
I answer: this argument has been solved, partly in chapter 11, in the response to the fifth objection; partly in chapter 19, in the explanation of the words “law” and “works.” The sum is: the Apostle teaches that our faith would be empty, and the promise of God void, if justification could be had through the sole knowledge of the law, or works done by the sole powers of nature. But nowhere does he teach that a man is justified from the sole apprehension of the promise through faith, or that justification does not depend on the condition of works. Nay rather, in countless places Scripture testifies that both justification and salvation depend on the condition of penance and of good works: Unless you do penance, says the Lord, you shall all likewise perish, Luke 13; and Matthew 19, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XXIV. Solvitur argumentum sextum ex Scripturis . pro sola fide. Postremum argumemtum ex Scripturis illis accipiunt, qua) docent, irritam fore pro¬ missionem, si lege, aut operibus nitatur, et non sola fide accipiatur. Rom. iv. Si ex lege Increditas, exinanita est fides , abolita est pro¬ missio. Et ibidem : Ideo ex fide , ut firma sit promissio. Et Galat. ni ; Ut promissio ex fide daretur credentibus. Et Galat. v : Evacuati estis a Christo , qin in lege justificamini (3). Respondeo : hoc argumentum solutum est partim cap. 11. in responsione ad quintam objectionem : partim cap. 19. in explicatione vocabulorum legis ct operum. Summa est, docet Apostolus, inanem fore fidem nostram, et in itam promissionem Dei, si justificatio haberi possit per solam cogitionem legis, aut opera facta solis natura) viribus. Nusquam autem docet, justificari hominem cx sola apprehensione promissionis per fidem, aut justificationem non pendere ex conditione operum. Quin potius in infinitis locis Scri¬ ptam testatur, et justificationem, et salutem pendere ex conditione poenitentia), et operum honorum : Nisi poenitentiam habueritis , in¬ quit Dominus, omnes similiter peribitis , Luc. .\ m. ct Mattii, xix. Si vis ad vitam ingredi, serra mandata.