Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Justification · Book II: On Inhering Justice
Chapter 8: The tradition of the ancient Fathers, and chiefly of Augustine, on inhering justice
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. VI, De Justificatione, Book II. 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 we shall bring forward the testimonies of the ancient Fathers for inhering justice. But for two causes we shall be briefer in this part. For we have brought forward not a few testimonies which pertain hither also, in book 1 On Grace and Free Choice, chapter 4; and the adversaries grant that the holy Fathers referred the grace of justification to internal renovation and sanctification, not to the sole remission of sins. For Calvin, who is wont to except Augustine alone when he rejects the holy Fathers, in book 3 of the Institutes, chapter 11, section 13, repudiates Augustine too in this question: “Nor,” he says, “is even the opinion of Augustine to be received, who refers grace to the sanctification by which we are regenerated unto newness of life through the Spirit.” Chemnitz too, in the first part of the Examination of the Council of Trent, admits that the Fathers so speak of justification as we speak: “We raise no strife,” he says, “how the Fathers take justification.” And below: “I am not ignorant that the Fathers speak otherwise, but the question is of the propriety of the tongues.” That is, all the Fathers were unskilled and rude of the propriety of the tongues! Let us bring forward, then, a few testimonies of the ancients out of many, and chiefly of St. Augustine.
St. Augustine, tome 1, book 12 of the Confessions, chapter 13: “As much as there is a distance between the light which illumines and that which is illumined, so much is there a distance between the justice which justifies, and the justice which is made by justification.” In which place he distinguishes our justice from the justice of God, and without doubt makes it a created quality, as is light, wisdom, and the like. Tome 2, in epistle 83 to Consentius: “What else is justice, when it is in us, or any virtue by which one lives rightly and wisely, than the beauty of the interior man?” And here he most openly places our justice in the internal renovation of the mind, and the comeliness of virtue. Tome 3, book 15 On the Trinity, chapter 8: “Which nature, when it is justified by its Creator, is carried over from a deformed form into a beautiful form.” Therefore the justified man does not remain deformed, as the adversaries will have it, nor needs the imputation of another’s justice by which his own inhering injustice may be covered. In the same tome is the book On the Spirit and the Letter, which the same Augustine testifies, book 2 of the Retractations, chapter 37, was written against the enemies of the grace of Christ by which we are justified; and in that whole book the grace of God is called charity diffused in the hearts, which makes the law to be fulfilled: the charity, then, by which we fulfil the law, is the justice by which we are justified. Tome 4, book 1 to Simplicianus, question 2: “Because the purpose of God remains, to justify believers, therefore he finds works which he may now choose unto the kingdom of heaven.” Where justification is called that whence good works proceed. And below: “Unless the mercy of God go before by calling, no one can even believe, that from this he may begin to be justified, and receive the faculty of working well.” And so by the justice by which we are justified is understood faith and charity, which is the very faculty of working well.
Tome 5, book 19 On the City of God, chapter 27: “Here in each one is justice, that God command the obedient man, the soul the body, and reason command the vices, even resisting, whether by subduing or by resisting; and that from God himself be asked both the grace of merits and the pardon of offences, and for goods received be paid the giving of thanks.” In this definition of justice the imputed justice of Christ has no place, but only the justice inhering in us, through which reason subdues the vices and renders obedience to God. Yet because this inhering justice needs a helper, that it may be able to execute just works, therefore Augustine says it pertains to our justice that we ask of God the grace of merits and the pardon of offences, and for benefits received pay thanks. Tome 6, in the book On Heresies, chapter 88, explaining what the grace of God is of which the Pelagians are enemies, and through which we are justified (as he says, book 2 of the Retractations, chapters 37 and 42, and elsewhere), he says it is that “by which we are rescued from the power of darkness, that we may believe in Christ, and be translated into his kingdom, and by which charity is diffused in our hearts, that faith may work through love”; where he manifestly constitutes the grace of justification in the remission of sins and in the infusion of the virtues, especially of faith and charity. Tome 7, book 1 On the Merits and Remission of Sins, chapter 10: “We read that they are justified in Christ who believe in him, on account of the hidden communication and inspiration of spiritual grace.” Likewise in the book On Nature and Grace, chapters 38, 42, and 70, he teaches that charity infused in the hearts is our true justice.
Tome 8, on Psalm 118, discourse 26: “Justice is a great virtue of the soul, and especially praiseworthy.” And at once of this very virtue: “Who wrought justice in man, but he who justifies the impious? — that is, by his grace makes just of the impious.” And here we are most openly said to be justified through a justice which is an inhering virtue. Likewise on Psalm 98, treating that, “Thou hast made justice and judgment in Jacob; exalt the Lord our God”: “Truly exalt, well exalt; let us praise and exalt him who made the very justice which we have; he made it in us. For who wrought justice in us, but he who justified us? We, then, the impious; he, the justifier — since he himself wrought in us the very justice by which we may please him.” Tome 9, tractate 26 on John: “What is the justice of God, and the justice of man? The justice of God is so called, not that by which God is just, but that which God gives to man, that man may be just through God.” Tome 10, sermon 13 on the words of the Apostle: “He who shall have believed in him shall not have his own justice, which is of the law, although the law be good, but shall fulfil that very law, not by his own justice, but by that given by God. For charity is the fulness of the law. And whence is this charity diffused in our hearts? Not indeed from us, but by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.” In this place St. Augustine clearly teaches that the justice which is to us from God is charity itself, diffused in the heart, through which we fulfil the law. And that whole sermon, most long and most beautiful, confirms this same. And so Calvin did prudently, in ingenuously confessing that St. Augustine did not stand on his side. Otherwise he could plainly have been overwhelmed by his testimonies, taken from every single tome. Yet I would he did not forget that this is that Augustine whom the same Calvin, book 3 of the Institutes, chapter 3, section 10, and book 4, chapter 14, section 26, preached to be the most faithful and best witness of antiquity. Let us now add also a few things from the other Fathers.
St. Ambrose, book 6 of the Hexaemeron, chapter 8: “Whether justification seems to thee to be conferred according to the body, or according to the soul, I pray thee answer. But thou canst not doubt, since justice, whence justification is derived, is surely of thy mind, not of thy body.” Here certainly by justice he cannot understand the sole remission of sin, or the imputed justice of God or of Christ, which is neither properly of the body, nor properly of the mind, since it inheres in neither part of man; but he understands justice which is a virtue of the soul, and inheres not in the body, but properly in the soul. The same author, book 6 on Luke: “In this is the justification of God, if he be seen to have transferred his gifts not to the unworthy and guilty, but to the innocent, made so through washing, and to the just.” St. Ambrose teaches in this place that God in Baptism both justifies and is justified: justifies, because through washing he makes the clean of the filthy, the just of the iniquitous, the innocent of the guilty; and is justified, because he shows himself just, while he transmits the divine gifts not to the impious and unjust, but to the pious, and to the just made so by himself. But if the opinion of the heretics were true, God could not be justified, because he would bestow his gifts on men truly filthy and unjust, who were falsely held for just and innocent.
St. Jerome, book 1 against the Pelagians: “This is the highest justice of man, whatever justice thou canst have, to think it not thine own, but the Lord’s, who has bestowed it.” And book 3: “Now thou art made clean in the laver, and of thee it is said, Who is this that cometh up made white? And though she be washed, yet she cannot keep her purity, unless she be sustained by the Lord.” Thou seest how St. Jerome places justice in the virtue and purity which we acquire through Baptism, not in some imputation of another’s justice. St. Prosper, in the response to chapter 6 of the Gauls: “A justified man — that is, made pious of impious — receives, no good merit preceding, a gift, by means of which he may acquire also merit, that what was begun in him through the grace of Christ may be increased also through the industry of free choice, the help of God never being removed, without which no one can either advance or persevere in good.” But the imputation of the justice of Christ is not a gift whence merits are acquired, nor is the industry of free choice increased thereby. St. Cyril of Alexandria, book 6 On the Trinity: “Heat is the Spirit, who, as soon as he shall have diffused charity in us, and inflamed our minds with his fire, we have now attained justice.” See the same, book 11 on John, chapter 25, and book 12 of the Thesaurus, chapters 3 and following. St. Gregory, book 18 of the Morals, chapter 33, expounding that of chapter 28, “They shall not be remembered in comparison of it”: “All the elect of the heavenly country are indeed holy and just, but by participation of wisdom, not by comparison. Justice indeed is called wisdom, and they are called the servants of wisdom and justice; but that justice is justifying, while these are justified justice.” See also Basil, book 1 On Baptism, chapter 2; Nyssen and Nazianzen in the oration on holy Baptism; Chrysostom, homily 16 on the first to the Corinthians, on that, “And such some of you were,” 1 Corinthians 6, and on the same place Theophylact and Oecumenius; Leo, epistle 91, chapter 1; and Bernard, sermon 4 On the Dedication of the Church, and in epistle 190 to Pope Innocent.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT VIII. Traditio veterum Patrum , ac potissimum Augustini , de justitia inhaere ite. Nunc adferemus testimonia veterum Pa¬ trum pro justitia inhaerente. Sed duas ob causas erimus in hac parte breviores. Nam et protulimus non pauca testimonia, qua; huc etiam pertinent, in lib. i. de gratia et libero arbitrio, cap. 4. et adversarii conce¬ dunt; sanctos Patres justificationis gratiam ad internam renovationem et sanctificatio¬ nem, non ad solam peccatorum remissionem retulisse. Nam Calvinus, qui solum Augusti¬ num excipere solet, cum sanctos Patres re¬ jicit, lib. in. Institut. cap. 11. §. 13. etiam Augustinum in hac quaest. repudiat : « Ac ne Augustini quidem, inquit, sententia reci¬ pienda est, qui gratiam ad sanctificationem refert, qua in vitae novitatem per Spiritum regeneramur». Ivemnitius quoque in 1. parte Examinis Concilii Tridentini, admittit Patres ita loqui de justificatione, ut nos loquimur : « Non movemus, inquit, litem, quo modo justifica¬ tionem accipiant Patres». Et infra : « Non ignoro, inquit, aliter loqui Patres, sed de proprietate linguarum quaestio est» . Scilicet, Patres omnes imperiti, ac rudes proprietatis linguarum erant. Proferamus igitur pauco, de multis, testimonia veterum, ac potissi¬ mum S. Augustini. S. Augustinus tom. i. lib. xii. Confessio¬ num, cap. 13. « Quantum, inquit, distat in¬ ter lumen, quod illuminat at quod illumina¬ tur : tantum distat inter justitiam justifican¬ tem, et justitiam quae justificatione facta est ». Quo loco justitiam nostram distinguit a justitia Dei, et sine dubio creatam qua¬ litatem facit, ut est lumen, sapientia, et si¬ milia. Tomo ii. in epist. 83. ad Censentium : « Quid est, inquit, aliud justitia, cum in no¬ bis est, vel quaelibet virtus, qua recte, sa- pienterque vivitur, quam interioris hominis pulchritudo». Et hic apertissime ponit ju¬ stitiam nostram in interna renovatione men¬ tis, et decore virtutis. Tomo m. lib. xv. de Trinitate, cap. 8. « Qua; natura, inquit, cum a suo conditore justificatur, a deformi forma formosam trans¬ fertur in formam ». Igitur non manet defor¬ 229 mis, ut adversarii volunt, homo justificatus, neque eget imputatione aliena; justitia;, qua injustitia propria, et inhaerens tegatur. In eodem tomo est liber de spiritu et littera, quem scriptum esse contra inimicos gratia; Christi, qua justificamur, testatur ipse idem Augustinus lib. n. Retractat, cap. 37. in eo autem toto lib. gratia Dei dicitur charitas diffusa in cordibus, qua; facit, ut lex implea¬ tur : charitas igitur, qua legem implemus, est justitia, qua justificamur. Tomo iv. lib. i. ad Simplicianum, quaest. 2. « Quia, inquit, manet propositum Dei, ut justificet credentes, ideo invenit opera, qua; jam eligat ad regnum ccelorum ». Ubi justi¬ ficatio vocatur id, unde opera bona proce¬ dunt. Et infra : « Nisi, inquit, vocando pra;- cedat misericordia Dei, nec credere' quis¬ quam potest, ut ex hoc incipiat justificari, et accipiat facultatem bene operandi *>>. Itaque per justitiam, qua justificamur, intelligitur fides et charitas, qua; est ipsa facultas bene operandi ». Tomo v. lib. xix. de civitate Dei, cap. 27. « Hic, inquit, in unoquoque justitia est, ut obedienti Deus homini, animus corpori, ra¬ tio autem vitiis, etiam repugnantibus, im¬ peret, vel subigendo, vel resistendo : atque ut ab ipso Deo petatur, et meritorum gratia, et venia delictorum, ac de acceptis bonis gratiarum actio persolvatur». In hac defini¬ tione justitia; nullum locum habet justitia Christi imputata, sed sola justitia nobis in¬ haerens, per quam ratio vitia subigit, et Deo , obedientiam praestat. Quia tamen haec justi¬ tia inhaerens Deo, indiget adjutore, ut opera justa exequi valeat, ideo ad justitiam no¬ stram pertinere dicit Augustinus, ut a Deo pe¬ tamus gratiam meritorum, et veniam deli¬ ctorum, et pro beneficiis acceptis gratiam persolvamus. Tomo vi. in lib. de haeres, cap. 88. expli¬ cans quae sit gratia Dei, cujus inimici sunt Pelagiani, et per quam justificamur (ut ipso ait lib. ii. Retract. cap. 37. "et 42. et alibi) dicit esse eam, « qua eruimur de potestate tenebrarum, ut in Christum credamus, atque in regnum ipsius transferamur, et qua dif¬ funditur charitas in cordibus nostris, ut fi¬ des per dilectionem operetur»; ubi mani¬ feste gratiam justificationis constituit in re¬ missione peccatorum, et in infusione virtu¬ tum, fidei praesertim, et charitatis. Tomo vii. lib. i. de peccatorum meritis et remissione, cap. 10. « Legimus, inquit, ju- 230 LIBER II. stificari in Christo, qui credunt in sum, propter occultam communicationem et in¬ spirationem gratia3 spiritalis». Item in li¬ bro de natura et gratia, cap. 38. 42. ct 70. docet, charitatem infusam in cordibus, esse veram justitiam nostram. Tomo vm, in Psalm. cxvm. concione 26. « Justitia, inquit, virtus est animi magna, pnecipueque laudabilis ». Et continuo de ' hac ipsa virtute : « Quis fecit, inquit, in ho¬ mine justitiam, nisi qui justificat impium ? hoc est, per gratiam suam de impio faci*' justum ». Et hic apertissime justificari dici¬ mur per justitiam, qua; sit virtus inhserens. Item in Psalm. xcvm. tractans illud : «Ju¬ stitiam et judicium in Jacob tu fecisti ; exal¬ tate DominumDeum nostrum» , «Yere, inquit, exaltate, bene exaltate, laudemus et exalte¬ mus illum, qui fecit ipsam justitiam, quam habemur; Ipse in nobis fecit. Quis enim in nobis fecit justitiam , nisi qui nos justifi¬ cavit ? nos ergo impii, ille justificator, quan¬ do et ipsam justitiam ipse in nobis fecit, qua illi placeamus » . Tomo ix. tract. 26. in Joan. « Quid est, inquit, justitia Dei, et justitia hominis ? Ju¬ stitia Dei dicitur, non qua Deus justus est, sed quam dat homini Deus, ut justus sit ho¬ mo per Deum » . Tomo x. serm. 13. de verbis Apostoli : « Qui crediderit in eum, non habebit suam justitiam, quae ex lege est, quamvis sit bona lex, sed implebit ipsam legem non sua ju¬ stitia, sed data a Deo. Charitas enim pleni¬ tudo est legis. Et unde ista charitas diffusa est in cordibus nostris? non utique a nobis, sed per Spiritum sanctum, 'qui datus est nobis ». Hoc loco perspicue docet S. Augu¬ stinus, justitiam, qua; nobis ex Dea est, esse ipsam charitatem, in corde diffusam, per quam legem implemus. Et totus ille sermo, longissimus et pulcherrimus hoc idem con¬ firmat. Itaque prudenter fecit Calvinus, ut S. Au¬ gustinum a paytibus suis non stare, ingenue fateretur. Alioqui testimoniis ejus, ex sin¬ gulis tomis petitis, plane obrui potuisset. Velim tamen non oblivisceretur, hunc esse Augustinum illum, quem ipse idem lib. m. Institut. cap. 3. §. 10. et lib. iv. cap. 14. § 26. fidelissimum, atque optimum testem antiquitatis esse praedicavit. Addamus nunc etiam pauca quaedam ex aliis Patribus. S. Ambrosius lib. vi. Exam. cap. 8. « Utrum, inquit, justificatio secundum cor¬ pus, an secundum animam tibi conferri videatur, quaeso respondeas. Sed dubitare non potes, cum justitia, unde justificatio derivata est, mentis tuae utique, non corpo¬ ris sit » . Hic certe per justitiam non potest intelligere solam remissionem peccati, aut justitiam Dei, vel Christi, imputatam, quae nec proprie corporis, nec proprie mentis est, cum in neutra parte hominis inhaereat, sed intelligit justitiam, quae virtus animi est, et non in corpore, sed in animo proprie inhaeret. Idem auctor lib. vi. in Luc. « In eo, inquit, justificatio Dei est, si non ad indignos et obnoxios, sed ad innocentes per ablutio¬ nem factos, .videatur, et justos sua munera transtulisse ». Docet hoc loco S. Ambrosius, Deum in Baptismo justificare et justificari ; justificare, quia per ablutionem facit mundos de sordidis, justos de iniquis, de obnoxiis innocentes : justificari autem, quia se justum ostendit, dum non ad impios et injustos, sed ad pios, et justos a se factos, munera divina transmittit. At si vera esset haereticorum sententia, Deus justificari non posset, quia munera sua largiretur hominibus vere sor¬ didis et injustis, qui falso justi et innoxii haberentur. S. Hieronymus lib. i. adversus Pelagianos : « Haec, inquit, est hominis summa justitia, quidquid potueris habere justitiae, non tuum esse putare, sed Domini, qui largitus est ». Et lib. iii : « Nunc, inquit, mundus factus es in lavacro, et de te dicitur : Qua; est ista, qua; ascendit dealbata ; et lofa quidem sit, sed custodire non valeat puritatem suam, nisi a Domino sustentetur ». Vides quemad¬ modum S. Hieronymus justitiam ponat in virtute et puritate, quam acquirimus per Baptismum , rion in aliqua imputatione aliena; justitiae. S. Prosper in respons. ad cap. 6. Gallor : «Justificatus, inquit, homo, id est, ex impio pius factus, nullo praecedente bono merito accipit donum, quo medio acquirat et meri¬ tum, ut quod in illo inchoatum 6st per gra¬ tiam Christi, etiam per industriam liberi augeatur arbitrii, numquam remoto adju¬ torio Dei, sine quo nec proficere, nec per¬ manere in bono quisquam potest». At im¬ putatio justitia; Christi non est donum, unde acquirantur merita, neque augetur industria liberi arbitrii. S. Cyrillus Alexandrinus lib. vi. de Tri- nit. : « Calor, inquit, Spiritus est, qui simul ut charitatem in nobis diffuderit, et ejus CAPUT IX. 231 igne mentes nostras inflammaverit, jam su¬ mas justitiam consecuti ». Yide eumdem lib. xi. in Joannem, cap. xxv. et lib. xn. Thesauri, cap. 3. et 3. S. Gregorius lib. xvm. Moral. cap. 33. exponens illud capitis 28. « Non commemo¬ rabuntur in comparatione ejus », « Omnes, inquit, supernae patrice electi, sancti quidem, et justi sunt, sed participatione sapientiae, non comparatione. Justitia quidem sapientia, justitia et servi sapientiae nuncupantur, sed illa justitia justificans est, isti autem sunt justitia justificata ». Vide etiam Basilium lib. i. de Baptismo, cap. 2. Nyssenum, et Nazianzenum oratione in sanctum Baptisma ; Chrysostomum ho- mil. 16. in priorem ad Corinth. in illud : « Et haec quidem fuistis », I ad Corinthios vi. et in eumdem locum Theophylactum et Oecumenium. Leonem epist. 91. cap. 1. et Bernardum serm. 4. de dedicatione Ecclesiae et in epist. 190. ad Innocentium Papam.