Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Justification · Book II: On Inhering Justice
Chapter 11: The arguments from the epistle to the Ephesians are solved
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).
From the epistle to the Ephesians they draw two arguments. The first is from chapter 1, where the Apostle says: God hath made us accepted, or gracious, in his beloved Son. Where he seems most clearly to show that we are in ourselves always foul and worthy of hatred, but in Christ — that is, covered with the justice of Christ imputed to us — are made gracious and accepted before the eyes of God. Hither they draw also all those testimonies which teach that we in Christ, or through Christ, receive justification and the remission of sins. I answer: the Greek word echaritosen, which our interpreter renders “he made gracious,” does not signify (as Calvin thinks) “he held gracious or accepted,” but “he made gracious” — which it will be lawful to understand from the words of St. John Chrysostom alone. For that man was not only a most diligent expounder of the Apostle, but also most eloquent and most skilled of the Greek tongue, so that Calvin ought not to take it ill if in the understanding of the Greek word and of the Pauline sentence we prefer no one to Chrysostom. Thus, then, he speaks in the commentary on this place: “He rendered us gracious — that is, he not only freed us from sins, but also made us beloved friends. For as, if anyone finding a scabby man, corrupted alike by plague, disease, old age, poverty, and hunger, should soon render him a comely youth, surpassing all in beauty, sending forth a vehement splendor from his cheeks, and obscuring the very lightnings of the eyes by their reflections; whom then he should establish in the very flower of age, and moreover clothe and adorn with purple and every kind of ornament: not otherwise did God render our soul both elaborated, and beautiful, and desirable, and beloved.” We have, then (Chrysostom being interpreter), from the sentence of the Apostle, that in justification there is given us not only the remission of sins, but also the gift of justice renewing and adorning the soul; and that we are by God not only held gracious and accepted, but also truly made gracious, and rendered most beautiful with an internal and spiritual beauty.
But that, “in the beloved Son,” or “in Christ,” or “in him,” which the Apostle so often adds, signifies nothing else than that we owe all our goods to Christ. Since God the Father, in view of Christ, justifies us — because, namely, he loves the Son; because he himself merited this; because it is fitting that the members of the beloved Son be conformed to the head; because it is meet that the bride of the Son, beautiful above the sons of men, be also fair and comely; because the brethren of Christ ought not to be unlike the Firstborn: For he predestinated us to be made conformable to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And so the heretics judge very absurdly, when they so expound that we are justified in Christ as if through the imputed justice of Christ we were held just, though in fact we were always filthy and unclean. For thus Christ could seem a horrible monster, since he would have a head most beautiful, but members most foul; and the Bridegroom himself most beautiful would be joined to a most hideous bride.
The other argument they take from chapter 4 to the Ephesians, where blessed Paul says: Put on the new man, who according to God is created. For that similitude taken from a garment indicates that we are justified through an extrinsic justice, which does not inhere, but is apprehended by faith, and covers and clothes us, lest our foulness offend the eyes of God. They confirm this argument by the example of the Patriarch Jacob, who, clothed in the garments of the firstborn, and reputed for the firstborn, obtained the blessing and the inheritance from his father, Genesis 27. I answer: the similitude of a garment agrees most aptly with inhering justice. For first, inhering justice is compared to a garment, because it is not natural, nor born with us, but comes from without by the infusion of the Holy Ghost. So St. Augustine expounds, sermon 15 on the words of the Apostle: “Let thy priests be clothed with justice. A garment is received, it is not born with the hair. Beasts are clothed of their own.” Then, it is compared also to a garment because garments distinguish men, that some may be discerned from others; so justice, through good works, distinguishes us from the impious, and makes us express Christ, whom we bear in our heart, by our life and manners. And so in this very place the Apostle, before he said, Put on the new man, said, Put off, according to your former conversation, the old man. Finally, according to the Hebrew phrase, the word “put on” signifies to cover abundantly and copiously. So it is said in Psalm 64: The rams of the flock are clothed, and the valleys shall abound with corn — for the sense is that the flocks abounded with young and the valleys with corn. So also, Judges 6, the Spirit of the Lord is said to have clothed Gedeon, because, namely, it descended copiously upon him, and as it were covered him on every side. So in the Psalms we often read, “let them be clothed with confusion,” where is signified a great confusion which shows itself on every side, and can in no way be covered. So, then, they are said to put on Christ, or the new man, who, full of faith and charity, in all their works imitate Christ, and express his doctrine, life, and manners; and they are said to put on justice who receive abundance of grace and justice. We have, then, that the similitude of a garment does not necessarily require the imputation of the justice of Christ, since it agrees aptly enough with inhering justice itself. Yet this similitude can, in a sound manner, be accommodated, as also the example of the Patriarch Jacob, to imputed justice: if anyone say that we must put on the merits of Christ, and, in a manner covered with them, ask of God the indulgence of sins. For (as I said above) Christ alone could satisfy for our sins, and in fact by justice satisfied, and that satisfaction is given and applied to us, and reputed ours, when we are reconciled to God and justified. And so if that example be referred to the justice of satisfaction for the fault, it can be admitted; but if it be referred to the justice by which we are formally justified, when of sinners we are made just, and of impious pious, it is altogether to be rejected, since it manifestly conflicts with the Scriptures and the Fathers, and with reason itself. For that one satisfy for another can easily be understood; but that one be just because another is just is altogether unheard of, and not so much above as against all reason.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XI. Solvuntur argumenta ex epistola ad Ephesios. Ex epist. ad ephesios duo argumenta de¬ promunt. Primum est ex cap. i. ubi Aposto¬ lus ait : Deus nos acceptos , sive gratiosos ha¬ buit in dilecto Filio suo (1). l'bi clarissime vi¬ detur ostendere, nos in nobis semper esse turpes, et odio dignos, sed in Christo, id est, coopertos justitia Christi nobis imputata, gratiosos et acceptos fieri coram oculis Dei. Hunc etiam trahunt illa omnia testimonia, quae docent, nos in Christo, aut per Chri¬ stum justificationem et remissionem pecca¬ torum accipere. Respondeo : verbum Graecum, syaprrwcjv, quod noster interpres vertit, gratificavit, non significat ( ut Calvinus existimat) gratiosos vel acceptos habuit, sed gratiosos fecit, id quod vel ex unius S. Joanuis Chrysostomi verbis intelligerc licebit. Fuit enim vir ille non solum diiigentissimus Apostoli explana¬ tor, sed etiam eloquentissimus, et Graeca) lin¬ guae peritissimus, ut Calvinus aegre ferre non debeat, si in intelllgentia Graeci vocabuli et sententiae Paulinac neminem Chrysostomo praeferamus. Sic igitur ille loquitur in comment. hujus loci : <i Gratiosos, inquit, nos reddidit, hoc est, non solum peccatis liberavit, sed et di¬ lectos amicos effecit. Quemadmodum enim, si quis scabiosum quemdam, peste, morbo, senio , paupertate pariter ac fame corru¬ ptum, nactus, formosum mox adolescentem reddat, qui quosvis venustate superet, vehe¬ mentem splendorem ex genis emittat, ipsa- que fulgura oculorum repercussionibus ob¬ scuret. Quem deinde et in ipso aetatis flore constituat, atque insuper et purpura, et om¬ nigeno mundo vestiat, atque exornet. Non aliter animam nostram Deus, et elaboratam et pulchram, et desiderabilem ac dilectam reddidit ». Habemus igitur ( interprete Chry¬ sostomo) ex Apostoli sententia, in justifica¬ tione non solum dari nobis remissionem pec¬ catorum, sed etiarA donum justitia) animam renovantis et exornantis ; et nos a Deo non modo gratiosos et acceptos haberi,. sed etiam vere gratiosos et interna, ac spiritali pul¬ chritudine formosissimos reddi. Illud autem, « in dilecto Filio », sive « in Christo », sive « in ipso », quod tam saepe Apostolus addit, nihil aliud significat, nisi nos omnia nestra bona debere Christo. Quo¬ niam Deus Pater, intuitu Christi, nos justi¬ ficat, quia videlicet diligit Filium : quia ipse hoc meruit; quia par est, ut membra dilecti Filii sint conformia capiti ; quia decet ut sponsa Filii, speciosi prae filiis hominum, sit etiam pulchra atque formosa : quia fratres Christi non debent esse dissimiles Primo¬ genito : Praedestinavit enim nos conformes jieri imaginis Filii sui, ut sit ipse primogenitus in multis fatribus. Itaque valde absurde sen¬ tiunt haeretici, cum nos in Christo justificari, ita exponunt, ac si per Christi justitiam im¬ putatam, justi haberemur, quamvis re ipsa sordidi semper, et immundi essemus. Sic enim Christus horribile monstrum videri posset, cum caput quidem formosissimum, membra vero turpissima haberet. Etsponsus ipse pulcherrimus sponsa) teterrimae conjun¬ ctus esset. Alterum argumentum sumunt ex cap. iv. ad Ephes. ubi B. Paulus ait : Induite novum hominem , qui secundum Deum creatus est (2). Ista enim similitudo ab indumento petita, indicat nos justificari per justitiam extrinse- cam, qua) non inha;ret,sed per fidem appre¬ henditur, et nos tegit atque' operit, ne tur¬ pitudo nostra Dei oculos offendat. Confir¬ mant hoc argumentum exemplo Patriar¬ cha) Jacob, qui indutus vestibus primoge¬ niti, ac pro primogenito reputatus, bene¬ dictionem et ha)reditatein a patre obtinuit. Genes, xxvn. Respondeo : similitudo indumenti aptis¬ sime convenit justitia) inha)renti. Primum enim justitia inhaerens comparatur indu¬ mento, quia non est naturalis, nec. nascitur nobiscum, sed extrinsecus accedit ex infu¬ sione Spiritus sancti. Sic exponit S. Augu- (I) Kph. I. -(2) Eph. IV, 24. 237 CAPUT XII. stin.serm. Io. do verb. Apost. « Sacerdotes tui, inquit, induantur justitia. Vestis accipi¬ tur, non cum capillis nascitur. Pecora de suo vestiuntur ». Deinde, comparatur etiam \ estimento, quia vestes distinguunt homi¬ nes, ut alii ab aliis discernantur : sic justitia per bona opera distinguit nos ab impiis, et iacit, ut Christum, quem in corde gerimus, vita et moribus exprimamus. Itaque in hoc ipso loco Apostolus antequam diceret : In¬ duite novum hominem, ait : Deponite secundum •pristinam conversationem veterem hominem. Denique secundum ‘Hebraicam phrasim verbum, induere, significat abundanter et copiose tegere. Sic dicitur in Psalm. lxiv. induti sunt arietes ovium et valles abundabunt frumento (I). Est enim sensus, abundasse greges foetibus et valles frumento. Sic etiam Judicum 6, Spiritus Domini dicitur induisse Gedeonem, quia videlicet copiose in eum descendit, et quasi uudique illum texit. Sic in Psalmis ssepe legimus, induantur confu¬ sione, ubi significatur magna confifcio, quae undique se ostendat, nec tegi ullo modo possit. Sic igitur dicuntur induere Christum, sive novum hominem, qui pleni fide et charitate in omnibus operibus suis Christum imitantur, et ejus doctrinam, vi¬ tam et mores exprimunt, et illi dicuntur in¬ duere justitiam, qui abundantiam gratia;, justitiaeque accipiunt. Habemus igitur simi¬ litudinem indumenti, non necessario requi¬ rere imputationem justitiae Christi, cum satis apte conveniat in ipsam justitiam inhaei'en- tem. Potest tamen sano modo accommodari lifec similitudo, ut etiam exemplum Patriar¬ chae Jacob, justitiae imputatae : si quis dicat, oportere ut induamus merita Christi, et illis quodammodo tecti petamus a Deo indulgen¬ tiam peccatorum. Nam (ut -supra dixi) solus Christus pro peccatis nostris satisfacere po¬ tuit, et reipsa ex justitia satisfecit, et illa satisfactio nobis donatur et applicatur, et nostra reputatur, cum Deo reconciliamur et justificamur. Itaque si exemplum illud refe¬ ratur ad justitiam satisfactionis pro culpa, admitti potest; sivero referatur ad justi¬ tiam, qua formaliter justificamur, cum de peccatoribus justi, et pii de impiis efficimur, omnino rejiciendum, cum Scripturis et Patri¬ bus, et ipsi rationi manifeste repugnet. Quod enim unus pro alio satisfaciat, facile potest intelligi; quod autem unus sit justus, quia alius est justus, est omnino inauditum, et non tam supra, quam contra omnem ratio¬ nem.