Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Justification · Book II: On Inhering Justice
Chapter 14: The argument taken from reason is 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).
The last argument they draw from a double reason. The first reason is taken from the imperfection of our justice: for justice ought exactly to answer to the law; but no human justice exactly answers to the law, according to that of Psalm 142: Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight no man living shall be justified. And that of St. Gregory, book 9 of the Morals, chapter 23: “With however great justice they are strong, in no wise do even the elect suffice for their own innocence, if they be examined in strict judgment.” Since, then, human justice cannot sustain the judgment of God, it is necessary that we flee to the justice of Christ, which is imputed to us, that through it we may be able to be held and pronounced just in the divine judgment. I answer: this argument, if it proves anything, proves that actual justice is not perfect; but it does not prove that habitual justice, by which we are formally just, is not so perfect that we may be absolutely, simply, and properly named, and be, just — as we shall show a little after more fully. For we are formally just not by our own work, but by the work of God, who at the same time wipes away the stains of sins and infuses the habit of faith, hope, and charity: but the works of God are perfect, Deuteronomy 32; and, Sought out according to all his wills, Psalm 110. Whence baptized infants are truly just, although they have done no work. I add, moreover, that neither of actual justice does that argument rightly conclude. For actual justice, although in some manner it be imperfect, on account of the admixture of venial offences, and need the daily remission of sin, yet does not on that account cease to be true justice, and in its own manner perfect. But of this matter we shall speak in the book On Actual Justice.
The other argument of the adversaries is taken from the injury which they think is done to the merits and justice of Christ, if we be said to be justified through inhering justice. They add also a third, from the occasion of pride which they say is afforded to men, if it be said to them that they have their own inhering justice. I answer: neither the glory of Christ nor our humility needs the protection of a lie. We detract nothing from the merits of Christ, since we confess that our justice depends altogether on their virtue and efficacy. But the adversaries detract much from the glory of Christ, when they affirm that he could not, by so many of his labors and pains, by so profound a humility, so accurate an obedience, so ardent a charity, obtain from the Father that he should truly blot out our sins, and reform us unto true justice. And they attribute far more to Satan for harming than to Christ for curing; and will have the powers of sin to have been greater than those of grace. Nor is any occasion of pride given to those to whom it is said: What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received? And, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And, By grace you are saved through faith. And, This not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man may glory. But all these things the Catholics say, when they say that men have justice by the gift of God — that is, charity diffused in the heart by the Holy Ghost, who is given to them by the merit of the obedience and passion of Christ. But the adversaries — do they not swell with incredible pride, who boast that they have apprehended the very justice of Christ, and thence fear to equal themselves to no one of the saints? Certainly Luther, in the sermon on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, makes all the faithful equal to the Mother of God herself. Nor have there been wanting those who contended to equal themselves even to Christ, as Ruard testifies in the explanation of the article on justification.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XIV. Solvitur argumentum petitum ex ratione. Argumentum postremum ex duplici rati¬ one depromunt. Prima ratio sumitur ab im¬ perfectione justitiae nostrae : Justitia enim de¬ bet exacte respondere legi : nulla autem hu¬ mana justitia exacte respondet legi, juxta il- lud Psalm. exui. Non intres in judicium cum servo tuo, quia non justificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens (1). Et illud sancti Gregorii lib. vili. Moralium cap. 23. « Quantalibet justitia polleant, nequaquam sibi ad innocen¬ tiam vel electi sufficiunt, si in judicio distri¬ cto requirantur. » Cum igitur humana justitia judicium Dei sustinere, non possit, necesse est, ut confugiamusad justitiam Christi, quae nobis imputetur, ut per eam justi haberi ac pronunciari in divino judicio valeamus. Respondeo: hoc argumentum, si quid pro¬ bat, probat justitiam actualem non esseper- fectain ;non autem probat, justitiam habitua¬ lem, qua formaliterjusti sumus, utpaulo post fusius, ostendemus, non esse ita perfectam, ut absolute, simpliciter, et proprie justi nomine¬ mur, etsimus. Non enim formaliter justi sumus opere nostro, sed opere Dei, qui simul macu¬ las peccatorum tergit, et habitum fidei, spei et charitatis infundit: Dei autem per fecta sunt opera , Deuteron. xxxii. Et: Exquisita in om¬ nes voluntates ejus. Psal. cx (2). Unde parvuli baptizati, vere justi sunt, quamvis nihil ope¬ ris fecerint. Addo praeterea, nec de justitia actuali argumentum illud recte concludere. Justitia enim actualis, quamvis aliquo modo sit imperfecta, propter admixtionem veniali¬ um delictorum, et egeat quotidiana remissi¬ one peccati ; tariien non propterea desinit esse vera justitia, et suo etiam quodam mo¬ do perfecta. Sed de hac re dicemus in libro de justitia actuali. Alterum argumentum adversariorum su¬ mitur ab injuria, quam ipsi existimant fieri meritis, et justitiae Christi, si per inhaeren¬ tem justitiam justificari dicamur. Addunt etiam Tertium ab occasione superbiae, quam dicunt hominibus praeberi, si eis dicatur, pro¬ priam ipsos, atque inha?rentem habere ju¬ stitiam. Respondeo : Neque Christi gloria, neque nostra humilitas indiget protectione menda¬ cii, nihil detrahimus Christi meritis, cum ab illorum virtute et efficacia confiteamur ju¬ stitiam nostram omnino pendere. Sed adver¬ sarii multum detrahunt de Christi gloria, cum affirmant, eum non potuisse tot suis la¬ boribus et doloribus tam profunda humili¬ tate, tam accurata obedientia, tam ardenti charitate a Patre impetrare, ut peccata no¬ stra vere deleret, nosque adveram justitiam reformaret. Et plus multo tribuunt Sathana? ad nocendum, quam Christo ad curandum : et majores vires peccati volunt fuisse, quam gratia?. Nulla quoque datur superbiendi occasio iis, quibus dicitur : « Quid habes, quod non accepisti : si autem accepisti, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis » ? Et : « Qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur » . Et: «Gratia salvi facti estis per fidem ». Et : « Hoc non ex vo¬ bis, Dei enim donum est, non ex operibus, ne quis glorietur ». Haec autem omnia Ca¬ tholici dicunt, cum dicunt, homines ex dono Dei habere justitiam, id est, charitatem in corde diffusam per Spiritum sanctum, qui datur est eis ex merito obedientiae et passi¬ onis Christi. Adversarii vero an non incredibili tumpre superbiunt, qui se ipsam Christi justitiam ap¬ prehendisse jactant, et inde se nulli Sancto¬ rum aequare formidant. Certe Lutherus in serm. de natali B. Virginis, omnes fideles ip¬ si Deiparae facit aequales. Nec defuerunt, qui se ipsi etiam Christo aequare contenderent, ut Ruardus testatur in explicatione articuli de justificatione.