Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Justification · Book IV: On the Justice of Works
Chapter 7: The necessity of works unto salvation is proved from the Scriptures
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. VI, De Justificatione, Book IV. 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).
But now let us come nearer to the question itself of the necessity of works. The adversaries agree in this, that good works are not necessary unto salvation save by a necessity of presence. Of which proposition this is the sense: that good works ought to be done, since otherwise faith would not be living nor true unless it made good fruits, in the manner that fire is not fire unless it heat; yet that good works have no relation to salvation, as if they were merits, causes, conditions, etc. In which they say faith is distinguished from works, since faith has a relation to salvation, because it apprehends it, and therefore is said to be necessary unto salvation; but works have no relation at all, and therefore are indeed necessary, but not unto salvation. We, contrariwise, say that good works are necessary to a just man unto salvation, not only by reason of presence, but also by reason of efficiency, since they effect salvation, and without them faith alone does not effect salvation. But we understand this to be necessary to men having the use of reason, and who so long survive after the grace of remission obtained, until the occasion of fulfilling the law occurs. For we do not deny that infants, and also adults newly baptized, are saved, if they depart from this life at once. For they are deemed to fulfil the whole law who, after justification obtained, have not violated the precepts of the law, and who bear in their heart, at least habitually, charity, which is the fulness of the law.
First, then, the necessity of works unto salvation is proved from what has been said about the distinction of the law and the Gospel, and about Christian liberty. For if the promise of eternal life is conditioned, as we proved in chapter 1, certainly it is necessary to fulfil the condition, if one would be saved. And if the just man is not free from the obligation of the divine law, certainly unless he fulfil it he will not be saved. Then it is proved by special testimonies. The first testimony, Hebrews 10: Patience is necessary for you, that, doing the will of God, you may receive the promise. Here we have, first, a manner of speaking contrary to the opinion of the rigid Lutherans, who do not admit, on account of the danger of error (as they dream), that works are necessary unto salvation. For patience is a certain work, since it is an act of a virtue distinct from faith — nay, a perfect work according to James, chapter 1 — and in express words is preached as necessary; and it is added unto what it is necessary, “that you may receive the promise.” Then, we have also in this place that patience is necessary not only by reason of presence, but also of relation to salvation. For that, “that you may receive the promise,” signifies this. For if it were necessary only by reason of presence, it would have been enough to say, “patience is necessary for you”; but when the reason of the necessity is added, and it is said, “that you may receive the promise,” there is openly signified some relation of patience to the acquisition of the promise. For this we see in all like forms of speaking: food is necessary that we may be nourished; air is necessary that we may breathe; clothing is necessary that we freeze not — where always the relation of some cause is expressed. The second testimony, 1 Timothy 2: The woman, being seduced, was in the transgression; yet she shall be saved through childbearing, if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification with sobriety. In which place perseverance not in faith alone, but in faith, love, sanctification, and sobriety, is set as necessary unto salvation, as a certain condition without which the woman cannot be saved. The third testimony, Philippians 2: With fear and trembling work out your salvation. Surely, if good actions work salvation, they are necessary not only by reason of presence, but also by reason of efficiency. The fourth testimony, 2 Corinthians 7: The sorrow that is according to God worketh penance steadfast unto salvation. Here too we see the reason of efficiency. For sorrow works penance, penance works steadfast salvation. For sorrow truly effects in a man penance — that is, the detestation of sin, and the purpose of avoiding sins; therefore penance itself too truly effects steadfast salvation. And accordingly it is necessary not only by reason of presence, but also of cause. The fifth testimony, 2 Corinthians 4: For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory. What could be said more openly? If the patience of tribulation works the weight of eternal glory, who can deny that there is some relation between patience and salvation? Unless perhaps to work salvation be not to work something, or no relation follow from the working. The sixth testimony, Romans 8: If by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. Where that the mortification of carnal concupiscences is necessary unto salvation, as a condition and cause, and thereby has a bearing on salvation itself, is shown first by the conditional particle “if,” then by the antithesis. For a little before he had said, If you live according to the flesh, you shall die. For it cannot be doubted that to live according to the flesh is a true cause of eternal death. For the wages of sin is death, Romans 6. But that which is added, but the grace of God, life everlasting, signifies not that eternal life is not the wages of justice, but that justice itself is not had save from the grace of God, as in the book On the Merits of Works we shall declare more fully. The seventh testimony, Romans 8: Yet so, if we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him. For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come. Here not only the conditional particle indicates a cause, but also the added reason of the excess of glory over the sufferings. For if the patience of tribulations had no relation to salvation, Paul would say in vain, “For I reckon that they are not worthy,” etc. For that comparison of the sufferings with the glory, and the excess of the one over the other, manifestly declares that there is some force in the work of patience for acquiring that glory, though absolutely that future glory be far greater than the present tribulation. The eighth testimony, Romans 10: With the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. We see in this place that faith does not suffice unto salvation, which cannot be true and entire in the heart unless the external confession also be added. But it is a wonder how great is the audacity in the adversaries, and what they do not attempt, that they may scrape away the nets of truth. For, as is written in the Colloquy of Altenburg, a certain Illyrician, fearing lest by this testimony the necessity of works unto salvation should be established, for “unto salvation” put “concerning salvation,” so that the sense should be that a man believes with the heart to obtain justice, but confesses with the mouth concerning salvation obtained. But this depravation the Apostle himself refutes when he says: For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Where what we confess is not that we have obtained salvation, but that Jesus is the Son of God. For Paul had regard to the words of the Lord, Matthew 10: He that shall confess me, I will also confess him before my Father; and he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father. The ninth testimony, Matthew 25: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat, etc. Certainly the reason rendered luminously shows that good works are in some manner the cause of eternal salvation. The adversaries indeed answer that good works are commended by the Lord as fruits and signs of true faith. But it is not fitting to let go the express words of the Lord, and to fetch from elsewhere others which he did not say, and which are set in question. For that works are necessarily conjoined with true faith, and accordingly are its infallible signs and testimonies, the Lord does not say in this place, where he does not even mention faith; and the matter (as we said) is set in question. But that on account of good works the kingdom of heaven is given, Scripture in express words testifies in this place, and not only in this place, but in very many others, as in the following book we shall prove. The tenth testimony, James 1: But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty, and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. But how, I ask, blessed in his deed, if deeds have no relation to beatitude, but only idly exhibit their presence? Add that the same Apostle says, chapter 2: What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him? Of which testimony we have said enough in book 1. Here let there be added the whole epistles of Peter, John, James, and Jude, who, St. Augustine witnessing, in the book On Faith and Works, chapter 14, direct their intention chiefly to this, to prove that good works are necessary to justified men unto salvation, and that faith alone does not suffice — as certain men at that time, from the epistles of blessed Paul ill understood, had begun to preach.
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CAPUT VII. Probatur ex Scripturis necessitas operum ad salutem. Sed jam propius ad quaestionem ipsam de necessitate operum accedamus. Adversarii in eo conveniunt, ut opera bo¬ na non sint necessaria ad salutem, nisi ne¬ cessitate praesentiae. Cujus propositionis hic sensus est, ut opera bona fieri debeant, quo¬ niam alioqui fides non esset viva, nec vera, nisi fructus bonos faceret, quomodo ignis non est ignis, nisi calefaciat; tamen opera bona non habeant ullam relationem ad salu¬ tem, quasi sint merita, causae, conditiones, etc. In quo distingui dicunt fidem ab operi¬ bus, quoniam fides habet relationem ad sa¬ lutem, quia illam apprehendit, et ideo neces¬ saria dicitur ad salutem : opera vero nullam omnino relationem habent, et ideo sunt qui¬ dem necessaria, sed non ad salutem. Nos contra dicimus, opera bona homini justo esse necessaria ad salutem, non solum ratione praesentiae, sed etiam ratione effi¬ cientiae, quoniam efficiunt salutem, et sine ipsis sola fides non efficit salutem. Intelligi- mus autem hoc esse necessarium hominibus rationis usum habentibus : et qui tamdiu post adeptam remissionis gratiam supervivant, donec occasio implendae legis occurat. Non enim negamus, quin infantes, et etiam adulti recens baptizati salventur, si continuo ex hac vita decedant. Censentur enim totam legem implere, qui post justificationem ade¬ ptam legis praecepta non violarunt, et qui charitatem, quae est legis plenitudo saltem habitualiter in corde gerunt. Primum igitur probatur necessitas operum ad salutem ex iis, quae dicta sunt de discri¬ mine legis et Evangelii, et de libertate Chri¬ stiana. Nam si promissio vitae aeternae est conditionata, ut in 1. cap. probavimus, certe necessarium est implere conditionem, si quis salvus fieri velit. Et si justus non est liber ab obligatione divinae legis, certe nisi eam im¬ pleat non salvabitur. Deinde probatur specialibus testimoniis. Primum testimonium ad Hebr. x. Patientia vobis necessaria est , ut facientes voluntatem Dei reportetis promissionem (1). Hic habemus in primis modum loquendi contrarium sen¬ tentiae Lutheranorum rigidorum, qui non admittunt propter periculum erroris (ut ipsi somniant) opera esse necessaria ad salutem. Nam patientia opus quoddam est, cum sit actus virtutis a fide distinctae, immo opus perfectum juxta Jacobum cap. 1. et verbis disertis necessaria praedicatur; et additur ad quid sit necessaria, ut reportetis (inquit) promissionem. Deinde, habemus etiam hoc loco patientiam esse necessariam, non solum ratione praesentiae, sed etiam relationis ad salutem. Id enim significat illud, ut reportetis promissionem. Nam si tantum necessaria es¬ set ratione praesentiae, satis fuisset dicere, patientia vobis necessaria est, sed cum addi¬ tur ratio necessitatis, et dicitur, ut reportetis promissionem , aperte significatur relatio ali¬ qua patientiae ad acquisitionem promissio¬ nis. Id enim videmus in omnibus similibus loquendi formis : cibus est necessarius, ut nutriamur ; aer est necessarius, ut respire¬ mus; vestis est necessaria, ne frigeamus. Ubi semper relatio causae alicujus exprimi¬ tur. Secundum testimonium I ad Timoth. ii. Mulier seducta in praevaricatione fuit, salva¬ bitur autem per filiorum generationem, si per¬ manserit in fide, et dilectione et sanctificatione cum sobrietate (2). Quo loco perseverantia non in sola fide, sed in fide, dilectione, san¬ ctificatione et sobrietate ponitur necessaria ad salutem, ut conditio quaedam, sine qua mulier salvari non potest. Tertium testimonium ad Philippen. n. Cum metu et tremore vestram salutem opera¬ mini (3): Profecto si actiones bonae salutem operantur, non sunt necessariae solum ra¬ tione praesentiae, sed etiam ratione efficien¬ tiae. Quartum testimonium II ad Corinth. vii. Tristitia quae secundum Deum est , poenitentiam in salutem stabilem operatur (4). Hic etiam (1) Heb. X, 36. - (2) I Tira. II, 15. - (3)PhU. II, 12. - (4) II Cor. VII, 10. CAPUT VII. 315 videmus rationem efficientiae., Nam tristitia poenitentiam, «poenitentia salutem stabilem opei'atur. Tristitia enim vere efficit in ho¬ mine poenitentiam, id est, detestationem pec¬ cati, et propositum peccata vitandi : igitur ipsa etiam poenitentia vere efficit stabilem salutem. Proinde non est necessaria solum ratione praesentiae, sed etiam causae. Quintum testimonium II ad Corinth. iv. Id enim quod in praesenti est momentaneum , et leve tribulationis nostrae , supra modum in su¬ blimitate aeternum gloriae pondus operatur in nobis (i). Quid apertius dici potuit? si pa¬ tientia tribulationis operatur pondus aeternae gloriae : quis negare potest relationem ali¬ quam esse inter patientiam et salutem ? nisi foi'te operari salutem, non sit aliquid ope¬ rari, vel nulla consequatur ex operatione relatio. Sextum testimonium Rom. vm. Si spiritu facta carnis morti ficaveritis , vivetis (2). Ubi mortificationem carnalium concupiscentia¬ rum necessariam esse ad salutem, ut condi¬ tionem et causam, ac per hoc illationem habere ad ipsam salutem, primum demon¬ strat particula conditionalis, « si », deinde antithesis. Nam paulo ante dixerat, si secun¬ dum carnem vixeritis , moriemini. Neque enim dubitari potest, quin secundum carnem vi¬ vere sit vera causa mortis aeternae. Stipen¬ dium enim peccati mors, adltom. vi. Quod au¬ tem additu v, Gratia autem De vita aeterna (3), non significat, vitam aeternam non esse sti¬ pendium justitiae, sed ipsam justitiam non haberi, nisi ex gratia Dei, ut in libro de Me¬ ritis operum fusius declarabimus. Septimum testimonium ad Rom. vnr. Si tamen compatimur, ut et conglorificemur. Exi¬ stimo enim, quia non sunt condignae passiones kujus temporis ad futuram gloriam (4). Hic vero non solum conditionalis particula in¬ dicat causam, sed etiam ratio addita de ex¬ cessu gloriae ad passiones. Nam si nullam haberet patientia tribulationum relationem ad salutem, frustra Paulus diceret : Existimo enim , quod non sunt condignae, etc. Ista enim collatio passionum ad gloriam et excessus unius ad alterum, manifeste declarat, esse aliquam vim in opere patientiae ad acquiren¬ dam illam gloriam, tametsi absolute longe major sit futura illa gloria, quam sit prae¬ sens tribulatio. Octavum testimonium ad Rom. x. Corde creditur ad justitiam, ore autem confessio fit ad salutem (5). Videmus hoc loco non suffi¬ cere fidem ad salutem, quae vera et integra in corde esse non potest, nisi accesserit etiam externa confessio. Mirum est autem quanta sit in adversariis audacia, et quid non moliantur, ut eradant retia veritatis. Nam, ut scribitur in Colloquio Altenburgensi lllyricianus quidam, timens ne hoc testimo¬ nio stabiliretur necessitas operum ad salu¬ tem, pro, «ad salutem », posuit, « de sa¬ lute » , ut sensus sit, hominem corde credere ad justitiam obtinendam ; ore autem confi¬ teri de adepta salute. Sed refellit hanc de¬ pravationem Apostolus ipse, cum ait : Si enim confessus fueris Dominum Jesum, et in corde tuo credideris, quoniam Deus eum susci¬ tavit a mortuis, salvus eris. Ubi quod confi¬ temur, non est,, salutem nos esse adeptos, sed Jesum esse Filium Dei. Respexit enim Paulus ad verba Domini Matth. x. Qui me confessus fuerit, confitebor et ego eum coram Patre meo : et qui me negaverit coram homi¬ nibus, negabo et eum coram Patre meo (6). Nonum testimonium Matth. xxv. Venite benedicti Patris mei, possidete paratum vobis regnum a constitutione mundi. Esurivi enim, et dedistis mihi manducare, etc. (7). Certe red¬ dita ratio luculenter ostendit, opera bona esse aliquo modo causam aeternae salutis. Respondent quidem adversarii, opera bona a Domino commendari, ut fructus et signa verae fidei. Sed non oportet verba Domini expressa dimittere, et alia, quae ipse non dixit, et quae in quaestione sunt posita aliun¬ de accersere. Quod enim opera sint neces¬ sario cum vera fide conjuncta, et proinde sint ejus signa et testimonia infallibilia, Do¬ minus hoc loco non dicit, ubi fidei ne memi¬ nit quidem : et res (ut diximus) in quaestione posita est. At quod propter opera bona de¬ tur regnum coelorum, disertis verbis hoc loco Scriptura testatur, nec solum hoc loco, sed etiam in aliis plurimis, ut in sequenti libro probaibimus. Decimum testimonium Jacob i. Qui autem perspexerit in legem perfectam libertatis, et permanserit in ea, non auditor obliviosus fa¬ ctus, sed factor operis, hic beatus in facto suo erit (8). At quo modo quaeso beatusin facto suo, si facta nullam habent relationem ad beati- (1) II Cor. IV, 17. — (2) Rom. VIII, 13. - (3) Rom. VI, 23. - (4) Rom. VIII, 17. - (5) Rom. X, 10. — (6) Math. X, 22. - (7) Math. XXV, 34. - (8) Jacob I, 25. 316 LIBER IV. tudinem, sed solum praesentiam suam otiose exhibent ? Adde, quod idem Apostolus ait cap. ii. Quid proderit fratres mei, si fklem (jais dicat se habere , opera autem non habeat , numquid poterit fides salvare eum (1) ? De quo testimonio satis multa diximus in 1. lib. Hic accedant integrae epistolae Petri, Joan- nis, Jacobi et Judae, qui, teste sancto Augu¬ stino in lib. de fide et operibus, cap. 14. in¬ tentionem suam eo potissimum dirigunt, ut probent, opera bona justificatis hominibus ad salutem esse necessaria, neque fidem so¬ lam sufficere, ut quidam eo tempore ex epi¬ stolis Beati Pauli non bene intellectis, prae¬ dicare coeperant.