Part 14
But what, by contrast, do the servants of God do when they have been truly instructed by his Spirit? They will certainly say with David:
"O Lord, do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no living man shall be justified before your face."
—Psalm 143:2
And with Job:
"How can man be righteous before God? If he wishes to contend with him, though accused on a thousand counts, he cannot answer him concerning even one."
—Job 9:2–3
We now hear clearly what the righteousness of God is: it is a righteousness that no human works can satisfy, and that will accuse us of a thousand crimes without our being able to clear ourselves of
even one. Saint Paul, that chosen vessel of God, had rightly conceived this in his heart when he confessed:
"Though I am conscious of nothing against myself, I am not thereby justified."
—1 Corinthians 4:4
For if the stars, which appear very bright and radiant during the night, lose all their light when the sun rises, what do we suppose will happen to the greatest innocence that can be imagined in man when it is compared with the purity of God?
For then there will be an examination of astonishing severity, reaching even the most secret thoughts of the heart. As Saint Paul says, it will reveal everything hidden in darkness and disclose what lies concealed in the depths of the heart, compelling the conscience— however much it resists or recoils—to bring forward even those things it has now forgotten. The devil, moreover, will prosecute as the accuser, pressing the man closely and knowing well how to allege against him every transgression to which he incited him.
There all the splendor and outward appearance of good works, which alone are now esteemed, will profit nothing. Only the sincerity of the heart will be in question. Therefore, all hypocrisy will be confounded and fall—not merely that by which those who secretly know themselves to be wicked disguise themselves before men, but also that by which each man flatters himself before God, since we are inclined to deceive ourselves by thinking too highly of ourselves. Though such hypocrisy is now drunk with pride and presumption, it will then be overthrown.
Those who do not raise their minds and thoughts to this spectacle may soothe themselves for a moment by attributing righteousness to themselves. But that righteousness will immediately be stripped from them at the judgment of God, just as a man who has dreamed of possessing great riches finds himself empty-handed when he awakens.
By contrast, all who seek the true rule of righteousness as though standing before God will certainly find that all the works of men, if judged according to their own worth, are nothing but filth and vileness; that what is commonly judged to be righteousness is sheer iniquity before God; that what is judged integrity is only pollution; and that what is judged glory is only disgrace.
After contemplating this perfection of God, we must then descend to examine ourselves, without flattering or deceiving ourselves through self-love. It is no wonder that we are blind in this matter, since none of us guards against that foolish and dangerous affection of self-love which Scripture shows to be naturally rooted in us. Solomon says:
"Every man's way is right in his own eyes."
—Proverbs 21:2
And again:
"All men think their ways are good."
—Proverbs 16:2
But what then? Is each man acquitted because of this error? Quite the contrary, for Solomon immediately adds:
"The Lord weighs the hearts."
—Proverbs 21:2
That is, while man flatters himself because of the outward appearance of righteousness he possesses, the Lord weighs in his balance all the iniquity and uncleanness hidden within the heart. Since, therefore, self-flattery profits nothing, let us not willingly deceive ourselves to our own ruin.
To examine ourselves rightly, we must always summon our conscience before the judgment seat of God. For his light is necessary to reveal and uncover the secret places of our perversity, which otherwise remain too deep and dark. If we do this, we shall then understand the meaning of this declaration:
"How far man is from being justified before God, since he is only corruption, a worm, worthless and abominable, who drinks iniquity like water! Who can make pure and clean that which is conceived from unclean seed? Not one."
—Job 15:14–16
We shall also experience what Job said of himself:
"If I seek to show myself innocent, my own mouth will condemn me; if I call myself righteous, it will prove me wicked."
—Job 9:20
For the Prophet's complaint concerning his own time does not belong to one age alone, but applies generally to every generation:
"All have wandered like lost sheep; each one has turned aside to his own way."
—Isaiah 53:6
For there he includes all those to whom the grace of redemption must be communicated. The severity of this examination must continue until it has subdued us with dismay at ourselves and thereby prepared us to receive the grace of the Lord. Whoever imagines that he is capable of enjoying that grace without first laying aside all pride of heart greatly deceives himself. This saying is well known:
"God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble."
—1 Peter 5:5
But how are we to humble ourselves unless, being altogether empty and poor, we give place to the mercy of God? For I do not call it humility if we imagine that something still remains in us. Indeed, a pernicious hypocrisy has formerly been taught by joining these two things together: that we must think humbly of ourselves before God, while nevertheless retaining some esteem for our own righteousness. For if we confess something before God other than what we think in our hearts, we wickedly lie to him.
We cannot think of ourselves as we ought unless everything that appears excellent in us is entirely trampled underfoot. Therefore,
when we hear from the Prophet's mouth that salvation is prepared for the humble, but ruin for the pride of the arrogant, let us first understand that we have no access to salvation unless we lay aside all pride and embrace true humility.
Second, let us understand that this humility is not a modesty by which we surrender even the smallest part of what is rightfully ours in order to abase ourselves before God. Among men, we call those humble who do not exalt themselves proudly or despise others, though they may believe themselves to possess some worth. But true humility is the unfeigned abasement of our hearts, proceeding from a right sense of our misery and poverty, by which our hearts are brought low. For humility is always described in this manner in the Word of God.
When the Lord speaks through Zephaniah in this manner:
"I will remove from your midst everyone who rejoices proudly, and I will leave only the afflicted and the poor; and they shall hope in God."
—Zephaniah 3:11–12
Does he not clearly show who the humble are—namely, those who are afflicted by the knowledge of their poverty? By contrast, he signifies the proud as those who rejoice, because men in prosperity are accustomed to exult. Moreover, he leaves nothing to the humble whom he intends to save except hope in God alone.
Likewise, in Isaiah:
"To whom shall I look, except to the poor man who is broken and afflicted in spirit and trembles at my words?"
—Isaiah 66:2
And again:
"The Lord, high and exalted, who inhabits his eternal throne and dwells in his majesty, dwells also with those who are humble and afflicted in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and the heart of the afflicted."
—Isaiah 57:15
When we hear the word affliction repeated so often, we must understand it as a wound by which the heart is so deeply pierced that the whole man is cast to the ground and cannot raise himself up. Our hearts must be wounded by such affliction if we wish to be exalted with the humble. If this does not happen, we shall be humbled by the mighty hand of God to our own confusion.
Moreover, our good Teacher, not content with words, has portrayed for us in a parable, as in a painting, the true image of humility. He sets before us the tax collector, who stood far off and dared not lift his eyes toward heaven, but prayed with deep groanings:
"Lord, be merciful to me, a poor sinner."
—Luke 18:13
Let us not imagine that his refusal to look toward heaven or draw near, and his striking his breast while confessing himself a sinner,
were signs of feigned modesty. They were testimonies of the inward affection of his heart.
On the other hand, Christ sets before us the Pharisee, who thanked God that he was not like other men—a thief, an unjust man, or an adulterer—that he fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all his possessions. He openly confessed that he derived his righteousness from the grace of God. Yet because he trusted himself to be righteous by his works, he returned home abominable before God. By contrast, the tax collector was justified through the acknowledgment of his iniquity.
From this we may see how pleasing our humility is to God: a heart is incapable of receiving God's mercy unless it is emptied of every opinion of its own worth. Whenever the heart is occupied by such an opinion, the entrance is closed to the grace of God.
To remove all doubt concerning this, the Lord Jesus was sent by his Father into the world with this commission:
"To bring good news to the poor, to heal those afflicted in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are imprisoned, to comfort those who mourn, to give them glory instead of ashes, oil instead of weeping, and a garment of joy instead of sorrow."
—Isaiah 61:1–3
In accordance with this commission, he invites none to receive his kindness except those who are burdened and weary. Therefore, if we
wish to answer Christ's call, all arrogance and presumption must be far removed from us.
By arrogance, I mean the pride arising from a foolish persuasion of righteousness, when a man imagines that he possesses something by which he deserves to be acceptable to God. By presumption, I mean a fleshly security that may exist without any confidence in works. For there are many sinners who, being intoxicated with the sweetness of their vices, give no thought to God's judgment. As though stupefied, they make no effort to seek the mercy offered to them.
Such carelessness must be driven away no less than all confidence in ourselves must be cast down, if we wish to be free to run to Christ so that he may fill us with his riches. For we shall never trust him rightly unless we utterly distrust ourselves. We shall never rightly raise our hearts to him unless they have first been cast down within us. We shall never receive true consolation from him unless we are utterly bereft in ourselves.
We are therefore prepared to receive and obtain the grace of God when, having laid aside all confidence in ourselves, we rest upon his goodness alone. As Saint Augustine says, forgetting our own merits, we receive the graces of Christ.
Not to linger here too long, let us retain this rule, which is brief but universal and entirely certain: the man who has wholly brought himself to nothing and laid aside—not his righteousness, for he has none, but that shadow of righteousness which deceives us—is rightly prepared to receive the fruits of God's mercy. For the more a man rests upon himself, the more he obstructs the grace of God.
Here we have two principal matters to consider: that the glory of God should be preserved entire, and that our consciences should possess rest and assurance before his judgment seat.
We see how often and how earnestly Scripture exhorts us to render confession of praise to God whenever righteousness is in question. Indeed, the Apostle testifies that God had this end in view when he bestowed righteousness upon us in Christ: to display his own righteousness. He then adds what this display consists in—namely, that God alone should be acknowledged as righteous and as the one who justifies him who has faith in Jesus Christ.
Do we see, then, that God's righteousness is not sufficiently glorified unless he alone is accounted righteous and communicates the gift of righteousness to those who have not deserved it? For this reason, he wills that every mouth be stopped and that the whole world be declared indebted to him, because so long as man has anything with which to defend himself, the glory of God is diminished by that much.
Therefore, God shows in Ezekiel how his name is glorified when we acknowledge our iniquity:
"You shall remember your ways and all your transgressions by which you have polluted yourselves, and you shall be displeased with yourselves because of all the sins you have committed. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have shown you mercy for my name's sake, and not according to your sins and wicked works."
—Ezekiel 20:43–44
If true knowledge of God consists in this—that, being cast down and as it were crushed by the knowledge of our own iniquity, we recognize that God does good to us though we are unworthy of it— why do we attempt, to our own great injury, to rob God of even the smallest drop of this praise for his free goodness?
Likewise, when Jeremiah cries:
"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the rich man in his riches, nor the strong man in his strength; but let him who glories glory in God."
—Jeremiah 9:23–24
Does he not thereby signify that some portion of God's glory perishes if man glories in himself? Certainly, we never glory rightly in God unless we have laid aside our own glory. Indeed, we must hold this as a universal rule: whoever glories in himself glories against God. For Saint Paul says that men are finally subjected to God only when every ground of boasting has been taken away from them.
Therefore, when Isaiah declares that Israel shall have his righteousness in God, he adds that Israel shall also have his praise in him. It is as though he were saying that God's elect are justified for this very purpose: that they may glory in him and nowhere else. He had taught in the preceding statement how our praise is to be found in God:
"Surely, our righteousness and our strength are in the Lord."
—Isaiah 45:24–25
Let us note that what is required is not a bare confession, but one confirmed by an oath, so that we may not imagine we can discharge our duty by some feigned humility.
Nor should anyone allege that he does not glory when he esteems his own righteousness without arrogance. For such esteem cannot exist without producing confidence, and confidence cannot exist without giving birth to boasting.
Let us therefore remember that in every discussion of righteousness we must always keep this end in view: that all its praise should remain wholly and undiminished with God. For, as the Apostle says, God poured out his grace upon us to demonstrate his righteousness:
"That he might be righteous and the one who justifies him who has faith in Christ."
—Romans 3:26
Therefore, elsewhere, after saying that God has given us salvation to exalt the glory of his name, he repeats the same teaching:
"You are saved freely, and this is the gift of God, not from your works, so that no one may boast."
—Ephesians 2:8–9
In short, we must conclude that man cannot attribute to himself even a single drop of righteousness without committing sacrilege, since to do so is to diminish and abase the glory of God's righteousness.
Now, if we ask how the conscience may possess rest and rejoicing before God, we shall find no other way than that he bestow righteousness upon us through his free goodness.
Let us always remember this saying of Solomon:
"Who can say, 'I have cleansed my heart; I am purified from my sins'?"
—Proverbs 20:9
Certainly, there is not one person who is not burdened with countless defilements. Let even the most perfect descend into their consciences and bring their works to account. What outcome will they find? Will they be able to rest and possess gladness of heart, as though they had settled their account with God? Will they not rather be torn by dreadful torments, perceiving within themselves every ground of condemnation, if they are judged according to their works?
If the conscience looks toward God, it must either possess peace and agreement with his judgment or be besieged by the terrors of hell. We therefore accomplish nothing by discussing righteousness unless we establish a righteousness so firm that the soul, founded upon it, can stand before the judgment of God. When our souls possess something by which they may appear before God without terror and await and receive his judgment without doubt or fear, then we may believe that we have found a righteousness that is not counterfeit.
It is therefore not without reason that the Apostle presses this argument so earnestly. I prefer to use his words rather than my own:
"If the promise of our inheritance comes through the Law, faith is made void and the promise is abolished."
—Romans 4:14
He first concludes that faith is emptied and brought to nothing if righteousness takes account of the merits of our works or depends upon observing the Law. For no one could rest securely in it, since no one will ever be found who dares promise himself that he has satisfied the Law; indeed, no one fully satisfies it by his works. We need not seek far for proofs of this, for everyone may serve as his own witness if he is willing to examine himself honestly.
Every man would therefore first be tormented by doubt and then overwhelmed by despair as he considered the immense burden of debt weighing upon him and how far he fell short of the condition imposed upon him. Faith would thus already be oppressed and extinguished. For to waver, fluctuate, be driven up and down, doubt, falter, remain in suspense, and finally despair is not to possess confidence. Confidence means establishing the heart in a constant and settled certainty and possessing a firm support upon which it may rest.
The Apostle adds, secondly, that the promise would be nullified and abolished. For if its fulfillment depended upon our merit, when would we ever reach the point of deserving the grace of God? Indeed, this second point may be deduced from the first, for the promise is fulfilled only in those who receive it by faith. Therefore, if faith falls away, the promise no longer possesses any power.
Accordingly:
"We obtain the inheritance by faith, so that it may rest upon the grace of God and the promise may thereby be made certain."
—Romans 4:16
For the promise is firmly confirmed when it rests upon the mercy of God alone, since his mercy and truth are joined together by an everlasting bond. That is, whatever the Lord promises us from his goodness, he faithfully performs.
Here, therefore, we must rest and deeply fix all our hope. We must not turn our eyes toward our works to seek any assistance from them. In short, we must conclude as follows: Scripture declares that God's promises possess no power or effect unless they are received with a settled confidence of heart. On the other hand, it declares that they are rendered vain wherever doubt or uncertainty exists in the heart. It then teaches that we can do nothing but waver and tremble if those promises rest upon our works.
Therefore, either all righteousness must be taken away from works, or works must be entirely excluded from consideration, so that faith alone may have its place. The nature of faith is to close its eyes and open its ears—that is, to fix itself wholly upon the promise of God alone, without regard to any worthiness or merit in man.
Thus this beautiful promise of Zechariah is fulfilled:
"When the iniquity of the land has been blotted out, each man shall invite his neighbor beneath his vine and beneath his fig tree."
—Zechariah 3:9–10
In this passage, the Prophet signifies that believers enjoy no true peace until they have obtained the forgiveness of their sins.
To clarify the matter still further, let us examine what righteousness man may possess throughout the whole course of his life. We must distinguish four classes. A man is either destitute of the knowledge of God and entangled in idolatry; or, having received the Word and the sacraments, he nevertheless lives dissolutely and denies by his works the Lord whom he confesses with his mouth, and thus is a Christian only in title and profession; or he is a hypocrite who conceals his perversity under the appearance of uprightness; or, being regenerated by the Spirit of God, he devotes himself sincerely to pursuing holiness and innocence.
As for the first class, if such men are considered in their natural condition from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, not a single grain of goodness will be found in them—unless we wish to accuse Scripture of falsehood when it gives all the children of Adam these descriptions: that their hearts are perverse and hardened; that everything they devise from their earliest youth is nothing but wickedness; that all their thoughts are vain; that there is no fear of God before their eyes; that none of them understands and none seeks God; and, in short, that they are flesh.
Under this word flesh are comprehended all the works Saint Paul enumerates:
"Fornication, uncleanness, shamelessness, wantonness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, contentions, jealousies,
outbursts of wrath, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envy, murders,"
and everything else that can be imagined as vile and abominable.
—Galatians 5:19–21
Behold the noble dignity in confidence of which they ought to grow proud!
If some among them possess an outward appearance of honesty in their conduct, by which they may acquire a reputation for holiness among men, we must nevertheless remember that God has no regard for outward display. Therefore, if we wish such honesty to possess any value in justifying them, we must come to the fountain and source of their works. We must, I say, examine closely the inward affection from which such works proceed.
Although this subject opens a wide field for discussion, because the matter may be settled in few words, I shall be as brief as possible.
To begin with, I do not deny that all the virtues appearing in the lives of unbelievers and idolaters are gifts of God. Nor am I so removed from ordinary human judgment that I would say there is no difference between the justice, moderation, and equity of Titus and Trajan, who were good Roman emperors, and the rage, intemperance, and cruelty of Caligula, Nero, and Domitian, who reigned like savage beasts; or between the vile sexual immorality of Tiberius and the self-restraint of Vespasian. And, not to examine
every vice and virtue individually, there is also a difference between observing the laws and despising them.
There is such a distinction between good and evil that it appears even in this dead image of righteousness. For what order would remain in the world if these things were confused together? Therefore, the Lord has not only impressed upon every heart this distinction between honorable and shameful deeds, but has also frequently confirmed it by his providence. For we see how he grants many blessings of this present life to those who devote themselves to virtue among men.
This does not mean that such a shadow and image of virtue deserves the least of his benefits. Rather, it pleases him to show how greatly he loves true virtue by not leaving even its outward and counterfeit likeness entirely without temporal reward. From this follows what we have just acknowledged: such virtues as they are—or rather, such images of virtues—are gifts proceeding from him, since nothing praiseworthy exists that does not come from him.
Nevertheless, what Saint Augustine writes remains true: all those who are strangers to the religion of the one true God, however greatly they may be admired because of the reputation of their uprightness, are not only unworthy of any reward but rather deserve punishment, because they defile the gifts of God by the pollution of their hearts.
For although they are instruments of God for preserving and sustaining human society through justice, self-restraint, friendship, prudence, temperance, and courage, they nevertheless perform these good works of God very badly. They are restrained from wrongdoing,
not by a pure love of honesty or justice, but by ambition, self-love, or some other indirect and perverse consideration.
Since their works are corrupted at their very source by the impurity of the heart, they no more deserve to be numbered among the virtues than do those vices which deceive men because of some resemblance or affinity they bear to virtues. To state the matter briefly: since we know that the one constant end of righteousness and uprightness is that God should be honored, whatever aims elsewhere rightly loses the name of uprightness.
Since such men do not regard the end appointed by the wisdom of God, although their actions may outwardly appear good, they are nevertheless sinful because of their evil purpose. Moreover, if what Saint John says is true—
"He who does not have the Son of God does not have life,"
—1 John 5:12
then all who have no part in Christ, whoever they may be and whatever they may do or endeavor to do, spend the whole course of their lives tending only toward ruin, confusion, and the judgment of eternal death.
Saint Augustine therefore speaks very aptly when he compares the lives of such men to a race run off course. For the more swiftly a man runs while outside the right path, the farther he withdraws from his destination and the more miserable he becomes. He therefore concludes that it is better to limp along the right path than to run swiftly outside it.
Finally, it is certain that they are bad trees, since there is no sanctification except in communion with Christ. They may therefore produce beautiful fruits, even fruits sweet to the taste, but they cannot possibly produce good fruit.
From this we see clearly that everything man thinks, considers, undertakes, and does before he is reconciled to God is accursed. Not only does it possess no power to justify him, but it certainly deserves condemnation. And why do we dispute this as though it were doubtful, since it has already been established by the Apostle's testimony:
"Without faith it is impossible to please God."
—Hebrews 11:6
But the matter will become clearer still if we place the grace of God on one side and man's natural condition on the other. Scripture everywhere declares loudly and clearly that God finds nothing in man that moves him to do him good, but that he anticipates him by his free goodness. For what can a dead man possess by which he might be restored to life? When God enlightens man and gives him knowledge of his truth, he is said to raise him from the dead and make him a new creature.
We see that the goodness of God is frequently commended to us under this title, especially by the Apostle:
"God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, made us alive in Christ."
—Ephesians 2:4–5
Elsewhere, treating under the figure of Abraham the general calling of believers, he says:
"It is God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they existed."
—Romans 4:17
If we are nothing, what can we do? Therefore, in the history of Job, God powerfully casts down all our presumption:
"Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything is mine."
—Job 41:11
Saint Paul explains this declaration by applying it to show that we must not imagine we bring anything to God except utter confusion. Therefore, in the passage already cited, to show that we have entered into the hope of salvation through the grace of God alone and not through our works, he declares:
"We are his workmanship, created anew in Jesus Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them."
—Ephesians 2:10
It is as though he said: Who among us will boast of having anticipated God by his righteousness, since our first ability to do
good proceeds from his regeneration of us? For as we are by nature, oil could more readily be drawn from a stone than a single good work from us. It is astonishing that man, after being condemned to such disgrace, still dares attribute anything to himself.
Let us therefore confess with that noble instrument of God, Saint Paul:
"We are called with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his election and grace."
—2 Timothy 1:9
And again:
"The goodness and love of God our Savior appeared when he saved us, not because of works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, so that, being justified by his grace, we might become heirs of eternal life."
—Titus 3:4–7
By this confession, we strip man of every drop of righteousness for the whole time that he has not been regenerated into the hope of life by the mercy of God. For if works possess any power to justify us, it would be false to say that we are justified by grace.
Certainly, the Apostle was not so forgetful that, in affirming justification to be free, he failed to remember what he argues elsewhere:
"Grace is no longer grace if works possess any value."
—Romans 11:6
And what else does the Lord Jesus mean when he says:
"I came to call sinners, not the righteous"?
—Matthew 9:13
If sinners alone are admitted to salvation, why do we seek entrance through our counterfeit righteousness?
This thought often comes to my mind: that I may be doing an injury to the mercy of God by taking such pains to defend it, as though it were doubtful or obscure. But because our wickedness is such that it never grants God what belongs to him unless compelled by necessity, I must remain on this subject a little longer than I would wish.
Yet because Scripture is sufficiently clear on this point, I shall contend with its words rather than my own. Isaiah, after describing the universal ruin of mankind, then explains very well the order of its restoration:
"The Lord looked, and it displeased him; and he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede. Therefore, he brought salvation by his own arm and upheld himself by his own righteousness."
—Isaiah 59:15–16
Where are our righteous deeds, if what the Prophet says is true—that there is not a single man who assists God in recovering salvation?
In the same manner, another Prophet introduces the Lord speaking of reconciling the sinner to himself:
"I will betroth you to myself forever, in righteousness, judgment, grace, and mercy. I will say to the one who had not obtained mercy that he has now obtained it."
—Hosea 2:19, 23
If such a covenant, which is the first union of God with us, rests upon God's mercy, no other foundation remains for our righteousness.
Indeed, I would like to ask those who would persuade us that man comes before God with some merit of his own whether there can be any righteousness that is not pleasing to God. If it is madness to imagine such a thing, then what can proceed from the enemies of God that would be pleasing to him, since he holds them and all their works in utter abhorrence?
The truth testifies that we are all mortal enemies of God and that open warfare exists between him and us until, being justified, we are restored to his favor. If justification is the beginning of God's love toward us, what righteousness of works could precede it?
Therefore, to withdraw us from this pernicious arrogance, Saint John carefully admonishes us:
"We did not love him first, but he first loved us."
—1 John 4:10, 19
The Lord had taught the same thing long before through his Prophet:
"I will love them freely, for my wrath has turned away."
—Hosea 14:4
If he is inclined to love us by his own free will, he certainly is not moved by our works.
The ignorant common people understand nothing more from this than that no one merited Christ's becoming our redemption, but that our works assist us in entering into possession of that redemption. Yet, although we have been redeemed by Christ, we nevertheless remain children of darkness, enemies of God, and heirs of his wrath until, by the Father's free calling, we are incorporated into fellowship with Christ.
For Saint Paul does not say that we are purged and washed from our uncleanness except when the Holy Spirit performs this cleansing in us. Saint Peter, intending to teach the same thing, says:
"The sanctification of the Holy Spirit brings us to obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ."
—1 Peter 1:2
If we are cleansed by being sprinkled with Christ's blood through the Spirit, let us not imagine that before this sprinkling we are anything other than sinners without Christ. Let this therefore remain certain: the beginning of our salvation is like a resurrection from death to life.
The second and third classes of men distinguished above are included under this same category. For the defilement of conscience
found in both is a sign that they have not yet been regenerated by the Spirit of God. Moreover, their lack of regeneration is a sign that they possess no faith. From this it is evident that they have not yet been reconciled to God or justified before his judgment, since these blessings are attained only by faith.
What could sinners alienated from God do that would not be abominable in his judgment? It is true that all unbelievers, and hypocrites especially, are swollen with this foolish confidence: although they know their hearts to be full of uncleanness and every vileness, nevertheless, if they perform some outwardly good works, they consider those works worthy of God's regard.
From this arises the deadly error that those who are convicted of possessing wicked and corrupt hearts cannot be brought to confess that they are destitute of righteousness. Although they acknowledge themselves to be unrighteous because they cannot deny it, they nevertheless attribute some righteousness to themselves. This madness is very well refuted by God through the Prophet Haggai.
"Ask the priests: If a man carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment and touches bread with it, will the bread thereby be sanctified?"
The priests answer, No. Haggai then asks them:
"If a man who is polluted in his soul touches any of these things, will he not defile it?"
The priests answer, Yes. Then Haggai is commanded to tell them:
"Such is this people before my face, and such are the works of their hands; everything they offer me is defiled."
—Haggai 2:11–14
Would to God that we rightly received this declaration or engraved it upon our memories. For there is no man, however wicked his whole life may be, who can persuade himself of what the Lord so clearly declares here. If the most wicked man in the world has fulfilled his duty in some single matter, he does not doubt that it will be credited to him as righteousness. On the contrary, the Lord declares that no sanctification is gained thereby unless the heart is first properly purified. Not content with this, he testifies that all the preceding works of sinners are defiled by the impurity of their hearts.
Let us therefore beware of giving the name of righteousness to works that are condemned as polluted by the mouth of God. And by what striking comparisons does he demonstrate this! Someone might object that whatever God has commanded is inviolably holy. But God shows, on the contrary, that it is no wonder if the works sanctified by him in his Law are defiled by the uncleanness of the wicked, since an unclean hand profanes what had been consecrated.
He treats this subject very well also in Isaiah:
"Do not offer me sacrifices in vain. Your incense is an abomination to me. My heart hates all your feasts and solemn assemblies; I am greatly weary of enduring them. When you lift up your hands, I will turn my eyes away from you. When you multiply your prayers, I will not hear them,
for your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves and be clean, and put away your evil thoughts."
—Isaiah 1:13–16
What does this mean? Does the Lord so utterly reject and abhor the observance of his Law? He rejects nothing belonging to the pure and true observance of the Law, whose beginning, as he teaches everywhere, is a heartfelt fear of his name. But when that is absent, everything presented to him is not merely rubbish, but foul and abominable filth.
Let the hypocrites go now and endeavor to commend themselves to God by their good works while their hearts remain entangled in perverse thoughts. They will certainly provoke him more and more in this manner:
"The sacrifices of the wicked are abominable to him, but the prayer of the righteous alone is pleasing to him."
—Proverbs 15:8
We therefore conclude that this must be settled among all who are even moderately acquainted with Scripture: every work proceeding from men whom God has not sanctified by his Spirit, however beautiful its outward appearance, is so far from being accounted righteousness before God that it is regarded as sin.
Therefore, those who have taught that works do not obtain grace and favor for the person, but rather that works become pleasing to God only when the person has first been accepted by him in his mercy,
have spoken rightly and truly. We must carefully observe this order, by which Scripture leads us as though by the hand. Moses writes:
"God looked with favor upon Abel and upon his works."
—Genesis 4:4
Do we not see that he shows God to be gracious toward men before he regards their works? The purification of the heart must therefore come first, so that the works proceeding from us may be graciously received by God. Now, the Holy Spirit has once for all declared through the mouth of Saint Peter:
"Our hearts are purified by faith alone."
—Acts 15:9
It follows, therefore, that the first foundation lies in true and living faith.
Let us now consider what righteousness is possessed by those whom we placed in the fourth class. We readily confess that when God reconciles us to himself through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, freely forgives our sins, and accounts us righteous, another benefit is joined with this mercy: by his Holy Spirit he dwells within us, and by the Spirit's power the desires of our flesh are mortified more and more each day.
We are thereby sanctified—that is, consecrated to God in true purity of life—insofar as our hearts are formed to obey the Law, so that our principal desire is to serve his will and advance his glory in every way. Nevertheless, even while we walk in the Lord's way under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, remnants of imperfection remain within us so that we may not forget ourselves, and these give us occasion to be humbled.
"There is no righteous man who does good and does not sin."
—Ecclesiastes 7:20
What righteousness, then, will believers possess from their works? I say, first, that the best work they can present is always stained and corrupted by some pollution of the flesh, just as wine is spoiled when mixed with its dregs. Let the servant of God select what he considers the best work he has performed in his entire life. When he has carefully examined every part of it, he will undoubtedly find that in some respect it bears the corruption of his flesh. For our disposition toward doing good is never what it ought to be, while the weakness we discover when examining ourselves is great.
Although we see that the stains defiling the works of the saints are neither obscure nor hidden, let us nevertheless suppose that they are only small and insignificant blemishes. Will they not offend the eyes of the Lord, before whom even the stars are not pure? We therefore hold that not a single work proceeds from believers which, considered in itself, does not deserve just condemnation.
Moreover, even if it were possible for us to perform some pure and perfect works, a single sin would be sufficient to blot out and extinguish every remembrance of our previous righteousness, as the Prophet says. Saint James agrees:
"Whoever offends in one point has become guilty of all."
—James 2:10
Since this mortal life is never pure or free from sin, all the righteousness we might have acquired would continually be corrupted, overwhelmed, and lost by the sins that followed. It would therefore not enter into account before God or be imputed to us as righteousness.
Finally, when the righteousness of works is in question, we must not consider a single deed, but the Law itself. Therefore, if we seek righteousness in the Law, it will be in vain to produce one or two works; perpetual obedience is required.
The Lord does not, therefore, impute the free forgiveness of our sins to us as righteousness only once, as some foolishly imagine, so that after obtaining pardon for our former wicked life we should afterward seek righteousness in the Law. Were that so, he would merely mock us by deceiving us with a vain hope. For since we cannot attain perfection while we remain in this mortal body, and since the Law pronounces judgment and death upon all who have not fulfilled perfect righteousness by their works, it would always possess grounds to accuse and convict us unless the mercy of God intervened continually to absolve us through the constant forgiveness of sins.
Therefore, what we said at the beginning remains permanently established: if we are judged according to our own worth, whatever we endeavor to do, we shall always remain worthy of death, together with all our efforts and undertakings.
We must firmly hold to these two points. First, no work of a believer has ever been found that would not deserve condemnation if examined according to the strictness of God's judgment. Second, even if such a work could be found—which is impossible for man—it would nevertheless lose all favor and worth because it would be polluted and defiled by the sins remaining in the person.
The evasions by which the theologians of the Sorbonne seek to escape here do not deliver them. They say that the power of good works to justify man comes from the grace of God, who accepts them, and that the faults committed are compensated for by works of supererogation.
I answer that what they call accepting grace is nothing other than the free goodness of the heavenly Father by which he embraces and receives us in Jesus Christ. This takes place when he clothes us with Christ's innocence and credits it to us, so that by its benefit he may regard us as holy, pure, and innocent.
For the righteousness of Christ must present itself on our behalf and stand as our security before the judgment of God, because it alone, being perfect, can endure his gaze. Clothed with this righteousness, we obtain the continual forgiveness of our sins by faith. Covered by its purity, the stains and uncleanness of our imperfections are not imputed to us but are, as it were, buried so that they do not appear before God's judgment.
This continues until the hour comes when, after the death of our old man, the goodness of God receives us with Jesus Christ, the new Adam, into blessed rest, where we await the day of resurrection,
when, having received incorruptible bodies, we shall be transferred into heavenly glory.
If these things are true, there are no works that can of themselves make us acceptable to God. Indeed, they are not pleasing to him except insofar as the man who performs them, being covered with the righteousness of Christ, is pleasing to him and obtains forgiveness for his faults.
Their customary chatter about compensating God through works of supererogation possesses no greater strength. For do they not always return to the very point from which they have already been excluded —namely, that whoever keeps the Law in part is righteous by his works to that extent? In doing so, they take for granted something that no person of sound judgment would concede to them.
The Lord so frequently testifies that he acknowledges no righteousness except perfect obedience to his Law. What audacity is it, then, when we are destitute of such obedience, to produce a few pieces and fragments of good works, lest we should appear stripped of all glory—that is, lest we should yield entirely to God—and then attempt to redeem our deficiency through satisfactions?
Satisfactions have already been so powerfully overthrown above that they ought never to enter our minds, even in dreams. I say only that those who babble so thoughtlessly do not consider how abominable sin is to God. If they did, they would certainly understand that all the righteousness of men gathered into one heap would not suffice to compensate for a single sin.
We see that for one sin man was so completely rejected by God that he lost every means of recovering salvation. The ability to make satisfaction has therefore been taken from us. Those who flatter themselves that they possess such an ability will never satisfy God, to whom nothing proceeding from his enemies is acceptable. Now, all those to whom he wills to impute their sins are his enemies.
All our sins must therefore be covered and forgiven before he regards a single one of our works. It follows that the forgiveness of sins is free —a truth wickedly blasphemed by those who put forward any satisfactions.
Therefore, following the Apostle's example:
"Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forward to those that are before us, let us press on in our course toward the prize of the heavenly calling."
—Philippians 3:13–14
How can the claim to possess works of supererogation agree with what is said here?
"When we have done everything commanded us, we must say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done only what we were obligated to do.'"
—Luke 17:10
To say this before God is not to pretend or lie, but to affirm within ourselves what we know to be true. The Lord therefore commands us to judge truthfully and acknowledge sincerely that we render him no
voluntary service beyond our obligation, but merely repay the services we already owe him.
And this is entirely right, for by our very condition we are his servants and are bound to render him so many services that we could never discharge them all, even if every thought and every member of our bodies were devoted to nothing else. Therefore, when he says, "After you have done everything commanded you," it is as though he said: Suppose that all the righteous deeds in the world were united in one man—and even more besides.
Since there is none among us who does not fall very far short of this goal, how dare we boast that we have added some surplus beyond the proper measure? Nor should anyone allege that a man who fails in part of his duty may nevertheless do more than is strictly required in another part. We must hold this rule: nothing can enter our minds that contributes either to God's honor or to love for our neighbor which is not already comprehended under the Law of God. And if it is part of the Law, we must not boast of voluntary generosity where we are bound by necessity.
To prove otherwise, they improperly allege Saint Paul's statement that he could boast of having surrendered his right among the Corinthians, although he might lawfully have exercised it, and that he not only rendered what his office required but went beyond his duty by preaching the Gospel to them without charge.
They ought to have considered the reason given there: he did this so that he would not cause the weak to stumble. For the deceivers who troubled that Church gained an entrance by refusing payment for their labor, intending thereby to win favor for their perverse doctrine
and bring the Gospel into disrepute. Saint Paul was therefore compelled either to expose the doctrine of Christ to danger or to counteract such schemes.
If it is a matter of indifference for a Christian to cause others to stumble when he can avoid doing so, then I confess that the Apostle gave God something beyond what he owed. But if such conduct was required of a prudent steward of the Gospel, I say that he merely did his duty.
Finally, even if this reason were not evident, what Saint Chrysostom says would nevertheless remain true: everything proceeding from us is in the same condition as the possessions of a servant—that is, by right of servitude it belongs to his master. Christ did not conceal this in the parable. For he asks what thanks we owe our servant when, after laboring throughout the day, he returns home in the evening. It may be that he has undertaken more labor than we would have dared impose upon him. Even so, he has done nothing beyond what he owed us by right of servitude, since he belongs to us together with everything he is able to do.
I shall not describe the supposed works of supererogation by which they wish to commend themselves before God. Yet they are nothing but rubbish, which he has neither commanded nor approved, and which he will never credit when the account is rendered. We may readily concede that they are works of supererogation in the sense intended by the Prophet:
"Who has required these things from your hands?"
—Isaiah 1:12
But these Pharisees must remember what is said elsewhere:
"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? Why do you labor for things that cannot satisfy you?"
—Isaiah 55:2
Our learned masters may discuss these matters easily enough while sitting comfortably upon cushions in their schools. But when the sovereign Judge appears from heaven upon his judgment seat, all their determinations will profit little and will vanish like smoke.
The question that ought to have been considered here is what ground of confidence we may bring to defend ourselves at that dreadful judgment—not what men may chatter or falsely invent in some corner of the Sorbonne.
We must drive two plagues from our hearts: we must place no confidence in our works, and we must attribute no praise to them. Scripture everywhere deprives us of confidence in them, declaring that all our righteous deeds are nothing but filth and corruption before God unless they derive a pleasing fragrance from the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and that they can do nothing but provoke God's vengeance unless they are sustained by the gentleness of his mercy.
Thus, Scripture leaves us nothing to do but implore the clemency of our Judge that we may obtain mercy, confessing with David:
"No one shall be justified before your face if you call your servants to account."
—Psalm 143:2
This is also expressed in Job's declaration:
"If I have done evil, woe to me; and if I have done well, even then I will not lift up my head."
—Job 10:15
Job does not mean that he freely chooses to yield to God rather than contend against his severity at his own peril. Rather, he signifies that he acknowledges no righteousness in himself that would not immediately collapse before God.
When confidence has been driven away, all boasting must likewise be destroyed. For who will ascribe the praise of righteousness to his works when, upon considering them, he trembles before God? Our hearts will therefore be rightly purified only when they rest upon no confidence whatever in works and derive from them no reason to exalt themselves or grow proud.
It is this error that leads men into such frivolous and deceitful confidence: they continually place the cause of their salvation in their works. But if we consider the four kinds of causes distinguished by the philosophers, we shall not find a single one that belongs to works when our salvation is in question.
Scripture everywhere teaches that the efficient cause of our salvation is the mercy of our heavenly Father and the free love he has borne toward us. As the material cause, it presents Christ and his
obedience, by which he has obtained righteousness for us. And what shall we call the instrumental cause except faith?
Saint John comprehends all three in oneends all three in one statement:
"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
—John 3:16
As for the final cause, the Apostle says that it was to demonstrate the righteousness of God and glorify his goodness. When we see that every part of our salvation lies outside ourselves, why should we derive any confidence or glory from our works?
As for the efficient and final causes, even the greatest adversaries of God's glory could not dispute them unless they wished to renounce the whole of Scripture. But when they come to the material and instrumental causes, they cavil as though our works shared equally with faith and the righteousness of Christ. Yet Scripture contradicts this as well, simply affirming that Christ is our righteousness and our life, and that we possess so great a blessing by faith alone.
The saints often strengthen and comfort themselves by recalling their innocence and integrity, and sometimes they appeal to these things. They do so in two ways. First, by comparing the justice of their cause with the evil cause of the wicked, they conceive a hope of victory—not so much because of the worth or value of their righteousness, but because the iniquity of their enemies deserves
defeat. Second, when examining themselves before God without comparing themselves with others, they receive some consolation and confidence from the purity of their conscience.
We shall consider the first of these later. For now, let us explain briefly how the second may agree with what we have already said: that before God's judgment we must place no confidence in our works and must not glory in them at all.
The agreement is this: when the saints seek to found and establish their salvation, they turn their eyes away from their works and fix them solely upon the goodness of God. They not only approach his goodness before all else as the beginning of their blessedness, but also regard it as the completion of their salvation, resting and acquiescing in it entirely.
Once the conscience has been founded, established, and confirmed in this manner, it may also be strengthened by considering works, insofar as they testify that God dwells and reigns within us. Since this confidence derived from works has no place until we have committed the entire confidence of our hearts to God's mercy, it provides no proof that works justify or can of themselves give assurance to man.
Therefore, when we exclude confidence in works, we mean only that the Christian soul must not regard the merit of works as a refuge of salvation but must rest entirely upon the free promise of righteousness. Yet we do not forbid it to sustain and strengthen itself by every sign it possesses of God's favor.
For if all the gifts God has bestowed upon us, when brought to remembrance, are like rays from the brightness of his face
illuminating us to contemplate the supreme light of his goodness, then all the more should the good works he has given us serve this purpose, since they demonstrate that the Spirit of adoption has been given to us.
Therefore, when the saints confirm their faith by their innocence or derive from it reason to rejoice, they do nothing more than recognize from the fruits of their calling that God has adopted them as his children.
Thus, Solomon's declaration—
"In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence,"
—Proverbs 14:26
and the appeals the saints sometimes make when asking God to hear them—that they have walked before his face in integrity and sincerity —have no place as a foundation upon which to build the conscience. They possess value only when understood as signs of God's calling.
For the fear of God is never so perfect that it can of itself provide firm assurance. All the saints understand that they do not possess complete integrity, but an integrity mingled with many imperfections and remnants of their flesh. Yet because they take the fruits of their regeneration as evidence and signs that the Holy Spirit dwells within them, they possess no small reason to be strengthened in expecting God's help in every necessity, since they have experienced him as their Father in so great a matter.
Nevertheless, they cannot do this unless they have first apprehended the goodness of God and become assured of it solely through the promises of the Gospel.
For if they once begin to estimate God's goodness according to their works, nothing will be more uncertain or unstable. If works are considered in themselves, their imperfection will threaten man with God's wrath no less than their purity—such as it is and only imperfectly begun—will testify to his favor.
We now see that the saints derive no confidence from their works which attributes anything to the merit of those works, since they regard them only as gifts of God by which they recognize his goodness, and as signs of their calling by which they perceive their election. Nor does this confidence detract in any way from the free righteousness we obtain in Christ, since it depends upon and rests upon that righteousness.
Moreover, when Scripture says that good works are a reason why our Lord does good to his servants, this must be understood in such a way that what we have said above remains entirely intact: the origin and efficient cause of our salvation lies in the love of the heavenly Father; its matter and substance in the obedience of Christ; its instrument in the illumination of the Holy Spirit—that is, in faith; and its final cause is that the goodness of God should be glorified.
This does not prevent God from receiving works as subordinate causes. But how does this come about? Those whom he has predestined by his mercy to the inheritance of eternal life, he brings into possession of it, according to his ordinary dispensation, through
good works. Thus, what precedes in the order of his dispensation he calls the cause of what follows.
For this same reason, Scripture sometimes appears to signify that eternal life proceeds from good works—not because its praise should be attributed to them, but because God justifies those whom he has elected in order afterward to glorify them. Thus the first grace, which is like a step leading to the second, is called its cause.
Nevertheless, when the true cause must be assigned, Scripture does not direct us to works but confines us to the consideration of God's mercy alone. For what does this statement of the Apostle mean?
"The wages of sin is death, but eternal life is the gift of God."
—Romans 6:23
Why does he not contrast righteousness with sin, as he contrasts life with death? Why does he not make righteousness the cause of life, just as he says that sin is the cause of death? The comparison would have been complete in that form, whereas in the form he gives it, it appears somewhat incomplete. But by this comparison he intended to express the truth: death is owed as the wages of sin, whereas life rests solely in the mercy of God.
We have now resolved the principal difficulty in this matter: since every righteousness founded upon works must be confounded before the face of God, righteousness is contained solely in God's mercy, solely in participation in Christ, and therefore solely in faith.
We must carefully note that this is the principal point, lest we become entangled in the common error not only of ordinary people but also of the learned. For when the question is whether faith or works justify, they allege passages that appear to attribute some merit to works before God, as though justification by works were thereby demonstrated if it could be proved that works possess any value before God.
Now, it has been clearly demonstrated that the righteousness of works consists solely in a perfect and complete observance of the Law. From this it follows that no one is justified by his works unless he has attained such perfection that he cannot be convicted of even the smallest fault.
It is therefore another and distinct question whether works, although insufficient to justify man, may nevertheless obtain favor for him before God.
First, I am compelled to make this protest concerning the word merit: whoever first applied it to human works with respect to God's judgment did nothing beneficial for preserving the purity of the faith. For my part, I willingly abstain from all disputes about words. Yet I wish that this restraint had always been observed among Christians: that they had not needlessly and without good reason adopted terms foreign to Scripture which could produce many scandals and little fruit.
For why, I ask, was it necessary to introduce the word merit, when the worth of good works could have been explained in other terms without giving offense? We see, to the great injury of the whole world, how many scandals have arisen from this word. Since it is full
of pride, it cannot help but obscure the grace of God and fill men with vain presumption.
I confess that the ancient doctors of the Church commonly used the term. Would to God that by this one little word they had not given occasion for error to those who came after them! Nevertheless, in certain places they testified that by using it they had no intention of prejudicing the truth.
Saint Augustine says in one place:
"Let human merits, which perished in Adam, be silent here, and let the grace of God reign, as it reigns through Jesus Christ."
Likewise, Chrysostom says:
"All our works that follow God's free calling are like debts that we repay to him; but his benefits are grace, kindness, and pure generosity."
Leaving the word aside, however, let us consider the thing itself.
Scripture shows what our works merit when it declares that they cannot endure God's gaze because they are full of filth and uncleanness. It also declares what perfect obedience to the Law would merit, if such obedience could be found anywhere, when it commands us to regard ourselves as unprofitable servants even after we have done everything commanded us. For even then we would have given God nothing freely but would merely have discharged the services we owed him, for which he owes us no thanks.
Nevertheless, the Lord calls the works he has given us ours. He not only testifies that they are pleasing to him, but also promises that he will reward them. It is therefore our duty to take courage and be stirred up by such promises, so that we do not grow weary in doing good, and also so that we are not ungrateful for such goodness.
There is no doubt that everything praiseworthy in our works is the grace of God, and that there is not a single drop of goodness which we can properly attribute to ourselves.
If we truly acknowledge this, not only will all confidence in merit vanish, but every notion of merit as well. I say, therefore, that we do not divide the praise of good works between God and man, as the Sophists do, but preserve it entire for God.
We reserve only this for man: that by his uncleanness he pollutes and defiles works which otherwise, as proceeding from God, were good. For nothing proceeds even from the most perfect man in the world that is not stained by some blemish. Let God therefore summon the best works of men before his judgment seat, and in them he will find his own righteousness and man's disgrace.
Good works, therefore, please God and are not unprofitable to those who perform them. Indeed, they receive from God exceedingly abundant benefits as their reward—not because they merit them, but because the Lord's goodness freely appoints such a reward for them.
What ingratitude it is, then, if we are not content with such generosity from God, which rewards works with wages that are not owed and without any merit in them, but proceed further through
accursed ambition and claim that what comes from God's pure generosity is rendered to the merit of works!
Here I appeal to everyone's common sense. If a man who has been granted the use and enjoyment of a field attempts to claim ownership of it, does he not deserve, by such ingratitude, to lose even the possession he enjoyed? Likewise, if a servant who has been set free by his master refuses to acknowledge his former condition and claims that he was freeborn, does he not deserve to be reduced to servitude again?
For this is the lawful way to use benefits conferred upon us: we must not claim more than what has been given, nor defraud our benefactor of his praise. Rather, we must conduct ourselves so that what he has transferred to us may still appear in some sense to remain with him. If we owe such modesty toward men, let everyone consider how much more we owe it to God.
I know well that the Sophists misuse certain passages to prove that the word merit is found in Scripture. They allege a statement from Ecclesiasticus:
"Mercy will give place to each person according to the merit of his works."
—Ecclesiasticus 16:14
They also cite the Epistle to the Hebrews:
"Do not forget generosity and sharing, for such sacrifices merit the grace of God."
—Hebrews 13:16
Although I could reject Ecclesiasticus because the book is not canonical, I refrain from doing so. But I deny that they quote its words faithfully, for the Greek reads literally:
"God will give place to every act of mercy; each person will find according to his works."
—Ecclesiasticus 16:14
That this is the natural meaning and that the passage was corrupted in the Latin translation may easily be seen both from what follows and from the statement itself when considered independently.
As for the Epistle to the Hebrews, they do nothing but cavil, since the Greek word used by the Apostle signifies nothing more than that such sacrifices are pleasing to God. This alone should suffice to cast down and restrain every insolent pride within us, provided that in attributing any worth to works we do not exceed the limits of Scripture.
The doctrine of Scripture is that our works are stained with many blemishes by which God might justly be offended and provoked to wrath against us. So far are they from being able to obtain his grace and favor or move him to do us good. Nevertheless, because in his great clemency he does not examine them with strictness, he accepts them as though they were entirely pure. For this reason, he rewards them with innumerable benefits both in this present life and in the life to come, although they have not merited these things.
For I cannot accept the distinction made by certain men: that good works merit the graces God bestows upon us in this life, but that eternal salvation is the reward of faith alone. The Lord promises that the reward of our labors and the crown of our warfare are in heaven.
On the other hand, to attribute the new graces we receive from God each day to the merit of works, thereby removing them from grace, is contrary to the doctrine of Scripture. For although Christ says that more will be given to the one who has, and that the good servant who has proved faithful in small matters will be placed over greater things, he likewise shows that the growth of believers is a gift of his free goodness:
"All who thirst, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come and receive wine and milk without money and without payment."
—Isaiah 55:1
Therefore, everything given to believers for the advancement of their salvation is the pure generosity of God, just as eternal blessedness is. Nevertheless, both in the graces he now bestows upon us and in the future glory he will give us, he says that he takes our works into consideration. For, to testify to us of his infinite love, it pleases him not only to honor us in this manner but also to honor the benefits we have received from his own hand.
If these things had formerly been treated and explained in their proper order, so many disturbances and disputes would never have arisen. Saint Paul says that, to build the Church properly, we must retain the foundation he laid among the Corinthians:
"No other foundation can be laid than Jesus Christ."
—1 Corinthians 3:11
What foundation do we possess in Christ? Is it that he began our salvation so that its completion might afterward proceed from us? Did he merely open the way so that we might then follow it by our own effort? Certainly not. Rather, as Saint Paul had said before, we acknowledge that Christ has been given to us as righteousness. No one, therefore, is properly founded upon Christ unless he possesses his righteousness entirely in him. For the Apostle does not say that Christ was sent to assist us in obtaining righteousness, but that he himself might be our righteousness.
That is, from all eternity, before the creation of the world, we were elected in him—not according to any merit, but according to God's good pleasure. By his death we were redeemed from the condemnation of death and delivered from destruction. In him we were adopted by the heavenly Father to be his children and heirs. By his blood we were reconciled to God. Being kept under his protection, we are safe from every danger of finally perishing. Being incorporated into him, we already participate in eternal life in some measure, having entered the Kingdom of God by hope.
Yet even this is not the end. Having been received into fellowship with him, although we are still foolish in ourselves, he is our wisdom before God. Although we are sinners, he is our righteousness. Although we are unclean, he is our purity. Although we are weak and destitute of strength and armor with which to resist the devil, the power given to Christ in heaven and on earth—to crush the devil and