B. Regeneration and Pneumatic Renewal
B. Regeneration and Pneumatic Renewal
As already indicated, Vermigli was concerned to include the cultivation of virtue in his doctrine of justification, even as he clarified its secondary role after forensic imputation. It is noteworthy that at the very beginning of his locus, where he unpacks the meaning of the Hebrew verb tsadac, he starts by explaining how God endows believers “with his own Spirit and renews them fully by restoring the strength of their minds.”254 Such sensitivity to the Spirit’s renewing work is fundamental to Vermigli’s doctrine, as evidenced in his description of justification as “the summit of all piety,”255 a work of God which necessarily leads the regenerate into an experience of godliness.
Unlike the Catholic understanding, which ultimately grounds justification in gratia inhaerens, Vermigli insists that justification is properly rooted in a forensic imputation of righteousness that is extra nos. At the same time, his doctrine of justification also includes the Spirit’s work of internal renewal. Vermigli maintained that this forensic doctrine exists in a three-fold (tres partes) concept of justification, a position that he elaborates in his Genesis256 and 1 Corinthians257 commentaries’ loci on justification.258 The constituent elements of this conception—(forensic) justification, regeneration, and sanctification—could be distinguished, but never separated.259
While Peter Martyr does not reiterate the same three-fold scheme in his Romans locus, he does so in his commentary on Romans, in which he reflects on the doctrine of justification. His summary there of the three aspects of righteousness mirror his Genesis and 1 Corinthians loci on justification in which righteousness not only consists in the forgiveness of sins; it also includes the presence of the Holy Spirit which renews the mind and disposition (regeneration) and produces a habit of virtue (sanctification). For example, in his commentary on Romans 1:17, he explicates,
God declares his righteousness or goodness toward us by three things chiefly. First, he receives us into favor, forgiving us our sins: not imputing death to us for those sins we commit, but on the contrary, imputes to us instead the obedience and holiness of Christ. Second, he kindles in our heart a desire to live uprightly, he renews our will, illuminates our reason and makes us prone to live virtuously, although before we abhorred that which was just and honest. Third, he gives us pure and chaste conduct, good actions and a sincere life.260
Martyr also unfolds Romans 3:21 according to this three-fold structure.
The righteousness of God, as I have declared in other places, is threefold: the first is that we are received into favor through Christ, and our sins forgiven and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. The second righteousness follows this, namely that through the help of the Holy Spirit, our mind is reformed and we are inwardly renewed by grace. Third, holy and godly works follow.261
In this scheme, Martyr places regeneration and sanctification side by side in the name of justification as gifts that come from the Holy Spirit to the elect, while clearly and emphatically reserving the place of priority for imputation.262 As far as we can tell, this attentiveness to the Spirit’s work of renewal had been part of Martyr’s theological framework for nearly a decade by the time he lectured on Romans at Oxford in 1551 and 1552. Reaching back to his first published work, his exposition on the Apostles’ Creed (1544),263 he similarly emphasized the indwelling of the Spirit in generating the outward evidence of righteousness by which one is in some sense judged and rewarded on the last day: “From this [divine inheritance]” he teaches, “we learn that our salvation does not depend on us, but on that divine election by which grace, the Spirit and faith dwell within us.”264 Indeed, Martyr goes so far as to assert that,
This is the very essence [tutto il negozio] of Christianity: to be ever renewed within, and do good to those around us as much as possible. The risen Christ did not cease to bring blessing to others, but poured out upon his own the most precious gift of the Spirit.265
While such an emphasis upon the internal renewal of the Spirit would have been rather natural for Vermigli in the year or two following his departure from Italy, owing to his rigorous training in Catholicism, it is remarkable to observe how this emphasis continued into the latter stages of his life, when he was a Protestant leader. For instance, his 1 Corinthians locus—which was published in 1551 but had been taught by Vermigli shortly after his 1548 appointment in Oxford—demonstrated Martyr’s concern to include good works in his doctrine of justification.
A different kind of justification follows this upright life of holiness by which we are clearly praised, approved or declared just. For although good works do not bring that first righteousness which is given freely, yet they point to it and show it is present. . . . And on this same basis we will be justified by Christ in the last judgment by the remembrance of good works, that is, we will be declared just, on the testimony of mercy shown to our neighbors.266
Martyr explains that such good works are buttressed by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, which restores what is lacking in our “weak and mutilated” works,267 thus comforting the human soul and assuaging our existential pangs of guilt. In this way, one’s upright life of holiness functions as the basis of future justification. Such holiness, in effect, is the vindication of one’s justification.
While Vermigli maintains this three-fold understanding of justification in his Romans commentary, he does not, as we have noted, present the same formulation in his Romans locus on justification.268 Here, he no longer places regeneration and sanctification under the rubric of justification. In a strict sense “justification” is limited to a forensic activity; yet, at the same time, Vermigli understands regeneration and sanctification to necessarily accompany forensic imputation. Interpreting the Romans locus on justification in the larger context of the Romans commentary reveals the two distinct levels of justification alluded to above. James helpfully summarizes:
In sum, Vermigli embraces both a narrower and stricter forensic understanding of justification, as well as a broader moral understanding, which stresses the necessary relationship between forensic justification and its accompanying benefits of regeneration and sanctification. Forensic justification, which is based on the imputed righteousness of Christ alone, is necessarily accompanied by the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit, which produces a moral transformation in the sinner, which in turn inevitably produces sanctification and good works.269
Because Vermigli is particularly concerned with how justification leads to the development of tangible faith,270 he posits “two inward movements” of the Holy Spirit in which God exerts influence upon one’s mind and volition.271 From this double movement, faith is “engendered.”272 Vermigli also conveys this idea—that God forgives those whom he has already enlivened—in his exposition of Romans 8:1–2, stating that “after the spirit will have first moved the hearts of those listening, so that they believe, then at last the Gospel obtains/shows its power to save (for saving).”273 For this reason, Martyr describes the Holy Spirit as the “cause” of faith.274 Following naturally from his deeply held Augustinian conviction that humanity is a massa perditionis,275 Vermigli asserts that “Unless [one’s heart] has been renewed by the Spirit,” there can be no justifying faith.276 The Spirit enlivens, which produces faith,277 resulting in justification. Vermigli envisages such faith as growing out of the Spirit’s initial work, resulting in a union with Christ.278 He writes, “But now, delivered by the grace of God, we are joined with Christ by the Spirit, to Christ himself being raised from the dead. By this union we may bring forth fruit to God, and no more death and damnation.”279 Vermigli does not develop the concept of union with Christ in explicit terms outside of this reference.
The necessity of the Spirit’s enlivening work in Vermigli’s doctrine can scarcely be overstated: “Those who are justified receive the Holy Spirit, for without him it is quite impossible to be justified.”280 After the Spirit produces faith, it is this faith that constitutes the direct link to justification. So Martyr asserts, “as soon as one believes, he is immediately justified.”281 In making this connection, Vermigli is not positing faith as the formal cause of justification; he is, rather, concerned to show the logical progression in which the enlivening work of the Spirit leads to faith that leads to justification and sanctification. In this sequence, faith functions as the causa instrumentum by which God’s people apprehend forgiveness and new life,282 a faith that is generated by the Holy Spirit.283
In addition to producing faith, the work of the Holy Spirit also stimulates sanctification.284 Accordingly, Vermigli applies the term “righteousness” in two distinct ways. When addressing the strict sense of justification, the word describes the forensic accrediting which results in one being regarded as righteous. This sense is the burden of Vermigli’s Romans locus. At the same time, he also uses the word to describe the cultivation of righteousness in the believer’s soul,285 beginning with conversion and leading to “good and holy works,” that is, sanctification.286 Unlike the forensic declaration of righteousness, this tangible manifestation of righteousness is not accessed by faith alone, but rather through spiritual discipline.287 Thus, Martyr draws a connection between the regenerating work of the Spirit and sanctification: “there is no fruit of sanctification except what follows regeneration.”288
As we will discover in due course, comparison with Newman is interesting here. While Newman emphatically repudiates the Catholic notion of habitus (in favor of divine indwelling), Vermigli is quite comfortable with the idea of the progressive development of holiness, that is, a “habit” of righteousness in the context of sanctification. Precisely because regenerate ones are having their minds and wills renovated by the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, they “cooperate with the power of God.”289 Such co-operation grows in time and actually becomes a form of iustitia inhaerente that leads to further acts of piety.290 This, in Vermigli’s words, is the “inward righteousness which is rooted in us, which we obtain and confirm by leading a continually upright life.”291
The other element of Vermigli’s doctrine that might be mentioned with reference to the work of the Holy Spirit is the role of heavenly rewards for the one whose life produces good works—providing that such works are not understood as a debt owed.292 In his commentary on 1 Corinthians, Vermigli underscores that one’s good works, emerging from one’s habit of righteousness, are accepted by God:
In the third place [in the tres partes concept of justification], from the habit of good works a certain righteousness adheres [inhaerens] to our souls, whereby we can also be called righteous in our human conduct. Neither the things we do nor the righteousness thus acquired are rejected by God, since they come from a soul which is already regenerate.293
Such moral achievement results in rewards, which come to the faithful as a divine gift. According to Vermigli, “we will grant that God sets forth prizes and rewards whereby we are moved to live holy lives.”294 He is careful to indicate that this accomplishment leaves no room whatsoever for boasting.295 Nevertheless, good works are expected to characterize one who has been justified, precisely because of the Spirit’s activity of regeneration.296 While Martyr states at the outset of his Romans locus that it is not his purpose to develop the subject of works that follow justification,297 he asserts that “such works are profitable to the regenerate, for by living uprightly and orderly they are renewed and made perfect.”298 Quoting Augustine, Martyr states that in this way (by producing virtuous works) justified ones fulfill the law by the grace of the gospel.299 Thus, in good Augustinian fashion, Vermigli safeguards the comprehensive nature of divine grace, while simultaneously promoting the cultivation of virtue. Both are made possible by a union with God “by the Spirit.”300 A summary statement of this relationship is found in the following:
Since no one has fulfilled or can fulfill it [the command to love God with heart, soul, and strength], it follows that we should fly to Christ through whom we may be justified by faith. After being justified, we may in some way begin to do what is commanded, albeit imperfectly.301
The first part of this equation—flying to Christ to be justified by faith—is the subject to which will now turn our attention.