Chapter XXII: Sins of Themselves and Through Accident, § 104.
CHAPTER XXII: ON SINS OF THEMSELVES AND THROUGH ACCIDENT
Some sins are sins of themselves, and some are sins on account of something else and through accident.
§ 104. Eighteenth. Some sins are sins of themselves, but some are sins on account of something else. Thus when unbelievers steal, fornicate, rob, etc., those things are sins of themselves and by the nature of the act. But when they clothe the nakedness of a neighbor, help him, etc., these things are not sins of themselves and as far as concerns the nature of the act, but become sins through and because of something else: because the person has not yet been reconciled to God, because such works do not come from a pure heart, because they are not directed to the glory of God.
The use of this division is manifold. Dr. Luther used to say: “A just man sins in every good work.”1 Bellarmine attacks this vehemently, but observe that the good works of the reborn are not called sins of themselves and in regard to the substance of the act, for they are a service very pleasing to God and a sweet fragrance before Him. But because sin clings to the reborn who do the good works and because those good works themselves are not perfectly good, therefore in this respect it is most truly said that the just person does sin in every good work and that the good works of the reborn are sins, that is, in a specific respect: because of inherent corrupt concupiscence and the many imperfections on account of which God could reject these same good works of the reborn, if He should wish to judge them according to the rigid norm of the Law. This is the reason for Isa. 64:6: “Before God all our righteousnesses are as the rags of a menstruating woman.” As Adrian of Utrecht says (on Sent. 4, according to Cassander in his Consult.): “We continually drip the blood flow of different sins upon the rag of life which we have covered with works of righteousness.” Our life is drawn under His examination, under which even our very virtues tremble. But because the good works of the reborn proceed from faith, God does not impute their inherent stains and imperfections to them but considers their filial obedience in Christ pleasing also for the sake of Christ.
1 Against Latomus (1521), AE 32:209 (WA 8:93); cf. Defense and Explanation of All the Articles (1521), AE 32:91 (WA 7:445).