Fourth, the sacrament of penance has no foundation in the doctrine and examples of the apostles.
Fourth, the sacrament of penance has no foundation in the doctrine and examples of the apostles.
§ 27. (IV) The sacrament of penance does not have a foundation in the doctrine and examples of the apostles. Therefore it must not be acknowledged as a sacrament. We prove the antecedent because the apostles taught repentance and the manner of receiving the forgiveness of sins no differently from the way the prophets did in the Old Testament (Acts 26:22; 10:43); nor did they ever demand a specific enumeration of sins nor impose satisfactions. In fact, the apostle instead calls the Galatians back to the free justification of faith, though they had departed from the way of truth after Baptism.
Bellarmine objects: (1) “Acts 26 does not set forth a summary of the doctrine of repentance but only an exhortation to it.”
We respond. Verse 18 shows the contrary: “I send you to open the eyes of the peoples and Gentiles that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a lot among the saints through faith.” Here the essential parts of repentance and the salutary fruits of it are being described. And v. 20: “I announced to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works worthy of repentance.” Here the consequence of repentance is being described, namely, new obedience. Finally, v. 22 is added, where Paul “says nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass.” These are general words, not only about the merit of Christ but also about the application of it through faith, which is the most important part of repentance preached in Moses and the prophets as well as by the apostles in the same way.
(2) “Nowhere is it read that the apostles forgave anyone his sins.”
We respond. But this is to deny that the sun shines at noon! The entire ministry of the apostles was the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47). Every time they preached a word of the Gospel of Christ, they truly announced the forgiveness of sins to the repentant, and this announcement was as effective as if they were forgiving someone his sins specifically and in particular. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 2:38). “Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). “Through Christ we announce to you the forgiveness of sins and that you are justified from all the things from which you could not be justified in the Law of Moses” (Acts 13:38[–39]). “God gave us the ministry of reconciliation. He placed in us the word of reconciliation. For Christ, therefore, we are ambassadors, God, as it were, exhorting through us. For Christ, we beseech you, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:18–20).
But nowhere is it read either that the apostles demanded a specific enumeration of sins or that they imposed a satisfaction upon the truly repentant; more about this in its own place [§§ 102–31].
(3) “The repentance which precedes Baptism and that which follows it must be distinguished from each other; the latter is a sacrament, but not the former.”
We respond. It is one and the same repentance by which the wicked are converted to God before Baptism and by which the fallen return to grace after it. As the justification and salvation of baptized infants and of the devout who walk in the course of good works is free, so also the forgiveness of sins not only before but also after Baptism is free. How could it ever be proven to anyone that the free forgiveness of sins comes first in and through Baptism to those who turn to God but that those who fall into sin after Baptism must earn the pardoning of their sins with their own satisfactions, since the sins which are forgiven to adults in Baptism are incomparably more and greater than those daily weaknesses and even falls of the reborn? But if the forgiveness of the former is free, certainly, then, it is also free for the latter. This subject will be discussed in greater detail in the question about double justification and our own satisfactions [below, §§ 118–31; On Good Works (Commonplace XX), §§ 82–133]. Moreover, no other doctrine of Law and Gospel is set forth to the reborn who have fallen into sins after Baptism than the one that is set forth to those who turn away from their iniquity to God before Baptism. In both instances the knowledge of sins comes through the Law, and the acquittal of sin and quieting of the conscience come through faith, which is kindled by the word of the Gospel.
To this argument Bellarmine coldly responds that he is not introducing another faith nor another Gospel nor another Christ with his distinction between two repentances since in both justifications sins are forgiven through the merits of Christ as faith and repentance precede. For even though he is unwilling to acknowledge the consequence, nevertheless he embraces the antecedent, from which it immediately follows that if the forgiveness of sins which is obtained through repentance before Baptism is free, but, on the other hand, the forgiveness which is obtained after Baptism demands the confession of individual sins and some tedious works by whose merits sins are pardoned, surely he is introducing another Gospel and another Christ, about which more will be said in its own place [§§ 130–31].
(4) “The apostle called the Galatians back to the way of truth, but nowhere is it read that they did return and by what rite they were reconciled. Accordingly, we can draw no certain conclusion from the Epistle to the Galatians about the manner of repentance prescribed by the apostles for those who fall after Baptism.”
We respond. It suffices for us that the apostle called back to the free justification of faith the Galatians who had fallen into error after Baptism. If justification and salvation had to be earned through a specific enumeration of sins and through one’s own satisfactions, the apostle surely by no means would have fought with such vehemence against the persuasion that justification is by works. But who doubts that the Galatians yielded to the paternal warnings of the apostle, since it is said clearly: “My little children, with whom again I am in travail until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19)?