Chapter V
CHAPTER V: ON THE PARTS OF REPENTANCE
The definitions of inner repentance.
§ 33. This concludes our discussion on the genus of repentance, namely, whether external penance—which, according to the definition of Bellarmine (De poenit., 1, ch. 8), consists not solely in a change of mind and a hatred for sin but also shows itself in exterior signs such as grief, tears, confession, affliction of the body—is a sacrament most properly so called when the word of absolution is present with it. The Papists define interior repentance as “the power by which we sincerely turn ourselves to God, hate the sins we commit, and, at the same time, it is clear to us that we emend the wicked way and corrupt behavior of our life not without the hope of obtaining pardon from God’s mercy” (Catech. Rom., part 2, ch. 5, De sacram. poenit., q. 4).
We respond. (1) True repentance is not so much a habitual virtue infused or acquired as an effectual movement of the heart kindled by the Holy Spirit and an inner illumination and renewal of the mind and will, as was shown earlier [§§ 10–12, 18].
(2) A little later [§§ 37–39] it will be proved that true conversion is not an act of free choice but is the work of the Holy Spirit. How, then, could it be the sort of virtue which they themselves understand it to be?
(3) This definition is insufficient because it does not mention faith, which is an essential part of repentance, as we shall teach in its own place [§§ 42–44]. They do not understand “hope of pardon” to mean the living and saving faith by which someone claims that his sins have been forgiven for Christ’s sake, the faith which Bellarmine calls (De poenit., 1, ch. 2, col. 1159) “empty persuasion” and (ch. 6, col. 1181) “a fiction of Luther and pure foolishness.” Rather, they take it to mean moral and human confidence, because as Bellarmine says, “Whether this or that man comes to the sacrament of penance as he should cannot be concluded from God’s Word but only from human conjectures and signs.”
(4) They do not set the foundation for the hope regarding the forgiveness of sins in Christ’s merit apprehended through faith but rather in the merit of our own contrition, full confession, and proper satisfaction, as will be understood from what follows [§§ 62–145].