Whether we can make true satisfaction to God. First, Isaiah 1[:16]: “Cease to do perversely.”
Whether we can make true satisfaction to God. First, Isaiah 1[:16]: “Cease to do perversely.”
§ 130. Bellarmine (chs. 7–8) tries to prove that “we can truly make satisfaction to God for the guilt of temporal punishment. (I) Isa. 1:[16, 18]: ‘Cease to do perversely. If your sins are as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow.’ Here full and perfect remission of sins is promised as a reward to those who exercise themselves in works of mercy.” He repeats this statement later (in ch. 15).
We respond. This passage defines true repentance from its own proper and genuine fruits, which are ceasing from evil and doing good. Thus Bellarmine incorrectly contrasts those who are coming back to their senses, who are washed through contrition, and those who exercise themselves in good works. In fact, all those who feel contrition in their heart as they come back to their senses lift themselves up again through faith in Christ the Mediator and “produce fruits worthy of repentance” (Matt. 3:8).
Moreover, the forgiveness of sins is promised to repentance not because our contrition or the correction of our life is merit for the forgiveness of sins, but rather because faith, whose forerunner is contrition and whose maidservants are good works, seeks God’s grace and reconciliation in Christ the Mediator. Therefore in this way the prophet describes “to whom” and “in what order,” but not why God is willing to forgive sins: “You have made Me to serve with your sins. I am, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will no longer remember your sins” (Isa. 43:24–25).