3. Chapter VI
Chapter VI T he sufficiency of natural theology for salvation is examined; it is proved by various arguments to be insufficient — The doctrine of this theology is imperfect, and so too is its habit — A digression on universal grace and the will of God to save those who lack the word.
I. Since such has been the knowledge of God, and resting upon such media, as has prevailed and still prevails among sinful men destitute of supernatural revelation, let us see further whether by its force and help those who have been or are imbued with it could attain their ultimate end, such that it might still seem to merit the name of true theology. There can be a twofold sufficiency, with respect to God and his supreme judgment upon men, of any doctrine: one with respect to ἀναπολογησίαν [rendering men without excuse], the other with respect to salvation. The apostle ascribes the first to this knowledge, Rom. 1:20; the latter we assert it to be unequal to.
For — First, all those ages in which the greatest part of mortals lived destitute of heavenly revelation are called χρόνοι ἀγνοίας [times of ignorance], Acts
17:30. These God, in a manner, overlooked by conniving at them, permitting the nations to walk in their own ways, Acts 14:16, not announcing to them that they should repent. Through that ignorance, they were all universally ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ [alienated from the life of God], Eph. 4:18. So that, with respect to special grace and love, there was no communication between them and God.
Secondly, all that knowledge of which men in that state were capable of becoming partakers pertained to the law; but to whom the law itself does not suffice, nor can the knowledge of the law suffice — especially a knowledge that is imperfect; nor does an imperfect knowledge of the most absolute and perfect law profit a whit with respect to its end. But the apostle shows at length that the law itself is unequal to this matter — namely, that one should please God — at Rom. 3 and 4.
Thirdly, χωρὶς πίστεως ἀδύνατον εὐαρεστῆσαι [without faith it is impossible to please him], Heb. 11:6; but ἡ πίστις ἐξ ἀκοῆς, ἡ δὲ ἀκοὴ διὰ ῥήματος Θεοῦ [faith is from hearing, and hearing through the word of God], Rom. 10:17.
Fourthly, Αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή, ἵνα γινώσκωσι (homines) πατέρα τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλεν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν [This is eternal life, that they should know the Father, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom he has sent], John 17:3. Καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἄλλῳ οὐδενὶ ἡ σωτηρία [And there is salvation in no other], Acts 4:12. But since the promise of Christ was not made until after the fall — in which promise the mercy of God toward the human race first appeared — and all the knowledge of God which men have apart from special revelation is only that portion of it which the first parents possessed in the state of integrity, it
is altogether impossible that anything concerning Christ, of whom all knowledge is ἐξ ἀκοῆς [from hearing], should flow from it.
Fifthly, this entire knowledge, whatever its extent, served only the covenant of works; from which covenant, once made void through sin, it could direct men to no obedience except from fear of punishment; but when anyone "performs the precept from fear of punishment and not from love of justice, he does not perform in his mind what he performs in deed, and therefore is inwardly guilty of sin, however innocent he may seem to himself," as Augustine aptly puts it.
II. There are therefore two things in the theology of fallen man: first, the internal light still surviving, which is, as it were, the faculty or δύναμις
[power] of theology; and second, the revelation of God through the works of creation and providence, which is theology as it were considered objectively, or its doctrine. To neither of these, with respect to the ultimate end, dare we ascribe theological efficacy for salvation. For we are obliged to charge the first with imperfection both with respect to the doctrine it reveals — which, not exceeding the compass of the law as we said, contains nothing related to the knowledge of Christ — and also with respect to the manner of perceiving divine things by which its efficacy is circumscribed; which, since the minds of men are profoundly beset with darkness and blindness, cannot be spiritual. To the other also we ascribe the same imperfections — for the same reasons — since it neither exhibits a ὑποτύπωσιν [sketch or outline] of all absolutely necessary doctrine, nor puts itself forth with that efficacy by which saving light can be infused into a blind intellect; for Jesus Christ alone brought life and incorruption to light, and that through the gospel, 2 Tim. 1:10.
III. Those who maintain that the revelation of the divine mind — and accordingly of our obedience — through the works of creation and providence rests upon a general will of God to save all men, are besides being compelled to ascribe to God useless desires, imperfect purposes, and an inefficacious intention which he either will not or cannot render efficacious — a mercy never and nowhere exerting itself — also employ distinctions of such a kind and so restrict their assertion within such limits, that they are under the necessity of confessing that this revelation has never been, nor could have been, of salutary use to any mortal whatever. For just as that separation of this revelation from those illusions by which the prince of darkness has in wonderful ways made sport of the wretched little men bound to himself — a separation which they maintain to be necessary — cannot take place without the light of the word; so neither can that removal of darkness, blindness, and prejudices from the minds of men — without which it is necessary that all revelation should be rendered vain — be procured without the special assistance of the Holy Spirit.