CHAPTER IX
and whom He will He hardens.' (Rom. 9:18) But God does not have mercy equally on all those to whom He shows mercy; nor does He harden equally all the men
He hardens.
CHAPTER IX
Another question has to do with why the penalty of sin remains with us in this life after the sin itself has been blotted out. Although we do not pro pose to deal with this question now, I will say briefly that if the faithful were immediately transformed by baptism or martyrdom into the state of incor ruption, merits would vanish and men would be saved without any merit (except for the first Christians, who believed without having any example). This would mean that faith and hope would have no value. But without faith and hope no one of the age of understanding can merit the Kingdom of God. Now, faith and hope belong to the class of things which cannot be seen. If men were to see people who had been converted to Christ immediately pass over into the state of incorruptibility, there would be no one who could will to reject such a visible happiness. Therefore, so that we might obtain the happiness which we desire in a more glorious way--namely, through the merit of faith and of hope-we continue in our present state as long as we remain in this life. Though our present state came about as a result of sin, it is no longer counted as sin.
Moreover, the happiness which Adam had in paradise before he sinned has not been promised to us through baptism and the Christian faith. What has been promised is the happiness which he was to have had after the celestial city, which is to be filled with men and angels, had become filled with the number of men who were to be taken up to make its number perfect. In the celestial city there will be no human procreation as there would have been in paradise.
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So if converts to Christ immediately passed over into that state of incorrupt ibility, there would be no men left from among whom the perfect number could be gathered; for no one would be able to resist rushing for the happiness he would then see. I believe that the following statement of the Apostle refers to those who have worked justice through faith: 'And all these, approved by the witness of their faith, have not received the promise, since God is provid ing something better for us, so that they should not be made perfect without us.' (Heb. 11:39-^0) If someone were to ask what is the better thing that God has provided for us out of their not having received the promise, I see no answer more fitting than what I have said above, namely: if the happiness pro mised to the just is not delayed for those who have already been approved, then merit would vanish in the lives of those who would learn of this fact through experience rather than through faith. Also, the process of human propagation by which we have been born would come to a halt, since all men would run off after that incorruptibility which they would then be able to see. Therefore,
God provided a great good for us when He delayed reception of the promise for the saints who are already approved by the witness of their faith. He did this both that we might be propagated and that faith might remain possible, so that through faith we might merit the promise together with them and might be made perfect together with them at the same time.
There is another reason why the baptized and the martyrs do not immediately become incorruptible. Suppose there were a master who had offered to endow one of his servants with great honors at some future date. But then the master severely chastises his servant for some fault for which the servant is completely unable to render satisfaction by his own efforts. After this chastisement the master at a designated time is going to cast him into a dreadful prison where
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he will be afflicted with grievous punishments. Suppose further that there is someone else who is influential with the master and who reconciles the servant by making satisfaction for him. Now the stripes, which the guilty servant deservedly received before satisfaction was rendered and while he was still at faulty are not wiped out; but the larger torments which he has not yet been made to suffer; are averted by the reconciliation which occurs beforehand. And the honors; which he was going to receive in due time had he not sinned and which he was going to be deprived of after sinning had he not been reconciled-these honors are given to him without alteration; as originally planned, because of the complete satisfaction. If he had been disinherited of these honors before reconciliation (as he was to be irreparably disinherited after he was at fault, had he not been reconciled), then reconciliation would have been of no assistance. But since he could not be deprived of an honor which he did not yet have and which he should not have, reconciliation can occur before this disinheritance and prevent it, provided the servant while lying in the agony of his stripes and awaiting healing does two things: vow in word and in heart that he will improve and be faithful to his master, and, secondly, fulfill his vow.
This is analogous to the relationship between God and man. When human nature first sinned, it was lashed with a two-fold penalty. First, it would naturally produce as descendents only children of such character as we see being bora; secondly, it would after this life be barred from the Kingdom of God, for which it had been created, and would be banished forever to Hell.
This was to happen unless someone reconciled human nature, for human nature does not have the ability to reconcile itself. But the only one who can recon cile human nature is Christ. Human nature is born with sin and its penalty in
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