Part 7
2 and yet He said that even this was possible with God ; you may
3 of angels could have fought for
read, too, that twelve legions
Christ and rescued Him from suffering, but in fact did not you will find, also, how possible it was for the [Canaanite] nations to be exterminated at once out of the land which was
4 and yet that God willed it
given to the children of Israel,
5 And one may meet with a thousand
to be gradually effected.
other incidents, the past or the future possibility of which we might readily admit, and yet be unable to produce any proofs of their having ever really happened. Accordingly, it would not be right for us to deny the possibility of a man's living without sin, on the ground that amongst men none can be found except Him who is in His nature not man only, but also God, in whom we could prove such perfection of character to have existed.
Chap. 2. [n.]
Here, perhaps, you will say to me in answer, that the works which I have instanced as not having been realized, although capable of realization, are divine works; whereas a man's being without sin actually falls in the range of a man's own work, that being indeed his very noblest work which effects a full and perfect righteousness complete in every part ; and therefore that it is incredible that no man has ever existed, or is existing, or will exist in this life, who has achieved such a work, if the achievement is possible for a human being. But then you ought to reflect that, although this great work, no doubt, belongs to human agency to accomplish, yet it is the
1 1 Cor. xv. 22. 2 Matt. xix. 24.
3 Augustine's text has "twelve thousand legions," both here and below in chap. lxii. See Matt. xxvi. 53.
4 Deut. xxxi. 3. 5 Judg. ii. 3.
CHAP. IV.] CAN MAN LIVE WITHOUT SIN ? 159 result of the divine help, and that it is undoubtedly, therefore, a divine work ; " for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." *
Chap. 3. Theirs is comparatively a harmless error, who say that a man lives here without sin.
They therefore are not a very dangerous set of persons
(and we must urge them to show, if possible, that such is their character), who hold that man lives or has lived here without any sin whatever. There are indeed passages of
Scripture, in which I apprehend it is definitely stated that no man who lives on earth, although enjoying freedom, ofjwilLcan be found without sin ; as, for instance, the place where it is written, " Enter not into judgment with Thy servant,
[0 Lord,] for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified."
If, however, anybody shall have succeeded in persuading people that this text and similar ones ought to be taken in a different sense from their obvious one, and shall have shown that some man or men have spent a sinless life on earth, whoever not merely refrains from opposing him slightly, but also agrees with him to the full, is not affected by the ordinary stimulus of envy. Moreover, if there neither is, has been, nor will be any man endowed with such perfection of holiness (which
I am more inclined to believe), who yet is firmly set forth and thought to be, to have been, or to be about to be in possession of such an excellence, so far as I can judge, no great error is made, and certainly not a dangerous one, when a man indulges such an opinion, carried away by a certain benevolent feeling; but whoever thinks so much of another, should not deem himself to be so pure a being, unless he has really and clearly discovered all this of himself.
Chap. 4. Theirs is a much more serious error, and requiring a very vigorous refutation, who deny God's grace to be necessary for us ; grace, according to the Pelagians, is nothing but God's gift to man offree-will, and the teaching of the law.
They, however, must be resisted with the utmost alacrity and vigour who suppose that the mere power of the human will in itself, without God's help, can either perfect righteousness or advance towards it in an even tenor ; and when they
1 Phil. ii. 13. 2 ps# cxniL 2.
160 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTEE. [CHAP. V.
begin to be hard pressed about their presumption in asserting that this result can be reached without the divine assistance, they check themselves, and do not venture to utter such an opinion, because they see how impious and insufferable it is. But they allege that such attainments are not possible without
God's help, seeing that God created man with the free choice of his will, and, by giving him His commandments, teaches man, Himself, how he ought to live ; and indeed assists him, in that He takes away his ignorance by instructing him in the knowledge of what he ought to avoid and to desire in his actions; and thus, by means of the free-will naturally implanted within him, he enters on the way which is pointed out to him, perseveres in a just and pious course of life, and arrives (as he deserves) at the blessedness of eternal life.
Chap. 5. [in.] True grace is the gift of the Holy Ghost, which kindles in the soul the joy and love of what is good.
We, however, on our side affirm that the human will is so divinely aided in the pursuit of righteousness, that (in addition to the fact of man's being created with a free-will, and besides the doctrine which instructs him how he ouetfit to live) he receives the Holy Ghost, by whose gift there springs up in his mind a delight in, and a love of, that supreme and unchangeable good which is God, even in the present state, while he still " walks by faith " and not yet " by sight ;" * in order that by this gift to him of the earnest, as it were, of the free gift, he may conceive an ardent desire to cleave to his Maker, and burn to approach to a participation in that true light, that it may go well with him from Him to whom he owes all that he is. A man's free-will, indeed, only avails to
induce him to sin, if he knows not the way of truth ; and even after his duty and his proper aim shall begin to become
' known to him, unless he take delight and feel a love therein, he neither does his duty, nor sets about it, nor effects a righteous life. Now, in order that such a course may engage our affections, God's " love is shed abroad in our hearts," not through the free-will which arises from ourselves, but "through the Holy Ghost, which is given to us." 2
1 2 Cor. v. 7. 2 Rom. v. 5.
CHAP. VI.] THE LAW WITHOUT THE SPIRIT KILLS. 161
Chap. 6. [iv.] The teaching of the law without the life-giving spirit is " tJie letter that killeth."
For that doctrine which furnishes us with the command to live in chastity and holiness is " the letter that killeth/' unless accompanied with " the spirit that giveth life." Xow that is not the sole meaning of the passage, "The letter killeth,
1 which merely prescribes our not but the spirit giveth life," taking in the literal sense any figurative phrase which in the proper meaning of its words would only produce nonsense but it also signifies that we should regard the underlying sense of the figurative terms, cherishing the inner man by our spiritual intelligence, because " being carnally-minded is death,
3 If, for inwhilst to be spirituaUy-niinded is life and peace."
stance, a man were to take in a literal and carnal sense the contents of the Sons of Solomon, he would minister not to the fruit of a pure and luminous charity, but to the feeling of a libidinous desire. Therefore I repeat, the apostle's principle is not to be confined to the limited application just mentioned, when he says, " The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life ;" 3 but it must also (and indeed mostly) be regarded as equivalent to what he says elsewhere in the plainest words : " I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet;" and again, immediately after : " Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
5 Now from this you may see what is meant by " the letter that killeth."
There is indeed no figurative intention in a phrase which could not be so regarded in its plain sense, as when it is said,
" Thou shalt not covet." This is a very plain and salutary precept ; and any man who shall fulfil it will have no sin at all The apostle, indeed, purposely selected this general precept, in which he embraced everything, as if this were the voice of the law which prohibits us from all sin, when it says, " Thou shalt not covet ;" for there is no sin committed except by evil concupiscence ; so that the law which prohibits this is a good and praiseworthy law. Still, when the Holy Ghost withholds
His help, which inspires us with a good desire instead of this evil concupiscence (in other words, diffuses charity in our
1 2 Cor. iii. 6. 2 Rom. viii. 6. 3 2 Cor. iii. 6.
4 Rom. vii. 7. 5 Rom. vii. 11.
162 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. VII.
hearts), that law, however good in itself, only augments the evil desire by forbidding it. Just like the rush of water which flows incessantly in a particular direction ; it becomes more violent when it meets with any impediment, and when it has overcome the stoppage, it falls in a greater bulk, and with increased impetuosity hurries forward in its downward course.
I know not indeed how it is, but the very object which we covet becomes all the more pleasant and desired by being forbidden. Now this is the sin which through the commandment deceives and slays, whenever transgression is actually added, which occurs not where there is no law.
Chap. 7. [v.] What' is proposed to be here treated ; righteousness the work of God, but not unaccompanied with the will of man.
We will, however, consider, if you please, the whole of this passage of the apostle and thoroughly handle it, as the Lord shall enable us. For I want, if I shall be able, to prove that the ayjostle's words, " The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life," have no reference to figurative phrases,—although even in this sense a suitable signification might be obtained from them,—but rather plainly to the law, which forbids whatever is evil. When I shall have proved this, it will more manifestly appear that to lead a holy life is the gift of God,—not only because God has given a free-will to man, without which there is no living ill or well ; and not only because He has given him a commandment to teach him how he ought to live ; but because through the Holy Ghost He sheds love abroad in
2 of those whom He foreknew, in order to predestinate them ; whom He predestinated, that He might call them the hearts whom He called, to justify them ; and whom He justified, that He might glorify them.
3 When this point also shall be cleared, you will, I think, see how vain it is to call those things barely possible which are unexampled, when they are the works of God,—such as the passage of the camel through the needle's eye, which we have already referred to, and other similar cases, which to us no doubt are impossible, but easy enough to God ; [and equally vain] to reckon man's righteousness in this class of things, on the ground of its being properly
1 Rom. iv. 15. 2 Rom. vii. 7. 3 Rom. viii. 29, 30.
CHAP. IX.] MEANING OF THE APOSTLE. 163 man's work, not God's ; [and no less vain] to hold that, if a perfect righteousness in the present life is possible, there is no reason for supposing that there can be no example forthcoming. That the assertion of such propositions is undoubtedly vain will be clear enough, after it has been also plainly shown that even man's righteousness must be attributed to the operation of God, although not taking place without the co-operation of man's will. We therefore cannot refuse to admit that his righteousness may be perfect even in this life, because all
1—both those which He accomthings are possible with God, plishes of His own sole will, and those which He appoints to be done with the co-operation with Himself of His creature's will. Accordingly, whatever of such things He does not effect is no doubt without an example in the way of an accomplished fact, although before God and in His power it possesses the cause of its possible accomplishment, and in His wisdom the reason of its not coming to pass ; and should this cause escape the penetration of the human mind, let not the thinker forget that he is but human ; nor charge God with folly simply be* cause he cannot fully comprehend His wisdom.
Chap. 8. Attend, then, carefully, while in his Epistle to the Eomans the apostle explains and clearly enough shows that the passage which he wrote to the Corinthians, " The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,"
2 must be understood in the sense which we have already indicated,—that the letter of the law. which teaches us not to commit sin, kills, if the life-<nvinor spirit be absent, forasmuch as it causes sin to be known rather than avoided, to be increased rather than diminished, because to an evil concupiscence there is now added the transgression of the law.
Chap. 9. [vi.] Through the law sin has abounded ; divine grace; the law.
The apostle, then, wishing to commend the grace which has come to all nations through Jesus Christ, and to prevent the Jews from extolling themselves at the expense of other people on account of their having received the law, first says that sin and death came on the human race through one man, and that righteousness and -eternal life came also through One, expressly
1 Mark x. 27. * 2 Cor. iii. 6.
164 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. IX.
mentioning Adam as the former, and Christ as the latter ; and he then goes on to declare that " the law entered, that the offence might abound : but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound : that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by
1 then, proposing a question for him-
Jesus Christ our Lord;" self to answer, he adds, " What shall we say then ? Shall we
2 He continue in sin, that grace may abound ? God forbid."
saw, indeed, that a perverse use might be made by perverse men of what he had said : " The law entered, that the offence might abound : but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,"—he might, in short, be made to say that sin had profited by the abundance of grace. Rejecting so worthless an insinuation, he answers his question with a " God forbid !" and at once subjoins another question : " How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? 3 as much as to say, When grace has brought it to pass that we should die unto sin, what else shall we be doing, if we continue to live in it, than showing ourselves ungrateful to grace ? The man who extols the virtue of a medicine does not contend for any advantage of diseases and wounds of which the medicine cures him ; on the contrary, in proportion to the praise lavished on the remedy are the blame and horror which are felt of the diseases and wounds healed by the much-extolled medicine. In like manner, the commendation and praise which are bestowed upon grace imply an equal amount of hatred and condemnation of all sins. The corrupt state of his weakness had to be set forth with convincing clearness to man, who derived no advantage and help against his sinful nature in that good and holy law, which rather increased than diminished his iniquity for the law indeed entered, that the offence might abound. The purpose of this dispensation was that man, being convicted and confounded, might see not only that he wanted a doctor, but also that he had a helper in God, who would so direct his steps that sin should not lord it over him, and that he might be healed by betaking himself to the help of the divine mercy ; and that in this way, where sin abounded grace might
1 Rom. v. 20, 21. 2 Rom. vi. 1, 2.
3 Rom. vi. 2.
CHAP. XT.] MYSTERY OF CHRIST'S DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 165 much more abound,—not (to be sure) through, the merit of the sinner, but by the intervention of his Helper.
Chap. 10.
Accordingly, the apostle describes the same medicine as mystically set forth in the passion and resurrection of Christ, when he says, " Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death ?
Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death ; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection : knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him : knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once ; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." * Now it is plain enough that here by the mystery of the Lord's death and resurrection is figured the fall of our old sinful life, and the rise of the new ; and that here is demonstrated the abolition of iniquity and the renewal of righteousness. Whence then arises this vast benefit to man through the letter of the law, except it be through the faith of Jesus Christ ?
Chap. 11. [vn.] From what fountain good works emanate ; pride.
This holy meditation preserves " the children of men, who put their trust under the shadow of God's wings,"
2 so that they are '* enriched with the fatness of His house, and drink of the full stream of His pleasure. For in Him [they find] the fountain of life, and in His light shall they see light. For He extendeth His mercy to them that know Him, and His right-
3 He does not, indeed, extend
eousness to the upright in heart."
1 Horn, vi. 3-11. 2 Ps. xxxvi. 7. 3 Ps. xxxvi. 8-10.
166 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. XII.
His mercy to them because they know Him, "but that they may know Him ; nor is it because they are upright in heart, but that they may become so, that He extends to them His righteousness, whereby He justifies the ungodly.
1 This meditation elevates no man with pride : this sin arises when any man has too much confidence in himself, and makes himself the chief aim of his life. Impelled by this vain feeling, he departs from that fountain of life, from the draughts of which is imbibed the holiness which is itself the good man's life,
[departs,] too, from that unchanging light, by partaking of which man's reasonable soul is in a certain sense set on fire, and becomes itself a created and reflected luminary ; even as
2 who notwithstand-
" John was a burning and a shining light," ing acknowledged the source of his own illumination in the words, " Of His fulness have all we received."
3 Of whose,
I would ask, but His, of course, in comparison with whom John indeed was no li^ht at all ? For " that was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." 4
Therefore, in the previously quoted psalm, after saying, " Extend Thy mercy to them that know Thee, and Thy righteous-
5 he adds, " Let not the foot of ness to the upright in heart," pride come against me, and let not the hands of sinners move me. There have fallen all the workers of iniquity : they are
6 Tor by that impiety which leads each to attribute to himself the excellence which cast out, and are not able to stand."
is God's, he is cast out into his own native darkness, in which consist the works of iniquity ; it is manifestly these works which he does spontaneously, and for the achievement of such alone is he naturally fit. The works of righteousness he never does, except as he receives ability from that fountain and that light, which comprises the life that wants for nothing, and where is " no variableness, nor the shadow of turning."
Chap. 12. Paul, whence so called ; bravely contendsfor grace.
Accordingly Paul, who, instead of his former name Saul, chose this new designation, for no other reason, as it appears
1 Rom. iv. 5. 2 John v. 35. 3 John i. 16.
4 John i. 9. 6 Ps. xxxvi. 10. 6 Ps. xxxvi. 11, 12.
7 Jas. i. 17. 8 Acts xiii. 9.
CHAP. XIII.] JEWISH OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW. 167 to me, than because lie would show himself little}—the very
2—contends with much courage and
" least of the apostles," earnestness against the proud and arrogant, and such as plume themselves on their own works, in order that he may commend the mighty grace of God. This grace, indeed, appeared more obvious and manifest in his case, inasmuch as, while he was pursuing such vehement measures of persecution against the Church of God as made him worthy of the greatest punishment, he found mercy instead of condemnation, and instead of punishment obtained grace. Very properly, therefore, does he lift voice and hand in defence of grace. He cares not for the envy either of those who understood not a subject too profound and abstruse for their intelligence, or of those who perversely misinterpreted his own sound words ; whilst at the same time he unfalteringly preaches that gift of God, whereby alone salvation accrues to those who are the children of the promise, children of the divine goodness, children of grace and mercy, children of the new covenant. In the salutation with which he begins every epistle, he is full of it : " Grace be to you, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ ;" 3 whilst in his Epistle to the Eomans it forms almost the only topic, and is plied with so much persistence and variety of argument, as fairly to fatigue the reader's attention, —only the fatigue is so useful and salutary, that it rather exercises than breaks the faculties of the inner man.
CnAP. 13. [viii.]—Keeping the law; the Jews' glorying, what; the fear ofpunishment ; the circumcision of the heart.
Then comes what I mentioned above ; • he proceeds to show up the Jew ; he tells him how he calls himself a Jew, but by no means fulfils what he promises to do. M Now," says he,
" thou callest thyself a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest His will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law ; and art confident that thou art thyself a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teachei of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore who teachest another,
1 See Augustine's Confessions, viii. 4. 2 1 Cor. xv. 9.
8 See Rom. i. 7, 1 Cor. i. 3, and Gal. i. 3.
168 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. XIII.
teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal ? thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery ? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege ? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God % For the name of God is blasphemed among the
Gentiles through you, as it is written. Circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law ; but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. , Therefore, if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision ? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law ? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly ; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew who is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise is not
1 Here he plainly showed in what sense he said, " Thou makest thy boast of God." For undoubtedly of men, but of God."
if one who was truly a Jew made his boast of God in the way which grace demands (which is bestowed not for merit of works, but gratuitously), then his praise would be of God, and not of men. But they, in fact, were making their boast of
God, as if they alone had deserved to receive His law, as the
Psalmist said : " He did not the like to any nation, nor His judgments has He displayed to them."
2 And yet, [strange to say,] they thought they were fulfilling the law of God by their righteousness, when they were rather breakers of it all the
3 upon them, making sin abound, committed as it was by them who knew while. [The law,] accordingly, "wrought wrath" the law. For whoever did even what the law commanded, without the assistance of the Spirit of grace, acted through fear of punishment, not from love of righteousness. Hence in the sight of God that proceeded not from a good will, which in the sight of men appeared as a work ; and such doers of the law were rather held guilty from the fact that God knew their inclination to commit sin, if only it were possible with impunity. Moreover, he calls that " the circumcision of the
1 Rom. ii. 17-29. 2 Ps. cxlvil 20. 3 Rom. iv. 15.
CHAP. XV.] BY THE LAW IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SENT. 169 heart " which is a will perfectly pure of all unlawful desire ; and this is a state which comes not from the letter of the law, with its inculcation and threatening, but from the Spirit's assisting and healing influence. Such doers of the law have their praise not of men but of God, who by His grace provides the grounds on which they receive praise ; of whom it is said,
" My soul shall make her boast of the Lord -," 1 to whom also it is said, " My boast [or praise] shall be of Thee."
2 But not such are they who would have God praised because they are men ; and themselves likewise, because they are righteous.
Chap. 14. In what respect the Pelagians acknowledge God as the Author of our justification.
" But," say they, " we do actually acknowledge God to be the Author of our righteousness, in that He gave the law, by the teaching of which we have been instructed how we oustfit to live." But they give no heed to what they read : " By
[the deeds of] the law there shall no flesh be justified in the
3 This may indeed be possible before men, but sight of God."
not in His sight who looks into our very heart and will where He sees that, although the man who fears the law keeps a certain precept, he would nevertheless rather do another thing if he were permitted. The apostle, however, would have nobody suppose that, in the passage just quoted from him, he had meant to say that none are justified by that law, which contains many precepts, under the figure of the ancient sacraments, and among them circumcision itself, which infants were commanded to receive on the eighth day after birth ; he therefore immediately adds what law he meant, and says,
" For by the law is the knowledge of sin." 4 He refers them to that law of which he afterwards declares, " I had not known sin but by the law ; for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."
5 [Now what means this but that " by the law comes the knowledge of sin ?"
Chap. 15. [ix.] The righteousness of God manifested by the laio and the prophets.
Here, perhaps, it may be said by that presumption of man, which is ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishes to
1 Ps. xxxiv. 2. 2 Ps. xxii. 25. 3 Pom. iii. 20.
4 Pom. iii. 20. 5 Rom. vii 7.
170 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. XV.
establish one of its own, that the apostle was quite correct in saying, " For by the law shall no man be justified/'
1 inasmuch as the law merely shows what one 'ought to do, and what one ought to guard against, in order that what the law thus points out may be accomplished by the will, and so man be justified, not indeed by the power of the law, but by his freedom of will. But I ask your attention, vain man, to what follows. " Now the righteousness of God," says he, " without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the
2 Does this then sound a light thing in deaf ears ? He says, " The righteousness of God is manifested." Now prophets."
this righteousness is ignored by those who wish to set up one of their own ; they will not submit themselves to it.
His words are, " TJie righteousness of God is manifested: " he does not say, the righteousness of man, or the righteousness of his will, but the u righteousness of God"—meaning not that whereby He is Himself righteous, but that with which He endows man when He justifies the ungodly. This is witnessed by the law and the prophets ; in other words, the law and the prophets each afford it their separate testimony. The law, indeed, by issuing its commands and threats, and yet justifying no man, clearly shows in that very circumstance that it is by God's gift, through the help of the Spirit, that a man is justified ; and the prophets, because it is in accordance with what they predicted, that Christ at His coming accomplished it. Accordingly he advances a step further, and adds, " The
4 that is, by righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ," the faith wherewith one believes in Christ ; for here is not meant the faith with which Christ Himself believes, just as there was not meant the righteousness whereby God is Himself righteous. Both no doubt are ours, but yet they are called [in one case] God's, and [in the other] Christ's, because it is by their bounty that these gifts are bestowed upon us. The righteousness of God then is without the law, but not manifested without the law ; for if it were manifested without the law, how could it be witnessed by the law ? That righteousness of God, however, is without the law, which God by the Spirit of grace bestows on the believer without the
1 Rom. iii. 20. 2 Rom. iii. 21. 3 Rom. x. 3. 4 Rom. iii. 22.
CHAP. XVI.] THE LAWFUL USE OF THE LAW. 171 help of the law,—that is, who is not assisted by the law.
AVhen, indeed, He by the law discovers to a man his weakness, it is in order that by faith he may flee for refuge to His mercy, and be healed of his infirmity. Concerning His wisdom we are told, that " she carries law and mercy upon
1—the " law" whereby she may convict the her tongue," proud and lofty ; the " mercy" wherewith she may justify them when humbled. "The righteousness of God," then,
" by faith of Jesus Christ, is unto all that believe ; for there is no difference, inasmuch as all have sinned, and come short
2—not of their own glory. For what of the glory of God" have they, which they have not received ? Now if they received it, why do they glory as if they had not received
3 Well, then, they come short of the glory of God ; now it ?
observe what follows : " Being justified freely by His grace." 4
It is not, therefore, by the law, nor is it by their own will, that they are justified ; but they are justified freely by God?s grace,— not that the justification ensues without our will ; but our will is by the law shown to be weak, that grace may heal its infirmity ; and that being thus healed, our will may fulfil the law, not as constituted under the law, nor indeed as wanting the law.
Chap. 16. [x.] How the law was not made for a rigJiteous man ; grace justifies freely ; the law of faith.
Because " for a righteous man the law was not made ;" 5 and
6 Now by yet "the law is good, if a man use it lawfully."
connecting together these two seemingly contrary statements, the apostle warns and urges his reader to sift the question and i solve it too. For how can it be that " the law is good, if a
1 man use it lawfully," if what follows is also true : " Knowing: this, that the law is not made for a righteous man ?" 7 For who but a righteous man lawfully uses the law ? Yet it is; not for him that it is made, but for the unrighteous. Must j then the unrighteous man, in order that he may be justified, i that is, become a righteous man,—lawfully use the law, to lead him, as by the schoolmaster's hand,
8 to that grace by which alone he can fulfil what the law bids him do ? Now it is
1 Prov. iii. 16 (Septuagint). 2 Rom. iii. 22, 23. 3 1 Cor. iv. 7.
4 Rom. iii. 24. s 1 Tim. i. 8. 6 1 Tim. i. 9.
7 1 Tim. i. 9. 8 Qal. iii. 24.
172 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. XVI.
freely or gratuitously that lie is justified thereby,—that is, there are no antecedent merits of his own to earn the favour
" otherwise grace is no more grace," * since it is bestowed on us, not because we have done good works, but that we may be able to do them,—in other words, not because we have fulfille"o
but in order that we may be able to fulfil the law. Now He said, " I am come not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it,"
2 of whom it was said, " We have seen His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."'
This is the glory which is meant in the words, " All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God ;" 4 and this the grace of which he speaks in the next verse, " Being justified
5 The unrighteous man therefore lawfreely by His grace."
fully uses the law, that he may become righteous ; but when he has become so, he must no longer use it as a chariot, for he has arrived at his journey's end,—or rather (that I may employ the apostle's own simile, which has been already mentioned) as a schoolmaster, seeing that he is now fully learned. How then is the law not made for a righteous man, if it is even necessary for the righteous man, not that he may be brought as an unrighteous man to the grace that justifies, but that he may use it lawfully, now that he is righteous ? Or does not the case perhaps stand thus ? Perhaps, did I say ?
should I not rather say, certainly stand thus ?—The man who is become righteous thus lawfully uses the law, when he applies it to alarm the unrighteous, so that whenever the disease of some unusual desire begins in them, too, to be augmented by the incentive of the law's prohibition and an increased amount of transgression, they may in faith flee for refuge to the grace that justifies, and becoming delighted with the sweet pleasures of holiness, may escape the penalty of the law's menacing letter through the spirit's soothing gift. In this way the two statements will not be contrary, nor will they : be repugnant to each other : even the righteous man may ; lawfully use a good law, and yet the law be not made for the righteous man ; for it is not by the law that he becomes , righteous, but by the law of faith, which led him to believe
1 Rom. xi. 6. 2 Matt. v. 17. 3 j hn i. 14.
* Rom. iii. 23. 5 Rom. iii. 24.
CHAP. XVIII.] TO BE u EXCLUDED ''—WHAT ? 173 that no other resource was possible to his weakness for fulfilling the precepts of the law of human conduct, than being assisted by the grace of God.
Chap. 17. Concerning the " exclusores," or icorkers in silver.
Accordingly he says, " Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. By what law ? of works ? Nay ; but by the law
1 He must either mean, that boasting is laudable, when it is in the Lord ; and that it is excluded, not in the of faith."
sense of shut out and driven away, but of standing out prominently as when carved. Whence certain artificers in silver are called " exclusores." In this sense occurs that passage in the Psalms : " That they may be excluded, who have been proved with silver,"
2—that is, that they may stand out in prominence, who have been tried by the word [or oracle] of
God. So in another passage it is said : " The words [or oracles] of the Lord are pure words, as silver which is tried in
3 Or if this be not his meaning, he must have wished the fire."
to mention that vicious boasting which comes of pride—that is, the glorying of those persons who, appearing to themselves to lead righteous lives, boast of their excellence, just as if they had not received it,—and further to inform us, that by the law of faith, not by the law of works, this boasting was excluded, in the other sense of shut out and driven away ; because by the law of faith every one learns that whatever good life he leads he has from the grace of God, and that from no other source whatever can he obtain the means of fulfilling his course in the love of righteousness.
Chap. 18. [xi.] Piety is wisdom; the sacrifice of the New Testament ; the apostle a vigorous defender of grace ; that is called the righteousness of God, which He produces. Now, meditating upon this makes a man godly, and this godliness is true wisdom. By godliness I mean that which the Greeks designate 6eoae{3eia,—that very virtue which is commended to man in the passage of Job, where it is said to him,
" Behold, godliness is wisdom." 4 Now if the word OeoaeffeLa
1 be interpreted according to its derivation, it might be called
1 Eom. iii. 27. 2 Ps. lxviii. 30 (Septuagint).
3 Ps. xii. 6. 4 Job xxviii. 28.
174 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. XVIII.
1 and in this worship the essential point
"the worship of God;" is, that the soul be not ungrateful to Him. "Whence it is that in the most true and excellent sacrifice [of the gospel] we are admonished to " give thanks unto our Lord God."
2 Ungrateful, however, our soul would be, were it to attribute to itself that which it has received from God, especially its righteousness, with the works of which (the especial property, as it were, of itself, and produced, so to speak, by the soul itself for itself) it is not puffed up in a vulgar pride, as if they were the result of riches, or of beauty of limb, or of eloquence, or of those other accomplishments, external or internal, bodily or mental, which even wicked men are in the habit of possessing, although it is, if I may say so, proud of them in a wise complacency, as of things which constitute in an especial manner the good works of the good. It is owing to this sin of vulgar pride that even some great men have drifted from the sure anchorage of the divine nature, and have floated down into the dishonours of idolatry. Whence the apostle again in the same epistle, wherein he so firmly maintains the principle of grace, after saying that he was a debtor both to the Greeks and to the
Barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise, and professing himself ready, so far as to him pertained, to preach the gospel even to those who lived in Eome, adds : " I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith : as it is written, The just shall live by
3 This is the righteousness of God, which was veiled faith."
in the Old Testament, and is revealed in the New. It is called the righteousness of God, because by His bestowal of it He makes us righteous. In like manner we read that " salvation is the Lord's," 4 because He saves by it. And this is the faith " from which " and " to which " it is revealed,—even from the faith of them who preach it, to the faith of those who obey it. By this faith of Jesus Christ—I mean the faith which Christ has given to us—we believe it is from God that &
1 Cultus Dei is Augustine's Latin expression for the synonym.
2 One of the suffrages of the Sursum Corda in the Communion Service..
3 Rom. i. 14-17. 4 Ps. iii. 8.
CHAP. XIX.] GOD KNOWN THROUGH THE CREATION. 175 we now have, and shall have more and more, the ability of living righteously ; wherefore we give Him, thanks with that dutiful reverence with which He only is to be worshipped.
Chap. 19. [xu.] The knowledge of God through the creation.
And then the apostle very properly turns from this point to describe with detestation those men who, light-minded and puffed up by the sin which I have mentioned in the preceding chapter, have been carried away of their own conceit, as it were, through the empty space where they could find no resting-place, only to fall shattered to pieces against the vain figments of their idols, as against the stones. For, after he had commended the piety of that faith, whereby, being justified, we must needs be pleasing to God, he proceeds to call our attention to what we ought to abominate as the opposite.
" For the wrath of God," says he, " is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness ; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them : for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood through the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse : because, knowing God, they yet glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful ; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools; and they changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-
1 Observe, he does not
footed beasts, and to creeping things."
say that they were ignorant of the truth, but that they held the truth in unriohteousness. It struck him, indeed, that he would inquire whence the knowledge of the truth might be obtained by those to whom God had not given the law ; and he was not silent on the source of their information : for he declares that it was through the visible works of creation that they arrived at the knowledge of the invisible attributes of the Creator. And, in very deed, as thej^o^tin^dto_po^sess great faculties of investigation, so in these they had the means
1 Rom. i. 1S-23.
176 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. XX.
of discovering the truth. Wherein then lay their unrighteousness ? In the fact that, when they had found out God, they glorified Him not as God, nor gave Him thanks, but became vain in their imaginations. Vanity is a disease which especially characterizes those persons who mislead themselves, and "think themselves to be something, when they are
1 Such men, indeed, darken themselves in that nothing."
swelling pride, the foot of which the Psalmist prays that it may not come against him,
2 after saying, " In Thy light shall we see light;" 3 and from the very light of unchanging truth they turn aside, and " their foolish heart is darkened." 4 For theirs was not a wise heart, even though they had found out God ; but it was foolish, because they did not glorify Him as
God, or give Him thanks ; for " He said unto man, Behold,
5 So by this conduct,
the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom."
while " professing themselves to be wise " (which can only be understood to mean that they attributed this quality absolutely to themselves), " they became fools."
Chap. 20. The law without grace. Now why need I speak of what follows ? Those men, indeed, by this their impiety—I mean those who might have known the Creator through the creature—fell irretrievably and where they fell, there (since " God resisteth the proud " 7
) they sank into the very depths of ruin. All this is better shown in the sequel of this epistle than we can here mention. For in this letter of mine we have not undertaken to expound this epistle [to the Eomans], but only to demonstrate, so far as we are able (relying mainly on its authority), that we are assisted by divine aid towards the achievement of righteousness,—not by the circumstance that God has given us a law full of good and holy precepts, but because our very wi!L without which we cannot do any good thing, is assisted and elevated by the Spirit of grace being imparted to us, without whose help the teaching [of the law] is nothing more than
8 forasmuch as it holds them guilty
" the letter that killeth,"
1 Gal. vi. 3. 2 Ps. xxxvi. 11. 3 Ps. xxxvi. 9.
4 Rom. i. 21. 6 Job xxviii. 28. 6 Rom. i. 22.
7 Jas. iv. 6. 8 2 Cor. iii. G.
CHAP. XXI.] WORKS AND FAITH. 177 of transgressing it, instead of justifying the ungodly. Now just as those discoverers of the Creator by the creature received no benefit towards salvation, even from their discovery, because "though they knew God, they glorified Him not as
God, nor gave Him thanks, while professing themselves to be wise," *—so also they who discover from the law how man ought to live, are not made righteous by their discovery, because, "going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of
God."
Chap. 21. [xiii.]— The law of ivories and the law of faith.
The law, then, of human action, that is, the law of works, whereby this self-glorification is not excluded, and the law of faith, by which it is excluded, differ from each other ; and this difference it is worth our while to consider, if so be we are able to observe and discern it. Cursorily, indeed, one might say that the law of works lay in Judaism, and the law of faith in Christianity ; forasmuch as circumcision and the other works prescribed by the law are just those which the
Christian system no longer retains. But there is a fallacy in this distinction, the greatness of which I have for some time been endeavouring to expose ; and to such as are shrewd in appreciating distinctions, especially to yourself and those who share in your intelligence, I have possibly succeeded in my effort. Since, however, the subject is an important one, it will not be unsuitable, if with a view to its illustration, we linger over the many testimonies which again and again meet our view. Now, although the apostle says that by the law no man is justified,
3 and declares that it entered that the
4 yet in order to save it from the asperoffence might abound, sions of the ignorant and the accusations of the impious, he defends this very law in words such as these : * What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law : for I had not known concupiscence, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence." 5 He says also : " The law
1 Rom. L 21. 2 Rom. x. 3. 3 Rom. iii. 20.
4 Rom. v. 20. 5 Rom. vii. 7, 8.
4 il
178 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. XXI.
indeed is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just, and good ; but sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me by that which is good."
1 It is therefore the very letter that kills, which says, " Thou shalt not covet." And of this law it is that he speaks in a passage which I have before referred to : " By the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, beingwitnessed by the law and the prophets ; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ upon all them that believe ; for there is no difference : seeing that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God : being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus ; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God ; to declare, [I say,] His righteousness at this time ; that so He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in
2 And then he adds the passage which is now under
Jesus."
consideration : " Where, then, is your boasting ? It is excluded. By what law ? of works ? Nay ; but by the law of faith."
And so it is the very law of works itself which says, " Thou shalt not covet ;" because thereby comes the knowledge of sin. Now I wish to know, if anybody will have the courage to inform me, whether the law of faith says to us, " Thou shalt not covet," or not ? For if it does not say so to us, what reason is there why we, who are placed under its sanction, should not sin in safety and with impunity ? Indeed, this is just what those people thought the apostle meant, of whom he writes :
" Even as some affirm that we say, Let us do evil, that good may come ; whose damnation is just."
4 If, on the contrary, it does say to us, " Thou shalt not covet " (even as numerous
5 so often testify and passages in the gospels and epistles urge), then why is not this law also called the law of works ? For it by no means follows that, because it retains not in its service the operations of the ancient sacraments,—even circumcision and the other ceremonies,—it therefore has no
6 comprised in its own sacraments, which are external duties
1 Rom. vii. 12, 13. 2 Rom. iii. 20-26. 3 Rom. iii. 27.
4 Rom. iii. 8. 5 Apostolica. 6 Opera.
CHAP. XXII.] DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAITH AXD WORKS. 179 well adapted to the present age ; at least there was a question about sacramental works, since the law was mentioned, because by it is the knowledge of sin, and so nobody is justified by it; therefore it is not by it that boasting is excluded, but by the law of faith, whereby the just man lives. But is there not by it too the knowledge of sin, when even it says, " Thou shalt not covet ?"
Chap. 22. The law oficorls; the law of faith; Paul the most persevering preacher of grace ; the " child of faith."
"What the difference between them is, I will briefly explain. What the law of works enjoins by menace, that the law of faith secures by faith. The one says, " Thou shalt not covet ; the other uses such language as this : " When I perceived that nobody could have the gift of continence, unless God gave it to him ; and that this was the very point of wisdom : to know whose gift it was, I approached unto the Lord, and I
2 This indeed is the very wisdom which is besought Him;' called piety, in which is worshipped "the Father of lights, from whom descends every good and perfect gift."
3 This worship, however, consists in the sacrifice of praise and giving of thanks, so that the worshipper of God glories not in himself, but in Him. 4 Accordingly, by the law of works, God says to us, Do what I command thee ; but by the law of faith we say to God, Give me what Thou commandest. Xow this is the reason why the law gives its command, even to admonish us what faith ought to do,—in other words, that he to whom the command is given, if he is as yet unable to perform it, may know what he should ask for ; but if he has at once the ability, and complies with the command, he ought also to be aware from whose gift the ability comes. " We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given
5 "What, however, "is the spirit of this world," to us of God."
but the spirit of pride ? By it their foolish heart is darkened, who, after knowing God, glorified Him not as God, by giving Him thanks.
6 Moreover, it is really by this same spirit that they too are deceived, who, while ignorant of the righteousness
1 Ex. xx. 17. 2 Wisdom viii. 21. 3 Jas. i. 17.
4 2 Cor. x. 17. 5 1 Cor. ii. 12. 6 Rom. i. 21.
180 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. XXIII.
of God, and wishing to establish their own righteousness, have
1 It appears to me, therenot submitted to God's righteousness.
fore, that he is much more " a child of faith " who has learned from what source to expect assistance, than he who attributes to himself whatever he has ; although, no doubt, to both of these must be preferred the man who possesses the gift, and at the same time knows from whom he has it. Suppose, however, that he does not believe himself to be what he has not yet attained to, let him not in such a case fall into, the mistake of the Pharisee, who, while thanking God for what he possessed, failed to ask for any further gift, just as if he stood in want of nothing for the increase and perfection of his righteousness.
Now, having duly considered and weighed all these circumstances and testimonies, we conclude that a man is not justified by the precepts of a holy life, but by faith in Jesus Christ,—in a word, not by the law of works, but by the law of faith ; not by the letter, but by the spirit ; not by meritorious conduct, but by free grace.
Chap. 23. [xiv.] How the Decalogue hills, if grace be not present. The apostle undoubtedly reproves and corrects those who were prevailed on to accept circumcision, in such terms as to designate by the word " law " this rite of circumcision and other similar legal observances, which are now rejected as shadows of a future substance by Christians who yet hold what those shadows figuratively promised ; although he at the same time would have it to be clearly understood that the law, by which he says no man is justified, lies not merely in those sacramental institutions which contained promissive figures, but also in those works which made the man who did them to live holily, and amongst which occurs this prohibition:
" Thou shalt not covet." Now, to make our statement all the clearer, let us look at the Decalogue itself. It is certain, then, that Moses on the mount received the law, that he might deliver it to the people, written on tables of stone by the finger of God. It is summed up in ten commandments, in which there is no precept about circumcision, nor anything concerning those animal sacrifices which have ceased to be offered by Christians. Well, now, I should like to be told
1 Rom. x. 3. 2 Luke xviii. 11, 12.
CHAP. XXIV.] THE DECALOGUE ITSELF THE "LETTER." 181 what there is in these ten commandments, except that on the observance of the Sabbath, which ought not to be kept by a
Christian,—whether it prohibit the making and worshipping of idols and of any other gods than the one true God, or the taking of God's name in vain ; or prescribe honour to parents ; or give warning against fornication, murder, theft, false witness, adultery, and coveting other men's property ? Which of these commandments would any one say that the Christian ought not to keep ? Or will it by any chance be contended that it is not the law which was written on those two tables that the apostle describes as " the letter that killeth," but the law of circumcision and the other sacred rites which are now abolished ? But then how can we think so, when in the law occurs this precept, " Thou shalt not covet," by which very commandment, notwithstanding its being holy, just, and good,
" sin," says the apostle, " deceived me, and by it slew me V'
What else can this be than " the letter " that " killeth ?"
Chap. 21
In the passage where he speaks to the Corinthians about the letter that kills, and the spirit that gives life, he expresses himself more clearly, but he does not mean even there any other " letter " to be understood than the Decalogue itself, which was written on the two tables. His words are these
" Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of
Christ ministered by us, written not with, ink, but with the
Spirit of the living God ; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward : not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God ; who hath made us able ministers of the new testament ; not of the letter, but of the spirit : for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of
Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance ; which glory was to be done away how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious ? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more
1 See Eom. vii. 7-12.
182 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. XXV.
1 A good deal might be said about these words ; but perhaps we shall the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory."
shall have a more fitting opportunity at some future time. At present, however, I beg you to observe how he speaks of the letter that killeth, and contrasts therewith the spirit that giveth life. Now this must certainly be the same as " the ministration of death written and engraven in stones," and as
" the ministration of condemnation/' since the law entered
2 But the commandments themselves
that sin might abound.
are so useful and salutary to the doer of them, that unless they were kept by him, he could not possibly have life.
Well, then, is it owing to the one precept about the Sabbathday, which is included amongst them, that the Decalogue is called " the letter that killeth ?" Because, forsooth, every man that still observes that commandment in its literal appointment is carnally wise, but to be carnally wise is nothing else than death ? And must the other nine commandments, when rightly observed just in their literal shape also, not be regarded as belonging to the law of works by which none is justified, but to the law of faith whereby the just man lives ? Who can possibly entertain so absurd an opinion as to suppose that " the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones," is not said equally of all the ten commandments, but only of the solitary one touching the Sabbath-day ? In which class do we place that which is thus spoken of : " The law worketh wrath : for where no law is, there is no trans-
3 and again thus: "Until the law sin was in the gression?"
"4 and world : but sin is not imputed when there is no law ?
also that which we have already so often quoted : u By the
5 and especially the passage
law is the knowledge of sin?"
in which the apostle has more clearly expressed the question of which we are treating : " I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet ?" 6
Chap. 25. Now carefully consider this entire passage, and see whether it says anything about circumcision, or the Sabbath, or any-
1 2 Cor. iii. 3-9. 2 Rom. v. 20. 3 Rom. iv. 15.
4 Rom. v. 13. c Rom. iii. 20. 6 Rom. vii. 7.
CHAP. XXV.] THE " LETTER " CAXXOT GIVE LIFE. 183 thing else pertaining to a foreshadowing sacrament. Does not its whole scope amount to this, that the letter which forbids sin fails to give man life, but rather " killeth," by increasing concupiscence, and aggravating our sinfulness by transgression, unless indeed grace liberates us by the law of faith, which is in Christ Jesus, when His love is " shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us ?" x The apostle having at the outset of the passage used these words : " That we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter," 2 goes on to inquire, "What shall we say then ?
Is the law sin ? God forbid. Nay ; I had not known sin, but by the law : for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once ; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life,
I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me ? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me by that which is good ; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful For we know that the law is spiritual whereas I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not : for what I would, that I do not ; but what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. But then it is no longer I that do
' For I know that in me (that
it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing. To will, indeed, is present with me ; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not ; but the evil which
I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I w
Tould do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man : but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
1 Rom. v. 5. 2 Rom. vii. 6.
184 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. XXVII.
which is in my members. wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."
Chap. 26. The commandment is not kept, if the sole motive of its observance be thefear ofpunishment.
It is evident, then, that the oldness of the letter, in the absence of the newness of the spirit, instead of freeing us from sin, rather makes us guilty by the knowledge of sin. Whence it is written in another part of Scripture, " He that
2—not that the law increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow," is itself evil, but because the commandment has its good in the demonstration of the letter, not in the assistance of the spirit ; and if this commandment is kept from the fear of punishment and not from the love of righteousness, there is only servility and not freedom in such observance, and therefore it is in truth not kept at all. For no fruit is good which does not grow from the root of love. If, however, that faith
3 then one begins to delight
be present which worketh by love,
4 and this delight is in the law of God after the inward man, the gift of the spirit, not of the letter ; [moreover, this joyous feeling, thus begun, continues] even though there is another law in our members still warring against the law of the mind, until the old state is changed and passes into that new condition which increases from day to day in the inward man, whilst the grace of God liberates us from the body of this death through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Chap. 27. [xv.] The grace which was latent in the Old Testament is revealed in the New ; what the observation of the Sabbath signified.
This grace lay hid under a veil in the Old Testament, but it has been revealed in the New Testament according to the most perfectly ordered dispensation of the ages, forasmuch as God knew how to appoint all things in their several places. And perhaps it is in reference to this very secret ordinance of
God, that in the Decalogue, which was given on Mount Sinai, the portion which relates to the Sabbath was simply hidden under a prefiguring precept. The Sabbath is a day set apart
1 Rom. vii. 7-25. 2 Eccles. i. 18. 3 Gal. v. G. * Rom. vii. 22.
CHAP. XXVIII. ] THE HOLY SPIRIT THE FINGER OF GOD. 185 for holy purposes; and it is not without significance that, among all the works which God accomplished, the first sound of sanctification or holiness was heard on the day when He rested from all His labours. On this, indeed, we must not now enlarge. But at the same time I deem it to be not inapplicable to the point now in question, that it was not for nothing that the nation was commanded on that day to abstain from all servile work, by which sin is signified ; [the precept so ran] only because not to commit sin belongs to sanctification, that is, to God's gift through the Holy Spirit. Now this precept in the law, which was written on the two tables of stone, was placed among the others only in a prefiguring shadow, under which the Jews observe their Sabbath-day, that by this very circumstance it might be signified that it was then the time for hiding and concealing the grace, which had to be revealed and discovered in the New Testament by the death of Christ,—the rending, as it were, of the veil.