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Chapter I, Section G (Justification)
Articles 30-32
30.
The fact, then, remains that through the law the whole human race is proved
subject to God’s curse and wrath, and in order to be freed from these, it is
necessary to depart from the power of the law and, as it were, to be
released from its bondage into freedom. This is no carnal freedom, which
would draw us away from the observance of the law, incite us to license in
all things, and let our concupiscence play the wanton, as if locks were
broken or reins slackened. Rather, it is spiritual freedom to comfort and
raise up the stricken, prostrate conscience, showing it to be free from the
curse and condemnation with which the law was pressing it down, bound and
fettered. When through faith we lay hold on the mercy of God in Christ,
we attain this liberation and, so to speak, manumission from subjection
to the law, for it is by faith we are made sure and certain of
forgiveness of sins, the law having pricked and stung our conscience to the
awareness of them. [I Cor. 15:56] But God does not, as many stupidly
believe, once for all bestow on us this forgiveness of sins in order that,
having obtained pardon for our past life, we may afterward seek
righteousness in the law; this would be only to lead us into false
hope, to laugh at us, and mock us. For since no perfection can come to
us so long as we are clothed in this flesh, and the law moreover announces
death and judgment to all who do not achieve perfect righteousness in works,
it will always have grounds for accusing and condemning us unless, on
the contrary, the Lord’s mercy counters it, and by continual
forgiveness of sins repeatedly acquits us. Therefore, what I was saying at
the beginning always holds good: if we are judged by our own worth,
whatever we plan or undertake, with all our efforts and attempts we still
deserve death and confusion.
In this
way, the promises also that are offered us in the law are all
ineffectual and void. For this condition, that we should carry out the law –
upon which the promises depend and by which alone they are to be performed –
will never be fulfilled.
31.
The apostle further presses this argument: “If the promise of the
inheritance comes from the law, faith is made powerless and the promise is
void” [Rom 4:14]. He infers two things: first, that faith has been made
powerless and cancelled if the promise looks to the merits of our works
or depends upon the observance of the law. For no one can ever confidently
trust or rest secure in it because no one will ever come to be really
convinced in his own mind that he has satisfied the law, as surely no one
ever fully satisfies it through works. Not to seek evidences of this too far
afield, every man willing to look upon himself with an honest eye can be his
own witness. First, then, doubt would enter the minds of all men, and
at length despair, while each one reckoned for himself how great a
weight of debt still overwhelmed him, and how far away he was from the
condition imposed upon him.
See faith already oppressed and extinguished! For to have faith is
not to waver, to vary, to be borne up and down, to hesitate, to remain in
suspense, finally, to despair! Rather, to have faith is to strengthen the
mind with constant assurance and perfect confidence, to have a
place to rest and plant your foot [I Cor 2:5; II Cor 13:4]. From this
another point follows: also the promise itself has been abolished and
vanishes. Indeed, it will be fulfilled for none except those who possess a
sure and unvarying persuasion that it has to be fulfilled for them,
or (to put it in one word) for those who have faith. When, therefore, faith
fails, the promise will not remain in force. As a consequence, to hold out
some hope of salvation, new promises would have to be offered which could be
kept for us. There are moreover, Gospel promises, which our merciful Lord
freely offers to us, not by reason of any worth or good deed of ours, but
out of his fatherly goodness [Rom 10:20], imposing on us no other condition
than that we embrace wholeheartedly the very great gift of his good
pleasure. This is what Paul adds: for this reason it is from faith
that the inheritance of our salvation comes to us, to make the promise
firm [Rom 4:16]. Certain indeed is that faith which rests on God’s mercy
alone, knowing as it does that mercy and truth are met together [Ps
85:10], that is to say, whatsoever God mercifully promises, he also
faithfully performs. And a firm promise follows that sure faith, one that
can be fulfilled only for believers.
32.
Therefore, we must now recognize that our salvation consists in
God’s mercy alone, but not in any worth of ours, or in anything coming from
us.
Accordingly, on this mercy we must establish and as it were deeply fix all
our hope, paying no regard to our works nor seeking any help from
them. Indeed, the nature of faith is to arouse the ears but close the eyes,
to await the promise but turn thoughts away from all worth or
merit of man. For never will we have enough confidence in God unless we
become deeply distrustful of ourselves. Never will we lift up our
hearts enough in him unless they be previously cast down in us. Never
will we have consolation enough in him unless we have already experienced
desolation in ourselves. Never will we glory enough in him unless we
dethrone all glory in ourselves. Consequently, when all our confidence
is utterly cast down yet we still rely on his goodness, we grasp and
obtain God’s grace, and (as Augustine says) forgetting our merits, we
embrace Christ’s gifts. This is what it means to have true faith, as
is fitting. But no one can attain this assurance except through Christ,
by whose blessing alone we are freed from the law’s curse. The curse was
decreed and declared for us all, since, on account of the weakness inherited
from our father Adam, we could not fulfill the law by our own works, as was
required of those who desired to obtain therefrom righteousness for
themselves. By Christ’s righteousness then are we made righteous and
become fulfillers of the law. This righteousness we put on as our
own, and surely God accepts it as ours, reckoning us holy, pure, and
innocent. Thus is fulfilled Paul’s statement: “Christ was made
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption for us.” [I Cor 1:30] For our
merciful Lord first indeed kindly received us into grace according to his
own goodness and freely-given will, forgiving and condoning our sins, which
deserved wrath and eternal death. [Rom 5:11; 6:22]. Then through the gifts
of his Holy Spirit he dwells and reigns in us and through him the lusts of
our flesh are each day mortified more and more. We are indeed sanctified,
that is, consecrated to the Lord in complete purity of life, our hearts
formed to obedience to the law. To make it our undivided will to serve his
will and by every means to advance his glory alone, we hate all the filth of
our flesh reposing in us.
Then,
lastly, even while we walk in the Lord’s ways by the leading of the Holy
Spirit, to keep us from forgetting ourselves and becoming puffed up,
something imperfect remains in us to give us occasion for humility,
to stop every mouth before God and to teach us always to shift all
trust from ourselves to him [Rom 7:23]. As a consequence we always
need forgiveness of sins. Accordingly those works also which are done by
us while we rush along the Lord’s way (as if they please God since they are
done in faith!) cannot of themselves render us acceptable and
pleasing to God.
But
Christ’s righteousness, which alone can bear the sight of God because it
alone is perfect, must appear in court on our behalf, and stand
surety for us in judgment [Heb 11:6; Rom 8:34]. Received from God, this
righteousness is brought to us and imputed to us, just as if it were ours.
Thus in faith we continually and constantly obtain forgiveness of sins; none
of the filth or uncleanness of our imperfection is imputed to us, but is
covered over by that purity and perfection of Christ as if it were buried
that it may not come into God’s judgment until the hour arrives when, the
old man in us being slain and plainly destroyed, the divine goodness
receives us into blessed peace with the new Adam (who is Christ). There let
us await the Day of the Lord when, having received incorruptible bodies, we
will be carried into the glory of the heavenly kingdom [I Cor 15:45ff].
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