De gratia Redemptoris

But only a few years after the Council of Trent, the Apostolic See had once again to condemn errors in the matter of grace, in the Bull “Ex omnibus afflictionibus”, 1 Oct. 1567, by which are condemned the errors of Michael de Bay (1513-1589), professor at Louvain¹.

According to Iansen, the principal error of Baius lies in this, that he does not rightly distinguish between the natural and the supernatural; as regards the primitive state his teaching is an optimism, and consequently as regards the state of fallen nature a pessimism².

“The immortality of the first man was not a benefit of grace, but a natural condition” (prop. 78); “The sublimation and exaltation of human nature into the consortium of the divine nature was due to the integrity of the first condition, and therefore must be called natural, and not supernatural” (prop. 21). Yet the opinion of the Baianists is not that those gifts of the first creation were natural properties of man, which emanated from the internal constitutive principles of his nature; but human nature demanded those gifts: its natural destination to the moral and religious life, to perfect union with God, required those gifts. Baianism therefore denied the possibility of a state of pure nature; the honourable good that is merely natural, a religion that is merely natural, have no place in the doctrine of Baius³.

After the sin of Adam man is plainly incapable of moral good (prop. 27, 28, 30, 35, 37, 40). Natural love is not to be had (prop. 36). Either a work is salutary or it is a sin⁴. Hence: “All the works of unbelievers are sins” (prop. 25; cf. prop. 62). “Every love of a rational creature is either the vicious desire by which the world is loved, which John forbids, or that praiseworthy charity by which God is loved, poured forth in the heart by the Holy Spirit” (prop. 38); hence “They think with Pelagius, who understand the text of the Apostle in Romans II: The Gentiles, who have not the law, do naturally the things that are of the law, as referring to Gentiles who do not have the grace of faith” (prop. 22).

Thus in fact the moral freedom of the natural will is denied; without grace man sins necessarily. For an act to be a sin, freedom from necessity is not required; violence alone is repugnant to the natural liberty of man (prop. 66-68). “Everything that the sinner, or the slave of sin, does, is sin” (prop. 35). For sin, not only is the liberty of indifference not required, but the act need not even be voluntary (prop. 46. 47). Even the indeliberate movements of concupiscence are true disobedience (prop. 51, 75); the precept of the love of God is not kept (prop. 76).⁵

To understand justification, according to Baius, a knowledge of charity is necessary. “For one who would discourse on justification, if he wishes to discourse well and usefully, the true knowledge of charity, whereby we love God and our neighbour, must be sought with great zeal, because charity is either the justice which he who is justified strives to obtain ... or at least so conjoined with justice that, although without it justice can be simulated, it can nevertheless be neither possessed nor acquired”⁶. “Just as therefore concupiscence or lust, when in the sacred Scriptures they signify a movement of the soul, is nothing other than the love of the world or the love of the creature, which is not referred to God ... so also charity in this latter way is nothing other than the love or affection of God, which is the same thing that is also called the good tree and the good will ... But whether besides this movement of the soul which is called charity, some other habitual and accidental quality is to be placed in the will which may also be called charity, I do not think it is greatly to be contended; because it can easily be understood that not only a movement of the soul but also some conformable habit can be poured forth into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us: but whether in the sacred Scriptures a distinct and open mention of this habit under the name of charity can be found, is another question, which I have judged there is no need to discuss in this place, because when the act is known it is easy to come to the knowledge of the habit”⁷

This movement of charity is not from ourselves but from God, and this holds not only of the love of God as beatifier, but also as creator⁸. Every love of a rational creature is either charity or a vicious desire⁹.

The movement of the soul which is called charity can precede the remission of sins. “When it is asked whether charity is found even in those who have not yet obtained the remission of sins, because of the long-standing prejudice of the other side; and because most people understand by charity nothing but a certain habit, by which, infused insensibly into a man, the remission of all sins takes place, and which cannot be infused without the remission of sins, it is thought that something quite absurd is being asked; because among men of this sort it is held as certain that which ought first to have come into question, namely whether in the sacred Scriptures, under the name of charity, any such habit is to be understood, or rather a movement of the soul. But those who attend diligently to the definition of the blessed Augustine set out above, where he says: I call charity the movement of the soul to enjoy God for his own sake and the neighbour for God's sake; together with the other testimonies by which he manifestly testifies that charity is nothing other than the good will by which we are turned to God, of which the Apostle says that God works in us to will; such men easily understand that by the name of charity not so much a habit as a certain movement is to be understood, from which we are called good, and therefore it is not without reason doubted whether charity is found only in those who have already obtained the remission of sins, or also in catechumens and other penitents, who before the remission of sins are anticipated by God with many good movements; for that charity is found in many even before the remission of sins seems thus to be shown”¹⁰.

Charity is not always given whole, but in those who are advancing it grows by parts. “It is clear therefore that the beginning of charity is conferred on a man when, turned from unbelief or from an evil will, he begins to will the good, that is, to will to do God's commandment, who before willed evil, that is, to do not God's pleasure but his own, which is nothing other than to desire; and that charity is then rightly named when, with God cooperating, he receives so much increase that he both does God's commandments and conquers the desires which before held him fast in crimes, whether these have been remitted through baptism or reconciliation, or not. For if anyone loves me, he says, he will keep my words, and he who does not love me does not keep my words”¹¹.

In the second book he treats of justice. “Someone has said most rightly: Justice contains all the virtues in itself; since, as St Chrysostom says: Justice is nothing other than the full keeping of all the commandments, which cannot stand without the support of all the virtues. This same thing in the sacred Scriptures is called by another name also charity or love, because he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law, and the fullness of the law is love. Whence Augustine, On nature and grace, says: Charity begun is justice begun: great charity is great justice: advanced charity is advanced justice: perfect charity is perfect justice; by which the Psalmist calls that man blessed or just, who has not gone in the counsel of the ungodly ...”¹². The justice of this life consists of two parts, “namely the remission of sins” and “newness of life”¹³. But the remission of sins is not justice in the proper sense of the name, but is reputed as such, because it is in part equivalent before God to justice properly so called¹⁴. Whence the increase and perfection of justice is not so much to be estimated according to the remission of sins as according to the renewal of man, by which the law of God is observed continually more and more fully¹⁵. “Although therefore the catechumen or the penitent has some justice before the remission of sins ... yet because he does not have the remission of sins, without which the justice of this life does not stand, even if by his purpose and manner of life he surpasses many sons of God, he cannot yet be called just”¹⁶.

In the third book he treats of justification. “When justification is discussed, if in the manner of the dialecticians it is asked only what justification is, and of what parts its full and complete definition must consist, once the knowledge of justice of which we have already spoken is had, the inquiry is brief and easy. For justification is nothing other than a certain continual and unceasing progress towards justice. But justice is the true keeping of all the commandments, either in the doing of the virtues, as it was in Christ, or in the remission of sins, as it is found in great part in all of us as long as we are in this life. For, as Augustine says: Christ also fulfilled the law in this, that having become a priest through the sacrifice of his flesh, he obtains for us the forgiveness of sins. Therefore justification is nothing other than a certain continual progress both in the doing of the virtues and in the remission of sins”¹⁷.

On merit he says: “Whatever pertains to the reparation of the human race is not to be attributed properly to our merits, nor to the just judgment of God, because otherwise we should be at least in part our own redeemers, but only to the purpose of God's grace, through the redemption which was made in the blood of Christ. And therefore faith, prayer, penance, the remission of sins, the abolition of the temporal punishment which is sometimes left after sins have been remitted through the sacrament of penance, a holy conversation and perseverance to the end of this temporal life, indeed even the resurrection of the body itself, are properly to be ascribed to the merits of Christ alone. For although for the remission of sins, the abolition of the punishment remaining after the sacrament of penance, the mortification of concupiscence and perseverance in obedience to the commandments of God, according to the promises of Christ, there are required on our part faith, penance, prayer, satisfaction and the like; yet these of themselves in no way suffice for us to obtain the aforesaid gifts of God by the just judgment of God, unless the price of Christ's blood come to their aid, without whose merit no reparation of man at all takes place. For if they sufficed of themselves, then once these were accepted the passion of Christ would not be necessary for obtaining the rest. Moreover, that those who have lived piously and justly in this mortal life to the end obtain eternal life, is to be attributed not to the purpose of God's grace but to the natural ordinance established at the very beginning of the creation of the human race, and to the just judgment of God, as we have said sufficiently above. Nor in this retribution of goods is regard had to the merit of Christ, but only to the original institution of the human race, in which it was established by the natural law that by the just judgment of God life should be rendered to obedience to the commandments, as eternal death to disobedience. Although therefore the whole reparation of the human race is to be attributed to the merits of Christ alone, lest if any part of it were properly attributed to the merits of anyone else, he should be established as redeemer at least in part; yet that eternal life should be rendered to good works, which God has prepared that we should walk in them, is to be ascribed not to the merits of Christ but to the natural institution of man, as we have said. But what the Apostle writes to Timothy: The Lord delivered me from every evil work, and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom: is not so to be taken as if both were to be ascribed to the merits of Christ, namely that the Apostle was delivered from every evil work, and that for the faith kept he obtained the crown of glory: but only that he obtained these two from the merits of Christ, namely that in past temptations he was kept from every evil work, and that to the end of this temporal life he persevered in obedience to the commandments of God so that he could be saved; for he who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved. Whence the Apostle, wishing to show how in this mortal life we have been saved by the merits of Christ: In hope, he says, we have been saved; namely when we received the remission of sins and obey the commandments of God. That therefore in this life we are made just, pious and fit for the kingdom of heaven, or saved in hope, is to be attributed only to the purpose of God's grace, by which is restored what had perished in us through sin: but that we obtain the heavenly kingdom by the merit of justice and piety is by the just judgment of God”¹⁸.

Then he discusses and rejects the opinion of those “who think that merit is to be measured not by the integrity of the work but by the dignity of the one who works; so that if anyone should imagine an angel or a man so naturally constituted that without the indwelling and direction of the Holy Spirit he kept the whole law of God without blemish, according to the opinion of these men he would have no merit of eternal life at all, until, raised above the condition of his nature by the indwelling Holy Spirit and adopted as a son of God, he had received a share in the divine nature”¹⁹. And at the end of this chapter he says: “Wherefore the opinion of those who measure the whole account of merit in good works from this, that they are obedience to the commandments of God, can, it seems, be shown by these arguments”. And so he shows in chap. 2 that as an evil work is by its nature the merit of eternal death, so a good work is by its nature the merit of eternal life; in chap. 3, that human nature, even destitute of the Holy Spirit, if it kept God's commandments without blemish, would be secure of its reward; in chap. 4, that it is the opinion of Pelagius that good works done without the grace of adoption are not merits of the heavenly kingdom²⁰.