De natura et gratia libri III, cum Apologia contra Catharinum

At last we have come to that point of our design where the chief controversy with the Lutherans lies before us. We have spoken concerning works preparing us for justification up to the point of the infusion of grace itself. It follows now in order that I speak more fully concerning the same works insofar as, preceded by God, we cooperate with our justification. That is whether we are justified by faith alone.¹ But this dispute about faith alone is so obscure from its beginnings, and so wrapped up and entangled by the long struggle on both sides, that an approach to discovering the truth scarcely lies open to us from anywhere. Wherefore if in this business, in which so many wise men have been engaged, our work can contribute anything, I will at least try to establish the state of the cause with what clarity I can. Namely, to open both the adversaries' opinion and ours, and by what path and order, at what points they disagree. This is always missing in those whom we have read up to now. For since these men now almost agree with us in words, it does not help much to pile up testimonies and arguments that we are not justified by faith alone, unless we lay bare their meanings, and then aim precisely at their articles. Because perhaps this has not been done by our people up to now, they have advanced the less. Especially because if the Church has ever suffered any hostile men who fought under the mere perplexity and darkness of speech,² these men have been able above all by the mere density of shadows to delude the common people in this matter: therefore they must be conquered with the greatest clarity. As this fallacy will have been brought forth most explicitly, so will it be forthwith most effectively convicted. Therefore that first parent of these men, Martin Luther,³ if credence is to be given to the story he himself tells at the very beginning of the first volume of his works, conceived the poison which he afterward vomited out from envy of the Roman see, chiefly on account of the indulgence traffic (as he says). And since there are remissions of sins, he soon began to deny the necessity of works which are done in satisfaction for sins: preaching that after sin is dismissed no guilt of punishment remains, because Christ paid the price for all. Thence he made a step, so that under the pretext of extolling faith he reckoned all works vain: affirming that we are justified by faith alone: namely, only by this, that each one believes that his sins are forgiven him through Christ. At last he burst forth into such madness as to reckon all works, even those of the most holy man, as sins. Nay, that by that one faith all the commandments are fulfilled, and so the one who believes is free from the law: which we must refute in book 3. Therefore this article, much more virulent and pernicious in its birth and nourishment for a time than it is now defended, began in this sense, and Luther's offspring thereafter professed, that we are justified by faith alone, because one who had this one certain and firm faith that his sins were freely forgiven through Christ would be bound by no other law of works: but whatever work he performed, if he retained faith, he would in no way fall from grace. Therefore I will set out their assertions concerning this matter,⁴ not confusedly, as is usual, but in order, so that they may be better weighed step by step. For first Luther, in the assertions addressed to Leo, art. 1, comparing faith with the sacraments, says: Neither the sacraments of the new nor of the old testament, but faith alone justifies. And the contrary opinion is heretical. In art. 15: Those who approach the sacrament of the Eucharist, this faith alone makes pure and worthy, if they believe and trust that they will obtain grace there. Second, comparing faith with works, he says in the book On Christian Liberty that faith alone suffices for salvation: works in no way justify. And in the exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians he says: Faith alone is necessary, all other works are most free, neither commanded nor forbidden. And in the book On the Babylonian Captivity: By faith alone we can deal with God; he cares nothing for works, nor needs them. And in On Monastic Vows: Faith and works are as far apart as possible from each other, and are contrary, so that works cannot be taught without loss of faith: for the Gospel fights with the law. And in the little book On Christian Liberty he teaches that one who has faith is free from all the commandments of the law, and needs no works to be saved: but faith alone, he says, bestows all these things abundantly. Third, therefore, he advances so far as to think that no works, however wicked, can harm one who has faith. For thus he says in his sermon against Carlstadt: There is no sin except unbelief, no justice except faith. From which, in On the Babylonian Captivity, he infers that no sins can condemn a man, even if he wishes, except unbelief alone. Nor must one who has faith doubt his salvation: because the promise made there is not changeable by any sins, but only by unbelief. And in On Monastic Vows: No works are so evil for one who believes in Christ that they can condemn and accuse him. The rest will be added in their proper places. His disciples afterward persevered for some time in defending all these dogmas to the letter, and in sprinkling their works with flowers of this kind: as is especially seen in Melanchthon's Commonplaces. But in this explained sense: namely, that no other works besides faith are necessary to such an extent that no sin exists outside unbelief, it is a most insane heresy,⁵ and it is a wonder that it occupied the mind of a Christian man. Yet it is not a new plague, but one that derives its lineage from the very beginning of the nascent Church. For it was the heresy of Eunomius,⁶ which Augustine records in the book On Heresies, chapter 54, in these words: He is reported also to have been so great an enemy of good morals as to assert that the perpetration and perseverance in any sins whatsoever would harm no one, if he were a partaker of the faith which he taught. Luther affirms the same, except that he says faith ought not to be idle, but a Christian ought freely to exercise himself in works of charity toward his neighbor. And in On Faith and Works, chapter 114, the same Augustine says⁷ that in the time of the apostles themselves this very heresy had altogether the same beginnings as in these our adversaries now. For while certain obscure sentences of the Apostle Paul were not understood, he says—namely, The law entered in, that sin might abound,⁸ and, We judge that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law—some thought that faith was enough for salvation without other good works, nay, that even evils were no obstacle. For which cause, he says, the other apostolic epistles of Peter, John, James, and Jude direct their intention chiefly against this, so as vehemently to assert that faith without works profits nothing. As Paul himself says, Faith which works through love. And on Psalm 31 he brings in the words of the same heretics, promising the mercy of God to sinners in such a way that, while they persevere in any sins whatsoever, provided they believe, they said that God delivers, God forgives, and it is prepared: so that no one of the faithful wicked would perish. To whom he answers that that just God, to whom mercy and judgment are sung, will condemn the man who presumes evilly of himself, and who abuses the very mercy of God to his own destruction.

Furthermore, since this sense involves many errors,⁹ namely against the necessity of the sacraments and works, and against the number and variety of commandments and sins: if we attacked the whole crowd at once, it would overwhelm us with its own army. Christ ordained that the price of his blood be derived to us through the sacraments,¹⁰ so that whoever wandered from faith, unless born again of water and the Holy Spirit, could not enter the kingdom of God: and those who had committed a deadly crime, unless they did penance,¹¹ would all perish together. Finally, to none, however reconciled, unless they eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, would there be life in themselves.¹² Luther barks against this, that the sacraments are not necessary for those to be justified, but faith alone. From the beginning God engraved in the minds of mortals the law of nature, that they should worship God with religion, and that men should keep themselves unharmed in peace and tranquility by certain prescribed commandments, and help one another by mutual offices: he afterward inscribed those things on two tables: and then, since faith was the perfection of nature, Christ renewed them in the Gospel, adding certain other things which were his authority: admonishing that whoever wished to enter into life should keep the commandments:¹³ threatening eternal punishments to transgressors: commanding the apostles that, baptizing the nations in the sacrament of faith, they should teach them to observe whatever he had commanded them.¹⁴ Luther cries out against God that no works are necessary besides faith, nor are men bound by any other law. The Apostle distinguishes many works of the flesh, which are fornication, uncleanness, and very many of that kind: and various fruits of the spirit, which are charity, peace, patience, etc.¹⁵ Luther cuts all these away, so that there is no other work of virtue besides faith, and no sin outside unbelief. Let us reserve the rest for their proper places. Now in this book let us examine only this: whether in the point of justification there are other works necessary besides faith, which equally prepare us together with the act of faith. Therefore the other sense of this assertion¹⁶ is: We are justified by faith alone. Which the Lutherans now strive to defend as exactly polished, as they think. For the sake of clarity, which we especially strive for, we explain it through these propositions drawn from their doctrine.

The first assertion of theirs, and the foundation of all, is: We are justified by faith alone through Christ our Savior. Which (they say) is most expressly had in Paul. For because he says, We judge that a man is justified by faith, not by works.¹⁷ And, By grace you are saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, for it is the gift of God.¹⁸ And this is the chief point in which they dissent from the catholic truth, which we, legitimately interpreting Paul, defend against them: namely, that we are not justified by faith alone.

And although this series and order is by no means observed among them, nevertheless, so that the disputation concerning individual points may be clearer, let their second proposition be for the exposition of the first.¹⁹ To be justified is said in three ways. For sometimes it is used of that which is to be approved or judged that someone is just. In the second way it is taken for that which is, to be made just from unjust. And in the third way for that which is, for justice to be increased in him. Concerning these acceptations there will be a fuller discussion in the next chapter.

To this is subjoined the third proposition from their assertions.²⁰ When it is said that we are justified by faith alone, this is to be understood both of the second and of the third mode of justification. So that both the acquisition and the increase of justice are attributed to faith alone. But if the good works of one who is already justified are said in some way to justify him, they say that this is only in the first use of justification: namely, that a just man is pronounced just by God through his works, because his works are reckoned just by him, and are commended as testimonies of faith. Nay, from that pertinacity that after baptism concupiscence still remains sin, they make it follow that all works, even of the justified, are of themselves sins, except that through the grace of Christ they are not imputed. But these disputations pertain to book 3.

Their fourth assertion is:²¹ The name of faith is taken in three ways.²² In the first way, of the faith of history. In the second, of the faith of promise. And in the third, of the faith of miracles. For they distinguish both the old and the new testament, saying that some things in sacred Scripture pertain to history: as the creation of the world, the flood of the deluge, and the other histories of the Fathers. And in the new testament: the nativity, life, and death of Christ. Other things pertain to the promises. As, In your seed all nations shall be blessed. The scepter shall not be taken away from the tribe of Judah until he comes who is to be sent. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, etc. Concerning the faith of miracles, a little later. The distinction was first Luther's in On Christian Liberty, and art. 1 to Leo, and is most celebrated among his followers.

They suppose also, in addition to this distinction, a fifth proposition.²³ When we teach, they say, that we are justified by faith alone, we do not understand the faith of history, by which we believe that Scripture is true, but faith: that is, confidence,²⁴ by which each one ought to trust the promises of God concerning the remission of sins to be effected through Christ. So they. Therefore some wrongly think that by them historical faith is called faith acquired in a human way,²⁵ as distinguished from divinely infused faith. Nay, historical faith in the Lutheran school is also inspired by divine breath, but on the part of the object it is distinguished from the faith which we must have in the divine promises.

Their sixth proposition is,²⁶ and one most especially to be noted, indeed the basis of their fabricated justification. The faith (they say) by which we are justified is not confidence alone in general, by which we trust that God is ready to reconcile all through Christ, if their hardness and fault do not stand in the way. But it is faith and confidence by which each one in particular, and without any condition, firmly believes and certainly trusts that his sins are now in fact forgiven him by God freely through Christ. And since this assertion is the greatest of all the controversies among us, nay, the nourishment and root and cause of all of them, understand it thus. When they say that we are justified by faith, they do not understand that that act and assent of faith is in any way the merit or cause of justification: nay, not even a disposition or preparation: but that it is, as it were, the hand or hook by which we apprehend the mercy of God, only through this, that it is the assent by which we believe that God is truthful and a faithful sponsor: as I will now explain more openly.

The seventh will be,²⁷ and the last conclusion of theirs. Although the faith of history of the rest of the Gospel, which is also a gift of God, can indeed remain without hope and charity, yet firm faith in the remission of sins can by no means be without them: but they are, they say, inseparable companions, yet that historical faith without charity is not properly faith.

Therefore, to return to the point of the beginning of justification, by which we are made just from unjust, do not be weary, most diligent reader, still to survey and discern in summary the state and seat of this controversy.²⁸ For it is placed (as we proposed at the beginning of the first book) in the understanding of this word, FAITH WHICH WORKS THROUGH CHARITY.²⁹ Concerning this word there is a very great disagreement between us and them. For both sides confess that by faith working through charity the justice of God is apprehended:³⁰ but nevertheless they use this "apprehended" very differently from us. For to apprehend is for them the same as to believe, and to give assent and faith to the faithful God promising salvation. And by that act alone, they say, we receive the grace, mercy, and justice of God: but after grace there immediately follows the infusion of charity. And so they recognize no act previous to grace except that of faith. Of which they give this reason, both Luther in On Christian Liberty and his accomplices everywhere. Namely, that one single thing is needed for life and justice, namely the word of God. According to that saying, Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.³¹ And in the Psalm, He sent his word and healed them.³² And this word, he says, is the evangelical promise. But since the word and promise, he says, is apprehended by faith alone through the intellect, that assent alone apprehends mercy: which charity and works afterward follow. And for this cause, in art. 5 to Leo, he contends that the sacrament does not confer grace: but faith alone in the word of Christ promising. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.³³ And whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven.³⁴ They teach the same in the Augsburg Confession, art. 5. In its Apology Melanchthon says:³⁵ Faith is not only praised as if it were the beginning of justification, as the adversaries say, but we think thus concerning faith, that properly and truly by faith itself, on account of Christ, we are reckoned just. And again, he says: By faith alone in Christ, not through love or works, do we obtain remission of sins: although love follows faith. And below: By faith alone we apprehend mercy: because it receives the promise, by which God promised that on account of Christ he will be propitious to those who believe in him. And below: Because the promise, he says, cannot be received except by faith. See how he always takes it for the precise act of the intellect and without any enigma at all. Bucer, in his Concord of Controversies,³⁶ expounding the imperial book, says that faith, as it is faith, as it is assent to the Gospel, faith itself alone: that is, primarily and per se, is the solid and full receptive cause of the first grace and adoption of God, and of the beginning of justification: that is, by which we are made just from unjust: then charity follows, for working just things. Note therefore how openly they in truth deny that we are justified by faith working through charity: since, they say, by the mere assent of the intellect grace is apprehended: which grace charity and so works immediately follow. And for this cause they assert that there is a necessary connection between faith and charity. Namely, that faith alone obtains the first grace, which grace charity immediately follows. But we, according to the evangelical truth,³⁷ say that to apprehend grace and mercy is not the same as to assent and believe: unless "to apprehend" is taken for that which is to know: whence the cognitive powers are called apprehensive. But we maintain that to apprehend is, by the act of believing, hoping, and loving through detestation of sins, with divine breath and help preceding, to be disposed, prepared, drawn, to come and be converted to receive sanctifying grace. So that faith works not only after grace, but in the reception of grace itself through the act of love. Because Paul was speaking of the first justification itself when he said that with God neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail: but faith, which works through charity. But what offspring is propagated to these men from this dogma will appear in what follows. Therefore, best reader, we will send you back to this again and again hereafter. Keep this little page before your eyes, which you may look back to hereafter.