On the Spirit and the Letter 49–59

What, then, did the apostle wish to accomplish by this, that, curbing the boasting of the Jews, when he had said, “Not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified,” he at once added something about those who, not having the law, do by nature the things of the law, if they are not to be understood as those who belong to the grace of the Mediator, but rather as those who, though they do not worship the true God with true godliness, still have some good works in an ungodly life? Or did he perhaps think that by this very thing he should prove what he had said above, that there is no respect of persons with God, and what he said afterwards, that he is not the God of the Jews only but also of the gentiles, because such works of the law, however small, implanted by nature, would not be found in those who did not receive the law except from the remnants of the image of God, which he does not despise when they believe in him with whom there is no respect of persons? But whichever of these is accepted, it is certain that the grace of God was promised to the new covenant, also through the prophet, and that this grace was defined in it thus: that the laws of God would be written in the hearts of men, and that they would come to that knowledge of God where each one will not teach his fellow citizen or his brother, saying, “Know God,” for all will know him, from the least to the greatest of them. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit, by whom charity is poured out in our hearts; not any charity whatever, but the charity of God, from a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned, by which the righteous man, living in this pilgrimage, is led also to sight after the mirror and the enigma and whatever was in part, so that he may know face to face, even as he is known. For he asks one thing of the Lord and seeks it, that he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, in order to contemplate the delight of the Lord.

Let no one, then, boast of what he seems to have, as if he had not received it, or think that he has received it because the letter appeared outwardly to be read or sounded to be heard. “For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” But if he did not die for nothing, “he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.” From there whoever has anything has it; but whoever denies that he has it from there either does not have it, or what he has will be taken away from him. “For there is one God, who will justify the circumcision from faith and the uncircumcision through faith”; which is not said to mark any difference, as if “from faith” were one thing and “through faith” another, but for variety of expression. For in another place, when he spoke of the gentiles, that is, of the uncircumcision, he says, “Scripture, foreseeing that God justifies the gentiles from faith”; and likewise, when he spoke of the circumcision, to which he himself belonged, he says, “We, Jews by nature and not sinners from the gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law except through faith in Jesus Christ, we too have believed in Christ Jesus.” See, he said both that the uncircumcision is justified from faith and the circumcision through faith, provided that the circumcision holds to the righteousness of faith. For so “the gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained righteousness, but the righteousness that is from faith” (obtaining it from God, not presuming it from themselves), “but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law. Why? Because not from faith, but as if from works,” that is, as if working it by themselves, not believing that God works in them. “For it is God who works in us both to will and to work according to his good will.” And therefore they stumbled on the stone of stumbling. For he explained most plainly what he meant by “because not from faith, but as if from works,” saying, “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and wishing to establish their own, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” And do we still doubt what the works of the law are by which a man is not justified, if he believes them to be his own, without the help and gift of God, which is from faith of Jesus Christ? And do we suspect circumcision and other such things, because something of this kind is also read about these sacraments in other places? But here, certainly, they did not wish to establish circumcision as their own righteousness, since God himself established it by commanding it. Nor can this be understood of those works of which the Lord says to them, “You reject the commandment of God so as to establish your traditions”; because, he says, “Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law”; he did not say “pursuing its own traditions,” that is, following them. This, then, is the only difference: that they attributed to themselves the very “You shall not covet” and the other holy and just commands. So that a man may do these, God works in man through faith of Jesus Christ, who is the end for righteousness to everyone who believes; that is, anyone incorporated into him through the Spirit and made his member can, with him giving the increase within, work righteousness. Of whose works he himself also said, “Without me you can do nothing.”

For the righteousness of the law is set before us, that whoever does it shall live in it, so that each one, when he has recognized his weakness, may reach it, not by his own strength nor by the letter of the law itself, which cannot be done, but by faith that wins over the justifier, and may do it and live in it. For the work which whoever does shall live in it is not done except by one who has been justified. And justification is obtained from faith, of which it is written, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ back from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.’ That is,” he says, “the word of faith which we preach; because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” As far as one is righteous, so far is one saved. For by this faith we believe that God raises us too from the dead: meanwhile in spirit, so that in the newness of his grace we may live temperately and justly and piously in this age; and afterward also in our flesh, which is to rise to immortality, which the merit of the spirit brings about for it, the spirit preceding it in the resurrection proper to it, that is, in justification. “For we were buried with Christ through baptism into death, so that, as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.” By faith in Jesus Christ, then, we obtain salvation, both the small part of it that is begun in us in reality and the part whose completion is awaited in hope. “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” “How great is the multitude of your sweetness, Lord,” says the psalm, “which you have hidden for those who fear you, but brought to completion for those who hope in you!” From the law we fear God, from faith we hope in God; but grace is hidden from those who fear punishment. The soul laboring under this fear, when it has not overcome evil desire and that fear, like a strict guard, has not gone away, should flee by faith to the mercy of God, that he may give what he commands, and, having breathed in the sweetness of grace through the Holy Spirit, may make what he commands delight more than what hinders delights. So the great multitude of his sweetness, that is, the law of faith, his charity written and poured out in hearts, is brought to completion for those who hope in him, so that the soul, healed, may do good not from fear of punishment but from love of righteousness.

Do we then make void free choice through grace? Far from it; rather, we establish free choice. For just as the law is not made void through faith but established, so free choice is not made void through grace but established. For the law is fulfilled only by free choice. But through the law comes knowledge of sin; through faith, the obtaining of grace against sin; through grace, the healing of the soul from the fault of sin; through the soul's health, freedom of choice; through free choice, love of righteousness; through love of righteousness, the doing of the law. And so, just as the law is not made void but established through faith, since faith obtains the grace by which the law is fulfilled, so free choice is not made void through grace but established, since grace heals the will by which righteousness is freely loved. All these things, which I have linked as in a chain, have their voices in the holy Scriptures. The law says, “You shall not covet.” Faith says, “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.” Grace says, “See, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.” Health says, “Lord my God, I cried to you, and you healed me.” Free choice says, “I will sacrifice to you freely.” Love of righteousness says, “The unrighteous have told me of delights, but not like your law, O Lord.” Why, then, do wretched men dare to be proud either of free choice before they are set free, or of their own strength if they have already been set free? And they do not notice that in the very name of free choice freedom certainly sounds; but “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” If, then, they are slaves of sin, why do they boast of free choice? “For by whom one has been overcome, to him he is also bound as a slave.” But if they have been set free, why do they boast as if of their own work, and glory as if they had not received it? Or are they so free that they do not even want to have as Lord him who says to them, “Without me you can do nothing,” and, “If the Son sets you free, then you will be truly free”?

Someone will ask whether faith itself, in which the beginning of salvation, or of this chain leading to salvation which I have mentioned, seems to lie, is placed in our power. We shall see this more easily if we first examine somewhat more carefully what power is. For since willing and being able are two things (so that neither is one who wills at once able, nor one who is able at once willing, since just as we sometimes will what we cannot do, so we sometimes can do what we do not will), it is clear enough, and it resounds in the very words, that will (uoluntas) takes its name from willing (uelle), and power (potestas) from being able (posse). Therefore, just as one who wills has will, so one who is able has power. But for something to be done by power, the will must be present. For no one is usually said to have done something by his power if he did it unwillingly. Although, if we observe more subtly, even what someone is compelled to do unwillingly, if he does it, he does it by will; but because he would prefer something else, he is therefore said to do it unwillingly, that is, not wanting to. For he is compelled by some evil to do it, and wishing to avoid or remove that evil from himself, he does what he is compelled to. For if the will is so strong that he would rather not do this than suffer that, he undoubtedly resists the one compelling him and does not do it. And therefore, if he does it, it is not indeed with a full and free will, but yet he does it only by will; and since the effect follows that will, we cannot say that power was lacking to the one who did it. For if, yielding to the one compelling him, he wished to do it and could not, we would say that the will, though extorted, was present, but the power was lacking. But when he did not do it because he did not will to, there was certainly power, but will was lacking, as long as he resisted the one compelling him and did not do it. Hence also those who compel or persuade usually say, “Why do you not do what you have in your power, so as to be free of this evil?” And those who cannot do at all what they are compelled to do because they are believed able, usually answer in excuse, “I would do it if it were in my power.” What more, then, do we seek, since we call power that in which the ability to act is joined to the will? Hence each one is said to have that in his power which he does if he wills and does not do if he does not will.

Consider now what we set out to examine, whether faith is in our power. For we are now speaking of the faith that we exercise when we believe something, not of that which we give when we promise something; for that too is called faith (fides). But we say in one sense, “He did not have faith in me,” and in another, “He did not keep faith with me.” The first means “he did not believe what I said,” the second “he did not do what he said.” According to the faith by which we believe, we are faithful to God; but according to that by which what is promised is done, God himself too is faithful to us. For this is what the apostle says: “God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able.” We are asking, then, about that faith by which we believe God or believe in God, whether it is in our power. For of this it is written, “Abraham believed, and it was counted to him for righteousness,” and, “To one who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” See now whether anyone believes if he does not will to, or does not believe if he wills to. If this is absurd (for what is believing but consenting that what is said is true? and consent certainly belongs to one who wills), then faith is certainly in our power. But, as the apostle says, “There is no power except from God.” Why, then, should it not be said to us about this too, “For what do you have that you did not receive?” For God has given us even to believe. But nowhere do we read in the holy Scriptures, “There is no will except from God.” And rightly it is not written, because it is not true; otherwise God would also be the author of sins (far be it!), if there were no will except from him, since an evil will alone is already sin, even if the effect is lacking, that is, if it does not have power. Moreover, when an evil will receives power to accomplish what it intends, this comes from the judgment of God, with whom there is no iniquity. For he punishes in this way too, and not unjustly because hiddenly. But the wicked man does not know he is being punished, unless by manifest punishment he unwillingly feels how much evil there is in what he willingly committed. This is what the apostle says of some: “God handed them over to the desires of their heart, to do what is not fitting.” Hence the Lord also said to Pilate, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.” But when power is given, necessity is certainly not imposed. Hence, when David had received power to kill Saul, he preferred to spare him rather than strike. From this we understand that the wicked receive power for the condemnation of their evil will, the good for the testing of their good will.

Since, then, faith is in our power, because each one believes when he wills and, when he believes, believes willingly, we must next ask, or rather recall, what faith the apostle commends with such great struggle. For not every believing is good; else where does that come from, “Brothers, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit that is from God”? Nor is what was said in the praises of charity, “It believes all things,” to be taken in such a way that we detract from anyone's charity if he does not at once believe what he has heard. What of the fact that the same charity warns us not easily to believe anything evil of a brother, and, when something of the kind is said, judges that it belongs to it rather not to believe? Finally, charity itself, which believes all things, does not believe every spirit; and so it believes all things indeed, but believes God, since it is not said, “It believes everyone.” There is no doubt, then, that the faith commended by the apostle is that by which God is believed.

But there is still something to be distinguished, since those too who are under the law and try to do their own righteousness from fear of punishment, and therefore do not do God's righteousness (because charity does it, which delights only in what is lawful, not fear, which is compelled to have in action what is lawful while it has something else in the will, by which it would prefer, if it could be done, that what is not lawful were lawful), those too, then, believe God; for if they did not believe at all, they would certainly not dread the penalty of the law either. But this is not the faith the apostle commends, who says, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption as sons, in which we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” That fear, then, is servile, and therefore in it, although the Lord is believed, righteousness is not loved, but condemnation is feared. But the sons cry, “Abba, Father.” Of these two words, one is from the circumcision and the other from the uncircumcision, the Jew first and the Greek; since there is one God, who justifies the circumcision from faith and the uncircumcision through faith. And when they cry, they ask for something; and what do they ask but what they hunger and thirst for? And what is this but what was said of them, “Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied”? Let those who are under the law pass over to this, then, so that from slaves they may become sons; yet not so as to cease being servants, but so that, as sons, they may serve the Lord and Father freely, since they have received this too; for the only Son gave to those who believe in his name the power to become sons of God, and he admonished them to ask, seek, knock, so that they may receive and find and it may be opened to them, adding a rebuke and saying, “If you, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Since, then, the law, the power of sin, has inflamed the sting of death, so that sin, taking occasion through the commandment, works all concupiscence, from whom is continence to be asked but from him who knows how to give good gifts to his children? Or does the foolish man perhaps not know that no one can be continent unless God gives it? To know this, then, he needs wisdom itself. Why, then, does he not hear the Spirit of his Father speaking through the apostle of Christ, or Christ himself, who says in his gospel, “Ask and you will receive,” speaking also in his apostle and saying, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and does not reproach, and it will be given him; but let him ask in faith, not hesitating at all”? This is the faith by which the righteous man lives; this is the faith by which one believes in him who justifies the ungodly; this is the faith through which boasting is excluded, either so that the boasting by which we are puffed up in ourselves departs, or so that the boasting by which we glory in the Lord stands out; this is the faith by which the bounty of the Spirit is obtained, of whom it is said, “For we by the Spirit, from faith, await the hope of righteousness.” Here, indeed, it can still be asked whether he meant the hope of righteousness which righteousness hopes for, or that by which righteousness itself is hoped for; since the righteous man, living by faith, certainly hopes for eternal life, and likewise faith, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, advances in it by the renewal of the inner man from day to day and hopes to be satisfied with it in eternal life, where will come about what is said of God in the psalm, “who satisfies your desire with good things.” This is the faith by which those are saved to whom it is said, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, but it is the gift of God; not from works, lest anyone be lifted up; for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God prepared that we should walk in them.” Finally, this is the faith which works through love, not through fear, not by dreading punishment but by loving righteousness. From where, then, does this love, that is, charity, through which faith works, come, if not from where faith itself obtained it? For it would not be in us, however great it is in us, unless it were poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For the charity of God is said to be poured out in our hearts, not that by which he loves us, but that by which he makes us lovers of him; just as the righteousness of God, by which we are made righteous by his gift; and the salvation of the Lord, by which he makes us saved; and the faith of Jesus Christ, by which he makes us faithful. This is the righteousness of God, which he not only teaches through the command of the law but also gives through the gift of the Spirit.

But it follows that we should ask a little whether that will by which we believe is itself also a gift of God, or is exercised from that free choice naturally implanted. For if we say that it is not a gift of God, we must fear lest we think we have found something with which we could answer the apostle when he rebukes us and says, “For what do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”: “Look, we have the will to believe, which we did not receive; look where we boast, in what we did not receive.” But if we say that even such a will is nothing but a gift of God, we must fear again lest unbelievers and the ungodly seem, not without reason, to excuse themselves as if justly, that they did not believe because God refused to give them this will. For what is said, “For it is God who works in us both to will and to work according to his good will,” already belongs to grace, which faith obtains, so that there may be good works of man, which faith works through love, which is poured out in the heart through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. But we believe in order to obtain this grace, and certainly we believe by will; and the question is where this comes to us from. If from nature, why not to all, since the same God is the creator of all? If by the gift of God, why is this too not given to all, since he wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth?

Let us first say this, then, and see whether it satisfies this question: that free choice, naturally assigned by the Creator to the rational soul, is that middle power which can either be directed toward faith or inclined toward unbelief; and therefore a man cannot be said to have even this will by which he believes God without having received it, since it arises, when God calls, from free choice, which he received naturally when he was created. And God wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, yet not in such a way as to take away from them free choice, by using which well or ill they may be most justly judged. When this happens, unbelievers indeed act against the will of God when they do not believe his gospel, yet they do not thereby overcome it, but defraud themselves of the great and highest good and entangle themselves in penal evils, to experience in punishments the power of him whose mercy in his gifts they despised. So the will of God is always unconquered; but it would be conquered if it did not find what to do with those who despise it, or if they could in any way escape what he has decreed for such people. For suppose someone says, for example, “I want all these servants of mine to work in the vineyard and, resting after their labor, to feast, so that whoever of them refuses this shall always grind in the mill.” Whoever despises this seems indeed to act against his master's will, but he will overcome it only if, despising the mill too, he escapes it, which can in no way happen under God's power. Hence it is written, “God has spoken once” (that is, unchangeably, although it can also be understood of the only Word). Then, adding what he spoke unchangeably, he says, “These two things I have heard: that power belongs to God, and to you, Lord, mercy, who will render to each according to his works.” He, then, who despised his mercy so as not to believe will be guilty unto condemnation under his power. But whoever believes and entrusts himself to him to be absolved from all sins, healed of all vices, kindled and enlightened by his warmth and light, will have good works from his grace, by which he may be redeemed even in body from the corruption of death, be crowned and satisfied with good things, not temporal but eternal, beyond what we ask or understand.

The psalm has kept this order, where it is said, “Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all his repayments: who is merciful to all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from corruption, who crowns you with pity and mercy, who satisfies your desire with good things.” And lest the deformity of this oldness, that is, of mortality, despair of such great goods, it says, “Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle's,” as if to say: these things you have heard belong to the new man and to the new covenant. Go over the same things with me a little, I beg you, and look with delight on the praise of mercy, that is, of the grace of God. “Bless the Lord, my soul,” it says, “and do not forget all his repayments”: not “attributions” but “repayments,” because he repays good for evil. “Who is merciful to all your iniquities”: this is done in the sacrament of baptism. “Who heals all your diseases”: this is done in this life of the faithful man, while the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, so that we do not do what we want, while another law in the members fights against the law of the mind, while to will is present but to accomplish the good is not; and these diseases of oldness, if we advance with persevering effort, are healed as newness grows from day to day, by faith which works through love. “Who redeems your life from corruption”: this takes place in the final resurrection of the dead. “Who crowns you with pity and mercy”: this takes place in the judgment, where, when the righteous king sits on his throne to render to each according to his works, who will boast that he has a chaste heart? Or who will boast that he is clean from sin? Therefore it was necessary to mention there the pity and mercy of the Lord, where debts could seem to be exacted and merits repaid in such a way that there would be no room for mercy. He crowns, then, with pity and mercy, but even so according to works. For he will be set apart at the right hand to whom it will be said, “I was hungry and you gave me to eat”; since “judgment without mercy” is for him “who has shown no mercy,” but “blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.” And when those on the left have gone into eternal burning, but the righteous into eternal life, since “this,” he says, “is eternal life, that they may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” by that knowledge, that sight, that contemplation, the soul's desire will be satisfied with good things. For this alone is enough for it; beyond this it has nothing to seek, to gape after, to require. For he was burning with desire for this satisfaction who said to the Lord Christ, “Show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” To whom it was answered, “He who has seen me has seen the Father too”; because this itself is eternal life, “that they may know the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” But if he who has seen the Son has seen the Father too, certainly he who sees the Father and the Son sees also the Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son. So we neither take away free choice, and our soul blesses the Lord, not forgetting all his repayments, nor, ignorant of the righteousness of God, does it wish to establish its own, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly and lives by faith until it is brought to sight; by faith, namely, which works through love. And this love is poured out in our hearts, neither through the sufficiency of our own will nor through the letter of the law, but through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.