Justification in the early church

How a person is made or declared righteous before God; faith and works. Part of Salvation.

1 Clement 10.6Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
1 Clement 16.12Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The righteous Servant will justify many.
1 Clement 30.3Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Be humble and self-controlled, justified by deeds, not words.
1 Clement 32.4Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · We are justified not by our own wisdom, piety, or works, but through faith.
To Diognetus 9.3Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · Only Christ's righteousness covers our sins.
To Diognetus 9.4Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · We are justified in the Son of God alone.
Dialogue with Trypho 23.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Abraham was justified by faith before circumcision, which was a sign, not righteousness.
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 35Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
On Proverbs, fragment 36Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Nothing we give God equals his gifts; no one living is justified before him, so we are saved by his love for mankind.
Against Marcion 5.3Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Paul's visit to Jerusalem, his yielding for a time to Jewish scruples, and his rebuke of Peter concerned only the law, and his teaching on faith, curse, and blessing belongs to the Creator, Abraham's God.
PG 12:1661 (Ps 141–142 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 142:4–7 (LXX 141) and Psalm 143:1–8 (LXX 142): snares laid for orthodox doctrine by heresies, Christ as Wisdom and the portion of the living, the soul's prison, and no one living justified before God.
Commentary on John 2.53Origen · ca. 230–248 · No creature is justified before God, since sharing in life or righteousness is never the same as being them.
Commentary on John 2.120Origen · ca. 230–248 · No one is justified before God, as no lamp shines before the sun, though each shines in the dark.
Commentary on John 2.122Origen · ca. 230–248 · Even all creatures' righteousness together cannot compare with God's.
Commentary on John 13.108Origen · ca. 230–248 · One God justifies Jews and Gentiles by faith, which establishes the law. Next lemma: John 4:23.
Commentary on John 20.391Origen · ca. 230–248 · They did not know the gift brings justification after many trespasses.
Commentary on Romans 3.2Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Paul confirms from Scripture that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, which Origen explains through the natural law that comes with the age of discernment; no one is righteous in God's sight except Christ, and Christians should fear being shamed by virtuous Gentiles.
Commentary on Romans 3.7Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · The 'righteousness of God manifested without the law' is Christ, revealed apart from natural law but witnessed by the spiritual sense of Moses and the prophets (Paul marks the law of Moses with the article); faith and the Scriptures together reveal it, and all, Jew and Gentile, are justified freely through the redemption of Christ's blood.
Commentary on Romans 3.9Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Paul concludes that boasting is excluded and a person is justified by faith without the works of the law, as the penitent thief and the sinful woman show; but faith received is no license to sin, works without faith cannot justify, and the only just boast is in the cross of Christ.
Commentary on Romans 3.10Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · There is one God of Jews and Gentiles, against those who separate the God of the Law from the God of the Gospel; Origen explains Paul's 'from faith' for the circumcision and 'through faith' for the uncircumcision by the distinction of prepositions, concluding that faith and good works complete each other.
Commentary on Romans 4.1Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Abraham's example shows that justification by faith has glory before God, who sees the heart, while justification by works has glory only before men or angels; true faith excludes continued sin and bears works as fruit from a root; Abraham's faith became perfect and was counted as righteousness, and the 'debt' Paul mentions is the debt of sin, since eternal life is grace.
Commentary on Romans 4.7Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Abraham's justification was written for us, who believe in the God who raised Jesus; raising Christ is greater than creating the world, and Abraham's offering of Isaac foreshadowed it; believing in the resurrection means rising with Christ to a new life, since faith cannot be counted as righteousness to one who holds on to sin; and all that is written of the patriarchs is written for us.
Commentary on Romans 4.10Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · God's love for sinners shows how much more he will save those reconciled; 'weak,' 'ungodly,' and 'sinners' cover every kind of sin; Christ alone, unlike legendary self-sacrificing heroes, took away the sin of the world by handing his blood to the ruler of this world; and his blood justifies even more than our faith, saving us from the wrath that consumes only earthly souls.
Commentary on Romans 7.20Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen explains that the Gentiles, who had righteousness implanted by natural law rather than pursued from books, reached the righteousness of faith, while Israel pursued the letter and missed the spiritual law, stumbling at Christ, who blocks the road of sin as he did for Paul.
Letter 63.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Melchizedek's offering of bread and wine prefigured Christ, priest after his order, who offered bread and the cup mixed with wine, his body and blood; the blessing of Abraham passes to all who believe.
Church History 1.4.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Abraham was declared righteous by faith before he was circumcised.
Church History 1.4.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed in him, speaking of those later justified by faith like him.
Church History 1.4.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Abraham, justified by faith and serving God by virtue rather than the later law, was the one in whom the nations would be blessed; this is fulfilled in Christians.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.8.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Abraham's faith was reckoned as righteousness, and the promise that all nations will be blessed is being fulfilled.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.6.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Abraham was counted righteous through faith.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.6.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · One God justifies Jew and Gentile by faith; the psalm may also refer to the second coming. The next heading introduces Psalm 107.
Demonstration 13.5Aphrahat · 337-345 · Noah was justified not by the sabbath but by keeping himself pure in a corrupt generation: he stayed unmarried until God spoke to him at five hundred, lest his children mingle with Cain's line.
Demonstration 13.8Aphrahat · 337-345 · Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph were justified by faith and uprightness, not by the sabbath.
Historical Fragments 2.1.2.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Faith justifies Abraham, saves the Canaanite woman's daughter, and gives birth from God.
Catechetical Lecture 5.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Abraham, justified by faith, believed God’s promise of a son and offered Isaac, trusting that God could raise the dead.
On Saint Athanasius 1.41Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Comparing Athanasius to Job and his accusers to Job's friends, Lucifer urges the emperor to seek prayer and baptism through Athanasius, and argues that Job, Abraham, Daniel and the three young men were justified by the same faith in Father, Son and Spirit that the church holds.
Tractates on the Psalms 59.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God's anger is that of a father, merciful in punishing: he destroyed the earthly temple, law, and kingdom but gave the heavenly city, justification by faith, and the kingdom of heaven.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Hilary distinguishes the book of the living, of those who kept the law, from the book of the righteous, of those justified by faith in Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 142.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · No living person can be justified if judged by God's standard, since passions and the devil's assaults beset us and drive us into the darkness of fleshly desires.
Commentary on Galatians 1.13Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Victorinus outlines Paul’s autobiographical argument in Gal 1–2, that he learned his gospel from no one, including his rebuke of Peter, whom he says James’s envoys had swayed, and then explains Paul’s former zeal in Judaism.
Commentary on Galatians 2.15Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul reminds Peter that even Jews believed in Christ because no one is justified by the works of the law, and faith alone gives justification and sanctification, so returning to Judaism is an error.
Commentary on Galatians 2.17Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · If believers who sought justification in Christ return to the law’s works, they become sinners as though Christ served sin, which must not be.
Commentary on Galatians 2.20Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Christ now lives in Paul, who lives in the flesh by faith in the Son of God who gave himself for him; to seek righteousness from the law would make Christ’s death pointless.
Commentary on Galatians 3.6Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · As Abraham’s faith was reckoned as righteousness, so those of faith are his sons, and the whole mystery of Christ seeks faith alone, by which life is reckoned as righteousness.
Commentary on Galatians 3.8Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Scripture foretold to Abraham that the Gentiles would be justified and blessed by faith as he was, so faith is everything, and those who rely on works are not blessed but cursed.
Commentary on Galatians 3.20Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · The law, which only judges deeds, is not a mediator, whereas Christ, the promised seed, is the one mediator who joins what was separated and frees the church held by the world, so justification is through him and not through the law.
Commentary on Galatians 3.21Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · The law is not against the promises, for it was not given to give life but to show and warn against sin, shutting all under sin so that the promise might come by faith in Christ, which alone suffices for justification.
Commentary on Galatians 3.23Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Before faith came, the law kept people from sin like a guard and served as a pedagogue until Christ, preparing them to receive justification by faith in him.
Commentary on Philippians 3.4Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul could boast in the flesh more than anyone, by circumcision, race, tribe, law, zeal, and blameless legal righteousness, yet counts it all loss for Christ, from whom Christians now have righteousness.
Commentary on Philippians 3.8Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul counts all his former advantages as loss and dung to gain Christ and be found in him, having not his own legal righteousness from works but the righteousness from God through faith in Christ.
Homilies 20.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Man fell by seeking false glory, and humility is his cure; wealth, office, bodily gifts and even human wisdom only puff up, while the true boast is to know God and be justified by faith in Christ.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul's praise and blame address two groups in one church; the grace given in Christ is that the believer is saved without works, by faith alone.
Commentary on Galatians 1:11–12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul's gospel came by revelation from the risen Christ; the law's carnal observances brought no merit, and the righteous live by faith.
Commentary on Galatians 2:15–16Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Even born Jews seek justification by faith in Christ, not by works of the law; the patriarchs too were justified by faith.
Commentary on Galatians 2:21Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · If the law could justify, Christ's death would be pointless; he died to give the forgiveness the law could not.
Commentary on Galatians 3:6Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Abraham was justified by believing, so the law was not given for justification.
Commentary on Galatians 3:12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The law justifies only before the world for this life; justification before God comes by faith; the law on the tablets is useful, the rest a burden.
Commentary on Galatians 3:17Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The law, given 430 years later, cannot void God's promise to Abraham; justification by the law would cancel both promise and faith, which even Jews would not admit.
Commentary on Galatians 5:5–6Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Justification is hoped for by faith through the Spirit, a faith that works through love, which fulfils the whole law.
Commentary on Philippians 3:8–11Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · All is loss compared to knowing Christ; righteousness from faith, not from the Law, suffices for salvation, and knowing Christ's incarnation, passion, and resurrection is the treasure of wisdom.
Commentary on Romans 1:17Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster explains God’s righteousness as his justifying the ungodly freely by faith, and “from faith to faith” as from God’s faithfulness in promising to the faith of the one who believes.
Commentary on Romans 3:19Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster says that all, Jews and gentiles, are guilty and need God’s mercy; no one is justified before God by the law, which gives a temporal righteousness, but by faith; and he distinguishes three parts of the law.
Commentary on Romans 3:21Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God’s righteousness, which forgives those the law condemned, came without the ceremonial law but was foretold by it; it is called righteousness because God keeps his promise.
Commentary on Romans 3:24Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Believers are justified freely by faith alone, through Christ’s redemption, by which the devil, seizing Christ, lost all whom he held.
Commentary on Romans 3:26Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God showed his righteousness by keeping his long-promised purpose to forgive sins through Christ, for gentiles as well as Jews, justifying the one who believes.
Commentary on Romans 4:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Keeping the law is a debt imposed by necessity and earns no glory before God, but faith is free and is rewarded, as Abraham’s was.
Commentary on Romans 4:6Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster takes David’s blessedness to refer to the forgiveness given without works in baptism, where the apostle adds justification and adoption as sons.
Commentary on Romans 4:9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Abraham was reckoned righteous before circumcision, which he received only as a sign of his faith, so that he is father of believing gentiles; the promised seed is Christ, of whom Isaac was a figure.
Commentary on Romans 4:23–25Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Abraham’s faith is a pattern for those who believe in the God who raised Jesus; through Christ’s death and resurrection believers are forgiven, justified and adopted as sons of God.
Commentary on Romans 5:18Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · As those who sinned like Adam were condemned, so those who believe are justified through Christ; neither is universal.
Commentary on Romans 8:10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The body of one whom the Holy Spirit leaves through sin is dead, but the Spirit, given to the baptized for justification, is life and cannot die.
Commentary on Romans 9:29–30Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The “seed” left by God is Christ, without whom Israel would have perished like Sodom; the gentiles, who did not seek the law’s righteousness, attained the greater righteousness of faith in Christ.
Question 44, section 5Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Under the new covenant, sealed by blood like the old but with few precepts, believers keep no sabbath, new moons, circumcision, or food laws, being justified by faith like Abraham.
Question 44, section 6Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Enoch, Noah, and Abraham were righteous without the law; Abraham was justified by faith before circumcision, which marks only his physical descendants.
Question 44, section 9Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Israel’s ceremonial precepts were “not good” commands imposed as punishment for rebellion (Ezek 20); the new covenant abolishes them, though not the natural law, and justifies by faith as in Abraham’s time.
Question 117, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Abraham was justified for believing God’s promise of countless descendants, something the world thought impossible and foolish.
Letter 21.34Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome argues that the elder son's claim never to have disobeyed is a boast like the Pharisee's, and that the father's reply implies mercy, not approval.
Letter 116.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine interprets James's advice in Acts 21 as meant to show that Paul did not condemn the law as sacrilegious, while he taught that salvation comes by grace, not by the law's rites.
Book of Rules 3Tyconius · ca. 380 · Tyconius’s third rule: the promise (given by faith) and the law (given to multiply sin and drive men to grace) never contradict each other; the righteous of old were justified by faith through the Spirit, and the promises to Abraham’s seed are firm because God foreknew those who would believe, while the church contains both sons of promise and sons of the slave woman.
Ancoratus 69.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Justification comes from both Christ and the Spirit.
On Cain and Abel 1.34Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Humility commends prayer: the tax collector, not the boastful Pharisee, was justified; the proud like Pharaoh and the Assyrian were cast down, while the grateful, like Jacob and the Samaritan leper, give God the credit.
Book of Heresies 8.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Nazoreans hold that justification lies in carnal observance.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 55Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Believers are saved by faith in Christ, not by the law, and are free from slavery and from distinction of sexes.
Second Apology of David 32Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · David’s sin served a purpose: through it the mysteries of the church appear, and he is justified by faith, not works.
Apology of the Prophet David 3Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · God himself has justified David and repeatedly praised him, so no one should sit in judgment on him.
Apology of the Prophet David 55Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Confession of sin justifies God and the penitent is justified by him, as with the tax collectors baptized by John.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 1.17Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · The mind, though good, cannot master the flesh by the law alone; it needs Christ, who nailed our passions to the cross and justified us by his death.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 1.21Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · The law helped by bringing confession of sin, so that one glories not in one's works but in Christ, who redeemed and forgave.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 1.26Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · God who predestined, called, justified, and glorified will not abandon his own, and Christ the judge is also our advocate; nothing should separate us from him.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.9Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Esau's robe given to Jacob signifies the Old Testament given to the Christian people, who are justified by faith rather than works.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.10.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Whoever confesses his sins to God is justified and need not fear repayment.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.34.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The law justifies only in appearance, yet the prophet keeps gratitude to it as to a useful tutor.
Letter 82.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues from James’s advice in Acts 21 that Paul kept the rites to refute the slander that he condemned the law as sacrilegious, not to teach that they were needed for salvation.
Letter 121.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paulinus contrasts the proud Pharisee with the humble tax collector, and righteousness from the law with the righteousness of faith reckoned to Abraham.
Letter 140.50Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ's words about the centurion foretold the grafting of humble Gentiles and the breaking off of those who, seeking their own righteousness, refused the grace of the promise and go into the outer darkness.
Letter 140.71Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The 'righteousness of God' announced is the righteousness he gives to the saints by free grace, not their own; good works follow justification and do not precede it.
Letter 140.72Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God's righteousness, like his salvation, is that which he gives to those he justifies and saves by grace through baptism; pride, trusting in one's own works, is its opposite.
Letter 140.73Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The grace of the New Testament is the righteousness given to believers: Christ was made 'sin', a sacrifice for sin, so that in his body the church we might be God's righteousness, made righteous by him.
Letter 177.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Scripture uses “grace” for the grace that justifies by faith in Christ, not for the grace of creation.
Letter 177.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Righteousness comes only from faith in Christ the one mediator, who remade fallen human nature.
Letter 186.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Those who claim merit by their own will repeat carnal Israel's error of seeking righteousness by works, whereas true righteousness comes from God through faith.
Letter 186.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The righteousness of the law is called a man's own because the law commands without helping, while the righteousness of God is given through faith in Christ.
Letter 194.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Pelagians want some merit to precede grace, but God's mercy and truth meet so that the saved have no merit before being freely justified, though the righteous then have merits.
Letter 196.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paul taught in Galatians that Christians, especially Gentiles, must not Judaize, since justification is by faith in Christ.
Letter 196.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Not only the ceremonial works of the law but even its moral command 'You shall not covet' does not justify without faith in Christ, as Rom 7 shows.
On Fleeing the World 14Ambrose · ca. 387-391 · Paul’s Letter to the Romans sets out the same six refuges: image, creation, royal judgment, goodness, and law.
On Joseph 48Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The brothers pleading at the door figure those who seek justification by works rather than grace; the believer is not shamed at the gate of death.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.73.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · No one is justified before God, though man, made in his image, ought to be sinless.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.14.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is Lord and God; salvation comes by God’s command and through faith, not works, lest anyone boast.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.48.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Whoever is redeemed is redeemed freely by grace, not by the merit of works.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.48.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Israel did not obtain what it sought because it sought to justify itself by works; the elect, who received grace, obtained it.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.57.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Sinai, the “wage”, stands for justification by works; the free Jerusalem above, like Sarah, has freedom.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.68.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · No one is justified by works of the law; all must flee to the blessing in Christ, who did not desert the synagogue and redeemed us.
Tractates on Matthew 3.5Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, which is faith in Christ and Christ himself, will be filled, unlike those who hunger for wealth.
Sermon 2.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Abraham's faith and work both pleased God; Paul's "justified by faith without works" is shown by the dying believer and the thief, while true faith works through love in the heart.
Sermon 36.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We should come as beggars to God, who alone makes us rich; the tax collector who confessed his poverty went home justified, while the Pharisee, who thought himself rich, asked for nothing.
Sermon 49.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The work of the vineyard is justice, and justice is believing in Christ, for “the just lives by faith”; Augustine, a fellow laborer, cannot see hearts, but God who hired us can.
Sermon 54.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who let their works be seen while counting their justice as God’s gift keep both commands; Paul pleased people not for himself but for their salvation.
Sermon 129.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s words to the Jews apply to us too: the leaven of the Pharisees is seeking glory from one another and establishing one’s own righteousness instead of God’s.
Sermon 129.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The risen Christ himself foretold both his resurrection and the preaching of repentance to all nations; the Donatists, who say “I sanctify, I justify,” establish their own righteousness instead of God’s.
Sermon 135.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The healed man’s saying “God does not hear sinners” was mistaken, as the justified tax collector shows; the man still needed his heart’s eyes opened, which happened when he believed in the Son of God.
Sermon 143.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ had to depart bodily so that we might believe spiritually; this faith in the unseen, risen mediator is the righteousness by which the world, which believes only what it sees, is convicted.
Sermon 158.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We are already predestined and called; justification we have in part, through baptism and faith, yet the struggle with sin remains, so no one may say he is without sin.
Sermon 160.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Jews sought their own righteousness by their own strength; Christ justifies the ungodly by faith, and even self-restraint is God's gift, since a sick soul cannot heal itself.
Sermon 169.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “We are the circumcision” means “we are righteousness,” not our own but God's, given to us in Christ, who did not grasp at equality with God but emptied himself to make us rich.
Sermon 169.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · True circumcision is done by Christ the rock, risen on the eighth day, the Lord's day; justification is from grace, which goes before all merit, as God saves “for nothing.”
Sermon 169.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine states the difficulty: the Law is holy and from God, yet Paul counted his righteousness under it as dung and called it “my own righteousness from the Law” in contrast to righteousness from God through faith.
Sermon 169.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Saul persecuted the Church because he sought his own righteousness from the Law by his own strength, stumbling over Christ the humble stone, until Christ called to him in mercy from heaven.
Sermon 169.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Struck down and healed, Paul rejected his own righteousness for God's; Israel stumbled over Christ, and Paul prays for their conversion, which itself needs God's help, since they had zeal without knowledge.
Sermon 169.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · One must not build one's own righteousness, even from the Law, but receive it from God as a garment; Christians who disparage grace stumble over Christ more gravely than those who crucified him.
Sermon 169.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The “power of Christ's resurrection” is not only the raising of his flesh, which ours will even surpass by rising from ashes, but our justification, the true circumcision by Christ the rock.
Sermon 169.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Justification is wholly from God, yet not without our will: God made us without our consent, but he does not justify us without it; still the righteousness is his, not ours.
Sermon 170.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Since no one alive can fulfil “You shall not desire,” the Psalmist asks to be heard in God's righteousness, not his own, and not to be judged, for no one living is justified in God's sight, though one may be in men's.
Sermon 185.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Psalm 85:11 is read of Christmas: Truth from the earth is Christ born of Mary, and righteousness from heaven is God's gift of justification, not our own achievement.
Sermon 185.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Romans 5:1–2 and Psalm 85 agree: our peace and glory come from Christ, God's gift of grace, not from any merit of ours.
Sermon 236.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ was handed over for our offenses and rose for our justification: in his death our sin dies, and in his resurrection our righteousness rises.
Sermon 292.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who claim ‘I justify you’ in baptism in effect say ‘I am the Christ’; but only the one in whom we believe, who justifies the ungodly, justifies, and no minister dares say ‘believe in me’.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers Faustus’s charge against the prophets’ lives by pointing to Abraham, justified by faith and set by Paul as an example for believers.
On the Trinity 13.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine raises the question how we are justified by Christ's blood if the Father already loved us before the world was made, and affirms that Father, Son, and Spirit act together.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 8.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Man is justified and enlightened only as long as he remains turned to God, as air is bright only while light is present; we are God's handiwork, saved by grace.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 26.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Jews did not hunger for the bread from heaven because they trusted their own righteousness; Christ is God's righteousness, given by grace, and to believe in him is to eat the living bread.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 72.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Since every believer is said to do Christ's works, those works must be the justification of the ungodly, which Christ works in us but not without us.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 72.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Justifying the ungodly may be a greater work than creating the world, for it shows greater mercy; and the "greater works" may be measured against Christ's words of that hour.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.18Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Paul speaks of Christ's “justification,” which Christ alone gives and which cannot be imitated, so that Adam's offense likewise passes by propagation, not imitation.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.19Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · If imitation were Paul's point, Abel or Judas would be paired with Adam; rather, Adam gives sin by carnal generation to all men, as Christ gives righteousness by spiritual regeneration to all the righteous.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.43Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Texts from Romans on justification by grace, Christ's death for the ungodly, the struggle of Romans 7, and the likeness of sinful flesh show that all are born needing grace.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.16Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Though Scripture says Job did not sin with his lips, God later rebuked him; seeing Christ's sinless righteousness, Job despised himself, as Paul counted his own legal righteousness as dung.
On the Christian Life 13Fastidius · ca. 411-430 · Against those who hold that faith alone saves without works of righteousness, the author argues from both Testaments that God condemns sin, and that Paul's "works of the law" are ceremonial works, not righteousness.
On the Spirit and the Letter 7Augustine of Hippo · 412 · Augustine proposes to show that “the letter kills” refers to the law without the Spirit, and that righteousness is God's work in the human will.
On the Spirit and the Letter 15Augustine of Hippo · 412 · The righteousness of God revealed in Rom 3:21–24 is not God's own righteousness but the righteousness he gives, freely by grace through faith, healing the will to fulfill the law.
On the Spirit and the Letter 18Augustine of Hippo · 412 · True wisdom is godliness, which gives thanks to God rather than claiming righteousness for oneself; the righteousness of God in Rom 1:17 is the righteousness God gives.
On the Spirit and the Letter 21Augustine of Hippo · 412 · The difference between the law of works and the law of faith is not that between Judaism and Christianity, since the gospel too says “You shall not covet.”
On the Spirit and the Letter 22Augustine of Hippo · 412 · The law of works commands, “Do what I command”; the law of faith prays, “Give what you command”; justification is by faith and free grace, not by the merits of deeds.
On the Spirit and the Letter 31Augustine of Hippo · 412 · Paul calls the law the ministry of death and the gospel the ministry of the Spirit and righteousness; he preaches grace received by mercy, and “the righteousness of God” is the righteousness God gives.
On the Spirit and the Letter 44Augustine of Hippo · 412 · Following Paul's argument in Rom 1–2, Augustine argues that the gentiles with the law written on their hearts are gentile believers who belong to the gospel.
On the Spirit and the Letter 45Augustine of Hippo · 412 · “The doers of the law will be justified” means that justification makes people doers of the law, or that they will be counted righteous; it does not mean justification by works.
On the Spirit and the Letter 50Augustine of Hippo · 412 · Righteousness comes from Christ's gifts, not the law; Israel failed not because of ceremonies but because it claimed to fulfill God's moral commands by its own power.
On the Spirit and the Letter 51Augustine of Hippo · 412 · The law's promise of life is fulfilled only by the justified, and justification comes from faith, which obtains the Spirit's sweetness so that one acts from love rather than fear.
City of God 10.25Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine teaches that the righteous of old were justified by faith in the mystery of Christ, and expounds Psalm 73 to show that man's good is to cleave to God and hope in him with the angels.
City of God 16.23Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · God promised Abraham descendants like the stars; Abraham believed and was justified by faith before circumcision, as Paul argues.
On Faith and Works 21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Paul's teaching that we are justified by faith without works of the law was misread as licence; true saving faith works through love, and the other apostles wrote against faith without works.
On Nature and Grace 1Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine answers the book Timasius and James sent him (Pelagius' On Nature), warning that its zeal for human responsibility undermines the righteousness that comes only by the grace of Christ.
On Nature and Grace 47Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine argues that if nature and free choice sufficed to know and do the good, Christ would have died in vain, and applies Galatians 5:4 to those who seek to be justified by nature.
On Nature and Grace 48Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine rejects Pelagius' limiting of “all have sinned” to Paul's contemporaries and explains that “all” in Romans 5:18 means that no one is justified except through Christ.
On Man's Perfection in Righteousness 38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 415 · Zechariah and Elizabeth were blameless, not sinless, since the priest offered sacrifice for his own sins; Ps 143:2 asks for mercy because no one will be found perfectly righteous in this life.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine answers Julian's charge that Catholics call the apostles slaves of lust, and begins examining Romans 7, first showing from Paul that the law reveals sin but only grace removes it.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine answers the charge about the Old Testament law: the law makes people hearers of righteousness, but only grace makes them doers.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine distinguishes the righteousness 'from the law', a man's own, from the righteousness of God given by the Spirit of grace, which alone fulfills the law.
On Grace and Free Will 10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 426 · The law gives knowledge of sin, not deliverance; without grace it works wrath, and no one is justified by works of the law.
On Grace and Free Will 12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 426 · Those who rely on the law without grace seek their own righteousness, not the righteousness that man receives from God through faith in Christ.
Chapter 10Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 432-433 · Prosper answers Cassian's appeal to Rom 2:14 by arguing that Paul means gentiles renewed by grace, and that the natural wisdom of pagans serves earthly life but cannot justify.