and having the work of the law written in their hearts, he wished those to be understood who believe in Christ — because they do not, like the Jews, come to faith with the law set before them — there is no reason why we should try to distinguish them from those to whom the Lord, promising through the prophet the New Testament, said that he would write his laws in their hearts; because they too, through the ingrafting which he says was granted to the wild olive, belong to the same olive tree, that is, to the same people of God; and this apostolic testimony even accords the better with the prophetic. So that this is to belong to the New Testament: to have the law of God not on tablets,
but written in hearts — that is, to embrace the righteousness of the law with inmost affection, where faith works through love, because God justifies the Gentiles by faith, which the Scripture foreseeing announced beforehand to Abraham, saying: 'In thy seed shall all nations be blessed'; so that through this grace of promise the wild olive might be grafted into the olive, and the believing Gentiles might become sons of Abraham in the seed of Abraham, which is Christ, following his faith — who, not having received the law on tablets, and not yet having circumcision itself, believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. And so this that the Apostle said of Gentiles of this kind — that they have the work of the law written in their hearts — will be such as that saying to the Corinthians:
'not in tablets of stone, but in the fleshly tablets of the heart.' For thus they become of the house of Israel, when their uncircumcision is counted for circumcision, in that they show the righteousness of the law not by the cutting of the flesh but keep it by the charity of the heart; since 'if the uncircumcision keep the righteousnesses of the law, shall not,' he says, 'his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?' And therefore in the house of the true Israel, in whom there is no guile, they are partakers of the New Testament, because God puts his laws into their mind and writes them in their hearts with his finger, the Holy Spirit, by whom charity is there poured abroad, which is the fullness of the law. Nor let it disturb you that he said they by nature do the things of the law — not by the Spirit of God, not by faith, not by grace.
For the Spirit of grace does this, that it may restore in us the image of God, in which we were made by nature. For vice is against nature, which grace assuredly heals, for the sake of which it is said to God: 'Have mercy on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.' Accordingly men by nature do the things of the law; for those who do not do them fail to do them by their own vice. By which vice the law of God is blotted out from hearts; and therefore, when the vice is healed, when it is written there, the things of the law are done by nature — not that grace is denied through nature, but rather that nature is repaired through grace. For 'by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so it passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.'
And therefore, because there is no distinction, they come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace. By which grace, in the inner man being renewed, righteousness is written, which guilt had blotted out; and this is the mercy upon the human race through Jesus Christ our Lord. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
But if these, who by nature do the things of the law, are not yet to be counted in the number of those whom the grace of Christ justifies, but rather in the number of those — even of the ungodly, who do not truly, justly, and rightly worship the true God — whose certain deeds we nevertheless either read of, or know of, or have heard of, which according to the rule of righteousness we not only cannot blame, but even deservedly and rightly praise — although, if it be examined to what end they are done, scarcely are found any that would merit the praise and defence due to righteousness.
Yet, because the image of God is not so utterly worn away in the human soul by the stain of earthly affections that no faint outlines of it, as it were, remain — whence it may deservedly be said that even in the very ungodliness of its life it does or discerns something of the law, if this is what is meant by 'the Gentiles, which have not the law,' that is, the law of God, 'do by nature the things of the law,' and 'such men are a law unto themselves and have the work of the law written in their hearts,' that is, that which was impressed there through the image of God when they were created is not blotted out in every way — even so, that difference will not be thrown into confusion, by which the New Testament differs from the Old, in that through the New the law of God is written in the heart of the faithful, which through the Old was written on tablets.
For that is written there by renewal which was not in every way blotted out by decay. For as the image of God itself is renewed in the mind of believers through the New Testament — which ungodliness had not wholly abolished, for there had assuredly remained that which the soul of man cannot but be, namely rational — so also there the law of God, not blotted out in every part by unrighteousness, is assuredly written renewed through grace. Nor could the law written on tablets effect in the Jews this writing, which is justification, but only transgression. For they too were men, and that force of nature was in them by which the rational creature perceives and does something lawful;
but piety, which transfers to another life, blessed and eternal, has an unspotted law converting souls, that from that light they may be renewed, and there may be brought to pass in them: 'The light of thy countenance is sealed upon us, O Lord'; from which, being turned away, they deserved to grow dim; but they cannot be renewed except by Christian grace, that is, except by the intercession of the Mediator. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. And if those of whom we treat, who in that manner of which we have said enough above do by nature the things of the law, are strangers to his grace, what will it profit them that their thoughts excuse them in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men,
unless perhaps that they may be more mildly punished? For as certain venial sins, without which this life is not led, do not hinder the just man from eternal life, so certain good works profit the ungodly nothing toward eternal salvation, without which the life of any even the most wicked man is hardly to be found. But yet, as in the kingdom of God the saints differ in glory as star from star, so also in the damnation of everlasting punishment it shall be more tolerable for Sodom than for another city, and there shall be some who are twice more the children of Gehenna than certain others. Thus neither will that be void in the judgment of God, that in the very damnable ungodliness one has sinned more or less than another. What then did the Apostle wish to accomplish hereby, in that, restraining the boasting of the Jews, when he had said:
'not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified,' and immediately subjoined concerning those who, not having the law, by nature do the things of the law — if these are not to be understood as those who belong to the grace of the Mediator, but rather those who, while they do not worship the true God with true piety, nevertheless have certain good works in an ungodly life?
Or perhaps he thought this very thing to be proved by what he had said above, namely that there is no respect of persons with God, and by what he said afterward, that God is the God not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles; for the works of the law, however small, naturally implanted, 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 be accepted, it stands firm that the grace of God was promised in the New Testament even through the prophet, and that this same grace was there defined, namely that the laws of God should be written in the hearts of men, and that they should come to that knowledge of God where no one shall teach his fellow-citizen or his brother, saying:
'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Him from the least of them to the greatest. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which love is poured forth in our hearts; not any love whatever, but the love of God out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned, whereby the just man, living in this pilgrimage, is brought also to the vision that comes after the mirror and the riddle and whatever was in part, so that he may know face to face, even as he also is known. For one thing he asks of the Lord, and this he seeks after, that he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life—to this end, that he may contemplate the delight of the Lord.
Let no one therefore glory in what he seems to have, as though he had not received it, nor let him think that he has received it merely because the letter appeared outwardly to be read or sounded aloud to be heard. For if righteousness is by the law, then Christ died in vain. But if He did not die in vain, He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men. Thence has whoever has: but whoever denies that he has it from thence either has it not, or that which he has shall be taken away from him. For there is one God who justifies the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith; which was not said to mark any difference, as though 'by 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: 'The Scripture, foreseeing that God justifies the Gentiles by faith.' And again, when he was speaking of the circumcision, from which he himself was: 'We,' he says, 'who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ, we also have believed in Christ Jesus.' Behold, he said that the uncircumcision is justified by faith and the circumcision through faith—if indeed the circumcision holds fast the righteousness of faith. For thus the Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, laid hold of righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith—by obtaining it from God, not by presuming upon themselves;
but Israel, following after the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law. Why? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works, that is, as though working it by their very selves, not believing that God works it in them. For it is God who works in us both to will and to work, for His good will. And thus they stumbled at the stone of stumbling. For what he meant by saying 'not by faith, but as it were by works' he set forth most plainly, saying: 'For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and wishing to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to everyone that believes.'
And do we still doubt what those works of the law are by which a man is not justified, if he believes he does them as his own, without the help and gift of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ? And do we suspect that it means circumcision and other such things, because in other passages certain such things are read concerning these sacraments? But here surely it was not circumcision that they were unwilling to establish as their own righteousness, since God Himself established that by commanding it. Nor can it be understood of those works of which the Lord says to them: 'You reject the commandment of God that you may establish your own traditions'; because he says, 'Israel, following after the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law'—he did not say 'following after their own traditions,' that is, 'pursuing them.'
This, then, is the sole distinction: that they attributed to themselves the very 'You shall not covet' and the other holy and just commandments. In order that a man may be able to do these, God works in the man through faith in Jesus Christ, who is the end unto righteousness to everyone that believes—that is, in whom, being incorporated by the Spirit and made His member, each one is able, God granting increase inwardly, to work righteousness. Of whose works He Himself also said, 'Without me you can do nothing.' For therefore is the righteousness of the law set forth—that he who does it shall live in it—so that when each one has recognized his own weakness, he may attain to it and do it and live in it, not by his own strength nor by the letter of the law itself (which cannot be done), but by faith making the Justifier gracious to him.
For the work which he who does it shall live in it is not done except by one who has been justified. But justification is obtained by faith, of which it is written: 'Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven?—that is, to bring Christ down; or, Who shall descend into the abyss?—that is, to bring Christ up again from the dead. But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This,' he says, 'is the word of faith which we preach; for if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.' In so far just, in so far saved. For by this faith we believe that God will also raise us from the dead:
first in the spirit, that in the newness of His grace we may live temperately and justly and piously in this present age; afterward also in our flesh, which is to rise again unto immortality—a benefit which the Spirit confers upon it, the Spirit which goes before it in a resurrection suited to itself, that is, in justification. For we have been buried together with Christ by baptism into death, that as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. Therefore by faith in Jesus Christ we obtain salvation, both as much as is begun in us in reality, and as much as is awaited to be perfected in hope. For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
'How great is the multitude of Your sweetness, O Lord,' says the psalm, 'which You have hidden for those who fear You, and have perfected for those who hope in You!' Out of the law we fear God; out of faith we hope in God; but from those who fear the punishment the grace is hidden. Under which fear the soul, laboring—when it has not conquered evil concupiscence, nor has that fear as a stern guardian departed—let it through faith flee to the mercy of God, that He may give what He commands, and by the sweetness of grace breathed in through the Holy Spirit may make what He enjoins to delight more than what impedes gives delight.
Thus the great multitude of His sweetness—that is, the law of faith, His love written in hearts and poured abroad—is perfected in those who hope in Him, so that the soul, being healed, may work good not from fear of punishment but from love of righteousness. Do we then make void free will through grace? God forbid! Rather we establish free will. For just as the law is not made void but established through faith, so free will is not made void but established through grace. For neither is the law fulfilled except by free will. But through the law comes the knowledge of sin; through faith the obtaining of grace against sin; through grace the healing of the soul from the vice of sin; through the health of the soul freedom of choice; through free choice the love of righteousness; through the love of righteousness the working of the law.
And thus, just as the law is not made void but established through faith—because faith obtains the grace by which the law is fulfilled—so free will is not made void but established through grace, because grace heals the will, by which righteousness is freely loved. All these things which I have linked together as it were in a chain have their own 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: 'Behold, you are made whole; sin no more, lest something worse befall you.' Health says: 'O Lord my God, I cried out to You, and You have healed me.' Free will says: 'Willingly will I sacrifice to You.' The love of righteousness says:
'The unrighteous have told me of delights, but not as Your law, O Lord.' Why then do wretched men dare to be proud, whether of free will before they are set free, or of their own strength if they are now set free? And they do not notice that in the very name of free choice there sounds surely liberty; but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If then they are slaves of sin, why do they boast of free will? For by whom a man is overcome, to him is he also bound as a slave. But if they have been set free, why do they boast as of a work of their own, and glory as though they had not received it? Or are they so free that they will not even have Him as Lord who says to them: 'Without me you can do nothing,' and: 'If the Son shall set you free,
then you shall be truly free'? Someone will ask whether faith itself, in which the beginning of this connection of salvation, or unto salvation, which I have recounted, seems to lie, is placed within our own power. This we shall see more easily if we first examine somewhat more diligently what power is. For since 'to will' and 'to be able' are two distinct things—whence neither does he who wills at once have the power, nor does he who is able at once will, because just as we sometimes will what we cannot, so also we sometimes are able to do what we do not will—it is quite clear, and echoes even in the very words, that 'will' takes its name from 'to will,' and 'power' from 'to be able.' Wherefore, just as he who wills has will, so he who is able has power.
But in order that something may be done by power, the will must be present. For no one is usually said to have done something by power if he did it unwillingly. And yet, if we observe more subtly, even what anyone is compelled to do unwillingly, if he does it, he does it by will; but because he would prefer something else, therefore he is said to do it unwillingly, that is, unwilling. For he is compelled by some evil to do what, unwilling to avoid or remove it from himself, he does under compulsion. For if his will were so great that he would rather not do this than not suffer that, without doubt he resists the one compelling and does not do it. And thus, if he does it, indeed not with full and free will, yet he does it only by will; and since the effect follows this will, we cannot say that power was lacking to the doer.
For if, yielding to the one compelling him, he wished to do it but could not, we should say that will was present to him, albeit extorted, but that power was lacking. But when he did not do it because he did not will—there was certainly power, but will was lacking, so long as by resisting the one compelling he did not do it. Hence it is that even those who compel or persuade are wont to say: 'What you have in your power, why do you not do it, that you may be rid of this evil?' And those who are altogether unable to do what they are compelled to do—because they are believed to be able—are wont to answer by way of excuse and say: 'I would do it if it were in my power.' What then do we seek further, since indeed we call this 'power,' where the faculty of doing lies close to the will?
Whence each one is said to have that in his power which, if he wills, he does, and if he does not will, he does not do. Now attend to that which we set forth as to be examined: whether faith is in our power. For we now speak of that faith which we employ when we believe something, not that which we give when we promise something; for this too is called faith. But we say in one way, 'He did not keep faith with me,' and in another, 'He did not keep faith with me': for the one is 'he did not believe what I said,' the other 'he did not do what he said.' According to the faith by which we believe, we are faithful to God; but according to that faith by which is done what is promised, even God Himself is faithful to us. For the apostle says this: 'God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able.'
Concerning that faith, then, we ask whether it is in our power—the faith by which we believe God, or believe in God. For hence it is written: 'Abraham believed, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness'; and: 'To him who believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.' See now whether anyone believes if he is unwilling, or does not believe if he is willing. But if this is absurd—for what is it to believe but to consent that what is said is true? and consent is surely the act of one willing—then assuredly faith is in our power. But, as the apostle says, 'there is no power except from God.' What reason, then, is there why it should not be said to us of this also: 'For what do you have that you did not receive?' For even that we may believe, God has given.
But nowhere do we read in the Holy Scriptures: 'There is no will except from God.' And rightly is it not written, because it is not true; otherwise God would even be the author of sins—which be far from Him!—if there were no will except from Him, since an evil will alone is already sin, even if the effect be wanting, that is, if it has not the power. Furthermore, when an evil will receives power to accomplish what it intends, it comes from the judgment of God, with whom there is no iniquity. For He punishes even in this way, and not therefore unjustly because secretly. Yet the wicked man is ignorant that he is being punished, except when he perceives with manifest torment, unwilling, how great is the evil that he perpetrated willingly. This is what the apostle says concerning certain men:
'God gave them up to the lusts of their heart, that they might do what is not fitting.' Hence also the Lord to Pilate: 'You would have,' He says, 'no power over me, unless it were given you from above.' But when power is given, necessity is surely not imposed. Whence, when David had received the power of killing Saul, he chose rather to spare than to strike. Whence we understand that the wicked receive power unto the condemnation of their evil will, but the good unto the approbation of their good will. Since therefore faith is in our power—because when anyone wills he believes, and when he believes he believes willingly—the next thing to be inquired, or rather to be recalled, is what faith the apostle commends with so great a struggle. For it is not good to believe anything whatever; for whence comes that saying:
'Brethren, believe not every spirit, but test the spirit whether it is of God'? Nor is that which is said in the praises of charity—'it believes all things'—to be so understood that we detract from anyone's charity if he does not straightway believe what he has heard. What of the fact that the same charity admonishes us that we should not easily believe any evil about a brother, and, when any such thing is said, judges that this rather pertains to itself—not to believe it? Finally, charity itself, which believes all things, does not believe every spirit; and thus indeed it believes all things, but believes God, because it was not said, 'It believes all men.' Therefore it is doubtful to no one that the faith commended by the apostle is that by which God is believed.
But there is still something to be distinguished. For even those who are under the law and, from fear of punishment, try to work their own righteousness—and therefore do not work the righteousness of God, because charity works it, to which nothing is pleasing except what is lawful, not fear, which is compelled to have in its deed what is lawful, while it has something else in its will by which it would prefer, if it could be, that what is not lawful were lawful—they too then believe God; for if they did not believe at all, they would surely not dread the penalty of the law. But the apostle does not commend this faith, who says: 'For you have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, in whom we cry: Abba, Father.' That fear, then, is servile, and therefore in it, though the Lord be believed,
yet righteousness is not loved, but condemnation is feared. But the sons cry: Abba, Father. Of which two words, one is from the circumcision, the other from the uncircumcision—the Jew first and the Greek—since there is one God who justifies the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. But when they cry, they ask something; and what do they ask but what they hunger and thirst for? And what is this but that which was said of them: 'Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness, for they shall be filled'? Hither, therefore, let those pass who are under the law, that from slaves they may become sons—yet not so as to cease to be slaves, but so that, as sons, they may serve the Lord and Father freely, because this also they have received;
for that only-begotten One gave power to become sons of God to those who believe in His name, and admonished them to ask, seek, and knock, that they might receive and find and it might be opened to them, adding a rebuke and saying: 'If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask Him!' When therefore the power of sin, the law, has kindled the sting of death, so that, occasion being taken, sin through the commandment works all manner of concupiscence, from whom is continence to be sought 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 grants it? That he may know this, then, he stands in need of 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 shall receive'? speaking also in His apostle and saying: 'If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and does not reproach, and it shall be given him; but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting.' This is the faith by which the just man lives; this is the faith by which is believed in Him who justifies the ungodly; this is the faith through which boasting is excluded—whether so that the boasting by which we are puffed up in ourselves may depart, or so that the boasting by which we glory in the Lord may stand out; this is the faith by which is obtained the bounty of the Spirit, of which it is said: 'For we through the Spirit, by faith, wait for the hope of righteousness.'
Where indeed it can still be asked whether he called it 'the hope of righteousness' which righteousness hopes for, or that by which righteousness itself is hoped for; since the just man, living by faith, surely hopes for eternal life, and likewise faith, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, by the renewal of the inner man from day to day advances in it and hopes to be satisfied in it in eternal life, where shall come to pass what is said in the psalm of God: 'Who satisfies your desire with good things.' This is the faith by which they are saved to whom it is said: 'By grace you are saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should be exalted; for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God prepared that we should walk in them.'