Book III.
Book III.
Augustin goes on to refute other matters which are calumniously objected by the Pelagians in the same letter sent to Thessalonica; and expounds, in opposition to their heresy, what those who are truly Catholic say concerning the utility of the law; what they teach of the effect and virtue of baptism; what of the discrepancy between the two testaments, the old and the new; what concerning the righteousness and perfection of the prophets and apostles; what of the appellation of sin in Christ, when he is said in the likeness of sinful flesh concerning sin to have condemned sin, or to have become sin; and finally, what they profess concerning the fulfilment of the commandments in the future life.
Chapter I [I.]-Statement.
There still follow things which they calumniously object to us; they do not yet begin to work out those things which they themselves think. But lest the prolixity of these writings should be an offence, I have divided those matters which they object into two Books,-the former of which being completed, which is the Second Book of this entire work, I am here commencing the other, and joining it as the Third to the First and Second.
Chapter 2 [II.]-The Misrepresentation of the Pelagians Concerning the Use of the Old Law.
They declare "that we say that the law of the Old Testament was given not for the end that it might justify the obedient, but rather that it might become the cause of greater sin." Certainly, they do not understand what we say concerning the law; because we say what the apostle says, whom they do not understand. For who can say that they are not justified who are obedient to the law, when, unless they were justified, they could not be obedient? But we say, that by the law is effected that what God wills to be done is heard, but that by grace is effected that the law is obeyed. "For not the hearers of the law," says the apostle, "are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."(1) Therefore the law makes hearers of righteousness, grace makes doers. "For what was impossible to the law," says the same apostle, "in that it was weak through the flesh, God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."(2) This is what we say;-let them pray that they may one day understand it, and not dispute so as never to understand it. For it is impossible that the law should be fulfilled by the flesh,that is, by carnal presumption, in which the proud, who are ignorant of the righteousness of God,-that is, which is of God to man, that he may be righteous,-and desirous of establishing their own righteousness,-as if by their own will, unassisted from above, the law could be fulfilled,-are not subjected to the righteousness of God.(3) Therefore the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them who walk not according to the flesh-that is, according to man, ignorant of the righteousness of God and desirous of establishing his own-but walk according to the Spirit. But who walks according to the Spirit, except whosoever is led by the Spirit of God? "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God."(4) Therefore "the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive."(5) And the letter is not evil because it killeth; but it convicts the wicked of transgression. "For the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Was, then," says he, "that which is good made death unto me? By no means; but sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me by that which is good, that it might become above measure a sinner or a sin by the commandment."(6) This is what is the meaning of "the letter killeth." "For the sting of death is sin, but the strength of sin is the law;"(7) because by the prohibition it increases the desires of sin, and thence slays a man unless grace by coming to his assistance makes him alive.(8)
Chapter 3.-Scriptural Confirmation of the Catholic Doctrine.
This is what we say; this is that about which they object to us that we say "that the law was so given as to be a cause of greater sin." They do not hear the apostle saying, "For the law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there is no transgression;"(9) and, "The law was added for the sake of transgression until the seed should come to whom the promise was made;"(10) and, "If there had been a law given which could have given life, righteousness should altogether have been by the law; but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."(11) Hence it is that the Old Testament, from the Mount Sinai, where the law was given, gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. "Now we," says he, "are not children of the bondmaid but of the freewoman."(12) Therefore they are not children of the freewoman who have accepted the law of the letter, whereby they can be shown to be not only sinners, but moreover transgressors; but they who have received the Spirit of grace, whereby the law itself, holy and just and good, may be fulfilled. This is what we say: let them attend and not contend; let them seek enlightenment and not bring false accusations.
Chapter 4 [III.]-Misrepresentation Concerning, the Effect of Baptism.
"They assert," say they, "that baptism, moreover, does not make men new-that is, does not give complete remission of sins; but they contend that they are partly made children of God and partly remain children of the world, that is, of the devil." They deceive; they lay traps; they shuffle; we do not say this. For we say that all men who are children of the devil are also children of the world; but not that all children of the world are also children of the devil. Far be it from us to say that the holy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others of this kind, were children of the devil when they were begetting in marriage, and those believers who until now and still hereafter continue to beget. And yet we cannot contradict the Lord when He says, "The children of this world marry and give in marriage."(13) Some, therefore, are children of this world, and yet are not children of the devil. For although the devil is the author and source of all sins, yet it is not every sin that makes children of the devil; for the children of God also sin, since if they say they have no sins they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them.(14) But they sin in virtue of that condition by which they are still children of this world; but by that grace wherewith they are the children of God they certainly sin not, because every one that is born of God sinneth not.(15) But unbelief makes children of the devil; and unbelief is specially called sin, as if it were the only one, if it is not expressed what is the nature of the sin. As when the "apostle" is spoken of, if it be not expressed what apostle, none is understood but Paul; because he is better known by his many epistles, and he laboured more than they all. For which reason, in what the Lord said of the Holy Spirit," He shall convict the world of sin,"(16) He meant unbelief to be understood; for He said this when He was explaining, "Of sin because they believed not on me,"(17) and when He says, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they should not have sin."(18) For He meant not that before they had no sin, but He wished to indicate that very want of faith by which they did not believe Him even when He was present to them and speaking to them; since they belonged to him of whom the apostle says, "According to the prince of the power of the air, who now worketh in the children of unbelief."(19) Therefore they in whom there is not faith are the children of the devil, because they have not in the inner man any reason why there should be forgiven them whatever is committed either by human infirmity, or by ignorance, or by any evil will whatever. But those are the children of God who certainly, if they should "say that they have no sin, deceive themselves,and the truth is not in them, but immediately" (as it continues) "when they confess their sins" (which the children of the devil do not do, or do not do according to the faith which is peculiar to the children of God), "He is faithful and just to forgive them their sins, and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness."(20) And in order that what we say may be more fully understood, let Jesus Himself be heard, who certainly was speaking to the children of God when He said: "And if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him."(21) For if these were not the children of God, He would not say to them, "Your Father which is in heaven." And yet He says that they are evil, and that they know how to give good gifts to their children. Are they, then, evil in that they are the children of God? Away with the thought! But they are thence evil because they are still the children of this world, although now made children of God by the pledge of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 5.-Baptism Puts Away All Sins, But It Does Not at Once Heal All Infirmities.
Baptism, therefore, washes away indeed all sins-absolutely all sins, whether of deeds or words or thoughts, whether original or added whether such as are committed in ignorance or allowed in knowledge; but it does not take away the weakness which the regenerate man resists when he fights the good fight, but to which he consents when as man he is overtaken in any fault; on account of the former, rejoicing with thanksgiving, but on account of the latter, groaning in the utterance of prayers. On account of the former, saying, "What shall I render to the Lord for all that He has given me?(22) On account of the latter, saying, "Forgive us our debts."(23) On account of the former, saying, "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength."(24) On account of the latter, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord; for I am weak."(25) On account of the former, saying, "Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord; for He shall pluck my feet out of the net."(26) On account of the latter, saying, "Mine eye is troubled with wrath."(27) And there are innumerable passages with which the divine writings are filled, which alternately, either in exultation over God's benefits or in lamentation over our own evils, are uttered by children of God by faith as long as they are still children of this world in respect of the weakness of tiffs life; whom, nevertheless, God distinguishes from the children of the devil, not only by the laver of regeneration, but moreover by the righteousness of that faith which worketh by love, because the just lives by faith. But this weakness with which we contend, with alternating failure and progress, even to the death of the body, and which is of great importance as to what it can overcome in us, shall be consumed by another regeneration, of which the Lord says, "In the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones,"(28) etc. Certainly in this passage He without doubt calls the last resurrection the regeneration, which Paul the Apostle also calls both the adoption and the redemption, where he says, "But even we ourselves, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, ourselves also groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption, of our body."(29) Have we not been regenerated, adopted, and redeemed by the holy washing? And yet there remains a regeneration, an adoption, a redemption, which we ought now patiently to be waiting for as to come in the end, that we may then be in no degree any longer children of this world. Whosoever, then, takes away from baptism that which we only receive by its means, corrupts the faith; but whosoever attributes to it now that which we shall receive by its means indeed, but yet hereafter, cuts off hope. For if any one should ask of me whether we have been saved by baptism, I shall not be able to deny it, since the apostle says, "He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost."(30) But if he should ask whether by the same washing He has already absolutely In every way saved us, I shall answer: It is not so. Because the same apostle also says, "For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, we with patience wait for it."(31) Therefore the salvation of man is effected in baptism, because whatever sin he has derived from his parents is remitted, or whatever, moreover, he himself has sinned on his own account before baptism; but his salvation will hereafter be such that he cannot sin at all.
Chapter 6 [IV.]-The Calumny Concerning the Old Testament and the Righteous Men of Old.
Now if these things are so, out of these things are rebutted those which they subsequently object to us. For what catholic would say that which they charge us with saying, "that the Holy Spirit was not the assister of virtue in the old testament," unless when we so understand "the old testament" in the manner in which the apostle spoke of it as "gendering from Mount Sinai into bondage"? But because in it was prefigured the new testament, the men of God who at that time understood this according to the ordering of the times, were indeed the stewards and bearers of the old testament, but are shown to be the heirs of the new. Shall we deny that he belongs to the new testament who says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me"?(32) or he who says, "He hath set my feet upon a rock, and directed my goings; and he bath put a new song in my mouth, even a hymn to our God"?(33) or that father of the faithful before the old testament which is from Mount Sinai, of whom the apostle says, "Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; yet even a man's testament, when it is confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. To Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one; and to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say," said he, "that the testament confirmed by God, the law which was made four hundred and thirty years after, does not weaken, so as to make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise."(34)
Chapter 7.-The New Testament is More Ancient Than the Old; But It Was Subsequently Revealed.
Here, certainly, if we ask whether this testament, which, he says, being confirmed by God was not weakened by the law, which was made four hundred and thirty years after, is to be understood as the new or the old one, who can hesitate to answer "the new, but hidden in the prophetic shadows until the time should come wherein it should be revealed in Christ"? For if we should say the old, what will that be which genders from Mount Sinai to bondage? For there was made the law four hundred and thirty years after, by which law he asserts that this testament of the promise of Abraham could not beweakened; and he will have this which was made by Abraham to pertain rather to us, whom he will have to be children of the freewoman, not of the bondwoman, heirs by the promise, not by the law, when he says, "For if the inheritance be by the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise."(35) So that, because the law was made four hundred and thirty years after, it might enter that the offence might abound;(36) since by sin the pride of man presuming on his own righteousness is convinced of transgression, and where sin abounded grace much more abounded(37) by the faith of the now humble man failing in the law and taking refuge in God's mercy. Therefore, when he had said, "For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no longer of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise,"(38) as if it might be said to him, "Why then was the law made afterwards? "he added and said, "What then is the law?"(39) To which interrogation he immediately replied, "It was added because of transgression, until the seed should come to which the promise was made."(40) This he says again, thus: "For if they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect: because the law worketh wrath for where there is no law, there is no transgression."(41) What he says in the former testimony: "For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise," this he says in the latter: "For if they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void; and the promise is made of none effect;" sufficiently showing that to our faith (which certainly is of the new testament) belongs what God gave to Abraham by promise. And what he says in the former testimony, "What then is the law?" and answered, "It was added for the sake of transgression," this he instantly added in the latter testimony, "For the law worketh wrath: for where there is no law, there is no transgression."
Chapter 8.-All Righteous Men Before and After Abraham are Children of the Promise and of Grace.
Whether, then, Abraham, or righteous men before him or after him, even to Moses himself, by whom was given the testament gendering to bondage from Mount Sinai, or the rest of the prophets after him, and the holy men of God till John the Baptist, they are all children of the promise and of grace according to Isaac the son of the freewoman,-not of the law, but of the promise, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Far be it from us to deny that righteous Noah and the righteous men of the earlier times, and whoever from that time till the time of Abraham could be righteous, either manifestly or hiddenly, belong to the Jerusalem which is above, who is our mother, although they are found to be earlier in time than Sarah, who bore the prophecy and figure of the free mother herself. How much more evidently, then, after Abraham, to whom that promise was declared, that he should be called the father of many nations, must all, whoever have pleased God, be esteemed the children of the promise! For from Abraham, and the righteous men who followed him, the generation is not found more true, but the prophecy more plain.
Chapter 9.-Who are the Children of the Old Covenant.
But those belong to the old testament, "which gendereth from Mount Sinai to bondage," which is Agar, who, when they have received a law which is holy and just and good, think that the letter can suffice them for life; and do not seek the divine mercy, so as they may become doers of the law, but, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish their own righteousness, are not subject to the righteousness of God. Of this kind was that multitude which murmured against God in the wilderness, and made an idol; and that multitude which even in the very land of promise committed fornication after strange gods. But this multitude, even in the old testament itself, was strongly rebuked. They, moreover, whoever they were at that time who followed after those earthly promises alone which God promises there, and who were ignorant of that which those promises signify under the new testament, and who kept God's commandments with the desire of gaining and with the fear of losing those promises,-certainly did not observe them, but only seemed to themselves to observe. For there was no faith in them that worked by love, but earthly cupidity and carnal fear. But he who thus fulfils the commandments beyond a doubt fulfils them unwillingly, and then does not do them in his heart; for he would rather not do them at all, if in respect of those things which he desires and fears he might be allowed to neglect them with impunity. And thus, in the will itself within him, he is guilty; and it is here that God, who gives the command, looks. Such were the children of the earthly Jerusalem, concerning which the apostle says, "For she is in bondage with her children,"(42) and belongs to the old testament "which gendereth to bondage from Mount Sinai, which is Agar." Of that same kind were they who crucified the Lord. and continued in the same unbelief. Thence there are still their children in the great multitude of the Jews, although now the new testament as it was prophesied is made plain and confirmed by the blood of Christ; and the gospel is made known from the river where He was baptized and began His teachings, even to the ends of the earth. And these Jews, according to the prophecies which they read, are dispersed everywhere over all the earth, that even from their writings may not be wanting a testimony to Christian truth.
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