Chapter 46.--How the Passage of the Law Agrees with that of the Prophet.
If therefore the apostle, when he mentioned that the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law, and have the work of the law written in their hearts, [935] intended those to be understood who believed in Christ,--who do not come to the faith like the Jews, through a precedent law,--there is no good reason why we should endeavour to distinguish them from those to whom the Lord by the prophet promises the new covenant, telling them that He will write His laws in their hearts, [936] inasmuch as they too, by the grafting which he says had been made of the wild olive, belong to the self-same olive-tree, [937] --in other words, to the same people of God. There is therefore a good agreement of this passage of the apostle with the words of the prophet so that belonging to the new testament means having the law of God not written on tables, but on the heart,--that is, embracing the righteousness of the law with innermost affection, where faith works by love. [938] Because it is by faith that God justifies the Gentiles; and the Scripture foreseeing this, preached the gospel before to Abraham, saying, "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed," [939] in order that by this grace of promise the wild olive might be grafted into the good olive, and believing Gentiles might be made children of Abraham, "in Abraham's seed, which is Christ," [940] by following the faith of him who, without receiving the law written on tables, and not yet possessing even circumcision, "believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness." [941] Now what the apostle attributed to Gentiles of this character,--how that "they have the work of the law written in their hearts;" [942] must be some such thing as what he says to the Corinthians: "not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." [943] For thus do they become of the house of Israel, when their uncircumcision is accounted circumcision, by the fact that they do not exhibit the righteousness of the law by the excision of the flesh, but keep it by the charity of the heart. "If," says he, "the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?" [944] And therefore in the house of the true Israel, in which is no guile, [945] they are partakers of the new testament, since God puts His laws into their mind, and writes them in their hearts with his own finger, the Holy Ghost, by whom is shed abroad in them the love [946] which is the" fulfilling of the law." [947]
[935] Rom. ii. 14, 15.
[936] Jer. xxxii. 32.
[937] Rom. xi. 24.
[938] Gal. v. 6.
[939] Gal. iii. 8; Gen. xxii. 18.
[940] Gal. iii. 16.
[941] Gen. xv. 6; Rom. iv. 2.
[942] Rom. ii. 15.
[943] 2 Cor. iii. 3.
[944] Rom. ii. 26.
[945] See John i. 47.
[946] Rom. v. 5.
[947] Rom. xiii. 10.
Chapter 47 [XXVII.]--The Law "Being Done by Nature" Means, Done by Nature as Restored by Grace.
Nor ought it to disturb us that the apostle described them as doing that which is contained in the law "by nature,"--not by the Spirit of God, not by faith, not by grace. For it is the Spirit of grace that does it, in order to restore in us the image of God, in which we were naturally created. [948] Sin, indeed, is contrary to nature, and it is grace that heals it,--on which account the prayer is offered to God, "Be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against Thee." [949] Therefore it is by nature that men do the things which are contained in the law; [950] for they who do not, fail to do so by reason of their sinful defect. In consequence of this sinfulness, the law of God is erased out of their hearts; and therefore, when, the sin being healed, it is written there, the prescriptions of the law are done "by nature,"--not that by nature grace is denied, but rather by grace nature is repaired. For "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men; in which all have sinned;" [951] wherefore "there is no difference: they all come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace." [952] By this grace there is written on the renewed inner man that righteousness which sin had blotted out; and this mercy comes upon the human race through our Lord Jesus Christ. "For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." [953]
[948] Gen. i. 27.
[949] Ps. xli. 4.
[950] Rom. ii. 14.
[951] Rom. v. 12.
[952] Rom. iii. 22-24.
[953] 1 Tim. ii. 5.