Chapter 46 [XXXIX.]--Shall We Follow Scripture, or Add to Its Declarations?
It is, to be sure, a grand sentence with which he concluded this passage, when he says: "What we read, therefore, let us believe; and what we do not read, let us deem it wicked to add; and let it suffice to have said this of all cases." On the contrary, I for my part say that we ought not to believe even everything that we read, on the sanction of the apostle's advice: "Read all things; hold fast that which is good." [1241] Nor is it wicked to add something which we have not read; for it is in our power to add something which we have bona fideexperienced as witnesses, even if it so happens that we have not read about it. Perhaps he will say in reply: "When I said this, I was treating of the Holy Scriptures." Oh how I wish that he were never willing to add, I will not say anything but what he reads in the Scriptures, but in opposition to what he reads in them; that he would only faithfully and obediently hear that which is written there: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men; in which all have sinned;" [1242] and that he would not weaken the grace of the great Physician,--all by his unwillingness to confess that human nature is corrupted! Oh how I wish that he would, as a Christian, read the sentence, "There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved;" [1243] and that he would not so uphold the possibility of human nature, as to believe that man can be saved by free will without that Name!
[1241] 1 Thess. v. 21.
[1242] Rom. v. 12.
[1243] Acts iv. 12.
Chapter 47 [XL.]--For What Pelagius Thought that Christ is Necessary to Us.
Perhaps, however, he thinks the name of Christ to be necessary on this account, that by His gospel we may learn how we ought to live; but not that we may be also assisted by His grace, in order withal to lead good lives. Well, even this consideration should lead him at least to confess that there is a miserable darkness in the human mind, which knows how it ought to tame a lion, but knows not how to live. To know this, too, is it enough for us to have free will and natural law? This is that wisdom of word, whereby "the cross of Christ is rendered of none effect." [1244] He, however, who said, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise," [1245] since that cross cannot be made of none effect, in very deed overthrows that wisdom by the foolishness of preaching whereby believers are healed. For if natural capacity, by help of free will, is in itself sufficient both for discovering how one ought to live, and also for leading a holy life, then "Christ died in vain," [1246] and therefore also "the offence of the cross is ceased." [1247] Why also may I not myself exclaim?--nay, I will exclaim, and chide them with a Christian's sorrow,--"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by nature; ye are fallen from grace;" [1248] for, "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and wishing to establish your own righteousness, you have not submitted yourselves to the righteousness of God." [1249] For even as "Christ is the end of the law," so likewise is He the Saviour of man's corrupted nature, "for righteousness to every one that believeth." [1250]
[1244] 1 Cor. i. 17.
[1245] 1 Cor. i. 19.
[1246] Gal. ii. 21.
[1247] Gal. v. 11.
[1248] Gal. v. 4.
[1249] Rom. x. 3.
[1250] Rom. x. 4.
Chapter 48 [XLI.]--How the Term "All" Is to Be Understood.
His opponents adduced the passage, "All have sinned," [1251] and he met their statement founded on this with the remark that "the apostle was manifestly speaking of the then existing generation, that is, the Jews and the Gentiles;" but surely the passage which I have quoted, "By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men; in which all have sinned," [1252] embraces in its terms the generations both of old and of modern times, both ourselves and our posterity. He adduces also this passage, whence he would prove that we ought not to understand all without exception, when "all" is used:--"As by the offence of one," he says, "upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of One, upon all men unto justification of life." [1253] "There can be no doubt," he says, "that not all men are sanctified by the righteousness of Christ, but only those who are willing to obey Him, and have been cleansed in the washing of His baptism." Well, but he does not prove what he wants by this quotation. For as the clause, "By the offence of one, upon all men to condemnation," is so worded that not one is omitted in its sense, so in the corresponding clause, "By the righteousness of One, upon all men unto justification of life," no one is omitted in its sense,--not, indeed, because all men have faith and are washed in His baptism, but because no man is justified unless he believes in Christ and is cleansed by His baptism. The term "all" is therefore used in a way which shows that no one whatever can be supposed able to be saved by any other means than through Christ Himself. For if in a city there be appointed but one instructor, we are most correct in saying: That man teaches all in that place; not meaning, indeed, that all who live in the city take lessons of him, but that no one is instructed unless taught by him. In like manner no one is justified unless Christ has justified him. [1254]
[1251] Rom. iii. 23.
[1252] Rom. v. 12.
[1253] Rom. v. 18.
[1254] Compare De Peccatorum Meritis et Remissione, i. 55.