Chapter 28 [XXIV.]--The Heresy of Pelagius and Coelestius Aims at the Very Foundations of Our Faith.
This is, however, in the matter of the two men by one of whom we are sold under sin, [1958] by the other redeemed from sins--by the one have been precipitated into death, by the other are liberated unto life; the former of whom has ruined us in himself, by doing his own will instead of His who created him; the latter has saved us in Himself, by not doing His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him: [1959] and it is in what concerns these two men that the Christian faith properly consists. For "there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" [1960] since "there is none other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved;" [1961] and "in Him hath God defined unto all men their faith, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." [1962] Now without this faith, that is to say, without a belief in the one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; without faith, I say, in His resurrection by which God has given assurance to all men and which no man could of course truly believe were it not for His incarnation and death; without faith, therefore, in the incarnation and death and resurrection of Christ, the Christian verity unhesitatingly declares that the ancient saints could not possibly have been cleansed from sin so as to have become holy, and justified by the grace of God. And this is true both of the saints who are mentioned in Holy Scripture, and of those also who are not indeed mentioned therein, but must yet be supposed to have existed,--either before the deluge, or in the interval between that event and the giving of the law, or in the period of the law itself,--not merely among the children of Israel, as the prophets, but even outside that nation, as for instance Job. For it was by the self-same faith in the one Mediator that the hearts of these, too, were cleansed, and there also was "shed abroad in them the love of God by the Holy Ghost," [1963] "who bloweth where He listeth," [1964] not following men's merits, but even producing these very merits Himself. For the grace of God will in no wise exist unless it be wholly free.
[1958] Rom. vii. 14.
[1959] John iv. 34, v. 30.
[1960] 1 Tim. ii. 5.
[1961] Acts iv. 12.
[1962] Acts xvii. 31.
[1963] Rom. v. 5.
[1964] John iii. 8.
Chapter 29.--The Righteous Men Who Lived in the Time of the Law Were for All that Not Under the Law, But Under Grace. The Grace of the New Testament Hidden Under the Old.
Death indeed reigned from Adam until Moses, [1965] because it was not possible even for the law given through Moses to overcome it: it was not given, in fact, as something able to give life; [1966] but as something that ought to show those that were dead and for whom grace was needed to give them life, that they were not only prostrated under the propagation and domination of sin, but also convicted by the additional guilt of breaking the law itself: not in order that any one might perish who in the mercy of God understood this even in that early age; but that, destined though he was to punishment, owing to the dominion of death, and manifested, too, as guilty through his own violation of the law, he might seek God's help, and so where sin abounded, grace might much more abound, [1967] even the grace which alone delivers from the body of this death. [1968] [XXV.] Yet, notwithstanding this, although not even the law which Moses gave was able to liberate any man from the dominion of death, there were even then, too, at the time of the law, men of God who were not living under the terror and conviction and punishment of the law, but under the delight and healing and liberation of grace. Some there were who said, "I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me;" [1969] and, "There is no rest in my bones, by reason of my sins;" [1970] and, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit in my inward parts;" [1971] and, "Stablish me with Thy directing Spirit;" [1972] and, "Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me." [1973] There were some, again, who said: "I believed, therefore have I spoken." [1974] For they too were cleansed with the self-same faith with which we ourselves are. Whence the apostle also says: "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believe, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak." [1975] Out of very faith was it said, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel," [1976] "which is, being interpreted, God with us." [1977] Out of very faith too was it said concerning Him: "As a bridegroom He cometh out of His chamber; as a giant did He exult to run His course. His going forth is from the extremity of heaven, and His circuit runs to the other end of heaven; and no one is hidden from His heat." [1978] Out of very faith, again, was it said to Him: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows." [1979] By the self-same Spirit of faith were all these things foreseen by them as to happen, whereby they are believed by us as having happened. They, indeed, who were able in faithful love to foretell these things to us were not themselves partakers of them. The Apostle Peter says, "Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." [1980] Now on what principle does he make this statement, if it be not because even they were saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not the law of Moses, from which comes not the cure, but only the knowledge of sin? [1981] Now, however, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. [1982] If, therefore, it is now manifested, it even then existed, but it was hidden. This concealment was symbolized by the veil of the temple. When Christ was dying, this veil was rent asunder, [1983] to signify the full revelation of Him. Even of old, therefore there existed amongst the people of God this grace of the one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; but like the rain in the fleece which God sets apart for His inheritance, [1984] not of debt, but of His own will, it was latently present, but is now patently visible amongst all nations as its "floor," the fleece being dry,--in other words, the Jewish people having become reprobate. [1985]
[1965] Rom. v. 14.
[1966] Gal. iii. 21.
[1967] Rom. v. 20.
[1968] Rom. vii. 24, 25.
[1969] Ps. li. 5.
[1970] Ps. xxxviii. 3.
[1971] Ps. li. 10.
[1972] Ps. li. 12.
[1973] Ps. li. 11.
[1974] Ps. cxvi. 10.
[1975] 2 Cor. iv. 13.
[1976] Isa. vii. 14.
[1977] Matt. i. 23.
[1978] Ps. xix. 5, 6.
[1979] Ps. xlv. 6, 7.
[1980] Acts xv. 10, 11.
[1981] Rom. iii. 20.
[1982] Rom. iii. 21.
[1983] Matt. xxvii. 51.
[1984] Ps. lxviii. 9.
[1985] Judg. vi. 36-40.