But if they do not so understand it, but contend that this too pertains to Christ crucified, let them know that in Christ crucified men learn many things, and above all that our old man was crucified together with Him, that the body of sin might be done away, and that we should no longer be in bondage to sin. Whence he also says of himself: 'But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world.' Therefore let them attend and see how Christ crucified is taught and learned, and let them recognize that it pertains to His cross that we too are crucified to the world in His body — wherein is understood every restraint of evil concupiscences.
And on this account it cannot be that to those who are formed by the cross of Christ, professed adulteries should be permitted. For the Apostle Peter also admonishes concerning the sacrament of the cross itself, that is, of the passion of Christ, that those who are consecrated by it should cease to sin, speaking thus: 'Christ therefore having suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same thought, for he who has died in the flesh ceases from sin,' so that he may now live the rest of his time in the flesh no longer by the desires of men, but by the will of the Lord God — and the rest, by which he consequently shows that he belongs to Christ crucified, that is, having suffered through the flesh, who, with his carnal desires crucified in His body, lives well through the Gospel. What then?
Do they think that even those two precepts, on which the Lord says the whole Law and the Prophets hang, favour this their opinion? And they recall them thus: since the first precept was spoken, 'You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind,' and the second, like to this, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself,' they believe the first to pertain to those to be baptized, where the love of God is enjoined, but the second to the baptized, where the morals of human conversation seem to be — thus forgetting what is written: 'If you do not love your brother whom you see, how will you be able to love God whom you do not see?' and that other in the same epistle of John:
'If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.' But to what do all the disgraceful acts of evil morals pertain, except to the love of this world? And on this account that first precept, which they judge to pertain to those to be baptized, can in no way be observed without good morals. I do not wish to dwell on many things; for, when these two precepts are diligently considered, they are found so connected the one from the other, that neither can the love of God be in a man if he does not love his neighbour, nor the love of the neighbour if he does not love God. But for the matter which is now at issue, what we have said of these two precepts suffices.
'But indeed the people of Israel,' they say, 'were first led through the Red Sea, by which baptism is signified, and afterward received the Law, where they might learn how to live. Why then do we hand over the Creed to those to be baptized, and require it to be rendered back? For no such thing was done toward those whom God freed from the Egyptians through the Red Sea.' But if they rightly understand this to be signified by the preceding mysteries — concerning the blood of the lamb smeared on the doorposts and concerning the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth — why do they not also consequently understand that the very separation from the Egyptians signifies the departure from sins which those to be baptized profess? For to this pertains what was said by Peter:
'Do penance, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,' as though he were saying: Withdraw from Egypt and pass through the Red Sea. Whence also in the epistle which is inscribed 'To the Hebrews,' when the beginnings of those who are baptized were being recalled, penance from dead works was set down there. For thus it says: 'Therefore, leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us look toward completion, not laying again the foundation of penance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of the laver, of the laying on of hands, of the resurrection also of the dead and of eternal judgment.' All these things, therefore, Scripture sufficiently and openly testifies to pertain to the beginnings of the newly-baptized.
But what is penance from dead works, except from those things which ought to be mortified, that we may live? And if adulteries and fornications are not these, what now is to be named among dead works? But thus the profession of withdrawal from such things does not suffice, unless also by the laver of regeneration all past sins — which, as it were, pursue us — are blotted out, just as it does not suffice for the Israelites to withdraw from Egypt, unless that multitude of enemies which pursued them should perish in the waves of the same sea, which lay open for God's people about to pass over and to be freed. He therefore who professes that he is unwilling to change from adultery, how shall he be led through the Red Sea, when he still refuses to depart from Egypt?
Next, they do not attend to the fact that in that Law which was given to that people after the passage of the Red Sea, the first precept is: 'You shall have no other gods besides Me. You shall not make for yourself idols nor any likeness, whatsoever things are in heaven above and whatsoever are on the earth below and whatsoever are in the water and under the earth. You shall not adore them nor serve them' — and the rest that pertains to this precept.
Let these men therefore affirm, if they wish, against their own very assertion, that even concerning the worship of the one God and the idolatry to be avoided, it is to be preached not to those still to be baptized, but to those already baptized; and let them no longer say that to those about to receive baptism only the faith which is in God is to be instilled, and that after the reception of that sacrament they are to be instructed about the morals of life, as about the second precept, which pertains to the love of the neighbour. For the Law contains both, which the people received after the Red Sea as after baptism;
nor was the distribution of the precepts so made that before the passage of that sea the people should be taught about idolatry to be avoided, and, after they had passed over, should hear that father and mother are to be honoured, that one must not commit adultery, must not kill, and the rest of the good and innocent human conversation. If therefore anyone should thus come to the petition for the holy laver, so that he professes that he will not withdraw from the sacrifices of idols unless perhaps afterward, when it shall please him, yet nevertheless demands baptism this very instant and clamours to be made a temple of the living God — not only a worshipper of idols, but even persisting in some such nefarious priesthood — I ask of these men whether they judge that he should be made even a catechumen: which without doubt they will cry out ought not to be done;
For nothing else ought to be supposed about their heart. Let them therefore give an account, according to the testimonies of the Scriptures which they think are to be understood in this way, of how they dare to contradict the man who protests and says: 'I have learned and I venerate Christ crucified; I believe that Christ Jesus is the Son of God. Put me off no longer, ask nothing further of me.' Those whom the Apostle begot through the Gospel he wished to know nothing more at that time than Christ crucified; and after the eunuch's word, by which he answered that he believed Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, Philip did not delay to baptize him at once. 'Why do you forbid me from the worship of idols and yet not admit me to the sacrament of Christ before I have first departed from it?'
'That practice I learned from childhood; I am held down there by a most heavy habit. I will do it when I can, when it is convenient; and even if I do not do it, still I will not end this life without the sacrament of Christ, lest God require my soul at your hands.' What do they think should be answered to such a man? Do they hold that he ought to be admitted? Far from it! In no way would I believe that they go so far as that. What then will they answer to one who says these things and adds that nothing at all needed to be said to him about forsaking idolatry before baptism, just as that first people heard nothing about it before the Red Sea, since this is the very law which, once freed from Egypt, they received? Surely they will say to the man: 'You are to become a temple of God when you have received baptism'; but the Apostle says:
'What agreement has the temple of God with idols?' Why, then, do they not see that it must be said in like manner: 'You are to become a member of Christ when you have received baptism; the members of Christ cannot be the members of a harlot'? For this too the Apostle says, who in another place also says: 'Do not err; neither fornicators nor those who serve idols' — and the rest which he there enumerates — 'shall possess the kingdom of God.' Why then do we not admit to baptism those who serve idols, yet think that fornicators are to be admitted, when both to these and to the rest of the wicked he says: 'And such were some of you; but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God'?
What reason, then, is there that, when the power to forbid both lies open, I should allow one who comes to baptism to remain a fornicator, yet not allow one to remain a servant of idols, when I hear it said of both alike: 'And such were some of you, but you are washed'? But these men are moved by this, that they think the salvation of such people is secure — though it be through fire — provided they have believed in Christ and received his sacrament, that is, have been baptized, even if they are so negligent about correcting their morals that they live wickedly. Whence presently, if God helps, I shall consider what ought to be held according to the Scriptures.
Now I am still occupied with this question, in which it seems to them that the baptized are to be admonished concerning the morals belonging to the Christian life, but that to those about to be baptized only the faith is to be instilled. But if this were so, then — apart from all the many things we have said — John the Baptist would not have said to those coming to his baptism: 'Brood of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance,' and the rest, whereby he admonishes them not indeed about faith, but about good works. Whence also, when the soldiers said, 'What shall we do?' he did not say, 'For the present believe and be baptized, afterward you will hear what you ought to do,' but he spoke beforehand, he forewarned them, that, as a forerunner, he might cleanse the way in their heart for the Lord who was to come:
'Do violence to no one, accuse no one falsely, and be content with your wages.' Likewise to the publicans who asked what they ought to do, he said: 'Exact nothing more than what is appointed you.' By briefly recalling these things, the evangelist — for he need not insert whole catechisms — sufficiently indicated that it belongs to him by whom the one to be baptized is catechized, to teach and admonish concerning morals. But if they had answered John:
'We will by no means bring forth fruits worthy of repentance; we intend to accuse falsely, we intend to do violence, we intend to exact what is not owed to us' — and if nonetheless he had baptized them after this profession — even so it could not be said, which is the very point now at issue, that when anyone is to be baptized there is no time to speak to him first about how he ought to lead a good life. What did the Lord himself — to pass over other things — reply, when that rich man asked him what good he should do to obtain eternal life? Let them recall his answer. 'If you wish to come,' he said, 'to life, keep the commandments.' The man said, 'Which?' Then the Lord recalled the precepts of the law: 'You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery,' and the rest.
And when the man had answered that he had done these things from his youth, the Lord added also the precept of perfection: that, having sold all his goods and bestowed them as alms upon the poor, he might have treasure in heaven and follow the same Lord. Let them therefore observe that it was not said to him that he should believe and be baptized — the sole help by which these men think a man comes to life — but that precepts of morals were given to the man, which certainly cannot be kept and observed without faith. Nor yet, because here the Lord seems to have been silent about instilling faith, do we lay it down and contend that only precepts of morals are to be spoken to men desiring to attain to life.
For both are mutually bound together, as I said before, since neither can there be love of God in a man who does not love his neighbor, nor love of neighbor in one who does not love God. And therefore Scripture is sometimes found to mention one without the other — whether the one or the other — as though it were the full teaching, so that even in this way it may be understood that the one cannot exist without the other: because both he who believes God ought to do what God commands, and he who does something for the very reason that God has commanded it, must of necessity believe God.
Wherefore let us now consider that which must be shaken out of religious hearts, lest by an evil complacency they lose their salvation, if they suppose that faith suffices to obtain it, while they neglect to live well and to keep to the way of God by good works. For even in the times of the apostles, certain obscure sayings of the apostle Paul being misunderstood, some men thought he was saying: 'Let us do evil that good may come,' because he had said: 'The law entered in that the offense might abound; but where the offense abounded, grace did more abound.'
This is true for this reason: that men, receiving the law, who most proudly presumed on their own powers and did not by a right faith obtain the divine help for conquering their evil desires, were burdened with more and graver sins, the law also being transgressed; and so, compelled by great guilt, they fled to faith, whereby they might merit the mercy of pardon and help from the Lord, who made heaven and earth, that with love shed abroad through the Holy Spirit in their hearts, they might do with love the things which were commanded against the desires of this world, according to what had been foretold in the psalm: 'Their infirmities were multiplied; afterward they made haste.'
When therefore the Apostle says that he reckons a man to be justified by faith without the works of the law, he does not do this in order that, faith having been received and professed, works of righteousness may be despised, but that each one may know that he can be justified by faith, even if the works of the law have not gone before. For they follow the man who has been justified; they do not go before the man to be justified. Whence in the present work there is no need to dispute more at length, especially because out of this question I have published a lengthy book entitled 'On the Letter and the Spirit.' Since therefore this opinion had then arisen, other apostolic letters — of Peter, John, James, Jude — direct their aim against it, so as vehemently to establish that faith without works profits nothing:
just as Paul himself defined not any sort of faith by which one believes in God, but that saving and plainly evangelical faith whose works proceed from love. 'And faith,' he says, 'which works through love.' Whence he asserts that that faith which seems to some to suffice for salvation profits nothing at all, so as to say: 'If I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing.' But where faithful charity works, without doubt one lives well; for love is the fulfilling of the law.
Whence Peter, evidently in his second epistle, when he was exhorting to holiness of life and morals and foretelling that this world would pass away, but that new heavens and a new earth were to be awaited, which would be handed over to be inhabited by the just, so that from this they might attend to how they ought to live that they might be made worthy of that dwelling — knowing that from certain obscure sayings of the apostle Paul some wicked men had taken occasion, as though secure of the salvation which is in faith, to have no care to live well — mentioned that there are certain things in his epistles difficult to understand, which men would pervert, as also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction:
since nevertheless that apostle also held, concerning eternal salvation which is not given except to those who live well, the same things which the other apostles held. Thus therefore Peter: 'Seeing then,' he says, 'that all these things shall perish, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord, through which the burning heavens shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with the heat of fire! But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, wherein righteousness dwells.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent that you may be found by him without spot and blameless in peace; and account the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation, even as our most beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the unlearned and unstable pervert, as they do also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, most beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest, led astray by the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness; but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and unto the day of eternity.'
But James is so vehemently hostile to those who hold that faith without works avails for salvation, that he even compares them to demons, saying: 'You believe that there is one God? You do well; the demons also believe and tremble.' What could be said more briefly, more truly, more forcibly, since we also read in the Gospel that the demons said this, when they confessed Christ to be the Son of God and were rebuked by him — that which in Peter's confession was praised? 'What shall it profit,' says James, 'my brethren, if a man say he has faith, but have not works? Can faith save him?' He says also that faith without works is dead. How long, then, are they deceived who promise themselves everlasting life from a dead faith!
Wherefore we must diligently attend to how that saying of the apostle Paul is to be received, plainly difficult to understand, where he says: 'For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he has built thereon, he shall receive a reward; but if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.'
This they think must be so understood, that those seem to build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, who add good works to the faith which is in Christ; but those build wood, hay, stubble, who, while they have the same faith, do evil works. Whence they suppose that through certain penalties of fire these can be purged unto receiving salvation, on account of the foundation.
If this is so, we admit that these men strive with a praiseworthy charity, that all without distinction may be admitted to baptism — not only adulterers and adulteresses who, against the Lord's sentence, allege false marriages, but even public prostitutes persevering in their most shameful trade, whom certainly not even the most negligent church has been accustomed to admit unless first freed from that prostitution. But by this reasoning I do not at all see why they should not be admitted in every way. For who would not prefer that these women, the foundation being laid — even if they heap up wood and hay and stubble — should be purged by a fire somewhat more long-lasting, rather than perish forever? But then those sayings will be false which have no obscurity or ambiguity:
'If I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing'; and: 'What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he has faith, but have not works? Can faith save him?' That too will be false: 'Do not err; neither fornicators, nor those who serve idols, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor the rapacious shall possess the kingdom of God.' False too will be that:
'The works of the flesh are manifest, which are: fornications, uncleannesses, wantonness, idolatry, sorceries, enmities, contentions, jealousies, animosities, dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkennesses, revellings, and such like; of which I foretell you, as I have foretold, that they who do such things shall not possess the kingdom of God.' These things will be false. For if they only believe and be baptized, though they persevere in such evils, they will be saved through fire, and thus even those baptized in Christ who do such things will possess the kingdom of God. But then it is said in vain: 'And such were some of you, but you are washed,' since even the washed do these things. Vainly too will seem that which was said by Peter:
'So also baptism doth now save you by a like figure — not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience.' Since even those who have the worst consciences, full of all shameful deeds and crimes, and unchanged by any repentance for those evils, are nevertheless saved by baptism; for on account of the foundation which is laid in that baptism, they will be saved, though through fire. That too I do not see, why the Lord said: 'If you wish to come to life, keep the commandments,' and recalled those things which pertain to good morals, if, even with these not kept, one can come to life through faith alone, which without works is dead. And then how will that be true which he will say to those whom he shall set on the left hand:
'Go into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels'? Whom he does not rebuke because they did not believe in him, but because they did not do good works. For assuredly, lest anyone should promise himself eternal life from faith which without works is dead, therefore he said that he would separate all the nations, which, mingled together, made use of the same shepherds, so that it might appear that they would say to him: 'Lord, when did we see you suffering this and that, and did not minister to you?' — those who had believed in him, but had taken no care to do good works, as though from that very dead faith one might come to eternal life.
Or shall they perhaps go into everlasting fire who did not do works of mercy, and shall they not go who plundered others' goods, or who by corrupting the temple of God in themselves were unmerciful to their own selves? As though works of mercy profited anything without love, when the Apostle says: 'If I should distribute all my goods to the poor, but have not charity, it profits me nothing'; or as though anyone loved his neighbor as himself who does not love himself. 'For he who loves iniquity,' he says, 'hates his own soul.' Nor can that be said here, in which some deceive themselves, [saying] that it was 'everlasting fire' that was spoken of, not the punishment itself as everlasting.
For they suppose that those to whom they promise salvation through fire on account of a dead faith will pass through a fire which will be eternal, so that, forsooth, the fire itself be eternal, but the burning of them — that is, the operation of the fire — be not eternal upon them; whereas the Lord, foreseeing even this, as Lord, so concluded his sentence, saying: 'So shall these go into everlasting burning, but the just into life everlasting.' There will therefore be an everlasting burning, just as the fire is everlasting; and Truth itself said that those would go into it whose faith it declared to have been present, but whose good works it declared to have been lacking.
If therefore all these things, and the rest which can be found stated without ambiguity throughout all the Scriptures — things innumerable — will be false, then that interpretation about the wood and the hay and the stubble may be able to be true, namely that those will be saved through fire who, holding faith in Christ alone, neglected good works. But if these things are both true and clear, then beyond doubt another interpretation must be sought in that saying of the Apostle, and it must be reckoned among those which Peter says are in his writings, certain things difficult to understand:
which men ought not to pervert to their own destruction, so as, against the most evident testimonies of the Scriptures, to make secure concerning the receiving of salvation the most wicked, who most obstinately cleave to their wickedness and are not changed by amending or repenting. Here perhaps it may be asked of me what I myself think about that very saying of the apostle Paul, and in what way I hold it is to be understood.
I confess that on this matter I would rather hear those more intelligent and more learned, who so expound it that all those things remain true and unshaken which I have recalled above, and whatever others I have not recalled, by which Scripture most plainly testifies that faith profits nothing except that which the Apostle defined, that is, the faith which works through love; and that without works it cannot save, neither apart from fire nor through fire — because, if it saves through fire, then it certainly saves. But it is said absolutely and openly: 'What does it profit, if a man say he has faith, but have not works? Can faith save him?'
Nevertheless I too will say, as briefly as I can, what I think about that saying of the apostle Paul, difficult to understand — provided that this, which pertains to my profession, be chiefly held: that concerning this matter I have said I would rather hear those better than myself. The foundation is Christ, the structure of the wise architect. This needs no exposition, for it is openly said: 'For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.' But if Christ, then beyond doubt the faith of Christ; for through faith Christ dwells in our hearts, as the same Apostle says. Further, if the faith of Christ, then certainly that faith which the Apostle defined, which works through love.
For that faith of the demons cannot be received as the foundation, though they too believe and tremble and confess Jesus to be the Son of God. Why? Except that it is not the faith which works through love, but that which is expressed through fear. The faith of Christ, therefore — the faith of Christian grace, that is, the faith which works through love, placed in the foundation — permits no one to perish. But as to what it is to build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, and wood, hay, stubble — if I should try to discuss it more subtly, I fear lest the exposition itself be more difficult to understand; yet I shall strive, as far as the Lord helps, to set forth what I think both briefly and, as far as I can, clearly.