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In which Augustine argues against such as say that in the present life there are, have been, and will be, men who have absolutely no sin at all. He lays down four propositions on this head: and teaches, first, that a man might possibly live in the present life without sin, by the grace of God and his own free will; he next shows that nevertheless in fact there is no man who lives quite free from sin in this life; thirdly, he sets forth the reason of this,— because there is no man who exactly confines his wishes within the limits of the just requirement of each case, which just requirement he either fails to perceive, or is unwilling to carry out in practice; in the fourth place, he proves that there is not, nor has been, nor ever will be, a human being— except the one mediator, Christ— who is free from all sin.
We have, my dearest Marcellinus, discussed at sufficient length, I think, in the former book the baptism of infants,— how that it is given to them not only for entrance into the kingdom of God, but also for attaining salvation and eternal life, which none can have without the kingdom of God, or without that union with the Saviour Christ, wherein He has redeemed us by His blood. I undertake in the present book to discuss and explain the question, Whether there lives in this world, or has yet lived, or ever will live, any one without any sin whatever, except the one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all;
1 Timothy 2:5-6 — with as much care and ability as He may Himself vouchsafe to me. And should there occasionally arise in this discussion, either inevitably or casually from the argument, any question about the baptism or the sin of infants, I must neither be surprised nor must I shrink from giving the best answer I can, at such emergencies, to whatever point challenges my attention.
A solution is extremely necessary of this question about a human life unassailed by any deception or preoccupation of sin, in consequence even of our daily prayers. For there are some persons who presume so much upon the free determination of the human will, as to suppose that it need not sin, and that we require no divine assistance,— attributing to our nature, once for all, this determination of free will. An inevitable consequence of this is, that we ought not to pray not to enter into temptation,
— that is, not to be overcome of temptation, either when it deceives and surprises us in our ignorance, or when it presses and importunes us in our weakness. Now how hurtful, and how pernicious and contrary to our salvation in Christ, and how violently adverse to the religion itself in which we are instructed, and to the piety whereby we worship God, it cannot but be for us not to beseech the Lord for the attainment of such a benefit, but be rather led to think that petition of the Lord's Prayer, Lead us not into temptation,
Matthew 6:13 a vain and useless insertion,— it is beyond my ability to express in words.
Now these people imagine that they are acute (as if none among us knew it) when they say, that if we have not the will, we commit no sin; nor would God command man to do what was impossible for human volition.
But they do not see, that in order to overcome certain things, which are the objects either of an evil desire or an ill-conceived fear, men need the strenuous efforts, and sometimes even all the energies, of the will; and that we should only imperfectly employ these in every instance, He foresaw who willed so true an utterance to be spoken by the prophet: In Your sight shall no man living be justified.
The Lord, therefore, foreseeing that such would be our character, was pleased to provide and endow with efficacious virtue certain healthful remedies against the guilt and bonds even of sins committed after baptism,— for instance, the works of mercy,— as when he says: Forgive, and you shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto you.
Luke 6:37-38 For who could quit this life with any hope of obtaining eternal salvation, with that sentence impending: Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all,
James 2:10 if there did not soon after follow: So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty: for he shall have judgment without mercy that has showed no mercy; and mercy rejoices against judgment?
James 2:12
Concupiscence, therefore, as the law of sin which remains in the members of this body of death, is born with infants. In baptized infants, it is deprived of guilt, is left for the struggle [of life], but pursues with no condemnation, such as die before the struggle. Unbaptized infants it implicates as guilty and as children of wrath, even if they die in infancy, draws into condemnation. In baptized adults, however, endowed with reason, whatever consent their mind gives to this concupiscence for the commission of sin is an act of their own will. After all sins have been blotted out, and that guilt has been cancelled which by nature bound men in a conquered condition, it still remains,— but not to hurt in any way those who yield no consent to it for unlawful deeds,— until death is swallowed up in victory 1 Corinthians 15:54 and, in that perfection of peace, nothing is left to be conquered. Such, however, as yield consent to it for the commission of unlawful deeds, it holds as guilty; and unless, through the medicine of repentance, and through works of mercy, by the intercession in our behalf of the heavenly High Priest, they be healed, it conducts us to the second death and utter condemnation. It was on this account that the Lord, when teaching us to pray, advised us, besides other petitions, to say: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into tempation, but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:12-13 For evil remains in our flesh, not by reason of the nature in which man was created by God and wisdom, but by reason of that offence into which he fell by his own will, and in which, since its powers are lost, he is not healed with the same facility of will as that with which he was wounded. Of this evil the apostle says: I know that in my flesh dwells no good thing;
Romans 7:18 and it is likewise to the same evil that he counsels us to give no obedience, when he says: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to obey the lusts thereof.
Romans 6:12 When, therefore, we have by an unlawful inclination of our will yielded consent to these lusts of the flesh, we say, with a view to the cure of this fault, Forgive us our debts;
Matthew 6:12 and we at the same time apply the remedy of a work of mercy, in that we add, As we forgive our debtors.
That we may not, however, yield such consent, let us pray for assistance, and say, And lead us not into temptation;
— not that God ever Himself tempts any one with such temptation, for God is not a tempter to evil, neither tempts He any man;
James 1:13 but in order that whenever we feel the rising of temptation from our concupiscence, we may not be deserted by His help, in order that thereby we may be able to conquer, and not be carried away by enticement. We then add our request for that which is to be perfected at the last, when mortality shall be swallowed up of life: 2 Corinthians 5:4 But deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:13 For then there will exist no longer a concupiscence which we are bidden to struggle against, and not to consent to. The whole substance, accordingly, of these three petitions may be thus briefly expressed: Pardon us for those things in which we have been drawn away by concupiscence; help us not to be drawn away by concupiscence; take away concupiscence from us.
Now for the commission of sin we get no help from God; but we are not able to do justly, and to fulfil the law of righteousness in every part thereof, except we are helped by God. For as the bodily eye is not helped by the light to turn away therefrom shut or averted, but is helped by it to see, and cannot see at all unless it help it; so God, who is the light of the inner man, helps our mental sight, in order that we may do some good, not according to our own, but according to His righteousness. But if we turn away from Him, it is our own act; we then are wise according to the flesh, we then consent to the concupiscence of the flesh for unlawful deeds. When we turn to Him, therefore, God helps us; when we turn away from Him, He forsakes us. But then He helps us even to turn to Him; and this, certainly, is something that light does not do for the eyes of the body. When, therefore, He commands us in the words, Turn ye unto me, and I will turn unto you,
Zechariah 1:3 and we say to Him, Turn us, O God of our salvation,
and again, Turn us, O God of hosts;
what else do we say than, Give what Thou commandest?
When He commands us, saying, Understand now, you simple among the people,
and we say to Him, Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments;
what else do we say than, Give what Thou commandest?
When He commands us, saying, Go not after your lusts,
Sirach 18:30 and we say to Him, We know that no man can be continent, except God gives it to him;
Wisdom 8:21 what else do we say than, Give what Thou commandest?
When He commands us, saying, Do justice,
Isaiah 56:1 and we say, Teach me Your judgments, O Lord;
what else do we say than, Give what Thou commandest?
In like manner, when He says: Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled,
Matthew 5:6 from whom ought we to seek for the meat and drink of righteousness, but from Him who promises His fulness to such as hunger and thirst after it?
Let us then drive away from our ears and minds those who say that we ought to accept the determination of our own free will and not pray God to help us not to sin. By such darkness as this even the Pharisee was not blinded; for although he erred in thinking that he needed no addition to his righteousness, and supposed himself to be saturated with abundance of it, he nevertheless gave thanks to God that he was not like other men, unjust, extortioners, adulterers, or even as the publican; for he fasted twice in the week, he gave tithes of all that he possessed.
Luke 18:11-12 He wished, indeed, for no addition to his own righteousness; but yet, by giving thanks to God, he confessed that all he had he had received from Him. Notwithstanding, he was not approved, both because he asked for no further food of righteousness, as if he were already filled, and because he arrogantly preferred himself to the publican, who was hungering and thirsting after righteousness. What, then, is to be said of those who, while acknowledging that they have no righteousness, or no fulness thereof, yet imagine that it is to be had from themselves alone, not to be besought from their Creator, in whom is its store and its fountain? And yet this is not a question about prayers alone, as if the energy of our will also should not be strenuously added. God is said to be our Helper;
but nobody can be helped who does not make some effort of his own accord. For God does not work our salvation in us as if he were working in insensate stones, or in creatures in whom nature has placed neither reason nor will. Why, however, He helps one man, but not another; or why one man so much, and another so much; or why one man in one way, and another in another,— He reserves to Himself according to the method of His own most secret justice, and to the excellency of His power.
Now those who aver that a man can exist in this life without sin, must not be immediately opposed with incautious rashness; for if we should deny the possibility, we should derogate both from the free will of man, who in his wish desires it, and from the power or mercy of God, who by His help effects it. But it is one question, whether he could exist; and another question, whether he does exist. Again, it is one question, if he does not exist when he could exist, why he does not exist; and another question, whether such a man as had never sinned at all, not only is in existence, but also could ever have existed, or can ever exist. Now, if in the order of this fourfold set of interrogative propositions, I were asked, [1st,] Whether it be possible for a man in this life to be without sin? I should allow the possibility, through the grace of God and the man's own free will; not doubting that the free will itself is ascribable to God's grace, in other words, to the gifts of God,— not only as to its existence, but also as to its being good, that is, to its conversion to doing the commandments of God. Thus it is that God's grace not only shows what ought to be done, but also helps to the possibility of doing what it shows. What indeed have we that we have not received?
1 Corinthians 4:7 Whence also Jeremiah says: I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man to walk and direct his steps.
Jeremiah 10:23 Accordingly, when in the Psalms one says to God, You have commanded me to keep Your precepts diligently,
he at once adds not a word of confidence concerning himself but a wish to be able to keep these precepts: O that my ways,
says he, were directed to keep Your statutes! Then should I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all Your commandments? Now who ever wishes for what he has already so in his own power, that he requires no further help for attaining it? To whom, however, he directs his wish,— not to fortune, or fate, or some one else besides God,— he shows with sufficient clearness in the following words, where he says: Order my steps in Your word; and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
From the thraldom of this execrable dominion they are liberated, to whom the Lord Jesus gave power to become the sons of God. John 1:12 From so horrible a domination were they to be freed, to whom He says, If the Son shall make you free, then shall you be free indeed.
John 8:36 From these and many other like testimonies, I cannot doubt that God has laid no impossible command on man; and that, by God's aid and help, nothing is impossible, by which is wrought what He commands. In this way may a man, if he pleases, be without sin by the assistance of God.
[2nd.] If, however, I am asked the second question which I have suggested,— whether there be a sinless man,— I believe there is not. For I rather believe the Scripture, which says: Enter not into judgment with Your servant; for in Your sight shall no man living be justified.
There is therefore need of the mercy of God, which exceedingly rejoices against judgment,
James 2:13 and which that man shall not obtain who does not show mercy. James 2:13 And whereas the prophet says, I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my heart,
he yet immediately adds, For this shall every saint pray unto You in an acceptable time.
Not indeed every sinner, but every saint;
for it is the voice of saints which says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:8 Accordingly we read, in the Apocalypse of the same Apostle, of the hundred and forty and four thousand
saints, which were not defiled with women; for they continued virgins: and in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault.
Revelation 14:3-5 Without fault,
indeed, they no doubt are for this reason,— because they truly found fault with themselves; and for this reason, in their mouth was discovered no guile,
— because if they said they had no sin, they deceived themselves, and the truth was not in them.
1 John 1:8 Of course, where the truth was not, there would be guile; and when a righteous man begins a statement by accusing himself, he verily utters no falsehood.
And hence in the passage, Whosoever is born of God does not sin, and he cannot sin, for His seed remains in him,
1 John 3:9 and in every other passage of like import, they much deceive themselves by an inadequate consideration of the Scriptures. For they fail to observe that men severally become sons of God when they begin to live in newness of spirit, and to be renewed as to the inner man after the image of Him that created them. For it is not from the moment of a man's baptism that all his old infirmity is destroyed, but renovation begins with the remission of all his sins, and so far as he who is now wise is spiritually wise. All things else, however, are accomplished in hope, looking forward to their being also realized in fact, even to the renewal of the body itself in that better state of immortality and incorruption with which we shall be clothed at the resurrection of the dead. For this too the Lord calls a regeneration,— though, of course, not such as occurs through baptism, but still a regeneration wherein that which is now begun in the spirit shall be brought to perfection also in the body. In the regeneration,
says He, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Matthew 19:28 For however entire and full be the remission of sins in baptism, nevertheless, if there was wrought by it at once, an entire and full change of the man into his everlasting newness,— I do not mean change in his body, which is now most clearly tending evermore to the old corruption and to death, after which it is to be renewed into a total and true newness,— but, the body being excepted, if in the soul itself, which is the inner man, a perfect renewal was wrought in baptism, the apostle would not say: Even though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 Now, undoubtedly, he who is still renewed day by day is not as yet wholly renewed; and in so far as he is not yet wholly renewed, he is still in his old state. Since, then, men, even after they are baptized, are still in some degree in their old condition, they are on that account also still children of the world; but inasmuch as they are also admitted into a new state, that is to say, by the full and perfect remission of their sins, and in so far as they are spiritually-minded, and behave correspondingly, they are the children of God. Internally we put off the old man and put on the new; for we then and there lay aside lying, and speak truth, and do those other things wherein the apostle makes to consist the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians 4:24 Now it is men who are already baptized and faithful whom he exhorts to do this,— an exhortation which would be unsuitable to them, if the absolute and perfect change had been already made in their baptism. And yet made it was, since we were then actually saved; for He saved us by the laver of regeneration.
Titus 3:5 In another passage, however, he tells us how this took place. Not they only,
says he, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Romans 8:23-25
Our full adoption, then, as children, is to happen at the redemption of our body. It is therefore the first-fruits of the Spirit which we now possess, whence we are already really become the children of God; for the rest, indeed, as it is by hope that we are saved and renewed, so are we the children of God. But inasmuch as we are not yet actually saved, we are also not yet fully renewed, nor yet also fully sons of God, but children of the world. We are therefore advancing in renewal and holiness of life,— and it is by this that we are children of God, and by this also we cannot commit sin;— until at last the whole of that by which we are kept as yet children of this world is changed into this;— for it is owing to this that we are as yet able to sin. Hence it comes to pass that whosoever is born of God does not commit sin;
1 John 3:9 and as well, if we were to say that we have no sin, we should deceive ourselves, and the truth would not be in us.
1 John 1:8 There shall be then an end put to that within us which keeps us children of the flesh and of the world; while that other shall be perfected which makes us the children of God, and renews us by His Spirit. Accordingly the same John says, Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it does not yet appear what we shall be.
1 John 3:2 Now what means this variety in the expressions, we are,
and we shall be,
but this — we are in hope, we shall be in reality? For he goes on to say, We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
1 John 3:2 We have therefore even now begun to be like Him, having the first-fruits of the Spirit; but yet we are still unlike Him, by reason of the remainders of the old nature. In as far, then, as we are like Him, in so far are we, by the regenerating Spirit, sons of God; but in as far as we are unlike Him, in so far are we the children of the flesh and of the world. On the one side, we cannot commit sin; but, on the other, if we say that we have no sin, we only deceive ourselves,— until we pass entirely into the adoption, and the sinner be no more, and you look for his place and find it not.
In vain, then, do some of them argue: If a sinner begets a sinner, so that the guilt of original sin must be done away in his infant son by his receiving baptism, in like manner ought a righteous man to beget a righteous son.
Just as if a man begat children in the flesh by reason of his righteousness, and not because he is moved thereto by the concupiscence which is in his members, and the law of sin is applied by the law of his mind to the purpose of procreation. His begetting children, therefore, shows that he still retains the old nature among the children of this world; it does not arise from the fact of his promotion to newness of life among the children of God. For the children of this world beget and are begotten.
Luke 20:34 Hence also what is born of them is like them; for that which is born of the flesh is flesh.
John 3:6 Only the children of God, however, are righteous; but in so far as they are the children of God, they do not carnally beget, because it is of the Spirit, and not of the flesh, that they are themselves begotten. But as many of them as become parents, beget children from the circumstance that they have not yet put off the entire remains of their old nature in exchange for the perfect renovation which awaits them. It follows, therefore, that every son who is born in this old and infirm condition of his father's nature, must needs himself partake of the same old and infirm condition. In order, then, that he may be begotten again, he must also himself be renewed by the Spirit through the remission of sin; and if this change does not take place in him, his righteous father will be of no use to him. For it is by the Spirit that he is righteous, but it is not by the Spirit that he begat his son. On the other hand, if this change does accrue to him, he will not be damaged by an unrighteous father: for it is by the grace of the Spirit that he has passed into the hope of the eternal newness; whereas it is owing to his carnal mind that his father has wholly remained in the old nature.
The statement, therefore, He that is born of God sins not,
1 John 3:9 is not contrary to the passage in which it is declared by those who are born of God, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:8 For however complete may be a man's present hope, and however real may be his renewal by spiritual regeneration in that part of his nature, he still, for all that, carries about a body which is corrupt, and which presses down his soul; and so long as this is the case, one must distinguish even in the same individual the relation and source of each several action. Now, I suppose it is not easy to find in God's Scripture so weighty a testimony of holiness given of any man as that which is written of His three servants, Noah, Daniel, and Job, whom the Prophet Ezekiel describes as the only men able to be delivered from God's impending wrath. Ezekiel 14:14 In these three men he no doubt prefigures three classes of mankind to be delivered: in Noah, as I suppose, are represented righteous leaders of nations, by reason of his government of the ark as a type of the Church; in Daniel, men who are righteous in continence; in Job, those who are righteous in wedlock;— to say nothing of any other view of the passage, which it is unnecessary now to consider. It is, at any rate, clear from this testimony of the prophet, and from other inspired statements, how eminent were these worthies in righteousness. Yet no man must be led by their history to say, for instance, that drunkenness is not sin, although so good a man was overtaken by it; for we read that Noah was once drunk, Genesis 9:21 but God forbid that it should be thought that he was an habitual drunkard.
Daniel, indeed, after the prayer which he poured out before God, actually says respecting himself, Whilst I was praying and confessing my sins, and the sins of my people, before the Lord my God.
Daniel 9:20 This is the reason, if I am not mistaken, why in the above-mentioned Prophet Ezekiel a certain most haughty person is asked, Are you then wiser than Daniel?
Ezekiel 28:3 Nor on this point can that be possibly said which some contend for in opposition to the Lord's Prayer: For although,
they say, that prayer was offered by the apostles, after they became holy and perfect, and had no sin whatever, yet it was not in behalf of their own selves, but of imperfect and still sinful men that they said, 'Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.' They used the word our,
they say, in order to show that in one body are contained both those who still have sins, and themselves, who were already altogether free from sin.
Now this certainly cannot be said in the case of Daniel, who (as I suppose) foresaw as a prophet this presumptuous opinion, when he said so often in his prayer, We have sinned;
and explained to us why he said this, not so as that we should hear from him, Whilst I was praying and confessing the sins of my people to the Lord, my God; nor yet confounding distinction, so as that it would be uncertain whether he had said, on account of the fellowship of one body, While I was confessing our sins to the Lord my God; but he expresses himself in language so distinct and precise, as if he were full of the distinction himself, and wanted above all things to commend it to our notice: My sins,
says he, and the sins of my people.
Who can gainsay such evidence as this, but he who is more pleased to defend what he thinks than to find out what he ought to think?
But let us see what Job has to say of himself, after God's great testimony of his righteousness. I know of a truth,
he says, that it is so: for how shall a mortal man be just before the Lord? For if He should enter into judgment with him, he would not be able to obey Him.
Job 9:2-3 And shortly afterwards he asks: Who shall resist His judgment? Even if I should seem righteous, my mouth will speak profanely.
Job 9:19-20 And again, further on, he says: I know He will not leave me unpunished. But since I am ungodly, why have I not died? If I should wash myself with snow, and be purged with clean hands, you had thoroughly stained me with filth.
Job 9:30 In another of his discourses he says: For You have written evil things against me, and hast compassed me with the sins of my youth; and You have placed my foot in the stocks. You have watched all my works, and hast inspected the soles of my feet, which wax old like a bottle, or like a moth-eaten garment. For man that is born of a woman has but a short time to live, and is full of wrath; like a flower that has bloomed, so does he fall; he is gone like a shadow, and continues not. Have You not taken account even of him, and caused him to enter into judgment with You? For who is pure from uncleanness? Not even one; even should his life last but a day.
Then a little afterwards he says: You have numbered all my necessities; and not one of my sins has escaped You. You have sealed up my transgressions in a bag, and hast marked whatever I have done unwillingly.
Job 14:16-17 See how Job, too, confesses his sins, and says how sure he is that there is none righteous before the Lord. So he is sure of this also, that if we say we have no sin, the truth is not in us. While, therefore, God bestows on him His high testimony of righteousness, according to the standard of human conduct, Job himself, taking his measure from that rule of righteousness, which, as well as he can, he beholds in God, knows of a truth that so it is; and he goes on at once to say, How shall a mortal man be just before the Lord? For if He should enter into judgment with him, he would not be able to obey Him;
in other words, if, when challenged to judgment, he wished to show that nothing could be found in him which He could condemn, he would not be able to obey him,
since he misses even that obedience which might enable him to obey Him who teaches that sins ought to be confessed. Accordingly [the Lord] rebukes certain men, saying, Why will you contend with me in judgment?
Jeremiah 2:29 This [the Psalmist] averts, saying, Enter not into judgment with Your servant; for in Your sight shall no man living be justified.
In accordance with this, Job also asks: For who shall resist his judgment? Even if I should seem righteous, my mouth will speak profanely;
which means: If, contrary to His judgment, I should call myself righteous, when His perfect rule of righteousness proves me to be unrighteous, then of a truth my mouth would speak profanely, because it would speak against the truth of God.
He sets forth that this absolute weakness, or rather condemnation, of carnal generation is from the transgression of original sin, when, treating of his own sins, he shows, as it were, their causes, and says that man that is born of a woman has but a short time to live, and is full of wrath.
Of what wrath, but of that in which all are, as the apostle says, by nature,
that is, by origin, children of wrath,
Ephesians 2:3 inasmuch as they are children of the concupiscence of the flesh and of the world? He further shows that to this same wrath also pertains the death of man. For after saying, He has but a short time to live, and is full of wrath,
he added, Like a flower that has bloomed, so does he fall; he is gone like a shadow, and continues not.
He then subjoins: Have You not caused him to enter into judgment with You? For who is pure from uncleanness? Not even one; even should his life last but a day.
In these words he in fact says, You have thrown upon man, short-lived though he be, the care of entering into judgment with You. For how brief soever be his life,— even if it last but a single day,— he could not possibly be clean of filth; and therefore with perfect justice must he come under Your judgment. Then, when he says again, You have numbered all my necessities, and not one of my sins has escaped You: You have sealed up my transgressions in a bag, and hast marked whatever I have done unwillingly;
is it not clear enough that even those sins are justly imputed which are not committed through allurement of pleasure, but for the sake of avoiding some trouble, or pain, or death? Now these sins, too, are said to be committed under some necessity, whereas they ought all to be overcome by the love and pleasure of righteousness. Again, what he said in the clause, You have marked whatever I have done unwillingly,
may evidently be connected with the saying: For what I would, that I do not; but what I hate, that do I.
Romans 7:15
Now it is remarkable that the Lord Himself, after bestowing on Job the testimony which is expressed in Scripture, that is, by the Spirit of God, In all the things which happened to him he sinned not with his lips before the Lord,
Job 1:22 did yet afterwards speak to him with a rebuke, as Job himself tells us: Why do I yet plead, being admonished, and hearing the rebukes of the Lord?
Job 39:34 Now no man is justly rebuked unless there be in him something which deserves rebuke. [XI.] And what sort of rebuke is this,— which, moreover, is understood to proceed from the person of Christ our Lord? He re-counts to him all the divine operations of His power, rebuking him under this idea,— that He seems to say to him, Can you effect all these mighty works as I can?
But to what purpose is all this but that Job might understand (for this instruction was divinely inspired into him, that he might foreknow Christ's coming to suffer),— that he might understand how patiently he ought to endure all that he went through, since Christ, although, when He became man for us, He was absolutely without sin, and although as God He possessed so great power, did for all that by no means refuse to obey even to the suffering of death? When Job understood this with a purer intensity of heart, he added to his own answer these words: I used before now to hear of You by the hearing of the ear; but behold now my eye sees You: therefore I abhor myself and melt away, and account myself but dust and ashes.
Job 42:5-6 Why was he thus so deeply displeased with himself? God's work, in that he was man, could not rightly have given him displeasure, since it is even said to God Himself, Despise not Thou the work of Your own hands.
It was indeed in view of that righteousness, in which he had discovered his own unrighteousness, that he abhorred himself and melted away, and deemed himself dust and ashes,— beholding, as he did in his mind, the righteousness of Christ, in whom there could not possibly be any sin, not only in respect of His divinity, but also of His soul and His flesh. It was also in view of this righteousness which is of God that the Apostle Paul, although as touching the righteousness which is of the law he was blameless,
yet counted all things
not only as loss, but even as dung. Philippians 3:6-8
That illustrious testimony of God, therefore, in which Job is commended, is not contrary to the passage in which it is said, In Your sight shall no man living be justified;
for it does not lead us to suppose that in him there was nothing at all which might either by himself truly or by the Lord God rightly be blamed, although at the same time he might with no untruth be said to be a righteous man, and a sincere worshipper of God, and one who keeps himself from every evil work. For these are God's words concerning him: Have you diligently considered my servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, blameless, righteous, a true worshipper of God, who keeps himself from every evil work.
Job 1:8 First, he is here praised for his excellence in comparison with all men on earth. He therefore excelled all who were at that time able to be righteous upon earth; and yet, because of this superiority over others in righteousness, he was not therefore altogether without sin. He is next said to be blameless
— no one could fairly bring an accusation against him in respect of his life; righteous
— he had advanced so greatly in moral probity, that no man could be mentioned on a par with him; a true worshipper of God
— because he was a sincere and humble confessor of his own sins; who keeps himself from every evil work
— it would have been wonderful if this had extended to every evil word and thought. How great a man indeed Job was, we are not told; but we know that he was a just man; we know, too, that in the endurance of terrible afflictions and trials he was great; and we know that it was not on account of his sins, but for the purpose of demonstrating his righteousness, that he had to bear so much suffering. But the language in which the Lord commends Job might also be applied to him who delights in the law of God after the inner man, while he sees another law in his members warring against the law of his mind;
Romans 7:22-23 especially as he says, The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
Romans 7:19-20 Observe how he too after the inward man is separate from every evil work, because such work he does not himself effect, but the evil which dwells in his flesh; and yet, since he does not have even that ability to delight in the law of God except from the grace of God, he, as still in want of deliverance, exclaims, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? God's grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:24-25
There are then on earth righteous men, there are great men, brave, prudent, chaste, patient, pious, merciful, who endure all kinds of temporal evil with an even mind for righteousness' sake. If, however, there is truth— nay, because there is truth— in these words, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
1 John 1:8 and in these, In Your sight shall no man living be justified,
they are not without sin; nor is there one among them so proud and foolish as not to think that the Lord's Prayer is needful to him, by reason of his manifold sins.
Now what must we say of Zacharias and Elisabeth, who are often alleged against us in discussions on this question, except that there is clear evidence in the Scripture Luke 1:6-9 that Zacharias was a man of eminent righteousness among the chief priests, whose duty it was to offer up the sacrifices of the Old Testament? We also read, however, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, in a passage which I have already quoted in my previous book, that Christ was the only High Priest who had no need, as those who were called high priests, to offer daily a sacrifice for his own sins first, and then for the people. For such a High Priest,
it says, became us, righteous, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins.
Hebrews 7:26-27 Amongst the priests here referred to was Zacharias, among them was Phinehas, yea, Aaron himself, from whom this priesthood had its beginning, and whatever others there were who lived laudably and righteously in this priesthood; and yet all these were under the necessity, first of all, of offering sacrifice for their own sins,— Christ, of whose future coming they were a type, being the only one who, as an incontaminable priest, had no such necessity.
What commendation, however, is bestowed on Zacharias and Elisabeth which is not comprehended in what the apostle has said about himself before he believed in Christ? He said that, as touching the righteousness which is in the law, he had been blameless.
Philippians 3:6 The same is said also of them: They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
It was because whatever righteousness they had in them was not a pretence before men that it is said accordingly, They walked before the Lord.
But that which is written of Zacharias and his wife in the phrase, in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, the apostle briefly expressed by the words, in the law. For there was not one law for him and another for them previous to the gospel. It was one and the same law which, as we read, was given by Moses to their fathers, and according to which, also, Zacharias was priest, and offered sacrifices in his course. And yet the apostle, who was then endued with the like righteousness, goes on to say: But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; for whose sake I have not only thought all things to be only detriments, but I have even counted them as dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being made comformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Philippians 3:7-11 So far, then, is it from being true that we should, from the words in which Scripture describes them, suppose that Zacharias and Elisabeth had a perfect righteousness without any sin, that we must even regard the apostle himself, according to the selfsame rule, as not perfect, not only in that righteousness of the law which he possessed in common with them, and which he counts as loss and dung in comparison with that most excellent righteousness which is by the faith of Christ, but also in the very gospel itself, wherein he deserved the pre-eminence of his great apostleship. Now I would not venture to say this if I did not deem it very wrong to refuse credence to himself. He extends the passage which we have quoted, and says: Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect; but I follow after, if I may comprehend that for which also I am apprehended in Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14 Here he confesses that he has not yet attained, and is not yet perfect in that plenitude of righteousness which he had longed to obtain in Christ; but that he was as yet pressing towards the mark, and, forgetting what was past, was reaching out to the things which are before him. We are sure, then, that what he says elsewhere is true even of himself: Although our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 Although he was already a perfect traveller, he had not yet attained the perfect end of his journey. All such he would fain take with him as companions of his course. This he expresses in the words which follow our former quotation: Let as many, then, of us as are perfect, be thus minded: and if you be yet of another mind, God will reveal even this also to you. Nevertheless, whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by that rule.
Philippians 3:15-16 This walk
is not performed with the legs of the body, but with the affections of the soul and the character of the life, so that they who possess righteousness may arrive at perfection, who, advancing in their renewal day by day along the straight path of faith, have by this time become perfect as travellers in the selfsame righteousness.
In like manner, all who are described in the Scriptures as exhibiting in their present life good will and the actions of righteousness, and all who have lived like them since, although lacking the same testimony of Scripture; or all who are even now so living, or shall hereafter so live: all these are great, they are all righteous, and they are all really worthy of praise,— yet they are by no means without sin: inasmuch as, on the authority of the same Scriptures which make us believe in their virtues, we believe also that in God's sight no man living is justified,
whence all ask that He will not enter into judgment with His servants:
and that not only to all the faithful in general, but to each of them in particular, the Lord's Prayer is necessary, which He delivered to His disciples.
Well, but,
they say, the Lord says, 'Be perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,' Matthew 5:48 — an injunction which He would not have given, if He had known that what He enjoined was impracticable.
Now the present question is not whether it be possible for any men, during this present life, to be without sin if they receive that perfection for the purpose; for the question of possibility we have already discussed: — but what we have now to consider is, whether any man in fact achieves perfection. We have, however, already recognised the fact that no man wills as much as the duty demands, as also the testimony of the Scriptures, which we have quoted so largely above, declares. When, indeed, perfection is ascribed to any particular person, we must look carefully at the thing in which it is ascribed. For I have just above quoted a passage of the apostle, wherein he confesses that he was not yet perfect in the attainment of righteousness which he desired; but still he immediately adds, Let as many of us as are perfect be thus minded.
Now he would certainly not have uttered these two sentences if he had not been perfect in one thing, and not in another. For instance, a man may be perfect as a scholar in the pursuit of wisdom: and this could not yet be said of those to whom [the apostle] said, I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto you have not been able to bear it, neither are you yet able;
1 Corinthians 3:2 whereas to those of whom it could be said he says, Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect,
— meaning, of course, perfect pupils
to be understood. It may happen, therefore, as I have said, that a man may be already perfect as a scholar, though not as yet perfect as a teacher of wisdom; may be perfect as a learner, though not as yet perfect as a doer of righteousness; may be perfect as a lover of his enemies, though not as yet perfect in bearing their wrong. Even in the case of him who is so far perfect as to love all men, inasmuch as he has attained even to the love of his enemies, it still remains a question whether he be perfect in that love,— in other words, whether he so loves those whom he loves as is prescribed to be exercised towards those to be loved, by the unchangeable love of truth. Whenever, then, we read in the Scriptures of any man's perfection, it must be carefully considered in what it is asserted, since a man is not therefore to be understood as being entirely without sin because he is described as perfect in some particular thing; although the term may also be employed to show, not, indeed, that there is no longer any point left for a man to reach his way to perfection, but that he has in fact advanced a very great way, and on that account may be deemed worthy of the designation. Thus, a man may be said to be perfect in the science of the law, even if there be still something unknown to him; and in the same manner the apostle called men perfect, to whom he said at the same time, Yet if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule.
Philippians 3:15
We must not deny that God commands that we ought to be so perfect in doing righteousness, as to have no sin at all. Now that cannot be sin, whatever it may be, unless God has enjoined that it shall not be. Why then, they ask, does He command what He knows no man living will perform? In this manner it may also be asked, Why He commanded the first human beings, who were only two, what He knew they would not obey? For it must not be pretended that He issued that command, that some of us might obey it, if they did not; for, that they should not partake of the fruit of the particular tree, God commanded them, and none besides. Because, as He knew what amount of righteousness they would fail to perform, so did He also know what righteous measures He meant Himself to adopt concerning them. In the same way, then, He orders all men to commit no sin, although He knows beforehand that no man will fulfil the command; in order that He may, in the case of all who impiously and condemnably despise His precepts, Himself do what is just in their condemnation; and, in the case of all who while obediently and piously pressing on in his precepts, though failing to observe to the utmost all things which He has enjoined, do yet forgive others as they wish to to be forgiven themselves, Himself do what is good in their cleansing. For how can forgiveness be bestowed by God's mercy on the forgiving, when there is no sin? or how prohibition fail to be given by the justice of God, when there is sin?
But see,
say they, how the apostle says, 'I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness;' 2 Timothy 4:7 which he would not have said if he had any sin.
It is for them, then, to explain how he could have said this, when there still remained for him to encounter the great conflict, the grievous and excessive weight of that suffering which he had just said awaited him. 2 Timothy 4:6 In order to finish his course, was there yet wanting only a small thing, when that in fact was still left to suffer wherein would be a fiercer and more cruel foe? If, however, he uttered such words of joy feeling sure and secure, because he had been made sure and secure by Him who had revealed to him the imminence of his suffering, then he spoke these words, not in the fulness of realization, but in the firmness of hope, and represents what he foresees is to come as if it had already been done. If, therefore, he had added to those words the further statement, I have no longer any sin,
we must have understood him as even then speaking of a perfection arising from a future prospect, not from an accomplished fact. For his having no sin, which they suppose was completed when he spoke these words, pertained to the finishing of his course; just in the same way as his triumphing over his adversary in the decisive conflict of his suffering had also reference to the finishing of his course, although this they must needs themselves allow remained yet to be effected, when he was speaking these words. The whole of this, therefore, we declare to have been as yet awaiting its accomplishment, at the time when the apostle, with his perfect trust in the promise of God, spoke of it all as having been already realized. For it was in reference to the finishing of his course that he forgave the sins of those who sinned against him, and prayed that his own sins might in like manner be forgiven him; and it was in his most certain confidence in this promise of the Lord, that he believed he should have no sin in that last end, which was still future, even when in his trustfulness he spoke of it as already accomplished. Now, omitting all other considerations, I wonder whether, when he uttered the words in which he is thought to imply that he had no sin, that thorn of the flesh
had been already removed from him, for the taking away of which he had three times entreated the Lord, and had received this answer: My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 For bringing so great a man to perfection, it was needful that that messenger of Satan
should not be taken away by whom he was therefore to be buffeted, lest he should be unduly exalted by the abundance of his revelations,
2 Corinthians 12:7 and is there then any man so bold as either to think or to say, that any one who has to bend beneath the burden of this life is altogether clean from all sin whatever?
Although there are some men who are so eminent in righteousness that God speaks to them out of His cloudy pillar, such as Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name,
the latter of whom is much praised for his piety and purity in the Scriptures of truth, from his earliest childhood, in which his mother, to accomplish her vow, placed him in God's temple, and devoted him to the Lord as His servant;— yet even of such men it is written, You, O God, wast propitious unto them, though You punished all their devices.
Now the children of wrath God punishes in anger; whereas it is in mercy that He punishes the children of grace; since whom He loves He corrects, and scourges every son whom He receives.
However, there are no punishments, no correction, no scourge of God, but what are owing to sin, except in the case of Him who prepared His back for the smiter, in order that He might experience all things in our likeness without sin, in order that He might be the saintly Priest of saints, making intercession even for saints, who with no sacrifice of truth say each one even for himself, Forgive us our trespasses, even as we also forgive them that trespass against us.
Wherefore even our opponents in this controversy, while they are chaste in their life, and commendable in character, and although they do not hesitate to do that which the Lord enjoined on the rich man, who inquired of Him about the attainment of eternal life, after he had told Him, in answer to His first question, that he had already fully kept every commandment in the law,— that if he wished to be perfect, he must sell all that he had and give to the poor, and transfer his treasure to heaven;
Matthew 19:12 yet they do not in any one instance venture to say that they are without sin. But this, as we believe, they refrain from saying, with deceitful intent; but if they are lying, in this very act they begin either to augment or commit sin.
[3d.] Let us now consider the point which I mentioned as our third inquiry. Since by divine grace assisting the human will, man may possibly exist in this life without sin, why does he not? To this question I might very easily and truthfully answer: Because men are unwilling. But if I am asked why they are unwilling, we are drawn into a lengthy statement. And yet, without prejudice to a more careful examination, I may briefly say this much: Men are unwilling to do what is right, either because what is right is unknown to them, or because it is unpleasant to them. For we desire a thing more ardently in proportion to the certainty of our knowledge of its goodness, and the warmth of our delight in it. Ignorance, therefore, and infirmity are faults which impede the will from moving either for doing a good work, or for refraining from an evil one. But that what was hidden may come to light, and what was unpleasant may be made agreeable, is of the grace of God which helps the wills of men; and that they are not helped by it, has its cause likewise in themselves, not in God, whether they be predestinated to condemnation, on account of the iniquity of their pride, or whether they are to be judged and disciplined contrary to their very pride, if they are children of mercy. Accordingly Jeremiah, after saying, I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, and that it belongs not to any man to walk and direct his steps,
Jeremiah 10:23 immediately adds, Correct me, O Lord, but with judgment, and not in Your anger;
Jeremiah 10:24 as much as to say, I know that it is for my correction that I am too little assisted by You, for my footsteps to be perfectly directed: but yet do not in this so deal with me as Thou dost in Your anger, when Thou dost determine to condemn the wicked; but as Thou dost in Your judgment whereby Thou dost teach Your children not to be proud. Whence in another passage it is said, And Your judgments shall help me.
You cannot therefore attribute to God the cause of any human fault. For of all human offences, the cause is pride. For the conviction and removal of this a great remedy comes from heaven. God in mercy humbles Himself, descends from above, and displays to man, lifted up by pride, pure and manifest grace in very manhood, which He took upon Himself out of vast love for those who partake of it. For, not even did even this One, so conjoined to the Word of God that by that conjunction he became at once the one Son of God and the same One the one Son of man, act by the antecedent merits of His own will. It behoved Him, without doubt, to be one; had there been two, or three, or more, if this could have been done, it would not have come from the pure and simple gift of God, but from man's free will and choice. This, then, is especially commended to us; this, so far as I dare to think, is the divine lesson especially taught and learned in those treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are hidden in Christ. Every one of us, therefore, now knows, now does not know— now rejoices, now does not rejoice— to begin, continue, and complete our good work, in order that he may know that it is due not to his own will, but to the gift of God, that he either knows or rejoices; and thus he is cured of vanity which elated him, and knows how truly it is said not of this earth of ours, but spiritually, The Lord will give kindness and sweet grace, and our land shall yield her fruit.
A good work, moreover, affords greater delight, in proportion as God is more and more loved as the highest unchangeable Good, and as the Author of all good things of every kind whatever. And that God may be loved, His love is shed abroad in our hearts,
not by ourselves, but by the Holy Ghost that is given unto us.
Romans 5:5
Men, however, are laboring to find in our own will some good thing of our own,— not given to us by God; but how it is to be found I cannot imagine. The apostle says, when speaking of men's good works, What have you that you did not receive? now, if you received it, why do you glory, as if you had not received it?
1 Corinthians 4:7 But, besides this, even reason itself, which may be estimated in such things by such as we are, sharply restrains every one of us in our investigations so as that we may not so defend grace as to seem to take away free will, or, on the other hand, so assert free will as to be judged ungrateful to the grace of God, in our arrogant impiety.
Now, with reference to the passage of the apostle which I have quoted, some would maintain it to mean that whatever amount of good will a man has, must be attributed to God on this account,— namely, because even this amount could not be in him if he were not a human being. Now, inasmuch as he has from God alone the capacity of being any thing at all, and of being human, why should there not be also attributed to God whatever there is in him of a good will, which could not exist unless he existed in whom it is?
But in this same manner it may also be said that a bad will also may be attributed to God as its author; because even it could not exist in man unless he were a man in whom it existed; but God is the author of his existence as man; and thus also of his bad will, which could have no existence if it had not a man in whom it might exist. But to argue thus is blasphemy.
Unless, therefore, we obtain not simply determination of will, which is freely turned in this direction and that, and has its place among those natural goods which a bad man may use badly; but also a good will, which has its place among those goods of which it is impossible to make a bad use:— unless the impossibility is given to us from God, I know not how to defend what is said: What have you that you did not receive?
For if we have from God a certain free will, which may still be either good or bad; but the good will comes from ourselves; then that which comes from ourselves is better than that which comes from Him. But inasmuch as it is the height of absurdity to say this, they ought to acknowledge that we attain from God even a good will. It would indeed be a strange thing if the will could so stand in some mean as to be neither good nor bad; for we either love righteousness, and it is good, and if we love it more, more good,— if less, it is less good; or if we do not love it at all, it is not good. And who can hesitate to affirm that, when the will loves not righteousness in any way at all, it is not only a bad, but even a wholly depraved will? Since therefore the will is either good or bad, and since of course we have not the bad will from God, it remains that we have of God a good will; else, I am ignorant, since our justification is from it, in what other gift from Him we ought to rejoice. Hence, I suppose, it is written, The will is prepared of the Lord;
Proverbs 8:35 and in the Psalms, The steps of a man will be rightly ordered by the Lord, and His way will be the choice of his will;
and that which the apostle says, For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His own good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13
Forasmuch then as our turning away from God is our own act, and this is evil will; but our turning to God is not possible, except He rouses and helps us, and this is good will,— what have we that we have not received? But if we received, why do we glory as if we had not received? Therefore, as he that glories must glory in the Lord,
it comes from His mercy, not their merit, that God wills to impart this to some, but from His truth that He wills not to impart it to others. For to sinners punishment is justly due, because the Lord God loves mercy and truth,
and mercy and truth are met together;
and all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.
And who can tell the numberless instances in which Holy Scripture combines these two attributes? Sometimes, by a change in the terms, grace is put for mercy, as in the passage, We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 Sometimes also judgment occurs instead of truth, as in the passage, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto You, O Lord.
As to the reason why He wills to convert some, and to punish others for turning away,— although nobody can justly censure the merciful One in conferring His blessing, nor can any man justly find fault with the truthful One in awarding His punishment (as no one could justly blame Him, in the parable of the labourers, for assigning to some their stipulated hire, and to others unstipulated largess Matthew 20:1-16), yet, after all, the purpose of His more hidden judgment is in His own power. [XIX.] So far as it has been given us, let us have wisdom, and let us understand that the good Lord God sometimes withholds even from His saints either the certain knowledge or the triumphant joy of a good work, just in order that they may discover that it is not from themselves, but from Him that they receive the light which illuminates their darkness, and the sweet grace which causes their land to yield her fruit.
But when we pray Him to give us His help to do and accomplish righteousness, what else do we pray for than that He would open what was hidden, and impart sweetness to that which gave no pleasure? For even this very duty of praying to Him we have learned by His grace, whereas before it was hidden; and by His grace have come to love it, whereas before it gave us no pleasure,— so that he who glories must glory not in himself, but in the Lord.
To be lifted up, indeed, to pride, is the result of men's own will, not of the operation of God; for to such a thing God neither urges us nor helps us. There first occurs then in the will of man a certain desire of its own power, to become disobedient through pride. If it were not for this desire, indeed, there would be nothing difficult; and whenever man willed it, he might refuse without difficulty. There ensued, however, out of the penalty which was justly due such a defect, that henceforth it became difficult to be obedient unto righteousness; and unless this defect were overcome by assisting grace, no one would turn to holiness; nor unless it were healed by efficient grace would any one enjoy the peace of righteousness. But whose grace is it that conquers and heals, but His to whom the prayer is directed: Convert us, O God of our salvation, and turn Your anger away from us?
And both if He does this, He does it in mercy, so that it is said of Him, Not according to our sins has He dealt with us, nor has He recompensed us according to our iniquities;
and when He refrains from doing this to any, it is in judgment that He refrains. And who shall say to Him, What have You done?
when with pious mind the saints sing to the praise of His mercy and judgment? Wherefore even in the case of His saints and faithful servants He applies to them a tardier cure in certain of their failings, in order that, while they are involved in these, a less pleasure than is sufficient for the fulfilling of righteousness in all its perfection may be experienced by them at any good they may achieve, whether hidden or manifest; so that in respect of His most perfect rule of equity and truth no man living can be justified in His sight.
He does not in His own self, indeed, wish us to fall under condemnation, but that we should become humble; and He displays to us all the self-same grace of His own. Let us not, however, after we have attained facility in all things, suppose that to be our own which is really His; for that would be an error most antagonistic to religion and piety. Nor let us think that we should, because of His grace, continue in the same sins as of old; but against that very pride, on account of which we are humiliated in them, let us, above all things, both vigilantly strive and ardently pray Him, knowing at the same time that it is by His gift that we have the power thus to strive and thus to pray; so that in every case, while we look not at ourselves, but raise our hearts above, we may render thanks to the Lord our God, and whenever we glory, glory in Him alone.
[4th.] There now remains our fourth point, after the explanation of which, as God shall help us, this lengthened treatise of ours may at last be brought to an end. It is this: Whether the man who never has had sin or is to have it, not merely is now living as one of the sons of men, but even could ever have existed at any time, or will yet in time to come exist? Now it is altogether most certain that such a man neither does now live, nor has lived, nor ever will live, except the one only Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. We have already said a good deal on this subject in our remarks on the baptism of infants; for if these have no sin, not only are there at present, but also there have been, and there will be, persons innumerable without sin. Now if the point which we treated of under the second head be truly substantiated, that there is in fact no man without sin, then of course not even infants are without sin. From which the conclusion arises, that even supposing a man could possibly exist in the present life so far advanced in virtue as to have reached the perfect fulness of holy living which is absolutely free from sin, he still must have been undoubtedly a sinner previously, and have been converted from the sinful state to this subsequent newness of life. Now when we were discussing the second head, a different question was before us from that which is before us under this fourth head. For then the point we had to consider was, Whether any man in this life could ever attain to such perfection as to be absolutely without sin by the grace of God, by the hearty desire of his own will? whereas the question now proposed in this fourth place is, Whether there be among the sons of men, or could possibly ever have been, or yet ever can be, a man who has not indeed emerged out of sin and attained to perfect righteousness, but has never, at any time whatever, been under the bondage of sin? If, therefore, the remarks are true which we have made at so great length concerning infants, there neither is, has been, nor will be, among the sons of men any such man, except the one Mediator, in whom there accrues to us propitiation and justification through which we have reconciliation with God, by the termination of the enmity produced by our sins. It will therefore be not unsuitable to retrace a few considerations