imposed by natural law and by faith, hope, charity, and penitence. However, we shall demonstrate later,12 and in the proper contexts, that even just persons who have been
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baptized are bound by human laws, both civil and ecclesiastical, and also by the positive divine law laid down by Christ.
Accordingly, we undertake at this point to prove [the existence of a similar obligation] in regard to divine, moral, or natural law.
The first proof is as follows: the law is so essential, so necessary in its very nature, that it cannot be abolished, as we shall demonstrate in the following book.
7. Secondly, Christ did not abolish the law, but on the contrary confirmed it, at the very beginning of His preaching (Matthew, Chap. v), where He clarified it and purged it of the corruptions of the Pharisees and the imperfections of the Mosaic law, and, having added counsels and means for the observance of the law, perfected and in a certain sense enriched it. Moreover, it is certain that all these teachings were laid down by Our Lord for His future Church, for the just as well as for the unjust, since He says [ibid., vv. 20 et seq.] to all: ‘[…] Unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’, and so forth. Especially should one reflect upon the words [ibid., Chap. vii, v. 13], ‘Enter ye in at the narrow gate […]’. For He most clearly speaks of the observance of His commandments as ‘the narrow gate’, commandments which He declares to be included in the principle, ‘[…] whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them’ [ibid., v. 12]; and He teaches that this principle pertains to the Gospel and relates to all who profess the Gospel.
8. Thirdly, all that Christ taught on the night of His Supper, with regard to the observance of precepts and particularly of charity, has a special pertinence in relation to just persons who have been baptized. For the Apostles were just and had been baptized, and to them He said (John, Chap. xiv [, v. 15]): ‘If you love me, keep my commandments’; again [v. 21], ‘He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me’; yet again [v. 23], ‘If any one love me, he will keep my word’ and [v. 24], ‘He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words’; and also, in Chapter xv [, v. 9], ‘Abide in my love’, and in a subsequent verse [14:] ‘You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you.’ These conditions have the force of a threat, and indicate the necessity for observing the commandments in order that charity may be preserved; and therefore, the just are bound to
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such observance, and without it they will not preserve [their] justness. An infinite number of similar passages from the Scriptures might be adduced, but there is no need to dwell upon a matter that is clear and evident by the light of natural reason—in so far, at least, as moral precepts are concerned.
9. The fundamental arguments of the heretics are refuted. The basic position of the heretics involves a number of errors, of which we cannot treat at this point, but which are to be discussed in various parts of this work. For in the first place, their assertion that the divine commandments are impossible of fulfilment has been rejected above,13 and [the validity of this rejection] will be made more evident in the treatise on Grace.14 Secondly, in that same treatise we shall refute their declaration that all the works of the just are sins, and particularly the declaration that these works are mortal sins. Thirdly, we shall lay down the distinction between the Old and the New Laws at the end of this treatise [De Legibus, Bks. IX and X]15 and shall assail the false distinction devised by the heretics. Fourthly, in the treatise on Grace,16 we shall pluck out the root of all the heresies, which is imputed justness, and we shall demonstrate in that treatise that men are truly, actually and intrinsically justified through an inherent justness given by Christ, and that, through this same justness, their sins are truly and completely remitted, not merely covered over or left free from imputation of punishment. Accordingly, it will become clear and indisputable that the works of the just are weighed, estimated and imputed by God, according to their character in point of fact. Consequently, if they are good works, they are imputed for reward; if slightly evil, for temporal punishment, unless they are blotted out by penance and satisfaction; if they are grave sins, they are so imputed as actually to destroy the just character [of the doer] until that character is restored through penance.
10. Thus, the basic position of the heretics is contrary also to natural reason, and most decidedly inconsistent with divine goodness. For sin, as such, cannot fail to be displeasing to God, since ‘[…] to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike’ [Wisdom, Chap. xiv, v. 9]. It is
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furthermore inconsistent with divine justice that sins should be more easily forgiven, or should not be imputed, to those who commit them while possessed of more faith in God Himself; which would be as if He Himself granted licence to sin, by promising that sins would not be imputed against those who believe that they are not.17 This is true especially in view of the fact that such a promise is vain and fictitious, since it appears nowhere in the New Testament, any more than it does in the Old. On the contrary, Paul says (Romans, Chap. ii [, v. 16]) that God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel—which will be, assuredly, according to the law and the truth, not according to the false opinions of men.
Finally, I ask of these heretics whether or not men were justified in the faith of Christ before His advent. If they answer in the negative, they gravely offend against the universal redemption of Christ and contradict explicit passages in the Holy Scriptures. ‘For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved’ (Acts, Chap. iv [, v. 12]); since, as Paul testifies (Romans, Chap. iii [, v. 25]), God hath proposed Him alone to be a propitiator through faith in His blood. If, on the other hand, [the heretics] affirm that justification has always been effected through faith, then, in order to be consistent, they must say that it has always been effected without law or works, and through non-imputation [of sins] combined simply with faith on the part of men. Therefore, these same heretics will be forced to assert also that the just, under the natural or the Old Law, were not subject to the law, nor did they sin against it even in transgressing it, provided that they transgressed with faith in the non-imputation [of their act]. What, then, remains for them to attribute especially to the Gospel? Consequently,18 this basic position is impious and vain.
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