Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He proceeds to prove by the example of Abraham that all are justified not by the works of the law or of nature, but by the faith of Christ. So Origen and Œcumenius.
First, then, he urges those words of Genesis XV: Abraham believed God; and it was reputed to him for justice.
Second, in verse 10, he teaches that these words were said to Abraham before circumcision was given to him, which Abraham afterwards received that it might be the seal of the justice already received by faith: and from this he concludes that we, in like manner, are justified not by circumcision or the law, but by faith.
Third, in verse 13, he teaches that not through the law, but through faith we embrace and partake of the blessing — that is, the justice and salvation gratuitously promised to Abraham and his seed; and so all those who imitate the faith of Abraham, whether they be Gentiles or Jews, are true sons and heirs of Abraham.
Fourth, in verse 18, he extols Abraham's faith, in that against hope he believed in hope that he, an old man, would beget from Sarah, an aged and barren woman, Isaac and the seed promised by God; and from this, in verse 23, he infers that this faith of Abraham must be imitated by us if we wish to be justified and saved.
Vulgate Text: Romans 4:1-25
1. What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has glory, but not with God. 3. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God: and it was reputed to him for justice. 4. Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt. 5. But to him that worketh not, yet believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reputed to justice, according to the purpose of the grace of God. 6. As David also termeth the blessedness of a man, to whom God reputeth justice without works: 7. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin. 9. This blessedness then, doth it remain in the circumcision only, or in the uncircumcision also? For we say that unto Abraham faith was reputed to justice. 10. How then was it reputed? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the justice of faith, which he had, being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, being uncircumcised, that unto them also it may be reputed to justice: 12. and might be the father of circumcision; not to them only that are of the circumcision, but also to them that follow the steps of the faithful, that is in the uncircumcision of our father Abraham. 13. For not through the law was the promise to Abraham, or to his seed, that he should be heir of the world: but through the justice of faith. 14. For if they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, the promise is made of none effect. 15. For the law worketh wrath. For where there is no law, neither is there transgression. 16. Therefore it is of faith, that according to grace the promise might be firm to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17. (as it is written: I have made thee a father of many nations), before God, whom he believed, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things that are not, as those that are. 18. Who against hope believed in hope; that he might be made the father of many nations, according to that which was said to him: So shall thy seed be. 19. And he was not weak in faith, neither did he consider his own body now dead, whereas he was almost an hundred years old, nor the dead womb of Sarah. 20. In the promise also of God he staggered not by distrust, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God: 21. most fully knowing that whatsoever he has promised, he is able also to perform. 22. Therefore it was reputed to him unto justice. 23. Now it is not written only for him, that it was reputed to him unto justice; 24. but also for us, to whom it shall be reputed if we believe in him, who raised up Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead, 25. who was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification.
Verse 1: What Then Shall We Say That Abraham Has Found
1. WHAT THEN SHALL WE SAY THAT ABRAHAM HAS FOUND? — as if to say: What justice — that of faith or that of the works of the law — shall we say Abraham has found, that is, has received? and, as the Syriac has it, has obtained? For this in Hebrew is מצא matsa, that is, to find. So it is said in Luke I, and elsewhere: "You have found grace with God," that is, you have obtained and gained God's favor and goodwill.
In the first verses of this chapter some words must be supplied; supply and connect them thus: "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?" (for so the Greek has it, so that the word "invenisse" must in the Latin be transposed and joined with "according to the flesh"), as if to say: What fruit has Abraham found, that is, obtained, from the circumcision of the flesh and from the ceremonies that touch the bare flesh? — supply: nothing. The reason for this answer he soon gives in verse 2, saying: "For if Abraham was justified by works (by the circumcision of himself and of his) he has glory, but not with God:" that is, if from the works of the flesh just mentioned he had obtained justice, he would have had glory, but not with God; whereas it is certain that he also had glory with God, for it is written: "Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him for justice." Therefore not from the works of the flesh, but because he believed — that is, from faith — did he obtain justice. From this then it is clear that the Apostle speaks chiefly of ceremonial works. Yet works may be taken generally, whatever has been done by the powers of nature alone, without the faith and grace of Christ, as the interpreters commonly explain — as I shall say on verses 4 and 5; for the Apostle excludes these from the business of justification.
Verse 2: For If Abraham Was Justified by Works
2. FOR IF ABRAHAM WAS JUSTIFIED BY WORKS, HE HAS GLORY, BUT NOT WITH GOD. — as if to say: If Abraham has only that justice which is from the works of the law or of nature, with faith excluded, certainly that justice is small and merely civic, having only the glory and praise of justice among men, who see and admire external works; but not with God, who sees and esteems the inner mind and faith, and places true justice in it.
Verse 3: For What Does the Scripture Say?
3. FOR WHAT DOES THE SCRIPTURE SAY? — Paul proves from Scripture, Genesis XV, that Abraham obtained justice and glory with God not from the works of the law, but from faith.
ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD — who was promising to him and Sarah, spouses old, sterile, infirm and impotent for begetting, a seed — that is, posterity — both carnal through Isaac and spiritual through Christ, of the faithful and of Christians. Whence this believing "was reputed to him for justice," because this act of faith in Abraham was very heroic, as will appear in verse 18.
AND IT WAS REPUTED TO HIM FOR JUSTICE. — Genesis XV, 6, in the Hebrew has ויחשבה לו צדקה vajacschebeha lo tsedaka, that is, "and He reputed it," namely faith, "God to him for justice": not as if the justice of Christ, that is, [justice] inhering in Christ, were imputed by faith to Abraham and to us, and did not formally make us just but merely so denominate us, as the Novatians fancy. For so Scripture would have said: God imputed the justice of Christ to Abraham; whereas it says the contrary, namely that God imputed to Abraham himself faith — not Christ's faith, but Abraham's own faith — for justice. The sense, therefore, of this phrase is: Faith, both Abraham's and ours, which by its own nature, being an act of man, is not justice nor can produce or beget justice, is nevertheless accepted by God for the justice to be bestowed upon Abraham and upon us; that is, that on account of this faith, God may bestow and infuse justice into Abraham and into us, and repute us just, His friends and sons. And this is what the Apostle adds in verse 5: "According to the purpose of the grace of God," that is, according to the gracious, benevolent, and liberal will of God, which has decreed that through an act of formed faith — that is, through contrition — grace and justice be given without works, that is, without the merit of works: for a thing is said to be "reputed" when [it stands] for such a thing which it is not in itself, as the will is said to be reputed for the deed. So the Council of Trent, session VI. Note here that it is plainly one thing to impute faith to justice, or in place of justice, and another to impute justice itself, as will appear in verse 6.
Others explain it thus, as if Paul were saying: Abraham's faith was reputed to him in place of justice, namely inchoate justice, that is, in place of the path and disposition toward justice.
But because St. James, ch. II, 23, adds: "And he was called the friend of God," for this reason justice here seems to be taken not as inchoate, but as complete.
You will say: Abraham was already just, and by this believing he was only made juster and holier; how then does the Apostle conclude: If Abraham was made juster by faith, therefore it is necessary that the impious man and sinner likewise be justified by faith and become just? For the principle of the first justification is one thing, of the second another: sinners are justified in one way, the just in another, when they become juster.
Some answer by denying that Abraham was just: so Anselm and St. Augustine, in the preface on Psalm XXXI. But that Abraham was already then just is clear enough from Genesis XV, 1; Hebrews XI, 8, and other interpreters teach the same throughout.
Whence Pererius answers secondly that this is an argument from the lesser to the greater: If Abraham, already just, obtained increase of justice not by the works of the law, but by faith, by which he believed God promising a great posterity of seed, Genesis XV, then much more we cannot obtain the beginning of justice, or first justification, by the powers of nature, but only by grace and by faith already proposed in Christ and through Christ, as Paul explains in verse 5 and following. This exposition is probable.
Thirdly, and best, Toletus answers: these words "Abraham believed," etc., are to be referred not only to what immediately precedes, but to all that goes before, Genesis XII and XIII. For Scripture wishes Abraham, who is the father of the faithful and of the just, to be set forth as an exemplar of justification, both of the impious, as Paul here teaches, verse 5, and of the just, as Paul teaches verse 20 and following, and James, chapter II, verse 23. Sacred Scripture therefore wishes to say and to assert that Abraham was both first justified by faith, when he first believed God, and secondly justified — that is, made juster, and grew in the justice received — by the faith with which secondly and thereafter He believed God speaking, talking, promising, and commanding.
Note that in Abraham faith was not bare, but hoping, loving, invoking, obedient, and clothed with the works of charity and obedience, by which he followed God when called, journeying for so long a time through so many labors in Canaan, and by which he afterwards offered to God his son Isaac in holocaust, as St. James teaches, II, 23; and Paul, Hebrews XI, 8; and Moses, Genesis chapter XII, verses 1 and following.
You will say: Abraham here by his faith did not believe in Christ, but in God promising him a seed; how then from this faith of Abraham, by which he himself was justified, does the Apostle here infer that for our justification faith in Christ is required?
I answer: Abraham, even in his first justification, believed in Christ. For although Moses does not express this in Genesis, yet from this and other passages of Paul, and from the Gospels, the same is certainly clear. For everywhere the Evangelists and Paul teach that no one after the fall could be justified without faith in Christ the propitiator. But in the second justification it is not necessary that Abraham believed in Christ by an explicit act, as also this is not now necessary in our second justification.
Again, from the faith of Abraham in God promising the seed, the Apostle rightly infers our faith in Christ, because the faith now required by God for justice is faith in Christ; and in Genesis XV, God required and exacted from Abraham only the faith of his seed.
Add that Abraham, when he believed this seed, implicitly believed in Christ, who was the first — nay, the beginning and end — in this promised seed of Abraham. Finally, to believe that from such impotent parents, namely Abraham and Sarah, would be born such a seed, both carnal and spiritual, as Abraham believed, was an arduous and most ample act of faith, tacitly embracing all other things that are to be believed. Whence he is rightly set forth both by Moses and by Paul as an exemplar of faith, even of faith first justifying.
You will ask whether Paul here speaks of the same justification of which James speaks, chapter II, verse 23, when he says that Abraham was justified by works. Toletus and some others deny it: for they think that Paul speaks of the first justification, which is not from works, that is, from the merit of works; while James speaks of the second justification, that is, of the increase of justice — for this we merit by good works.
But others judge better, that both Paul and James speak of both justifications, namely the first and the second. First, because each adduces the example of Abraham's justification; but this justification of Abraham must be taken as both first and second, as I have just shown. Secondly, because James adduces the example of Rahab, who was impious and a harlot. Therefore, since he [says] she obtained that justice, he understands the first [justification]. Gabriel Vasquez proves the same at length from the testimony of St. Augustine and the other Doctors, vol. II, on I-II, disputation 210, ch. VIII. Paul therefore, when he excludes works from justification, understands works done by the powers of nature, as I said in chapter III, verse 30. James, on the other hand, when he requires works for justification, understands works done from faith and grace; for these are required for both justifications, since for both acquiring and increasing justification the principle is equal in this respect, but the manner differs: for to the first justification works only dispose, but they merit the second not insofar as they are the works of man or of nature, but insofar as they are done from the faith and grace of Christ (for thus they are not works of man, but of Christ and of God). Hence Paul includes them under faith.
And this is the reason why both the second and first justification are said to be done gratuitously. For as we have been made just gratuitously, so also we are said to be justified gratuitously, because we have gratuitously received the faith and the grace by which we merit the second justice, that is, the increase of justice: "For what else," says St. Augustine, "does God, when He crowns our works, but crown His own gifts?" In this sense the Apostle also calls eternal life, which nevertheless we merit, "grace," chapter VI, last verse. Finally, hence the Theologians teach that the act of faith is meritorious in a justified man, as it was in Abraham.
Verses 4 and 5: To Him That Worketh Not, Yet Believeth
4. NOW TO HIM THAT WORKETH, THE REWARD IS NOT IMPUTED ACCORDING TO GRACE, BUT ACCORDING TO DEBT. 5. BUT TO HIM THAT WORKETH NOT (that is, who does not bring forward his own works done by the powers of his own nature, nor seeks or hopes from them justice, as a reward owed to them), YET BELIEVETH IN HIM THAT JUSTIFIETH THE UNGODLY, HIS FAITH IS REPUTED TO JUSTICE (that is, this man is justified through faith, as I said in verse 3) ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE (that is, liberal decree) OF THE GRACE OF GOD. — On this purpose I shall say more on chapter VIII, verse 28. This is the argument of the Apostle: Abraham was justified gratuitously through faith, namely because he believed God, who by His grace justifies the ungodly; not because he worked well by his own strength, or because by his own good works he merited this justice: therefore now too this justification befalls the impious and sinners, not from their works and merits, but gratuitously from the faith of Christ, whom God set forth to us as redeemer and propitiator. For what is given through faith and grace is not a reward, but grace; what is given for works or for the merit of works is a reward, not grace. Therefore, since the justification of Abraham and of us comes gratuitously through faith, it follows that it does not come from works as a reward of our works and merits.
Verse 6: As David Also Terms the Blessedness of a Man
6. AS DAVID ALSO SAYS (Psalm XXXI, 1) THE BEATITUDE OF THE MAN (in Greek μακαρισμόν, that is, the beatification, namely the justification, of that man — that is, that that man is blessed and just), TO WHOM GOD IMPUTES (in Greek λογίζεται, that is, esteems, reputes, ascribes) JUSTICE (that is, whom God esteems and reputes to be just) WITHOUT WORKS, — that is, not from the virtue or merit of works, but from His own proper grace.
Note that these three are the same to the Apostle, namely to repute, to impute, and to "impart" [accepto ferre] justice; and that he uses this phrase because the chief effect of justice is to please God, to be grateful and acceptable to God, to be reputed by God as a friend, just and holy. For God, in justifying, gratuitously remits sins and accepts the man into His friendship, and therefore infuses into the man inhering justice — as a munificent king, when he creates a knight as his companion, gives him the golden fleece. This is also clear from the fact that in verses 3, 4, 5, the Apostle says that faith, which surely inheres in the man, is imputed — that is, accepted — to justice; and to the worker the reward is imputed, that is, reckoned as a debt; for indeed by everyone's judgment and reckoning a reward is owed to the worker, the reward promised for his work. Whence Budaeus says: λογίζεσθαι is an arithmetical term, just as ἁρμόζειν belongs to musicians, ἀναλογεῖν to geometers; for λόγος signifies reason and reckoning. As therefore the reward which is reckoned and numbered out to a digger or a reaper is a reward not by the imputation or estimation of the reward, but by the proper computation, reason, and estimation of the labor itself; so likewise justice reckoned and numbered out by God to us is reckoned, esteemed, and is in reality true and real justice.
Secondly, the same is clear from the fact that, in verse 8, in like manner the Apostle says that sins are imputed to a man. For it is certain, as Calvin himself attests, that sins really inhere in the sinner. Thus the violation of a vow is said to be reputed for sin, Deuteronomy XXIII, 21; and in Deuteronomy XXIV, 15, the withholding of another's wages is said to be reputed for sin. But it is plain that these things are not only reputed, but really are sins in themselves. Nor can God, who judges justly, repute as sin and as it were punish as sin a work which truly is not in itself a sin. Whence it is evident that this justice which God reputes, imputes, and reckons to us is not the justice of Christ imputed to us: for that is extrinsic to man; but our justice is intrinsic and inhering in us, just as sin too, when we sin, is intrinsic to us and most intimately inheres.
Yet this justice is said to be reputed or imputed to us by God, because God truly reputes, imputes, and esteems in man what is and exists in man, not what is not in him, but is supposed or feigned to be in him. For God is the truest estimator and weigher of all justice and sin, of virtue and vice. Therefore for God to impute justice to anyone is for God to esteem him to be just — namely because God has remitted his sins to him and infused inhering justice.
You will say: If it is so, why then did Paul not clearly express this here? Why did he not say that justice inheres in us, rather than that it is reputed? I answer: Paul so often here uses the word "impute" because Moses had used it in the [account of] Abraham's faith: for this faith of Abraham, as Moses says, was reputed to justice. For the Apostle here urges this example of Abraham's faith and justification, and therefore tenaciously insists on the words of Moses; but to Abraham the justice of Christ is not said to be imputed, but his own faith, as is clear from the very words of Moses and Paul.
The Novatians therefore have nothing here for their imputative justice of Christ; rather, the contrary is proved from this. For Abraham's faith was not imputed to him in itself as if this faith were proper to Christ or to someone else; rather it was imputed to Abraham by God, because this faith of Abraham was his own — not foreign, not imputed — and truly and properly inhered in him; but this faith is said to be imputed to him for justice, because by reason and in respect to that faith which God accepted, He bestowed and granted him justice. For λογίζεσθαι, from λόγος, signifies to esteem something with reason, or for some reason. So here God esteemed, accepted, and held Abraham as just, and by accepting made him just and infused inhering justice into him, in respect of and by reason of that faith, namely because he believed God promising a thing so new, arduous, naturally impossible and incredible: which so pleased God that He accepted him into His friendship and dignified him with His grace and justice. And this is the reason why Moses in the justification of Abraham used the word חשב chasab, or λογίζομαι, that is, to esteem, to impute.
Verse 7: Blessed Are They Whose Iniquities Are Forgiven
7. BLESSED ARE THEY WHOSE INIQUITIES ARE FORGIVEN. — namely by gratuitous pardon, not by the merits of works: for this Paul wishes to prove, and this is properly to remit offenses and sins, namely to pardon them gratuitously.
AND WHOSE SINS ARE COVERED. — "Covered," not as if sins remained and lay hidden in the just man, as Calvin would have it; or that, with God dissembling, they are not imputed to punishment, as Luther would have it. For God's keen and entire justice does not allow this. But "covered," that is, obliterated, buried; so that they are no longer, nor exist any more — in the way that a chasm is covered when earth is thrown into it, and nakedness is covered with garments, and black stains are covered and removed when a white color is applied. Thus David explains himself, Psalm L, when he says: "Thou shalt sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow." For what is so wholly covered that not even God sees it, simply does not exist. So St. Augustine, Book I Against the Two Epistles of the Pelagians, ch. XIII: "Sins," he says, "are covered, not as if they are there hidden and live, but they are covered and abolished. If God has covered sins, He has willed not to notice them; if He has willed not to notice them, He has willed not to take heed of them, willed not to punish them, willed not to acknowledge them; He has chosen rather to forgive;" if He has forgiven sins, He has therefore taken them away. So too Nazianzen, in his oration on Holy Baptism, and Gregory, on the Second Penitential Psalm, say that sins are covered by God in justification in the way that wounds are covered by a physician with a plaster, by which they are plainly cured and abolished, so that they appear nowhere. Origen here too, and Theodoret on Psalm XXXI, say that "to cover sin" signifies to eradicate sin so utterly by the roots that not a trace remains.
Origen here notes, and St. Ambrose, Book II On Penance, ch. V, that sin is remitted through penance, but covered through good works. Whence also St. Gregory, homily 4 on Ezekiel: "We cover sins," he says, "when we set good deeds over evil acts: when therefore we renounce the evils we have done, and choose the goods we should do, we as it were draw a covering over the thing which we blush to see." This sense is tropological.
Secondly, St. Jerome, on Psalm XXXI, says sins are covered because sins, he says, which here have been blotted out by penance, will not be manifested on the day of judgment, but will be covered and concealed. But this must be rightly understood; for on the day of judgment all the works of each will be revealed and judged. Whence sins too, although remitted through penance, will then be manifested (for the public, full, and exact judgment of God and Christ requires this both concerning sins and concerning the penance for them). Yet they are said to be covered, because through penance they will be declared covered and pardoned; and so to the penitent they will turn not to ignominy, but to praise and glory.
Thirdly, Gregory Nazianzen, in his oration on Holy Baptism...
Fifth, St. Jerome, on Psalm XXXI: Sins, he says, are remitted through baptism, covered through charity, and not imputed through martyrdom.
Fourth, others in Ambrose's Apology of David, ch. IX, say sins are remitted through baptism, but covered through confession and penance. The same Ambrose, ibid. ch. XXIII, asserts that sins are remitted by reason of grace, covered by reason of charity, and blotted out by reason of the blood of Christ.
Fifth, and genuinely, sins are said to be remitted through God's pardon, but covered through the infusion of justice, that is of grace and charity: for these are the spiritual and most beautiful garments by which the soul's nakedness, brought on by sin, is covered and adorned. For this is that first robe with which the prodigal son was clothed, Luke XV; this is the wedding garment of which Christ says, Matt. XXII: "Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment?"
Verse 8: Blessed Is the Man to Whom the Lord Has Not Imputed Sin
8. BLESSED IS THE MAN TO WHOM THE LORD HATH NOT IMPUTED SIN.
Note that "hath not imputed" must not be taken as if a man sins and yet God does not impute that sin to him — for this involves a contradiction. The sense therefore is: Blessed is the man to whom God has pardoned sin, and consequently no longer imputes it to him; whom God thereafter protects from committing sin that He would impute to him. For the essence of sin lies in this, that it is an offense against God and that God imputes it to us as guilt and punishment, especially eternal punishment. I say eternal: for once the guilt is remitted, God still demands due satisfaction for the temporal punishment which He wills the sinner to pay. Therefore, to whomever God does not impute the offense as guilt, by that very fact He pardons and removes it from him. Thus Blessed Justin, at the end of the Dialogue against Trypho: "Blessed," he says, "is he to whom the Lord shall not impute sin, that is, to whom, when penitent, He shall remit his sins — not however as you proclaim, deceiving yourselves, that even though they have been sinners, provided they know God, God will not impute their sins to them."
Gregory Nazianzen, in his Oration on Holy Baptism, notes that God does not impute a sin when He does not reckon a work that is in itself wicked as guilt, on account of ignorance or right intention in the doer.
Second, St. Augustine, in his book On Loving God, ch. XII, asserts that to remit sins is not to avenge them; to cover sins is not to reproach them; but not to impute sins is plainly and from the heart to pardon them — when, namely, God so loves the one who has sinned, as if he had never sinned.
Third, Origen: Sins, he says, are remitted when the sinner turns away from them through penance; they are covered when overwhelmed by good works; they are not imputed when every root of sin is plucked from the soul. The same is also held by Nazianzen above.
Fourth, Lyranus: To not impute sins, he says, is not to assign them to eternal punishment, but to remit and pardon both the guilt and eternal punishment.
Sixth and genuinely, for God not to impute sin to anyone is for someone not to have sin: for from the fact that someone does not have sin, but avoids and guards against it, it follows that God cannot impute sin to him. For here the Psalmist sets forth two beatitudes of the just man. The first is what he says: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered," as if to say: Blessed are they who are cleansed from sins, justified, and clothed and adorned with the stole of charity. The latter, when he immediately adds: "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin," as if to say: Blessed, indeed more blessed, is he who, after being cleansed from sins, lives justly thereafter, and with every effort avoids sins, so that he does no evil which God could impute to him as sin.
Verse 9: This Blessedness Then, Doth It Remain Only in Circumcision?
9. THIS BLESSEDNESS THEN, DOTH IT REMAIN ONLY IN CIRCUMCISION, OR IN UNCIRCUMCISION ALSO?
In Greek there is no word for "remain," but only ἐπὶ τὴν περιτομὴν ἢ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν, that is, upon circumcision, or also upon uncircumcision; supply, does this blessedness fall and apply? as if to say: This justice, which according to David's testimony makes us blessed and which is the inchoate beatitude — does it flow only to the circumcised (the Jews), or also to the uncircumcised (the Gentiles)? This question of the Apostle's, after the Hebrew manner, is not really a question, but a sharp and vehement assertion and conclusion, as if to say: From David's cited words, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin," you can clearly conclude, O Jews, that this blessedness and justice of his pertains not only to the circumcised but also to the Gentiles — both because his words are indefinite and general, and apply as much to a Gentile man as to a Jew; and because he says our blessedness and justice consists not in works of the law, but in the liberal clemency and pardon of God, who freely remits our sins. Therefore justification is the work not of the law, which you arrogate to yourselves, O Jews, but of grace, which is common to all, Gentiles as well as Jews.
FOR WE SAY THAT FAITH WAS REPUTED TO ABRAHAM UNTO JUSTICE.
This is the second reason by which Paul proves that justice pertains not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles: for he proves this his conclusion, which is the scope of the whole epistle, not only by David's testimony but also by Abraham's. The Apostle's reasoning is this: Abraham before the law, indeed before circumcision, was justified, not from circumcision and other works of the law (since these did not yet exist), but from faith: whence he afterwards received circumcision, that it might be a sign of the justice received through faith: therefore this justice is not from the law and circumcision, nor for the law and circumcision alone, but for all who follow Abraham's faith.
Verse 10: How Then Was It Reputed?
10. HOW THEN WAS IT REPUTED? IN CIRCUMCISION, OR IN UNCIRCUMCISION? NOT IN CIRCUMCISION, BUT IN UNCIRCUMCISION.
"How," that is, in what state — of circumcision, that is, or of uncircumcision, of Judaism or of Gentilism, as the Apostle here explains himself, as if to say: Was Abraham circumcised, or uncircumcised, when he was justified? It is certain that he was uncircumcised: therefore Abraham's justice pertains not only to you, O Jews, but also to uncircumcised Gentiles. Therefore Abraham was again justified, not from circumcision, nor from works of the law (from which you, O Jews, say all justice must be sought), but from faith and grace, which is common to the uncircumcised as well as to the circumcised. You see here that the Apostle throughout merely wishes to exclude from justification the works and ceremonies of the law, but not the works which flow from the faith and grace of Christ.
Verse 11: And He Received the Sign of Circumcision
11. AND HE RECEIVED THE SIGN OF CIRCUMCISION, A SEAL OF THE JUSTICE OF THE FAITH WHICH HE HAD, BEING UNCIRCUMCISED.
The Apostle continues his assertion and tacitly proves it, as if to say: So far was Abraham from being justified in or from circumcision, that he received circumcision after his justification, in order that it might be a sign of the justice he himself obtained through faith before circumcision, while he was still uncircumcised.
Note, from Genesis XVII, that circumcision was primarily a sign of the covenant which God made with Abraham, by which He decreed that in his seed, namely Christ, all nations would be blessed.
Second, circumcision was a sign distinguishing Abraham's descendants from other nations.
Third, circumcision, as the Apostle says here, was "a seal of the justice of faith," that is, it was a seal by which the justice of faith — to be revealed through Christ — was, as it were, enclosed and hidden as a great secret, says Origen.
Fourth, and properly to the mind of Paul here, of St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Œcumenius, Augustine (lib. II De Nuptiis et Concupisc., ch. II), and Cyril (lib. IV in Joannem, li): circumcision was a seal, in Greek σφραγίς, which corresponds to the Hebrew חותם chotam, that is, the seal of justice, by which God testified that Abraham's justice was certain and legitimate — justice, I say, obtained earlier through faith, when he was still uncircumcised.
Where note: Though it was so in Abraham's case, in his descendants it was otherwise: for in them circumcision was not a seal of justice received, but rather of justice to be received.
WHICH HE HAD, BEING UNCIRCUMCISED. — He adds this to signify that Abraham, by his uncircumcision, was designated the father of all nations (for these have foreskin) — that is, the very state of uncircumcision signified that he would be the father of all nations, just as circumcision signified that he would be the father of the Jews, who are likewise circumcised. See the similar passage in chapter VI, verse 4, and chapter VII, verse 4.
THAT HE MIGHT BE (Abraham) THE FATHER OF ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE THROUGH UNCIRCUMCISION, — that is, of all who remain in uncircumcision, of all the uncircumcised, namely all the Gentiles — that their faith might be reputed to them for justice, and that they too may be justified from their own faith, just as Abraham was justified from his faith.
Note: Abraham is called the father of the believing Gentiles, not in a natural and carnal sense, but spiritual and mystical: namely, because he gave to them all an illustrious example of faith. Again, because to his descendants according to faith and spirit — that is, to those who would imitate Abraham's faith — a blessing, justice, and salvation were promised by God; and Abraham, the first of all the fathers, received this promise from God, and accepted it in the name of all his descendants: of all, I say, both Gentiles and Jews. For Abraham, when he received this promise, was uncircumcised and a Gentile.
Verse 12: And Might Be the Father of Circumcision
12. AND MIGHT BE THE FATHER OF CIRCUMCISION, NOT TO THEM ONLY THAT ARE OF THE CIRCUMCISION, BUT ALSO TO THEM THAT FOLLOW THE STEPS OF THE FAITH WHICH OUR FATHER ABRAHAM HAD, BEING UNCIRCUMCISED.
As Anselm says: "And might be the father of circumcision," that is, of the circumcised, namely the Jews; and not only of them, but also of all believers, even though they are not circumcised, who follow Abraham's faith: so that it is a repetition of the previous statement, embracing both kinds of Abraham's descendants — namely, Gentile and Jewish believers, of whom Abraham is the spiritual father.
Second, St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Œcumenius, and Toletus expound it thus, as if to say: That Abraham may be "father of circumcision," that is, of the circumcised — not of those who only have outward circumcision in the flesh, but of those who, along with circumcision in the flesh, also follow the footsteps of Abraham's faith. For if they do not follow this faith of his, even though they are circumcised in the flesh, they will not be reckoned to have Abraham as father. For as the Apostle says, ch. IX, v. 8: "Not they that are the children of the flesh, are the children of God: but they that are the children of the promise, are accounted for the seed." But this sense does not sufficiently match the words of the Apostle, and plainly inverts and transposes the little word "only."
Third therefore, plainly and genuinely, the Apostle here seems to take "circumcision" properly, and not metonymically for the circumcised themselves. For he should then have said: And that he might be father of believers through circumcision, just as he said: "That he might be father of believers through uncircumcision." But he does not now speak so, but changes the phrase saying: "And might be father of circumcision." Father, therefore, that is, author and founder of circumcision, as if to say: Abraham received the sign of circumcision, that he himself might be the seal of justice received through faith, while he was yet uncircumcised. Hence it came about that Abraham was both father of believing Gentiles and also father, that is, author and founder of circumcision — of that circumcision, I say, which was the sign of the covenant entered into between God and Abraham and his descendants, by which God testified that He would be the father, protector, and friend of Abraham and his descendants, and that He would bless, justify, and save them, just as He had blessed, justified, and saved Abraham.
Furthermore, circumcision was such a sign, "not only to them who are of the circumcision," that is, not only to Jews, "but also to them (the Gentiles) who follow the footsteps of the faith which is (that is, which was and appeared) in the uncircumcision of our father Abraham," while Abraham was still uncircumcised and a Gentile. For by these words the Apostle explains why circumcision was given to the uncircumcised Abraham as a seal of justice — namely, to signify that, just as Abraham was justified and blessed before circumcision through faith, so all who would imitate Abraham's faith — even if they were not circumcised — would be justified and blessed through faith. Paul, says Cyril, lib. IV on John, ch. li: "He asserted that circumcision was given to him as a sign of the faith which Abraham had in his uncircumcision: for he wished to show that the call and justice of faith are prior to and above every legal commandment, that he might more easily persuade the Hebrews not to consider the justice of faith a transgression of the law, but a kind of return and recourse to man's earlier state."
Where note that under "circumcision" the Apostle understands the whole old law and all the law's ceremonies and works, because circumcision was the beginning and profession of all these: just as baptism is now the profession of Christianity and of the whole Evangelical law. Therefore when the Apostle excludes circumcision from the justice of Abraham and his descendants, by this very act he excludes from justice all works of the law and all ceremonies. Just as in v. 4 he called him who observes circumcision and other legal ceremonies ἐργαζόμενον (one who works), so now he calls him who believes and has faith and moral works πίστιν and πιστεύοντα — even if he does not have the ceremonial works.
Verse 13: Not Through the Law Was the Promise to Abraham
13. FOR NOT THROUGH THE LAW WAS THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM.
Supply: it happened — but before the law and before circumcision; for he received the latter in Gen. XVII, but he received the promise in Gen. XII, though it was repeated after circumcision in Gen. XXII. The promise itself is what follows: "That he should be heir of the world." The Apostle here proves what came before, namely that Abraham is father of all believers, even of the uncircumcised, and consequently that justice comes to us not through circumcision and the law and works of the law, but through faith. He proves this same point from the promise made to Abraham, with this argument: To Abraham was promised the blessing, that is, the justice and salvation of all nations, not through the law and circumcision, but before it — from this, that he believed God; therefore Abraham's descendants will also become partakers of this promise, blessing, and justice, not through works of the law, but through faith. For God willed to establish this justice in faith, not in the law; and in faith, not in the law — indeed, before the law — Abraham received this justice, that he might be an exemplar to his descendants, signifying that they were likewise to be justified, not from the law, but from faith.
THAT HE SHOULD BE HEIR OF THE WORLD, — namely, that in his seed all the Gentiles would be blessed. For this is the promise made to Abraham, Gen. XXII, 18 — that Abraham's faith, blessing, and son (namely Christ) would subdue all the Gentiles to Himself, and so the kingdom of Christ would be extended through all nations, as is said in Psalm II, 8: "Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for Thy possession." So Chrysostom and Theophylact. So therefore Abraham is heir of the world, because he has the whole world for his sons, and so possesses, as it were, the entire world — but through his son, namely Christ, and through "the justice of faith," that is, justice received by faith. For this faith and justice of Abraham and of Christ pervaded and occupied all nations; and this is the promise, blessing, and inheritance of Abraham — namely the Church diffused throughout the whole world, which is the kingdom of the faithful, in which Christ is king, and Abraham is father and patriarch.
Note here the just and abundant reward of Abraham's faith and obedience. For Abraham believed and obeyed God when He called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and for God's sake he gave up the small inheritance which he had in Ur, but in exchange he received the inheritance of all Chanaan, indeed of the whole world. So liberal is God, and so magnificently does He reward His own.
Verse 14: For If They Who Are of the Law Be Heirs
14. FOR IF THEY WHO ARE OF THE LAW BE HEIRS, FAITH IS MADE VOID, THE PROMISE IS MADE OF NO EFFECT.
"Heirs," namely both of the promise and of the blessing already spoken of to Abraham.
Note: The word "heirs" can be taken either actively and properly; or passively, so that it means the very hereditary possession itself — namely the people promised to Christ and to Abraham as inheritance, as has been said. It is more aptly taken in the former way, that is actively. The Apostle urges and presses both here and in Galatians III, 18, that justice comes to us from faith, not from the law and works of the law: because if it came through the law, not through faith, a great absurdity would follow — namely that Abraham's faith and promise had been abolished and abrogated; for the blessing was promised to Abraham not from the law (since it was before the law), but from faith, because he believed God who promised. Again, if justice is given from the law, then not from the promise: for law and promise are at odds, law and faith (for faith corresponds to promise, and is the acceptance and application of the promise), because promise is free and liberal, and what is promised is given liberally, gratuitously, and from grace; but what is given from the law and from works of the law is given not gratuitously, nor from grace, but from justice and the merit of works.
Verse 15: For the Law Worketh Wrath
15. FOR THE LAW WORKETH WRATH.
This verse does not seem to cohere directly with the preceding one; therefore, in the Hebrew manner, it must be referred more remotely to v. 13. For it gives the reason why the promise — that is, the promised salvation and justice — could not come to Abraham through the law: namely, because so far is the law from promising inheritance, that it rather works wrath. This is a new reason proving that justice does not come to us through the law, namely because the law does not work justice but wrath: because the law, indeed, is the cause and occasion not of blessing, not of justice, not of inheritance, but of transgression and consequently of cursing, divine wrath, and vengeance: for if there were no law, there would be no transgression of the law; and because the law, as it were by antiperistasis, kindles concupiscence: for we are always striving toward what is forbidden — understand, unless the law be joined with faith and grace, which assist the law and restrain concupiscence: which is what the Apostle aims at. For his purpose is to show the necessity of the faith and grace of Christ, and to lead the Jews and all men to it, that they may attain justice and salvation.
Verse 16: Therefore of Faith, That According to Grace the Promise Might Be Firm
16. THEREFORE OF FAITH, THAT ACCORDING TO GRACE THE PROMISE MIGHT BE FIRM.
The Apostle deduces and concludes this verse from v. 14, as if to say: From the law Abraham's inheritance and justice cannot come to us: for then God's faith and promise would have to be abolished; therefore it comes to us from faith, namely through Christ, not through Moses, and this "that according to grace the promise might be firm": or, as the Greek, Syriac, and some Latin manuscripts have it, that according to grace, that the promise might be firm — as if to say: Therefore justice comes to us from faith, that it may be gratuitous to us, and may be from grace, not from debt and justice, so that consequently the promise may be firm — by which promise God, as He has freely promised through grace, so by grace gratuitously and freely gives and bestows on us this justice.
Note: When the Apostle says, "That the promise might be firm," he does not understand the promise of remission of sins in particular — by which a heretic believes by divine faith that his sins have been remitted to him through faith and penance; for the Apostle's words contain nothing of this kind, but this is a gloss which the Novanters add — a gloss, I say, of Orléans, which overturns the text. For, to pass over other things, no one can be certain that he has such an act of divine faith or penance: for he can believe by natural faith, not divine, and be moved by the spirit of nature or of the demon, thinking himself to be moved by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, without a special revelation of God it cannot be certain to anyone that he believes by divine faith: much less can it be certain to anyone, through such an act, who is uncertain of himself, that his sins have been remitted to him. Therefore the Apostle speaks of the promise made to Abraham in general — namely that in his seed all the nations should be blessed, that is, justified and saved, not only the Jews carnally born of him, but also the Gentiles who are spiritually born of him through faith, because they imitate Abraham as it were as a father in faith. For he means only to say that this blessing — that is, justice through faith — was promised not only to the Jews (Abraham's carnal sons), but also to the Gentiles (his spiritual sons); he does not mean to say that justice was promised to me, to you, to this person in particular; but only in general and only under condition, and by consequence of this syllogism: "To all who believe and imitate Abraham's faith the blessing — that is, justice — has been promised; but I believe; therefore justice has been promised to me." Here the major is of faith: but the minor is not certain of faith, but only certain with a certain moral and conjectural certitude, and consequently the conclusion is not of faith but only conjectural.
FIRM TO ALL THE SEED (to Abraham's posterity), not to him who is of the law only (not to the Jew only), but also to him (the Gentile) who is of the faith of Abraham, (who follows the faith of father Abraham as his genuine son) — WHO IS THE FATHER OF US ALL — both Gentiles and Jews. He is, I say, father by propagation, not of the flesh, but of faith and spirit. For while we imitate Abraham's faith, then Abraham himself through Christ pours into us, as into his sons, his justice, grace, and spirit, and adopts and receives us as his own.
Verse 17: A Father of Many Nations I Have Made Thee
17. AS IT IS WRITTEN (Gen. XVII): A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS I HAVE MADE THEE.
"I have made," that is, I will set and constitute thee: for after the prophetic manner, on account of the certainty of the future event, the past is put for the future.
BEFORE GOD, WHOM HE BELIEVED. — First, Œcumenius refers these words to "as it is written," as if to say: As it is written before God, that is, in God's sight, to whom faith commends us; or, as it is written from the person of God.
Second, Origen explains it thus: "Before God," that is, by God Abraham was made our father.
Third, Anselm: "before God," he says, because Abraham was made father through faith, which faith is open to God's eyes, not to men's.
Fourth, St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophylact expound the Greek κατέναντι as "opposite," "face-to-face," that is, after the example and likeness. For painters set opposite themselves and propose to themselves the model when they wish to express it, as if Paul says: After the example and likeness of God, who is the universal father of all, Abraham was likewise made father of many nations.
Fifth, others explain it thus: "I have set thee father before God," that is, a spiritual father through spiritual generation and kinship, which has its place in God's sight and renders us pleasing to God. But this is more remote and obscure.
Sixth, therefore most plainly: "I have set thee father before God," that is, in God's foreknowledge and decree — immutable, certain, and irrevocable; for as yet Abraham was actually father of many nations, but only in God's foreknowledge and predestination. Hence Paul, explaining, adds: "Who calleth those things that are not, as those that are." So St. Augustine on Psalm CV.
WHO QUICKENETH THE DEAD. — "The dead," that is, sinners, says Anselm: but this is mystical.
Second, Ambrose: "The dead," he says, that is, those incapable of begetting, the aged, the weak, almost worn out and dead — such as were Sarah and Abraham when they begot Isaac.
Third, St. Chrysostom: Properly, he says, God quickens the dead when He raises them from death. For by these words Paul commends God's omnipotence, as if to say: As God can raise the dead, so He can bring it about that the Gentiles born in paganism are spiritually reborn through faith and become Abraham's sons; and Abraham believed this, when he believed God saying: "A father of many Gentiles I have made thee."
Fourth, Toletus thinks the Apostle here refers to Abraham's faith by which, when commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac, he believed that God would raise him from the death he was sacrificed by him. But Paul does not deal here with this faith of Abraham, nor does Moses in Gen. XVII, but only with the faith by which Abraham first believed God when He promised that Isaac would be born to him from Sarah, as is clear from the Apostle's words, especially what follows, and from Gen. XVII: for the sacrifice of Isaac was commanded later, Gen. ch. XXII. Therefore the third sense, that of St. Chrysostom, seems more literal and appropriate. Yet it alludes to Isaac, whom Abraham sacrificed, believing that God could raise him from the dead, as the same Paul explains in Heb. XI, 19; which raising was a sign of the raising of Christ, by whose faith we were to be justified, as he says in v. 24. For even though, in Gen. XVII, Isaac had not yet actually been sacrificed and raised, he was nevertheless sacrificed and raised in God's foreknowledge and predestination; and through him Abraham was to be the father of many nations.
AND CALLETH THOSE THINGS THAT ARE NOT, AS THOSE THAT ARE. — First: God, says Anselm, calls the Gentiles "who are not," because they were vile and nothing, being unbelievers, most far removed from God the First Being, that they may be noble and faithful, cleaving to God the First Being.
Second, Ambrose: God, he says, calls the Gentiles "who are not" seed, that they may be the seed and people of Abraham.
Third, Pererius: God, he says, from eternity chose and predestined to eternal life men who were not, as though they actually existed and as though they had existed from eternity.
Fourth, others explain it thus, as if Paul says: God so clearly and distinctly sees the things that are not, but will be long afterwards, just as He sees and knows the things that now actually are. "He calls," therefore, that is, He sees and knows, so that He can call them. Hence it is said in Eccli. XXIII: "To the Lord God all things were known before they were created; so also after their perfecting He beholds all."
Fifth, most plainly and best: God "calls those things that are not, as those that are," because God has equal sovereignty over things that are not as over things that are, and He makes things that are not to be: e.g. here He makes Gentiles, who were not, to be Abraham's sons.
Where note: For God to call is to create and to make; for all possible things, though not yet actually existing, nevertheless are and lie hidden in God's omnipotence as in a virtue and seed; and when God by His command calls them forth from there, by this very act He makes them to be: for God's saying and calling is efficacious, and is the same as our making. So St. Chrysostom. Whence the Greek καλοῦντος τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ὄντα can be translated: who calls the things that are not, as if they were. So St. Augustine on Psalm CV.
Thus God from the darkness and treasures of His power calls forth (as the Prophets speak) famine, sword, drought, while He makes them to be, and while He sends them as servants and lictors to the world and to men. For from this the metaphor is taken: as if God, calling forth famine, plague, sword, were to say: You famine, come like a satellite and punish such impious men; you sword, be present like a lictor, go, smite Flanders; you hail, come now, strike France. This is what the Hebrew קרא kara means, that is, "he called." So "the stars," says Baruch, ch. III, 34, "gave light in their watches (that is, stations and watch-posts: for the stars are as it were God's soldiers, ever on watch for His service): and they were called, and they said (not in word, but in fact and in reality), Here we are." And hence God is called Sabaoth, that is, of hosts, because all angels, stars, and any creatures whatsoever, even though not existing, are armies obeying God at His nod and fighting for Him.
Verse 18: Who Against Hope Believed in Hope
18. Who (Abraham) against hope (of nature and of the natural generative power) in hope (that is, in the hoped-for thing of grace and divine promise) BELIEVED, THAT (namely) HE MIGHT BE MADE THE FATHER OF MANY NATIONS.
Note: Just as to hope for desperate things is to hope against hope, so to believe future things of which there is no hope is to believe against hope — namely, that Isaac would be born to old Abraham and barren Sarah, because God Himself promised this. So Theophylact, Anselm, and Theodoret.
Note how great a faith and hope God exacted from Abraham, and how much Abraham displayed, so that he is rightly called father of faith and hope: namely, that against hope he should believe in hope, that he should hope and believe things which were naturally impossible — that, against all the judgment of physicians and natural philosophers, beyond nature's powers, raising himself by heroic faith to God and to the omnipotence of the promising God, he should most certainly persuade himself that the offspring promised by God would be born to him from the barren and aged Sarah; and by this faith he merited and obtained not only this offspring but every blessing of God. So pleasing to God was this faith and hope in Himself: whence He proposes it to us in Abraham as in a mirror to be imitated, and that, first, in matters and articles of faith which transcend our grasp and the power of nature — e.g., God commands that He be believed to be one God in essence, and yet three in persons; He commands that Christ's body be believed to be really present in the Eucharist, even though sight and senses dictate otherwise to us. Here the faithful man, against the hope of nature, will believe in the hope of divine omnipotence, so that he transcends the slenderness of the dictate of eyes, ears, imagination, and natural judgment, and, raising himself to God, most firmly believes what He Himself, who is the first and infallible Truth, which can neither lie nor deceive, has said: namely, "I and the Father (likewise and the Holy Spirit) are one: This is My body, which shall be delivered for you; This is My blood," etc.
Second, and more in line with the Apostle's mind, in difficult matters, in serious temptation and tribulation, in persecution, in infamy, in sicknesses, death, and martyrdom, in undertaking the apostolate to the Indians, English, Dutch — if anyone is sent to them and, conscious of his natural weakness, trembles, let him believe against hope in hope; let him reflect that for the Christian man many things must be done and endured beyond nature; let him reflect that grace surpasses and transcends nature; let him reflect that God, who once sent and by sending made the Apostles and Prophets, will also send and by sending make him an Apostle, and let him say: I can do all things, not in myself, but in Him who strengthens me.
Supported and strengthened by this hope the Apostles subdued the world to Christ; with this hope the Martyrs overcame all torments and tyrants; with this hope the tenderest little maidens — Saints Agnes, Agatha, Febronia, and countless others — overcame the flesh and the world and all the devil's temptations and torments. This hope is lacking in many, and therefore they crawl on the ground and do not rise to great things: the root of this evil is the weakness of faith, because they do not vividly apprehend and believe, and fully persuade themselves, that God is omnipotent, that God permits no one to be tempted above his powers, that God is the most faithful protector of His own, that God cares for us more than father, mother, etc. And truly it is no small injury to God to have so small an opinion of His goodness, power, providence, and fatherly care; since the Wise One admonishes, "Think of the Lord in goodness," as if to say: Think well, piously, and holily of God's providence, clemency, and other attributes; not ill and impiously, with the Epicureans and atheists; not timidly and narrowly, with the timid and faint-hearted. For God wills to be regarded by us as best and most clement, equally as most powerful; He counts it an honor when He is believed, hoped in, and worshiped by us as such as He really is: just as a king wishes to be regarded by his own as most clement, and as using royal munificence toward all. Therefore we offer to God great and most welcome service, reverence, and honor when we hope great things from Him — when we place great confidence in Him, in whatever matters however difficult — and then He bestows great things, then He works great things. For who has hoped in Him and been confounded?
See how great things God has done through the Athanasiuses, Gregorys, Vincents, Laurences — indeed through yourself from time to time. Why then, you of little faith, in this temptation, in this difficulty, do you doubt, why do you tremble? God is present, God rules and feeds you. Truly for a Christian, especially a noble one and one striving after great things, hope must be especially aroused, that even often against hope he may believe in hope; and let him know that hope is never too great, nor can so much be hoped from God that God does not wish more to be hoped from Him; and so He will do wonderful things beyond strength, beyond nature. "You do not know," said St. Ignatius, "how great are the powers of hope in God. Hope which is seen is not hope." St. Xavier had armed himself with hope alone so much that in the most difficult matters he feared nothing except distrust of God's help; with this hope he invaded India relying on God alone; with this hope he traversed all the East evangelizing; with this hope, in the eleven years he lived there, how great, how stupendous things, beyond his strength, beyond human prudence, did he undertake and happily complete to God's glory?
Truly St. Bernard, sermon 15 on the Psalm Qui habitat: "Hope in Him (God)," he says, "all you congregation of the people: for whatever place your foot shall tread upon, shall be yours: your foot indeed is your hope, and as far as it shall have advanced, so far shall it obtain. If however it is wholly fixed on God, that it may be firm and not waver. Why should it fear the asp or the basilisk? why be terrified at the lion's roar or the dragon's hiss? Because he hoped in Me, I will deliver him; further, when delivered, lest he need again to be delivered, I will protect and preserve him, if only he know My name, lest he attribute to himself the fact that he was delivered, but give glory to My name."
St. Augustine, on that passage of Psalm 102, For according to the height of the heaven from the earth He hath strengthened His mercy upon those that fear Him, etc., beautifully shows by the example of the heaven far surpassing and transcending the earth, how much God's care and providence concerning us transcends all thought and hope, and consequently how much we ought to raise and expand our hope toward Him. "The Lord has confirmed," he says, "His mercy upon those that fear Him; according to what? according to the height of the heaven from the earth. What did he say? If at some time the heaven can withdraw from the protection of the earth, at some time God could fail to protect those that fear Him. Notice: the heaven everywhere and on every side protects the earth, and there is no part of the earth that is not protected by the heaven. Men sin under the heaven, they do all evils under the heaven, yet they are protected by the heaven. From it comes light to the eyes, from it air, from it spirit, from it rain to the earth for fruits, from it every mercy from the heaven. Take away the help of the heaven from the earth, immediately it will fail: as therefore the protection of the heaven remains over the earth, so the protection of God remains over those that fear Him. Do you fear God? above you is His protection."
Verse 19: He Was Not Weakened in Faith
19. AND HE WAS NOT WEAKENED IN FAITH, NOR DID HE CONSIDER HIS OWN BODY NOW DEAD.
In Greek νενεκρωμένον, that is, mortified, exhausted in strength and unsuited for begetting offspring. You will say: How then did Abraham afterwards beget sons from Keturah? Augustine answers, Question 35 on Genesis, that Abraham's body was dead with respect to old Sarah, but not with respect to the younger Keturah. Secondly, St. Thomas answers that Abraham was indeed at that time impotent through old age for begetting from any woman, but that by divine miracle the power was restored to him by which he could raise up and beget offspring from Sarah, Keturah, and any other woman. The former explanation is truer, as I have shown at Genesis 17:17.
Verse 20: Neither Did He Hesitate at the Promise of God
20. NEITHER DID HE HESITATE AT THE PROMISE OF GOD.
In Greek οὐ διεκρίθη, that is, he did not judge between, he did not inquire how this might be done. You will say: Abraham, in Genesis 15:8, having heard this promise of God, asks and desires that it be confirmed by a sign, saying: "Whereby shall I know that I shall possess it (the land of Canaan)?" Therefore Abraham seems to have hesitated and doubted concerning God's promise. I reply: Abraham there does not doubt about the substance of the divine promise; for shortly before in the same place, verse 6, it is said: "Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice." But he only desires to know the manner of its execution to be observed, and to have some likeness of what he had believed shown to him. So St. Augustine, Chrysostom, and Theodoret on Genesis 15. Secondly, as Rupert and Tostatus say in the same place, by these words Abraham desires and asks God to confirm His own promise, lest any of his descendants should nullify or revoke it on the basis of merits. Third, Abraham asks for a sign, says Cajetan, in that very place, not for himself, but for his descendants, namely so that they themselves might believe more firmly the very thing which Abraham already firmly believed. Hence it is clear that justifying faith is not trust, which lies in the will, but is assent and an act of the intellect: because by this faith, as Paul here says, Abraham "did not consider his own body now dead, and most fully knew that whatever God has promised, He is able also to perform." Then he does not call his act trusting, but believing God who promises posterity.
You will say: How then does Paul speak of this faith of Abraham, that "he did not hesitate through distrust"? for this is opposed to trust. I reply: "Distrust" here is the same as unbelief, for in Greek it is ἀπιστία. Hence the Syriac renders, nor did he doubt concerning God's promise as one without faith. In the same sense distrust is taken in Ephesians 5:6. Of which more in that place.
Verse 21: Giving Glory to God, Most Fully Knowing
21. DANS GLORIAM DEO, PLENISSIME SCIENS QUIA QUAECUMQUE PROMISIT DEUS, POTENS EST ET FACERE. — GIVING GLORY TO GOD, MOST FULLY KNOWING THAT WHATEVER GOD HAS PROMISED, HE IS ABLE ALSO TO PERFORM.
For most fully knowing, in Greek it is πληροφορηθείς, that is, most fully persuaded, of which I shall say more at chapter XIV, verse 5; as if to say: Abraham gave glory to God and glorified God by his faith, namely, by this very thing, that he plainly persuaded himself that God could and would fulfill His promises, however great they might be. For he glorifies God who concerning God and God's power and fidelity, as is fitting, thinks, believes, and proclaims.
Note: When Paul says: "He is able also to perform," it is a meiosis signifying, He is able, and He will perform; for Abraham believed both, of which phrase I shall say more at 2 Corinthians 9:8. Where note, Paul says: "He is able," but not, He is truthful, or, He is wise, or, He is faithful, because divine power above the other attributes of God must be set forth to human weakness in difficult matters, so that, transcending nature and all human aids, it may raise itself to God and God's power, and from there with certainty hope for help and the promised thing. "Therefore," says Fulgentius, book 1 To Monimus, "in God's promises there is no falsity, because in performing them there is no difficulty for the Almighty." Hence the Fathers teach that in temptations and afflicted and difficult matters, we must flee not to men, but to prayer and to God, so that we may cast the anchor of hope, not into the sea, but into heaven, and thus the ship of our soul will be safe and fixed from every surge of whirlwinds and storms.
Hence it is clear that we, like Abraham, must seek and obtain justice not from circumcision, the law, and Moses, but from faith and Christ.
Verse 25: Who Was Delivered Up for Our Sins, and Rose Again for Our Justification
Note: Here and elsewhere the Apostle inculcates that the resurrection of Christ must be believed by faith, because this was an article incredible to the world at that time, and because this article is most necessary and is, as it were, the summary of the others: for he who believes it believes that Jesus is the Christ and Messiah, God and man, the Savior of the world, who for our sins and our salvation died and rose again. Thirdly, because faith and hope of the resurrection most of all stir us up to live well and as Christians, and to endure all hard things.
25. WHO WAS DELIVERED UP (both by Judas and the Jews, but rather by the eternal Father, unto death and the cross) FOR OUR SINS, AND ROSE AGAIN FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION.
Note: Christ in His passion consummated all the merit, price, and ransom of our redemption; whence by His resurrection He did not merit our justification. You will say: How then is it said here that "Christ rose again for our justification?" The Commentary ascribed to Ambrose answers that the Apostle's meaning is, as if to say: Those who were baptized before the passion of Christ then received only the remission of sins; but after the resurrection of Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit they were justified. But this is an error, which sufficiently proves that this commentary is not Ambrose's.
I answer with Francisco Suarez, Part III, Question 56, that the preposition "for" (propter) can here signify four causes: first, material or objective. So Cajetan and Adam, as if to say: "Christ rose for our justification," namely because by the faith of the resurrection, by which we have begun to believe that Christ is the Son of God and Redeemer of the world, we have been brought to justification, and because Christ Himself by His resurrection, strengthening faith in His passion and deity, and sharpening our hope, procured our justification.
Secondly, as St. Anselm, Origen, and St. Thomas hold, the preposition "for" can signify an exemplary cause; as if to say: Christ died, that by His example we might die to our sins; and rose again, that we might rise to newness of life: Christ therefore rose for this purpose, that He might give us the type and exemplar of the resurrection of the soul.
Thirdly, the "for" (propter) can signify an efficient cause; for, as St. Thomas teaches, Part III, Question 56, article 2, the resurrection of Christ's humanity is the instrument of His same divinity, effecting our justification: an instrument, I say, not physical, as some maintain — for how can the resurrection, which has passed through so many centuries, now physically act, influence, and operate? — but moral, namely because God destined the resurrection of Christ for our justification, and decreed that He would not justify us except after it, and as it were through it; just as a king who has promised his subjects certain privileges through the coronation of his son, bestows them only after that coronation and as it were through it; and in this sense it is said in John 7:39: "The Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
Fourthly, and best of all, the preposition "for" signifies a quasi-meritorious cause: for Christ completed His office and the merit of His passion in the resurrection, as in its proper term: for the resurrection was the term and completion of His passion, of His merits, and of the whole economy of Christ. Hence the resurrection and the passion are reckoned as one work of redemption, and one complete moral action of Christ, by which Christ at once and once for all merited both the remission of sins and our justification: but on account of fitting similarity the Apostle attributes remission to the passion, as to satisfaction; and to the resurrection He attributes justification, because through the resurrection, which Christ obtained by His own merits and proper power, He became the full Redeemer and Justifier: as the victor over death, and consequently the victor over the kingdom of sin and injustice, which was the cause of death, and at that same time He brought in His own kingdom of life, holiness, and justice. Whence after the resurrection He sent the Holy Spirit as Justifier, and He sent the Apostles, who by the power of His word and the holy Sacraments instituted by Him would justify us.
Add to this, that unless Christ by His resurrection had conquered death, He would have been weak and ineffectual in conquering and utterly subduing sin, which is the cause of death, and which remains bound and tied to death as to its effect; and consequently Christ would have been weak and unable to justify us. Hence the Syriac translates: He rose that He might justify us. Of which matter I shall speak more at 1 Corinthians 15:17.
Finally, the "for" (propter) signifies a final cause, and that mutually. For Christ rose with this end, that He might send the Apostles and the Holy Spirit, who would justify us; and conversely the end of our justification is that the resurrection of Christ may be praised and celebrated, or Christ rising, who is its cause and author. Christ therefore, dying and rising, and raising us up with Himself, was a phoenix; to whom accordingly you may rightly apply that riddle of the phoenix:
Death is life to me; I die if I begin to be born.
But my fate comes before the dawning of glad light.
Thus I call only the spirits of the dead my parents.