AUGUSTINE TO THE HOLY BROTHERS AND FELLOW BISHOPS EUTROPIUS AND PAUL.

1. 1. Your love, which is so great and so holy in you that it is a delight to serve it even when it commands, has asked me to reply to the definitions said to be those of Caelestius. For the very document that you handed me was headed in this way: The Definitions, so it says, of Caelestius. I believe that this heading does not come from him but from those who brought it from Sicily, where Caelestius is said not to be present, though there are many who prattle such things and, as the Apostle says, are themselves deceived and lead others into error (2 Tim 3:13). Yet both you and I may judge these to be his teaching, or at least that of some of his associates. For these brief definitions, or rather pieces of reasoning, do not differ from the cast of mind that I observed in another of his works, of which he is established to be the author; and I think it is not without reason that the brothers who brought these things from Sicily understood that he himself had taught or written them. But I would have liked, were I able, so to comply with your fraternal goodwill that I too might answer as briefly. Yet unless I also set down the things to which I am replying, who could judge how I have replied? Still, I will try as best I can—helped before the Lord's mercy by your prayers as well—not to let my discourse run on further than is necessary.

2. 1. Before all else, he says, the one who denies that a human being can be without sin must be asked what any given sin is: something that can be avoided, or something that cannot be avoided. If it is something that cannot be avoided, it is not a sin; if it is something that can be avoided, then a human being can be without the sin that can be avoided. For no reason or justice allows a thing to be called a sin at all if it can in no way be avoided. We reply that sin can be avoided if the wounded nature is healed by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25). For nature is unhealed precisely to the extent that, through blindness, it does not see what is to be done, or, through weakness, it does not carry it out, while the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh (Gal 5:17), so that a person does not do the things he wills.

2. 2. Again it must be asked, he says, whether sin belongs to the will or to necessity. If it belongs to necessity, it is not a sin; if it belongs to the will, it can be avoided. We reply as above, and, in order that we may be healed, we call upon him to whom it is said in the psalm: Bring me out of my distresses (Ps 25:17 (24:17)).

2. 3. Again, he says, it must be asked what sin is: something natural or something accidental. If it is natural, it is not a sin; but if it is accidental, then it can also depart; and what can depart can be avoided; and what can be avoided—a human being can be without the thing that can be avoided. We reply that sin is not natural but belongs to nature, especially to a wounded nature—whence we have become by nature children of wrath (Eph 2:3)—and that the will's choice is too little for not sinning unless it is helped and healed by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25).

2. 4. Again, he says, it must be asked what sin is: an act or a thing. If it is a thing, it must necessarily have an author; and if it is said to have an author, then someone other than God will seem to be introduced as the author of some thing; but if it is impious to say this, then it must also be confessed that every sin is an act, not a thing. If, therefore, it is an act—indeed, because it truly is an act—it can be avoided. We reply that sin is indeed called, and is, an act, not a thing. But in the body too, limping is in the same way an act, not a thing, since the thing is the foot itself, or the body, or the man, who limps because of a damaged foot and yet cannot avoid the limping unless he has his foot healed. This can also come about in the inner man, but by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25).

The defect itself, by which a man limps, is indeed neither the foot nor the body nor the man nor even the limping, which surely does not exist when he is not walking, although the defect by which the limping comes about is present when he does walk. Let him ask, then, what name he would give to that defect—whether he wishes to call it a thing or an act, or rather an evil quality of a thing, by which a deformed act results. So too in the inner man the mind is a thing, robbery is an act, greed is a defect—that is, the quality according to which the mind is evil, even when it does nothing in service of its greed, even when it hears You shall not covet (Exod 20:17) and blames itself and yet remains greedy. But through faith it is renewed, that is, healed, day by day (2 Cor 4:16), and yet only by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25).

3. 5. Again, he says, it must be asked whether a human being ought to be without sin. Beyond doubt he ought. If he ought, he can; if he cannot, then neither ought he. And if a human being ought not to be without sin, then he ought to be with sin; and it will no longer be sin, if it is established that this must be held. Or if it is absurd to say even this, it must be confessed that a human being ought to be without sin, and it is established that he ought not anything other than what he can do.

The reply is by the same comparison we have already used above. For when we see a lame man who can be healed, we rightly say: This man ought to be without his limp; and if he ought, he can. Yet he cannot do so the moment he wills, but only when, treatment having been applied, he has been healed and the medicine has helped his will. This comes about in the inner man, as regards sin considered as its limp, through the grace of him who came not to call the righteous but sinners, because those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick (Matt 9:12-13).

3. 6. Again, he says, it must be asked whether it has been commanded of a human being to be without sin. For either he cannot, and it has not been commanded; or, because it has been commanded, he can. For why would something be commanded that could not be done at all? The reply is that it is most wisely commanded of a human being that he walk with upright steps, so that, when he perceives that he cannot, he may seek the medicine which, for healing the inner man's limp of sin, is the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25).

3. 7. Again, he says, it must be asked whether God wills a human being to be without sin. Beyond doubt he wills it, and beyond doubt he is able. For who is so mad as to doubt that what he does not doubt God wills can come to pass? The reply is: if God did not will a human being to be without sin, he would not have sent his Son, who is without sin, to heal human beings of their sins. This comes about in those who believe and make progress, by the renewal of the inner man day by day (See 2 Cor 4:16), until perfect righteousness comes to be, like full health.

3. 8. Likewise, he says, it must be asked how God wills a human being to be, with sin or without sin. Beyond doubt he does not will him to be with sin. We must consider how great a blasphemy of impiety it is to say that a human being can be with sin, which God does not will, and to deny that he can be without sin, which God does will—as though God created him for this, that he might be able to be what God does not will and not able to be what God does will, and that he should exist against God's will rather than in accordance with it. A reply has already been given above, but I see that this should be added: that we were saved in hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Rom 8:24-25). Then, therefore, will righteousness be full, when health is full; then will health be full, when love is full—for love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom 13:10)—and then will love be full, when we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). For there will be nothing left to add to love when faith has arrived at sight.

4. 9. Again it must be asked, he says, through what a human being comes to be with sin: through the necessity of nature or through the freedom of choice. If through the necessity of nature, he is free of fault; if through the freedom of choice, it must be asked from whom he received that freedom of choice. Beyond doubt from God. But what God gave is certainly good; this cannot be denied. By what reasoning, then, is it proved to be good, if it is more inclined to evil than to good? For it is more inclined to evil than to good, if through it a human being can be with sin and cannot be without sin. The reply is that it was through the freedom of choice that the human being came to be with sin; but a penal corruption, once it followed, made out of freedom a necessity. Hence faith cries out to God: Bring me out of my distresses (Ps 25:17 (24:17)). Placed under these, we either cannot understand what we will or, when we have understood it, we will it and are not strong enough to carry it out. For freedom itself is promised to believers by the Liberator. If the Son, he says, makes you free, then you will be free indeed (John 8:36).

For once the will was overcome by the vice into which it fell, nature lost its freedom. Hence another Scripture says: For whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved as a bondsman (2 Pet 2:19). Therefore, just as those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick (Matt 9:12), so the free have no need of a liberator, but slaves do, so that the glad cry of freedom may say to him: You have saved my soul out of its distresses (Ps 31:7 (30:8)). For health itself is the true freedom, which would not have perished if the will had remained good. But because the will sinned, the hard necessity of having sin followed the sinner, until the whole weakness is healed and so great a freedom is received that, just as the will to live blessedly must of necessity remain in it, so there is also a willing and happy necessity of living well and never sinning.

4. 10. Accordingly, he says, God made the human being good, and besides making him good, he furthermore commanded him to do good. How impious it is to confess that a human being is evil—which he was neither made nor commanded to be—if we deny that he can be good, which he was made to be and which he was commanded to do.

We reply: Since, then, it was not the human being himself but God who made the human being good, it is God, not he himself, who remakes him so that he may be good, when he frees the one who wills, believes, and calls upon him from the evil that the man did to himself. And this comes about when, by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, the inner man is renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16), so that on the last day the outer man may rise again not to everlasting punishment but to everlasting life.

5. 11. Again, he says, it must be asked in how many ways every sin is constituted. In two, unless I am mistaken: either when the things that are forbidden are done, or when the things that are commanded are not done. Surely all the things that are forbidden can be avoided just as all that are commanded can be carried out. For something would be forbidden or commanded in vain if it could not be either guarded against or fulfilled. And how shall we deny that a human being can be without sin, when it must be confessed that he can both guard against all the things that are forbidden and carry out the things that are commanded?

The reply is that there are many divine commandments in the holy Scriptures, all of which it would be too laborious to recount; but the Lord, who made a complete and short word upon the earth (Rom 9:28), said that the Law and the Prophets hang upon two commandments, so that we might understand that whatever else has been divinely commanded has its end in these two and is to be referred to these two: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind (Deut 6:5; Matt 22:37), and You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, he says, depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matt 22:39-40; see Lev 19:18).

Whatever, then, we are forbidden by God's law and whatever we are commanded to do, we are forbidden and commanded for this purpose: that we may fulfill these two. And perhaps the general prohibition is You shall not covet (Exod 20:17), and the general command is You shall love (Deut 6:5). Hence the Apostle Paul too, in a certain place, briefly embraced them both. For the prohibition is Do not be conformed to this world, and the command is but be transformed by the renewal of your mind (Rom 12:2). The former pertains to not coveting, the latter to loving; the former to continence, the latter to righteousness; the former to turning away from evil, the latter to doing good.

For by not coveting we are stripped of the old, and by loving we are clothed with the new. But no one can be continent unless God grants it (Wis 8:21), and God's love is poured out in our hearts not through ourselves but through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). And this comes about day by day in those who make progress by willing and believing and calling upon him and who, forgetting what lies behind, strain forward to what lies ahead (Phil 3:14). For this is why that law commands: that when a human being has fallen short in fulfilling these things, he may not exalt himself, swollen with pride, but, worn out, may flee for refuge to grace; and so the law, by wearing him down, may lead him to love Christ, performing the office of a tutor (See Gal 3:24).

6. 12. Again it must be asked, he says, how a human being cannot be without sin: by will or by nature. If by nature, it is not a sin; if by will, then a will can very easily be changed by a will. We reply by warning that one must consider how great is the presumption with which it is said that a will can not only be changed by a will—which indeed, with the help of God's grace, is not to be denied—but can even very easily be so changed, when the Apostle says: The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things that you would (Gal 5:17).

For he does not say These are opposed to each other, so that you might not will the things you are able to do, but to keep you from doing the things that you would. Why, then, has the lust of the flesh—which is surely culpable and vicious and is nothing other than the desire for sin, which the same Apostle commands not to reign in our mortal body (See Rom 6:12), where he shows well enough that there is, nonetheless, in our mortal body something that must not be permitted to reign—why, then, has this lust not been changed by that will which the Apostle expressed clearly enough when he said to keep you from doing the things that you would, if a will can easily be changed by a will? Nor, of course, do we in this way accuse the nature of soul or body, which God created and which is wholly good; rather, we say that it has been wounded by its own will and cannot be healed without God's grace.

6. 13. Again, he says, it must be asked, if a human being cannot be without sin, whose fault it is: the man's own or someone else's. If it is the man's own, how is it the man's fault, if it is something that cannot be? We reply that it is the man's fault that he is not without sin precisely because it was by the man's will alone that it came about that he reached this necessity, which the man's will alone cannot overcome.

6. 14. Again, he says, it must be asked: If the nature of the human being is good, which no one but a Marcion or a Manichee will dare to deny, how then is it good, if it is not possible for it to be free of evil? For who would doubt that every sin is an evil? We reply that both the nature of the human being is good and it can be free of evil. For this is why we cry out Deliver us from evil (Matt 6:13), which is not accomplished as long as the body that is corruptible weighs down the soul (Wis 9:15). But this is brought about by grace through faith, so that one day it may be said: O death, where is your strife? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law (1 Cor 15:55-56), since the law, by forbidding, increases the desire for sin, unless the Spirit pours out love—which will then be full and perfect when we shall see face to face (See 1 Cor 13:12).

6. 15. And this too, he says, must be said: God is certainly just—this cannot be denied—but God imputes to a human being every sin. And this too I think must be confessed: that whatever is not imputed as sin is not a sin. And if there is some sin that cannot be avoided, how is God called just, if he is believed to impute to anyone what cannot be avoided? We reply that it was cried out long ago against the proud: Blessed is the one to whom the Lord will not impute sin (Ps 32:2 (31:2)). For he does not impute it to those who faithfully say to him: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12). And he justly does not impute it, because what he says is just: With the measure you have measured, it will be measured back to you (Matt 7:2). Now there is sin when either the love that ought to be is not there, or it is less than it ought to be—whether this can be avoided by the will or cannot; because if it can, the present will does it, but if it cannot, the past will did it. And yet it can be avoided, not when the proud will is praised, but when the humble will is helped.

7. 16. After this, the man who wrote these things brings in his own person as though disputing with another and makes himself questioned and, as it were, addressed by the questioner: Do you grant me a human being without sin? And he answers: I grant you one who can be without sin. And again the questioner says to him: Who is he? And he answers: You yourself. But if you say, he says, I cannot be, the reply must be: Whose fault is it? And if you say: Mine, it must be said: And how is it yours, if you cannot be? Again he makes himself questioned and addressed: Are you yourself without sin, you who say that a human being can be without sin? And he answers: That I am not without sin, whose fault is it? And if he says, he says, it is yours, the reply must be: How is it mine, if I cannot be?

We reply that there ought to be no quarrel with them over these words, since he has not dared to say that any human being is without sin, whether someone else or himself, but answered only that one can be without sin, which we too do not deny. But when one can be, and through whom one can be—that is the question. For if it is already the case now, then it is not for every faithful soul placed in the body of this death to pray and say Forgive us our debts (Matt 6:12), since in holy baptism all past sins have already been forgiven. But whoever tries to persuade the faithful members of Christ that this need not be prayed, professes nothing other than that he himself is not a Christian. Moreover, if a human being can be without sin through himself, then Christ died for nothing (Gal 2:21). But Christ did not die for nothing; therefore a human being cannot be without sin, even if he wills it, unless he is helped by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25). And that this may be accomplished is even now being brought about in those who make progress and will be fulfilled in every way when the strife of death has been swallowed up (See 1 Cor 15:54) and the love that is nourished by believing and hoping has been perfected by seeing and possessing.

8. 17. Next he sets out to do what he intends by means of the divine testimonies. Let us attend rather carefully to what sort of thing this is. Testimonies, he says, by which it is proved that it has been commanded of a human being to be without sin. To this we reply: The question is not whether it has been commanded, which is quite obvious; rather, the question is whether this very thing which is established to have been commanded can be fulfilled in the body of this death (See Rom 7:24), where the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh (Gal 5:17), so that we do not do the things we will. From this body of this death not everyone who ends this life is freed, but the one who has received grace in this life and has labored by good works not to receive it in vain. For it is one thing to depart from this body, which the last day of this life forces upon all human beings; but it is another thing to be freed from the body of this death (Rom 7:24), which only the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25) imparts to his holy and faithful ones. After this life, however, the reward that completes things is given, but only to those by whom in this life the merit of that same reward is gained. For no one will reach the fullness of righteousness when he departs from here unless, while here, he has run toward it by hungering and thirsting; for blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matt 5:6).

8. 18. As long, then, as on pilgrimage away from the Lord we walk by faith, not by sight (See 2 Cor 5:6-7)—whence it is said The righteous lives by faith (Hab 2:4)—this is our righteousness in this very pilgrimage: that we now press on toward that perfection and fullness of righteousness, where in the sight of his beauty love will already be full and perfect, by the uprightness and perfection of this very course—chastising our body and bringing it into subjection (See 1 Cor 9:27), and giving alms in the bestowal of kindnesses and in the forgiving of the sins committed against us, doing so cheerfully and from the heart, and persisting unceasingly in prayer (See Rom 12:12; Col 4:2), and doing these things in sound doctrine (See 1 Tim 1:10; 2 Tim 4:3; Titus 2:1), by which right faith, firm hope, and pure love are built up. This is now our righteousness, by which we run, hungering and thirsting, toward the perfection and fullness of righteousness, that afterward we may be satisfied with it.

Hence the Lord, in the Gospel, when he had said Do not do your righteousness before men, in order to be seen by them (Matt 6:1), so that we might not measure this course of ours by the goal of human glory, in expounding that righteousness pursued only these three: fasting, alms, prayers—signifying by fasting the whole chastisement of the body, by alms all goodwill and beneficence whether in giving or in forgiving, and intimating by prayer all the rules of holy desire. For since in the chastisement of the body the lust is bridled—the lust that ought not to be bridled but ought not to exist at all, and will not exist in that perfection of righteousness where there will be no sin whatever, and which often, even in the use of things permitted and lawful, displays its own excess—in the very beneficence by which the righteous man cares for his neighbor, certain things are done that do harm when they were thought to be helpful; and sometimes, through weakness—either when the needs of others are met too little, or when what is spent of kindness and labor profits them little—a weariness creeps in by which the cheerfulness is darkened, in which God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7); and it creeps in the more, the less anyone has made progress, and the less, the more he has made progress. Considering these things and the like, we rightly say in prayer: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12)—provided that we do what we say, that either our very enemies be loved, or, if anyone still a little one in Christ does not yet do this, he may at least forgive from the depths of his heart the one repentant of whatever he sinned against him and asking pardon—if he wants the heavenly Father to hear his prayer.

8. 19. In this prayer, if we are willing not to be contentious, we have a mirror set before us sufficient for looking into the life of the righteous, who live by faith (Hab 2:4) and run perfectly, although they are not without sin. Hence they say Forgive us (Matt 6:12), because they have not yet reached the goal toward which they run. Hence the Apostle says: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect. Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on according to my purpose toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us, then, who are perfect be of this mind (Phil 3:12-15);

that is: Let as many of us as run perfectly be of this mind, that we are not yet perfect, so that we may be perfected there, toward which we still run perfectly, so that when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away (1 Cor 13:10),

that is, so that it may no longer be partial but whole, because the very reality—not what is believed and hoped for, but what is seen and held—will take the place of faith and hope; but love, which is the greatest of these three (See 1 Cor 13:13), will not be taken away but increased and fulfilled, having contemplated what it believed and obtained what it hoped for. In that fullness of love that commandment will be fulfilled: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind (Deut 6:5; see Matt 22:37).

For as long as there is still some carnal lust that must be bridled by continence, God is not loved in every way with the whole soul. For the flesh does not lust without the soul, although the flesh is said to lust, because the soul lusts in a carnal way. Then will the righteous one be wholly without any sin, when there will be no law in his members warring against the law of his mind (Rom 7:23), but he will love God with his whole heart, his whole soul, his whole mind, which is the first and greatest commandment (See Matt 22:37-38). Why, then, should this perfection not be commanded of a human being, although no one has it in this life? For one does not run rightly if one does not know where one ought to run. And how would it be known if it were shown by no commandments? So, then, let us run that we may grasp it. For all who run rightly will grasp it, not as in the contest of the theater all indeed run, but one receives the prize (1 Cor 9:24). Let us run by believing, hoping, desiring; let us run by chastising the body and by giving alms—both in giving goods and in forgiving wrongs—cheerfully and from the heart, and by praying that the strength of those who run may be helped; and so let us hear the commandments of perfection, lest we neglect to run toward the fullness of love.

9. 20. With these things set forth, let us carefully hear the testimonies that this man to whom we are replying put forward, as though we had ourselves brought them up. In Deuteronomy: But you shall be perfect before the Lord your God (Deut 18:13); likewise there: And there shall be none unfulfilled among the sons of Israel (Deut 23:17); likewise the Savior in the Gospel: Be perfect, because your Father who is in heaven is perfect (Matt 5:48);

likewise the Apostle in Second Corinthians: Finally, brethren, rejoice, be perfect (2 Cor 13:11); likewise to the Colossians: Admonishing every man and teaching in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ (Col 1:28); likewise to the Philippians: Do all things without murmuring and questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, like the unstained children of God (Phil 2:14-15);

likewise to the Ephesians: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unstained in his sight (Eph 1:3-4); likewise to the Colossians: And you, who once were estranged and enemies in mind by your evil works, but now reconciled in the body of his flesh through his death, present yourselves holy and unstained and blameless (Col 1:21-22);

likewise to the Ephesians: That he might present the Church to himself in glory, having neither stain nor wrinkle nor anything of the kind, that she might be holy and unstained (Eph 5:27); likewise in First Corinthians: Be sober and righteous, and do not sin (1 Cor 15:34); likewise in the epistle of holy Peter: Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be perfectly sober, hope in the grace that is offered to you, as obedient children, not conformed to the former lusts of your ignorance, but according to him who called you, the Holy One, be yourselves also holy in all your conduct, because it is written: You shall be holy, for I am holy (1 Pet 1:13-16).

Hence the blessed David too says: Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle? Or who shall rest on your holy mountain? He who walks without stain and does righteousness (Ps 15:1-2 (14:1-2)); and elsewhere: And I shall be unstained with him (Ps 18:23 (17:24)); and elsewhere: Blessed are the unstained in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord (Ps 119:1 (118:1)); likewise in Solomon: The Lord loves holy hearts; all the unstained are acceptable to him (Prov 22:11).

Some of these testimonies exhort those who run, that they may run perfectly; some recall the very goal toward which they press by running. And he is not absurdly said to walk without stain who is not yet perfect but who runs blamelessly toward perfection itself, free of damnable crimes and not neglecting to cleanse even his venial sins by almsgiving. For our entrance—that is, our journey by which we press on toward perfection—is cleansed by clean prayer; and prayer is clean where it is truthfully said: Forgive us, as we also forgive (Matt 6:12), so that, while what is not imputed is not blamed, our course toward perfection may be held without blame, that is, without stain—in which perfection, when we have come to it, there will be nothing at all left to be cleansed by forgiveness.

10. 21. Next this man brings forward testimonies by which to show that the divine commandments are not burdensome. But who does not know that, since the general commandment is love—because the end of the commandment is love (1 Tim 1:5) and love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom 13:10)—what is done by being directed, not by being feared, is not burdensome? Now those labor under God's commandments who try to fulfill them out of fear; but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18) and makes the burden of the commandment light, not only not pressing down with the weight of heavy loads, but even lifting up in place of wings. Yet for this love to be had, even in the measure in which it can be had in the body of this death, the choice of our will is too little, unless the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25) helps it.

For it is poured out in our hearts, as must often be said, not through ourselves, but through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). Nor does Scripture recall that the divine commandments are not burdensome for any other reason than that the soul which feels them burdensome may understand that it has not yet received the strength by which the Lord's commandments are such as they are commended to be—light, that is, and pleasant—and may pray, with the groaning of its will, to obtain the gift of ease. For he who says Let my heart be unstained, and Direct my steps according to your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me (Ps 119:80, 133 (118:80, 133)), and Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and Lead us not into temptation (Matt 6:10, 13), and the like, which it would be long to recall, surely prays for this: that he may do God's commandments. And so that these might be done, neither would they be commanded, if our will did nothing there, nor would prayer be made, if the will alone sufficed.

They are commended, then, as not burdensome, so that the one to whom they are burdensome may understand that he has not yet received the gift by which they are not burdensome, and may not suppose that he is fulfilling them when he so acts that they are burdensome—for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7)—and yet, while he feels them burdensome, may not be broken by despair, but may be compelled to seek, ask, and knock (See Luke 11:9).

10. 22. Let us hear, then, in these testimonies which he next put forward, God commending his commandments as not burdensome. That God's commandments, he says, are not only not impossible but not even burdensome. In Deuteronomy: And the Lord your God will turn to feast over you for your good, as he feasted over your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by keeping and doing all his commandments and the righteous statutes and judgments that are written in the book of this law: if you turn to the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul. For this commandment that I command you today is not burdensome, nor is it far from you. It is not in heaven, that you should say: Who will ascend into heaven and receive it for us, that we may hear and do it? Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say: Who will cross the sea and receive it for us, that we may hear and do it? For the word is very near to you, in your mouth, in your heart, and in your hands, to do it (Deut 30:9-14). Likewise the Lord in the Gospel: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt 11:28-30). Likewise in the epistle of holy John: This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).

Having heard these testimonies of the law, the Gospel, and the apostles, let us be built up toward the grace which those do not understand who, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, have not submitted to the righteousness of God (Rom 10:3).

For if they do not understand how the Apostle Paul recalled that passage from Deuteronomy, namely that with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10), because those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick (Matt 9:12)—then surely by that testimony of the apostle John which he placed last in support of this view,

where he says This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3), they ought surely to be reminded that God's commandment is not burdensome to the love of God, which is poured out in our hearts only through the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5), not through the choice of the human will, to which, by attributing more than they ought, they are ignorant of the righteousness of God. Yet this love will be perfect only when all penal fear has departed.

11. 23. After this he put forward the testimonies that are usually urged against them, and he did not resolve them but, by recalling them as though contrary, entangled the questions more tightly. For he says: The testimonies of the Scriptures that are to be set on the other side against those who, without skill, suppose that they can destroy the freedom of choice or the possibility of not sinning by the authority of the Scriptures. For they are accustomed to object, he says, that holy Job said: Who is clean from sin? Not even an infant whose life upon the earth is of one day (Job 14:4 (according to the LXX)).

Then he replies, as it were, to this testimony with other testimonies, namely that Job himself said: For I, a righteous man and without complaint, have become a laughingstock (Job 12:4)—not understanding that a man can be called righteous who has come very close to the perfection of righteousness, so as to draw near to it: which we do not deny that many were able to do even in this life, in which one lives by faith (Hab 2:4).

11. 24. This is confirmed by that testimony too which this man next added as spoken by the same Job: Behold, I am near to my judgment, and I know that I shall be found righteous (Job 13:18). For this is the judgment of which it is said elsewhere: And he will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday (Ps 37:6 (36:6)). Finally, he did not say "there I am," but I am near. But if he meant that judgment to be understood not as the one by which he himself will judge but as the one by which at the end he is to be judged, then in that judgment all will be found righteous who do not deceitfully say Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12). For through this forgiveness they will be found righteous, and because they wiped out by almsgiving the sins they had here.

Hence the Lord says: Give alms, and behold, everything is clean for you (Luke 11:41). Finally, this will be said to the righteous who are to enter into the promised kingdom: For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat (Matt 25:35), and the like. But it is one thing to be without sin, which has been said in this life of the Only-Begotten alone; it is another to be without complaint, which could be said of many righteous people even in this life, since there is a certain manner of good living about which, even in this human society, there can be no just complaint. For who justly complains of a man who wishes evil to no one and faithfully cares for those he can and, against anyone's wrongs, holds no lust for vengeance, so as to say truthfully As we also forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12)? And yet, by the very fact that he says truly Forgive, as we also forgive, he declares that he is not without sin.

11. 25. Hence it is that he says: There was nothing unjust in my hands, but my prayer was clean (Job 16:17). For his prayer was clean for this reason: that he was not unjustly asking for pardon, since he truly granted it.

11. 26. And as for what he says of the Lord: For he has caused me many afflictions without cause (Job 9:17)—he does not say "he caused none with cause," but many without cause. For his many afflictions were brought upon him not because of his many sins but for the testing of his patience (See Job 6:2-3). For, on account of the sins without which, as he confesses elsewhere, he was not, he judges that he ought to have suffered fewer.

11. 27. Likewise, as for what he says: For I have kept his ways and have not turned aside from his commandments, nor will I depart (Job 23:11-12)—he keeps the ways of God who does not so wander as to abandon them, but makes progress by running in them, even if at times, like a weak man, he stumbles or wavers; and he makes progress by lessening his sins, until he reaches the place where he is without sin. For he cannot make progress in this manner otherwise than by keeping his ways. But the apostate turns aside from the Lord's commandments and departs—not the man who, even if he has sin, nevertheless does not abandon the perseverance of struggling against it, until he reaches the place where no contention with death will remain (See 1 Cor 15:55). In this struggle, then, we are clothed with that righteousness by which one here lives by faith, and with it, in a certain way, we are armored (See Isa 59:17; Eph 6:14).

We also take up the judgment which, even against ourselves, we make on our own behalf, when by accusing our sins we condemn them. Hence it is written: The righteous man is his own accuser at the beginning of his speech (Prov 18:17). Hence again he says: I was clothed with righteousness, and I put judgment about me like a cloak (Job 29:14). For this garment too tends to belong to war rather than to peace, where lust is still being fought against—not where there will be the final righteousness, full and without any enemy at all, once the enemy, death, has been destroyed.

11. 28. But as for what the same holy Job says again: For my heart does not reproach me in all my life (Job 27:6)—then in this life, in which we live by faith, our heart does not reproach us, if that same faith by which with the heart one believes unto righteousness (Rom 10:10) does not neglect to reproach our sin. Hence the Apostle says: For I do not do the good I will, but the evil I hate, this I do (Rom 7:15). For it is good not to lust, and the righteous man, who lives by faith (Hab 2:4), wills this good; and yet he does what he hates, because he lusts, although he does not go after his lusts (Sir 18:30): for if he did, then he himself truly brought it about that he yields, that he consents, that he obeys the desire for sin. Then his heart reproaches him, because it reproaches him himself, not that sin of his which dwells in his members.

But when he does not allow sin to reign in his mortal body so as to obey its desires, nor presents his members as weapons of iniquity to sin (Rom 6:12-13), sin is indeed present in his members, but it does not reign, because its desires are not obeyed. And therefore, while he does what he does not will—that is, he does not will to lust and yet lusts—he consents to the law, because it is good (Rom 7:17). For he too wills the very thing the law wills, since he himself wills not to lust, and the law says: You shall not covet (Exod 20:17). In this, since he wills what the law also wills, he beyond doubt consents to the law; yet he lusts, because he is not without sin; but now it is no longer he himself who works it, but the sin that dwells in him (See Rom 7:20). Therefore his heart does not reproach him in all his life—that is, in his faith, because the righteous lives by faith (Hab 2:4), and so his faith is his life. For he knows that good does not dwell in his flesh, where sin dwells (See Rom 7:18); but by not consenting to it he lives by faith, by which he calls upon God to be helped as he fights against sin. And so that it may not be there at all, the willing lies near him, but to accomplish the good does not lie near (See Rom 7:18).

It is not the doing of good that does not lie near, but the accomplishing of it. For in that he does not consent, he does good; and in that he hates his lust, he does good; and in that he does not cease to give alms, he does good; and in that he forgives the one who sins against him, he does good; and in that he asks that his debts be forgiven him and truly says that he himself also forgives his debtors, and prays that he may not be led into temptation but delivered from evil, he does good. Yet to accomplish the good does not lie near him—which will be the case when that lust which dwells in his members will be no more. His heart, then, does not reproach him when it reproaches the sin that dwells in his members and has no unbelief of his to reproach. Thus in his life—that is, in his faith—he is not reproached by his heart, and yet he is shown not to be without sin.

And Job himself confesses this of himself, where he says: None of my sins escaped you. You sealed up my iniquities in a bag and noted whatever I transgressed unwillingly (Job 14:16-17). The testimonies, then, which he put forward from the words of the holy man Job, we have shown, as best we could, how they are to be understood; and yet he did not resolve what he proposed that the same Job said: For who is clean from sin? Not even an infant whose life upon the earth is of one day (Job 14:4 (according to the LXX)).

12. 29. Again they are accustomed to propose, he says, Every human being is a liar (Ps 116:11 (115:2)). Nor does he resolve this thing proposed by himself against himself; but, by recalling other, seemingly contrary, testimonies, he left the divine sayings in dispute among those who do not understand holy Scripture.

For he says: To whom it must be replied with what is written in the book of Numbers: A truthful man; and of holy Job it is read thus: There was a man dwelling in the region of Ausitis named Job, truthful, without crime, righteous, a worshiper of God, abstaining from every evil thing (Num 24:3, 15 (according to the LXX); Job 1:1).

I am surprised that he dared to put forward this testimony, where it is said abstaining from every evil thing, when he wished this to be understood of every sin, since he had said above that sin is an evil act, not a thing. Let him recall, then, that even if it is an act, it can be called a thing.

Now he abstains from every evil thing who either never consents at all to the sin without which he is not, or, if he is at times pressed, is not crushed; just as a stronger wrestler, even if he is at times held, does not thereby lose the position by which he is found superior. A man is indeed read of as being without crime, and read of as being without complaint, but none is read of as being without sin except the Son of man, the one and only Son of God.

12. 30. Likewise, he says, in Job himself: And a wonder seized the truthful man (Job 17:8 (according to the LXX)); likewise in Solomon, concerning Wisdom: Lying men will not be mindful of her; but truthful men will be found in her (Sir 15:8); likewise in the Apocalypse: And in their mouth no lie was found; they are without stain (Rev 14:5). To these we too reply, warning how a human being is to be called truthful through the grace and truth of God, who through himself is without doubt a liar. Hence it is said: Every human being is a liar (Ps 116:11 (115:2)). This too is what that testimony concerning Wisdom sounds, which he himself put forward: But truthful men will be found in her (Sir 15:8)—men who beyond doubt will be found to be liars not in her but in themselves, as it is said: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (Eph 5:8).

When he said darkness, he did not add "in the Lord"; but when he said "light," he certainly added "in the Lord," because in themselves they could not be light, so that he who boasts may boast in the Lord (1 Cor 1:31). But those in the Apocalypse were called such for this reason: that no lie was found in their mouth (Rev 14:5), because they did not say that they had no sin. For if they were to say this, they would deceive themselves and the truth would not be in them (1 John 1:8); and further, if the truth were not in them, a lie would be found in their mouth. But if, out of envy, while they were without sin, they were to say that they were not without sin, this very thing would be a lie, and what was said would be false: No lie was found in their mouth. For this reason, then, they are without stain (Rev 14:5): because, just as they themselves forgave their debtors, so, with God forgiving them, they were cleansed. See, we have set out, as best we could, how the testimonies which he recalled for his cause are to be understood. But how that which is written—Every human being is a liar—is to be understood, he by no means resolves, nor will he be able to resolve it, unless the error is corrected by which he believes that a human being can be truthful by his own will alone, without the help of God's grace.

13. 31. In the same way he proposed the next question and did not resolve it; indeed, he even increased it and made it more difficult, by putting forward the testimony brought against himself: There is none who does good, no, not one (Ps 14:1, 3 (13:1, 3)), and by reporting, as it were, contrary testimonies by which he might show that there are people who do good. This indeed he showed, but it is one thing not to do good, another not to be without sin, even if a human being does many good things. Therefore the testimonies which he put forward are not against what is said: that there is no human being in this life without sin. But he himself did not show in what sense it was said: There is none who does good, no, not one (Ps 14:1, 3 (13:1, 3)). For holy David says, he says, Hope in the Lord and do good (Ps 37:3 (36:3)). This is a commandment, not a deed. And those of whom it was said There is none who does good, no, not one (Ps 14:1, 3 (13:1, 3)) were certainly not doing this commandment. He says also that holy Tobit said: Do not fear, my son; we lead a poor life, but we shall have many good things if we fear God and depart from every sin and do good (Tob 4:21). Most truly will a human being then have many good things, when he has departed from every sin; for then he will have no evils, so that he need not say Deliver us from evil (Matt 6:13).

And yet even now everyone who makes progress, advancing with right purpose, departs from every sin, and becomes the more remote from it the closer he is to the fullness and perfection of righteousness, because even lust itself—which is the sin dwelling in our flesh (See Rom 6:12)—though it still remains in our mortal members, nevertheless does not cease to be diminished in those who make progress. It is one thing, then, to be departing from every sin, which is now in process; another to have departed from every sin, which will be the case in that perfection. But nevertheless both the one who has already departed and the one who is still departing must not be denied to do good.

How, then, was it said There is none who does good, no, not one (Ps 14:1, 3 (13:1, 3)), which he proposed and left unresolved, except that that psalm blames a certain people among whom there was not even one who did good, since they wished to remain sons of men and not to be sons of God, by whose grace a human being becomes good so as to do good? For we ought to understand here that the good spoken of is what it says there: God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is one who understands or seeks God (Ps 14:2 (13:2)). This good, then—which is to seek God—there was none who did, no, not one; but in that kind of people which is predestined to ruin. For upon these the foreknowledge of God looked down and pronounced its sentence.

No one is good but God alone.

14. 32. Likewise they say, he says, what the Savior said: Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone (Luke 18:19; Mark 10:18). This proposition too he by no means resolves, but set against it, as if from the opposite side, other testimonies by which to prove that a human being too is good. For he said that the reply must be that the same Lord says elsewhere: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things (Matt 12:35). And again: Who makes his sun rise upon the good and the evil (Matt 5:45). And elsewhere it is written, he says, Good things were created for the good from the beginning (Sir 39:25); and again: Those who are good will be inhabitants of the earth (Prov 2:21).

To this the reply must be such that this too may be understood—in what sense it was said: No one is good but God alone (Luke 18:19; Mark 10:18). Either because all things that have been created, although God made them very good (See Gen 1:31), are nonetheless not good in comparison with the Creator—indeed, in comparison with whom they do not even exist; for in the highest and most proper way he said of himself I am who I am (Exod 3:14). It was said No one is good but God alone in the same way as it was said of John: He was not the light (John 1:8), although the Lord says that he was a lamp (See John 5:35), as also are the disciples to whom he said You are the light of the world; no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel (Matt 5:14-15); but in comparison with that light which is the true light that enlightens every man coming into this world (John 1:9), he was not the light—

or because the sons of God themselves, compared with what they will be in that eternal perfection, are good in such a way that they are still also evil. This I would not dare to say of them—for who would dare to call those evil whose Father is God?—unless the Lord himself said: If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him (Matt 7:11)! For when he says your Father, he showed that they are already sons of God; yet he did not keep silent that they are still evil.

Yet he did not resolve how both these are good and No one is good but God alone. Hence the one who had asked what good he should do was admonished to seek him by whose grace he might be good—for whom to be good is the same as to be, because the one who is unchangeably good cannot be evil at all.

15. 33. Likewise they say, he says, Who will boast that he has a clean heart? (Prov 20:9). And to this he replied with many testimonies, wishing to show that there can be a clean heart in a human being; yet he does not say how that is to be understood which he proposed as said against himself: Who will boast that he has a clean heart?—lest divine Scripture should seem, in this testimony and in those by which he replied, to be at odds with itself.

But we, replying to this, say that this followed—Who will boast that he has a clean heart?—because this preceded: When a righteous king sits on his throne (Prov 20:8). For however great the righteousness with which a human being is endowed, he ought to consider that something in him which he himself does not see may be found blameworthy, when the righteous king sits on his throne, whose thought sins cannot escape—not even those of which it is said: Who understands his faults? (Ps 19:13 (18:13)). When, therefore, the righteous king sits on his throne, who will boast that he has a clean heart, or who will boast that he is clean from sin (Prov 20:8-9), except perhaps those who wish to boast in their own righteousness and not in the mercy of the judge himself?

15. 34. Nevertheless, those things too are true which he added in reply: what the Savior says in the Gospel, Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8), and what David says, Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He who is innocent of hands and clean of heart (Ps 24:3-4 (23:3-4)); and elsewhere: Do good, Lord, to the good and to the upright of heart (Ps 125:4 (124:4)); likewise in Solomon: Good is the substance in whose conscience there is no sin (Sir 13:24); likewise there: Turn away from wrongdoing and direct your hands, and cleanse your heart from every wrongdoing (Sir 38:10); likewise in the epistle of John: If our heart does not reproach us, we have confidence toward God, and whatever we ask we shall receive from him (1 John 3:21-22).

For this is brought about by the will—by believing, hoping, directing oneself, chastising the body, giving alms, forgiving wrongs, praying urgently and entreating for the strength to make progress, and truthfully saying Forgive us, as we also forgive, and Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matt 6:12-13). This precisely is brought about, that the heart may be cleansed and every sin taken away, and that whatever the righteous king, when he sits on his throne (Prov 20:8), finds hidden and insufficiently cleansed may be remitted by his mercy, so that, by seeing God, it may be rendered wholly sound and clean. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy; but mercy exults over judgment (Jas 2:13). And if this were not so, what hope would there be? Since when the righteous king sits on his throne, who will boast that he has a clean heart? Or who will boast that he is clean from sin (Prov 20:8-9)? Then, therefore, through his mercy the righteous, fully and perfectly cleansed, will shine in the kingdom of their Father like the sun (Matt 13:43).

15. 35. Then fully and perfectly will the Church be without stain or wrinkle or anything of the kind (Eph 5:27), because then she will also be truly glorious. For when he said not only that he might present the Church to himself without stain or wrinkle, but added in glory (Eph 5:27), he indicated well enough when she will be without stain and wrinkle or anything of the kind: precisely then, when she is glorious. For not now, amid such great evils, such great scandals, such a great intermingling of the worst people, such great reproaches of the impious, is she to be called glorious because kings serve her—where the temptation is more perilous and greater—but rather she will then be glorious, when what the same Apostle says will come to pass: When Christ, your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Col 3:4).

For since the Lord himself, according to the form of a servant (See Phil 2:6), by which as Mediator he joined himself to the Church, was not glorified except by the glory of the resurrection—whence it was said: But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39)—how is his Church to be called glorious before her resurrection? Now, therefore, he cleanses her by the washing of water in the word (Eph 5:26), washing away past sins and driving from her the dominion of the evil angels; then, completing her healings, he makes her advance toward that glorious state, without stain and wrinkle; for those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified (Rom 8:30). In this mystery I think it was said: Behold, I cast out demons and complete healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I am consummated (Luke 13:32)—that is, I am completed; for he said this in the person of his body, which is the Church, putting "days" for distinct and ordered periods of time, which he also signified in his own resurrection in the three days.

15. 36. Now I think there is a difference between the upright of heart and the clean of heart. For the upright of heart, too, strains forward to what lies ahead, forgetting what lies behind (Phil 3:14), so that by a right course—that is, by right faith and purpose—he may arrive where the clean of heart dwells. So those individual phrases are to be assigned to individual states, where it was said: Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He who is innocent of hands and clean of heart (Ps 24:3-4 (23:3-4)).

The innocent of hands will ascend, and the clean of heart will stand: the former is in process, the latter at the goal—and there too is rather to be understood what was said: Good is the substance in whose conscience there is no sin (Sir 13:24). For then will it be truly good substance, that is, true riches, when all poverty has passed away—that is, when all weakness has been brought to completion.

But now let a human being turn away from wrongdoing, as by making progress he departs from it and is renewed day by day (See 2 Cor 4:16), and let him direct his hands to the work of mercy, and cleanse his heart from every wrongdoing (See Sir 38:10), and show mercy, so that what remains may be remitted by pardon. For this is rightly understood, in a wholesome way and without vain and empty boasting, in what holy John said: If our heart does not reproach us, we have confidence toward God, and whatever we ask we shall receive from him (1 John 3:21-22). For he seems in this passage to have given the warning that our heart should not reproach us in the very act of praying and asking—that is, lest perhaps, when we have begun to say Forgive us, as we also forgive (Matt 6:12), we be stung at not doing what we say, or even not dare to say what we do not do, and so lose the confidence to ask.

16. 37. Likewise he set against himself a testimony of the Scriptures which is usually urged against them: For there is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin (Eccl 7:20), and replied, as it were, with other testimonies, namely that the Lord says of holy Job: Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him on earth, a man without complaint, a true worshiper of God, abstaining from every evil (Job 1:8). On this we have already discoursed above. Yet this man did not show us how both Job, if these words are to be so understood, was without any sin on earth, and what he said is written is true: There is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin (Eccl 7:20).

17. 38. Likewise they say, he says, For no living being will be justified in your sight (Ps 143:2 (142:2)); and to this testimony he replied to no other effect than that the holy Scriptures should seem to be quarreling among themselves, whose concord we ought to show. For he says: To whom the reply must be made by what the Evangelist testifies of holy Zechariah and Elizabeth, saying: Now Zechariah and Elizabeth his wife were both righteous in the sight of the Lord, walking in all the commandments and righteous statutes of the Lord without complaint (Luke 1:6). These two righteous people had surely read, among those very commandments, how they were to cleanse their sins. For Zechariah, as is said of every priest taken from among men in the epistle to the Hebrews, surely offered sacrifices for his own sins as well (Heb 5:1-3). But how that is to be understood which is said—without complaint—we have already, I think, shown sufficiently above.

And the blessed, he says, Apostle says: That we should be holy and unstained in his sight (Eph 1:4). This is brought about, that we may be this, if by unstained are to be understood those who are wholly without sin; but if the unstained are those who are without crime, we cannot deny that there have been and are such even in this life, because someone is not therefore without any sin merely because he has no stain of crime. Hence the Apostle too, when he was choosing ministers to be ordained, did not say "If anyone be without sin" (which he could not find), but said If anyone be without crime (Titus 1:6), which one surely could be.

Yet this man did not show how, according to his cause, we ought to understand what is written: For no living being will be justified in your sight (Ps 143:2 (142:2)). For the meaning is plain, more clearly declared by the preceding verse. Enter not, he says, into judgment with your servant, for no living being will be justified in your sight (Ps 143:2 (142:2)). He fears judgment, because he longs for the mercy that exults over judgment (Jas 2:13). For this is what Enter not into judgment with your servant means: "Do not judge me according to yourself, who are without sin," for no living being will be justified in your sight—which is understood, without difficult inquiry, to be said of this life. And in saying will not be justified, he referred to that perfection of righteousness which is not in this life.

18. 39. Likewise they say, he says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). And to this most evident testimony he tried to reply with, as it were, contrary testimonies, namely that the same holy John says in the same epistle: Now this I say, brethren, that you may not sin. Everyone who is born of God does not commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin (1 John 2:1; 3:9); likewise there: He who is born of God does not sin, because the begetting of God preserves him, and the evil one does not touch him (1 John 5:18).

Likewise there, he says, where he says of the Savior: For he appeared to take away sins. Everyone who remains in him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen him nor known him (1 John 3:5-6). Likewise there: Beloved, we are now sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him sanctifies himself, as he too is holy (1 John 3:2-3). And yet, while all these testimonies are true, that too is true which he proposed and did not resolve: that if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). And by this, according to that whereby we are born of God, in him who appeared to take away sins—that is, in Christ—we remain and do not sin (and this is what it means that the inner man is renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16)); but according to that whereby we are born of that man through whom sin entered the world and through sin death, and so it passed to all men (Rom 5:12), we are not without sin, because we are not yet without his weakness, until, by that renewal which takes place day by day (2 Cor 4:16)—since according to it we are born of God—the whole weakness is healed in which we were born of the first man and in which we are not without sin.

While the remnants of this weakness remain in the inner man—although they are diminished day by day in those who make progress—if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). For how is it true that everyone who sins has not seen him nor known him (1 John 3:6), since according to the vision and knowledge that will be in sight no one sees and knows him in this life? But according to the vision and knowledge that is in faith there are many who sin—certainly the apostates themselves, who nevertheless once believed in him—so that of none of them can it be said: according to the vision and knowledge that is still in faith, he has not seen him nor known him. But I think it is to be understood that the renewal which is to be brought to completion sees and knows him, while the weakness which is to be done away with neither sees nor knows him; and while however small its remnants remain set within us, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). Since, then, through the grace of renewal we are sons of God, yet on account of the remnants of weakness it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). Then there will be no sin, because no weakness, neither inner nor outer, will remain. And everyone who has this hope in him sanctifies himself, as he too is holy (1 John 3:3); for he sanctifies himself not through himself, but by believing in him and calling upon him who sanctifies his holy ones. The perfection of this sanctification, which now advances and grows day by day, will take away all the remnants of weakness.

19. 40. Likewise they say, he says, It is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy (Rom 9:16). To which he says the reply must be made by what the same Apostle says elsewhere of a certain person: Let him do what he wills (1 Cor 7:36). Likewise, he says, to Philemon, concerning Onesimus: Whom I had wished to keep with me, that he might serve me on your behalf; but I was unwilling to do anything without your consent, that your good might not be as it were by necessity, but voluntary (Phlm 13-14). Likewise in Deuteronomy: He set life and death before your face, good and evil. Choose life, that you may live (Deut 30:15, 19).

Likewise in Solomon: God in the beginning constituted the human being and left him in the hand of his own counsel. He added to him commandments and precepts: if you will, the commandments will keep you, and afterward to keep faith pleasing to him. He set before you water and fire; reach out your hand to whichever you will. Before the human being are good and evil, life and death, poverty and honor; these are from the Lord God (Sir 15:14-17). Likewise in Isaiah: And if you are willing and obey me, you shall eat the good things of the earth; but if you are unwilling and do not obey me, the sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this (Isa 1:19-20).

Here, however much these men cover themselves up, they are laid open. For they show that they are arguing against the grace or mercy of God, which we wish to obtain when we say Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10), or Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matt 6:13). For why do we ask these things in prayer with such groaning, if it is of the human being who wills and runs and not of God who shows mercy (Rom 9:16)? Not because this is brought about without our will, but because the will does not fulfill what it does unless it is divinely helped. This is the health of faith, which makes us pray: to seek that we may find, to ask that we may receive, to knock that it may be opened to us (See Luke 11:9). Whoever argues against this faith shuts against himself the door of God's mercy. I do not wish to say more about so great a matter, because I better commit it to the groanings of the faithful than to my own words.

19. 41. Yet see, I beg you, what sort of thing it is to say that God's mercy is therefore not necessary to the one who wills and runs—the mercy that went before him even so that he might run—because the Apostle says of a certain person Let him do what he wills, in that passage, as I think, where it follows and he says He does not sin if she marries (1 Cor 7:36). As if it were to be reckoned a great thing to will to marry, in a place where the help of the divine mercy is being more laboriously discussed; or as if even there it were of any avail to will anything, unless God, by the providence with which he governs all things, joins male and female.

Or because the Apostle wrote to Philemon That his good might not be as it were by necessity, but voluntary (Phlm 14), as if the good were otherwise voluntary than when God works in us both to will and to work, for his good pleasure (Phil 2:13); or because in Deuteronomy it is written He set life and death before the face of the human being, good and evil (Deut 30:15), and admonished him to choose life, as if that very admonition did not come from mercy, or as if it were of any avail to choose life, unless God breathed in the love of choosing it and granted that one have what was chosen—of whom it was said: For wrath is in his indignation, and life is in his will (Ps 30:5 (29:6)); or because it was said If you will, the commandments will keep you (Sir 15:15), as if one ought not to give thanks to God for having willed the commandments, since, abandoned by all the light of truth, he could not will these things.

When fire and water have been set before a human being, he reaches out his hand indeed to whichever he wills, but higher is the one who calls, higher than all human thought, since the beginning of correcting the heart is faith, as it is written: You will come and pass over from the beginning of faith (Song 4:8 (according to the LXX)); and each one chooses the good, as God has apportioned to each one the measure of faith (Rom 12:3); and No one can come to me, says the author of faith, unless the Father who sent me draws him (John 6:44).

That this was said of the faith by which one believes in him he afterward explains clearly enough, where he says: The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the believers and who would betray him. And he said: For this reason I told you that no one can come to me unless it has been given him by my Father (John 6:63-65).

19. 42. But he thought he had found something great for his cause in the prophet Isaiah, because God said: If you are willing and obey me, you shall eat the good things of the earth; but if you are unwilling and do not obey me, the sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this (Isa 1:19-20). As if the whole law were not full of conditions of this kind, or as if these commandments were given to the proud for any other reason than because the law was added because of transgression, until the offspring should come to whom the promise was made (Gal 3:19). Hence it slipped in so that sin might abound; and where sin abounded, grace superabounded (Rom 5:20): that is, so that the human being, receiving the commandments while proudly trusting in his own strength, falling short in them and becoming even a transgressor, might seek the liberator and savior (See Gal 3:24), and thus, when the fear of the law had made him humble, like a tutor it might lead him to faith and grace. So, when their weaknesses had been multiplied, afterward they made haste (Ps 16:4 (15:4))—for the healing of whom Christ came at the opportune time.

In whose grace the ancient righteous too believed, helped by that same grace of his, so that they joyfully foreknew him and some even foretold that he would come—whether in that people Israel, like Moses and Joshua son of Nun and Samuel and David and others of that kind, or outside that people, like Job, or before that people, like Abraham, like Noah, and whoever else there are whom divine Scripture either records or passes over in silence.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5), without whose grace no one is freed from condemnation, whether the condemnation he drew from him in whom all sinned, or the condemnation he afterward added by his own iniquities.

20. 43. But what sort of thing is it that this man put at the end: If anyone says: Can it come about that a human being does not sin even in word? The reply must be, he says, if God wills, he can; for God does will it, therefore he can. Likewise he says: If anyone says: Can it come about that a human being does not fall short even in thought? The reply must be: If God wills, he can; for God does will it, therefore he can. See how he was unwilling to say: "If God helps, he can"—he to whom it is said: Be my helper, do not forsake me (Ps 27:9 (26:9)), not, of course, for laying hold of bodily goods and guarding against bodily evils, but for carrying out and perfecting righteousness. For which reason we say: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matt 6:13).

Nor is anyone helped unless he himself also does something; but he is helped if he calls upon God, if he believes, if he is called according to the purpose, since those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren; and those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified (Rom 8:29-30). We run, then, when we make progress, while our health runs in those who make progress (just as a scar too is said to run when a wound is being well and carefully healed), so that, perfect in every part, we may be without any weakness of sin at all—which God not only wills but also brings about and helps to be fulfilled.

And this the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25) brings about with us, not only by commandments, sacraments, and examples, but also by the Holy Spirit, through whom love is secretly poured out in our hearts (Rom 5:5), which intercedes with inexpressible groanings (Rom 8:26), until health is perfected in us and God is shown, to be seen as he is, in the eternal truth (See 1 John 3:2).

21. 44. Whoever, then, thinks that there has been or is in this life some human being, or some human beings—apart from the one mediator between God and men—for whom the forgiveness of sins was not necessary, is contrary to divine Scripture, where the Apostle says: Through one man sin entered the world and through sin death, and so it passed to all men, in whom all sinned (Rom 5:12); and he must, by impious contention, assert that there can be people who, without the mediator Christ freeing and saving them, are free and saved from sin—when he said: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Matt 9:12-13). But whoever says that, after receiving the forgiveness of sins, some human being has so lived or lives righteously in this flesh as to have no sin at all, contradicts the apostle John, who says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8)—for he does not say "we have had," but we have.

But if anyone asserts that this was said of that sin which dwells in our mortal flesh (Rom 6:12) according to the vice contracted by the will of the first man who sinned—the sin to whose desires Paul the Apostle commands that we not be obedient, though not that we not sin (See Rom 6:12)—he who consents at all to no evil work whatever, of deed or word or thought, of that sin, although dwelling in the flesh, even though lust itself is stirred (which in another way received the name of sin, because to consent to it is to sin, and it is stirred in us against our will): he indeed draws these distinctions subtly, but let him see what becomes of the Lord's Prayer, where we say Forgive us our debts (Matt 6:12). This, unless I am mistaken, there would be no need to say, if we never, whether in a slip of the tongue or in a delighting thought, consented at all to the desires of that same sin; rather, it would be enough to say Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matt 6:13), nor would the apostle James say In many things we all offend (Jas 3:2). For no one offends except the one whom evil lust persuades—whether by deceiving or by prevailing—against the order of righteousness, to do or say or think, by pursuing or avoiding, something he ought not.

Finally, if—apart from that Head of ours, the Savior of his body—it is asserted that there have been or are in this life some righteous people without any sin, whether by never consenting to its desires or because what is so slight that God does not impute it to one's piety is to be reckoned no sin (although it is one thing to be blessed without sin, another to be blessed to whom the Lord does not impute sin (See Ps 32:2 (31:2))), I do not think one should struggle too much against it. For I know that some have held this view, whose opinion on this matter I do not dare to reproach, although neither am I able to defend it. But plainly, whoever denies that we ought to pray not to enter into temptation—and he denies this who contends that, for not sinning, the help of God's grace is not necessary to a human being, but that, with the law alone received, the human will suffices—I do not doubt that he is to be removed from the ears of all and anathematized by the mouth of all.