Calvin, Institutes, Vol.3, Part 19
(... continued from part 18)
Chapter 18.
18. The righteousness of works improperly inferred from rewards.
There are three divisions in this chapter, - I. A solution of
two general objections which are urged in support of justification
by works. First, That God will render to every one according to his
works, sec. 1. Second, That the reward of works is called eternal,
sec. 2-6. II. Answer to other special objections derived from the
former, and a perversion of passages of Scripture, sec. 6-9. III.
Refutation of the sophism that faith itself is called a work, and,
therefore, justification by it is by works, sec. 10.
1. Two general objections. The former solved and explained. What
meant by the term working.
2. Solution of the second general objection. 1. Works not the cause
of salvation. This shown from the name and nature of
inheritance. 2. A striking example that the Lord rewards the
works of believers with blessings which he had promised before
the works were thought of.
3. First reason why eternal life said to be the reward of works.
This confirmed by passages of Scripture. The concurrence of
Ambrose. A rule to be observed. Declarations of Christ and an
Apostle.
4. Other four reasons. Holiness the way to the kingdom, not the
cause of obtaining it. Proposition of the Sophists.
5. Objection that God crowns the works of his people. Three answers
from Augustine. A fourth from Scripture.
6. First special objection, viz., that we are ordered to lay up
treasure in heaven. Answer, showing in what way this can be
done.
7. Second objection, viz., that the righteous enduring affliction
are said to be worthy of the kingdom of heaven. Answer. What
meant by righteousness.
8. A third objection founded on three passages of Paul. Answer.
9. Fourth objection founded on our Savior's words, "If ye would
enter into life, keep the commandments." Answer, giving an
exposition of the passage.
10. Last objection, viz., that faith itself is called a work. Answer
- it is not as a work that faith justifies.
1. Let us now proceed to those passages which affirm that God
will render to every one according to his deeds. Of this description
are the following: "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of
Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body,
according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad;" "Who will
render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient
continuance in well-doing seek for glory, and honor, and
immortality, eternal life;" but "tribulation and anguish upon every
soul of man that does evil;" "They that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation;" "Come, ye blessed of my Father;" "For I
was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me
drink," &c. To these we may add the passages which describe eternal
life as the reward of works, such as the following: "The recompense
of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him;" "He that feareth the
commandment shall be rewarded;" "Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for
great is your reward in heaven;" "Every man shall receive his own
rewards according to his own labour." The passages in which it is
said that God will reward every man according to his works are
easily disposed of. For that mode of expression indicates not the
cause but the order of sequence. Now, it is beyond a doubt that the
steps by which the Lord in his mercy consummates our salvation are
these, "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he
called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also
glorified" (Rom. 8: 30.) But though it is by mercy alone that God
admits his people to life, yet as he leads them into possession of
it by the course of good works, that he may complete his work in
them in the order which he has destined, it is not strange that they
are said to be crowned according to their works, since by these
doubtless they are prepared for receiving the crown of immortality.
Nay, for this reason they are aptly said to work out their own
salvation, (Phil. 2: 12,) while by exerting themselves in good works
they aspire to eternal life, just as they are elsewhere told to
labour for the meat which perisheth not, (John 6: 27,) while they
acquire life for themselves by believing in Christ; and yet it is
immediately added, that this meat "the Son of man shall give unto
you." Hence it appears, that working is not at all opposed to grace,
but refers to pursuit, and, therefore, it follows not that believers
are the authors of their own salvation, or that it is the result of
their works. What then? The moment they are admitted to fellowship
with Christ, by the knowledge of the gospel, and the illumination of
the Holy Spirit, their eternal life is begun, and then He which has
begun a good work in them "will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ," (Phil. 1: 6.) And it is performed when in righteousness and
holiness they bear a resemblance to their heavenly Father, and prove
that they are not degenerate sons.
2. There is nothing in the term reward to justify the inference
that our works are the cause of salvation. First, let it be a fixed
principle in our hearts, that the kingdom of heaven is not the hire
of servants, but the inheritance of sons, (Eph. 1: 18;) an
inheritance obtained by those only whom the Lord has adopted as
sons, and obtained for no other cause than this adoption, "The son
of the bond-women shall not be heir with the son of the free-woman,"
(Gal. 4: 30.) And hence in those very passages in which the Holy
Spirit promises eternal glory as the reward of works, by expressly
calling it an inheritance, he demonstrates that it comes to us from
some other quarter. Thus Christ enumerates the works for which he
bestows heaven as a recompense, while he is calling his elect to the
possession of it, but he at the same time adds, that it is to be
possessed by right of inheritance, (Matth. 25: 34.) Paul, too,
encourages servants, while faithfully doing their duty, to hope for
reward from the Lord, but adds, "of the inheritance," (Col. 3: 24.)
You see how, as it were, in formal terms they carefully caution us
to attribute eternal blessedness not to works, but to the adoption
of God. Why, then, do they at the same time make mention of works?
This question will be elucidated by an example from Scripture, (Gen.
15: 5; 17: 1.) Before the birth of Isaac, Abraham had received
promise of a seed in whom all the families of the earth should be
blessed; the propagation of a seed that for number should equal the
stars of heaven, and the sand of the sea, &c. Many years after he
prepares, in obedience to a divine message, to sacrifice his son.
Having done this act of obedience, he receives the promise, "By
myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this
thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy
seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the
sea-shore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and
in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because
thou hast obeyed my voice," (Gen. 22: 16-18.) What is it we hear?
Did Abraham by his obedience merit the blessing which had been
promised him before the precept was given? Here assuredly we see
without ambiguity that God rewards the works of believers with
blessings which he had given them before the works were thought of,
there still being no cause for the blessings which he bestows but
his own mercy.
3. And yet the Lord does not act in vain, or delude us when he
says, that he renders to works what he had freely given previous to
works. As he would have us to be exercised in good works, while
aspiring to the manifestation, or, if I may so speak, the fruition
of the things which he has promised, and by means of them to hasten
on to the blessed hope set before us in heaven, the fruit of the
promises is justly ascribed to those things by which it is brought
to maturity. Both things were elegantly expressed by the Apostle,
when he told the Colossians to study the offices of charity, "for
the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before
in the word of the truth of the gospel," (Col. 1: 5.) For when he
says that the gospel informed them of the hope which was treasured
up for them in heaven, he declares that it depends on Christ alone,
and not at all upon works. With this accords the saying of Peter,
that believers "are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time," (1 Pet. 1: 5.)
When he says that they strive on account of it, he intimates that
believers must continue running during the whole course of their
lives in order that they may attain it. But to prevent us from
supposing that the reward which is promised becomes a kind of merit,
our Lord introduced a parable, in which he represented himself as a
householder, who sent all the laborers whom he met to work in his
vineyard, some at the first hour of the day, others at the second,
others at the third, some even at the eleventh; at evening he paid
them all alike. The interpretation of this parable is briefly and
truly given by that ancient writer (whoever he was) who wrote the
book De Vocatione Gentium, which goes under the name of Ambrose. I
will give it in his words rather than my own: "By means of this
comparison, our Lord represented the many various modes of calling
as pertaining to grace alone, where those who were introduced into
the vineyard at the eleventh hour and made equal to those who had
toiled the whole day, doubtless represent the case of those whom the
indulgence of God, to commend the excellence of grace, has rewarded
in the decline of the day and the conclusion of life; not paying the
price of labor, but shedding the riches of his goodness on those
whom he chose without works; in order that even those who bore the
heat of the day, and yet received no more than those who came last,
may understand that they received a gift of grace, not the hire of
works," (Lib. 1, cap. 5.) Lastly, it is also worthy of remark, that
in those passages in which eternal life is called the reward of
works, it is not taken simply for that communion which we have with
God preparatory to a blessed immortality, when with paternal
benevolence he embraces us in Christ, but for the possession, or, as
it is called, the fruition of blessedness, as the very words of
Christ express it, "in the world to come eternal life," (Mark 10:
30,) and elsewhere, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom," &c., (Matth. 25: 34.) For this reasons also, Paul gives
the name of adoption to that revelation of adoption which shall be
made at the resurrection; and which adoption he afterwards
interprets to mean, the redemption of our body, (Rom. 8: 23.) But,
otherwise, as alienation from God is eternal death, - so when man is
received into favor by God that he may enjoy communion with him and
become one with him, he passes from death unto life. This is owing
to adoption alone. Although after their manner they pertinaciously
urge the term reward, we can always carry them back to the
declaration of Peter, that eternal life is the reward of faith, (1
Pet. 1: 9.)
4. Let us not suppose, then, that the Holy Spirit, by this
promise, commends the dignity of our works, as if they were
deserving of such a reward. For Scripture leaves us nothing of which
we may glory in the sight of God. Nay, rather its whole object is to
repress, humble, cast down, and completely crush our pride. But in
this way help is given to our weakness, which would immediately give
way were it not sustained by this expectation, and soothed by this
comfort. First, let every man reflect for himself how hard it is not
only to leave all things, but to leave and abjure one's self. And
yet this is the training by which Christ initiates his disciples,
that is, all the godly. Secondly, he thus keeps them all their
lifetime under the discipline of the cross, lest they should allow
their heart to long for or confide in present good. In short, his
treatment is usually such, that wherever they turn their eyes, as
far as this world extends, they see nothing before them but despair;
and hence Paul says "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we
are of all men most miserable," (1 Cor. 15: 19.) That they may not
fail in these great straits, the Lord is present reminding them to
lift their head higher and extend their view farther, that in him
they may find a happiness which they see not in the world: to this
happiness he gives the name of reward, hire, recompense, not as
estimating the merit of works, but intimating that it is a
compensation for their straits, sufferings, and affronts, &c.
Wherefore, there is nothing to prevent us from calling eternal life
a recompense after the example of Scripture, because in it the Lord
brings his people from labour to quiet, from affliction to a
prosperous and desirable condition, from sorrow to joy, from poverty
to affluence, from ignominy to glory; in short, exchanges all the
evils which they endured for blessings. Thus there will be no
impropriety in considering holiness of life as the way, not indeed
the way which gives access to the glory of the heavenly kingdom; but
a way by which God conducts his elect to the manifestation of that
kingdom, since his good pleasure is to glorify those whom he has
sanctified, (Rom. 8: 30.) Only let us not imagine that merit and
hire are correlative terms, a point on which the Sophists absurdly
insist, from not attending to the end to which we have adverted. How
preposterous is it when the Lord calls us to one end to look to
another? Nothing is clearer than that a reward is promised to good
works, in order to support the weakness of our flesh by some degree
of comfort; but not to inflate our minds with vain glory. He,
therefore, who from merit infers reward, or weighs works and reward
in the same balance, errs very widely from the end which God has in
view.
5. Accordingly, when the Scripture speaks of "a crown of
righteousness which God the righteous Judge shall give" "at that
day," (2 Tim. 4: 8,) I not only say with Augustine, "To whom could
the righteous Judge give the crown if the merciful Father had not
given grace, and how could there have been righteousness but for the
precedence of grace which justified the ungodly? how could these be
paid as things due were not things not due previously given?"
(Angust. ad Valent. de Grat. et Lib. Art.;) but I also add, how
could he impute righteousness to our works, did not his indulgence
hide the unrighteousness that is in them? How could he deem them
worthy of reward, did he not with boundless goodness destroy what is
unworthy in them? Augustine is wont to give the name of grace to
eternal life, because, while it is the recompense of works, it is
bestowed by the gratuitous gifts of God. But Scripture humbles us
more, and at the same time elevates us. For besides forbidding us to
glory in works, because they are the gratuitous gifts of God, it
tells us that they are always defiled by some degrees of impurity,
so that they cannot satisfy God when they are tested by the standard
of his justice; but that lest our activity should be destroyed, they
please merely by pardon. But though Augustine speaks somewhat
differently from us, it is plain from his words that the difference
is more apparent than real. After drawing a contrast between two
individuals the one with a life holy and perfect almost to a
miracle; the other honest indeed, and of pure morals, yet not so
perfect as not to leave much room for desiring better, he at length
infers, "He who seems inferior in conduct, yet on account of the
true faith in God by which he lives, (Hab. 2: 4,) and in conformity
to which he accuses himself in all his faults, praises God in all
his good works, takes shame to himself, and ascribes glory to God,
from whom he receives both forgiveness for his sins, and the love of
well-doing, the moment he is set free from this life is translated
into the society of Christ. Why, but just on account of his faith?
For though it saves no man without works, (such faith being
reprobate and not working by love,) yet by means of it sins are
forgiven; for the just lives by faith: without it works which seem
good are converted into sins," (August. ad Bonifac., Lib. 3, c. 5.)
Here he not obscurely acknowledges what we so strongly maintains
that the righteousness of good works depends on their being approved
by God in the way of pardon.
6. In a sense similar to the above passages our opponents quote
the following: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you into
everlasting habitations," (Luke 16: 9.) "Charge them that are rich
in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain
riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to
enjoy: that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to
distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for
themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may
lay hold on eternal life," (1 Tim. 6: 17-19.) For the good works
which we enjoy in eternal blessedness are compared to riches. I
answer, that we shall never attain to the true knowledge of these
passages unless we attend to the scope of the Spirit in uttering
them. If it is true, as Christ says, "Where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also," (Matth. 6: 21,) then, as the children of
the world are intent on providing those things which form the
delight of the present life, so it is the duty of believers, after
they have learned that this life will shortly pass away like a
dream, to take care that those things which they would truly enjoy
be transmitted thither where their entire life is to be spent. We
must, therefore, do like those who begin to remove to any place
where they mean to fix their abode. As they send forward their
effects, and grudge not to want them for a season, because they
think the more they have in their future residence, the happier they
are; so, if we think that heaven is our country, we should send our
wealth thither rather than retain it here, where on our sudden
departure it will be lost to us. But how shall we transmit it? By
contributing to the necessities of the poor, the Lord imputing to
himself whatever is given to them. Hence that excellent promise, "He
that has pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord," (Prov. 19: 17;
Matth. 25: 40;) and again, "He which soweth bountifully shall reap
also bountifully," (2 Cor. 9: 6.) What we give to our brethren in
the exercise of charity is a deposit with the Lord, who, as a
faithful depositary, will ultimately restore it with abundant
interest. Are our duties, then, of such value with God that they are
as a kind of treasure placed in his hand? Who can hesitate to say so
when Scripture so often and so plainly attests it? But if any one
would leap from the mere kindness of God to the merit of works, his
error will receive no support from these passages. For all you can
properly infer from them is the inclination on the part of God to
treat us with indulgence. For, in order to animate us in well-doing,
he allows no act of obedience, however unworthy of his eye, to pass
unrewarded.
7. But they insist more strongly on the words of the apostle
when, in consoling the Thessalonians under their tribulations, he
tells them that these were sent, "that ye may be counted worthy of
the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer; seeing it is a
righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that
trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels," (2
Thess. 1: 6-7.) The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, "God
is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye
have showed towards his name, in that ye have ministered to the
saints, and do minister," (Heb. 6: 10.) To the former passage I
answer, that the worthiness spoken of is not that of merit, but as
God the Father would have those whom he has chosen for sons to be
conformed to Christ the first born, and as it behaved him first to
suffer, and then to enter into his glory, so we also, through much
tribulation, enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, while we suffer
tribulation for the name of Christ, we in a manner receive the marks
with which God is wont to stamp the sheep of his flock, (Gal. 6:
17.) Hence we are counted worthy of the kingdom of God, because we
bear in our body the marks of our Lord and Master, these being the
insignia of the children of God. In this sense are we to understand
the passages: "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in
our body," (2 Cor. 4: 10.) "That I may know him and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death," (Phil. 3: 10.) The reason which is
subjoined is intended not to prove any merit, but to confirm our
hope of the kingdom of God; as if he had said, As it is befitting
the just judgment of God to take vengeance on your enemies for the
tribulation which they have brought upon you, so it is also
befitting to give you release and rest from these tribulations. The
other passage, which speaks as if it were becoming the justice of
God not to overlook the services of his people, and almost
insinuates that it were unjust to forget them, is to be thus
explained: God, to arouse us from sloth, assures us that every
labour which we undertake for the glory of his name shall not be in
vain. Let us always remember that this promise, like all other
promises, will be of no avail unless it is preceded by the free
covenant of mercy, on which the whole certainty of our salvation
depends. Trusting to it, however, we ought to feel secure that
however unworthy our services, the liberality of God will not allow
them to pass unrewarded. To confirm us in this expectation, the
Apostle declares that God is not unrighteous; but will act
consistently with the promise once given. Righteousness, therefore,
refers rather to the truth of the divine promise than to the equity
of paying what is due. In this sense there is a celebrated saying of
Augustine, which, as containing a memorable sentiment, that holy man
declined not repeatedly to employ, and which I think not unworthy of
being constantly remembered: "Faithful is the Lord, who has made
himself our debtor, not by receiving any thing from us, but by
promising us all things," (August. in Ps. 32, 109, et alibi.)
8. Our opponents also adduce the following passages from Paul:
"Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have
not charity, I am nothing," (1 Cor. 13: 2.) Again, "Now abideth
faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is
charity," (1 Cor. 13: 13.) "Above all these things put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness," (Col. 3: 14.) From the two first
passages our Pharisees contend that we are justified by charity
rather than by faith, charity being, as they say, the better virtue.
This mode of arguing is easily disposed of I have elsewhere shown
that what is said in the first passage refers not to true faith. In
the second passage we admit that charity is said to be greater than
true faith, but not because charity is more meritorious, but because
it is more fruitful, because it is of wider extent, of more general
service, and always flourishes, whereas the use of faith is only for
a time. If we look to excellence, the love of God undoubtedly holds
the first place. Of it, however, Paul does not here speak; for the
only thing he insists on is, that we should by mutual charity edify
one another in the Lord. But let us suppose that charity is in every
respect superior to faith, what man of sound judgment, nay, what man
with any soundness in his brain, would argue that it therefore does
more to justify? The power of justifying which belongs to faith
consists not in its worth as a work. Our justification depends
entirely on the mercy of God and the merits of Christ: when faith
apprehends these, it is said to justify. Now, if you ask our
opponents in what sense they ascribe justification to charity, they
will answer, Being a duty acceptable to God, righteousness is in
respect of its merit imputed to us by the acceptance of the divine
goodness. Here you see how beautifully the argument proceeds. We say
that faith justifies not because it merits justification for us by
its own worth, but because it is an instrument by which we freely
obtain the righteousness of Christ. They overlooking the mercy of
God, and passing by Christ, the sum of righteousness, maintain that
we are justified by charity as being superior to faith; just as if
one were to maintain that a king is fitter to make a shoe than a
shoemaker, because the king is infinitely the superior of the two.
This one syllogism is ample proof that all the schools of Sorbonne
have never had the slightest apprehension of what is meant by
justification by faith. Should any disputant here interpose, and ask
why we give different meanings to the term faith as used by Paul in
passages so near each other, I can easily show that I have not
slight grounds for so doing. For while those gifts which Paul
enumerates are in some degree subordinate to faith and hope, because
they relate to the knowledge of God, he by way of summary
comprehends them all under the name of faith and hope; as if he had
said, Prophecy and tongues, and the gift of interpreting, and
knowledge, are all designed to lead us to the knowledge of God. But
in this life it is only by faith and hope that we acknowledge God.
Therefore, when I name faith and hope, I at the same time comprehend
the whole. "Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;" that is,
how great soever the number of the gifts, they are all to be
referred to them; but "the greatest of these is charity." From the
third passage they infer, If charity is the bond of perfection, it
must be the bond of righteousness, which is nothing else than
perfection. First, without objecting that the name of perfection is
here given by Paul to proper union among the members of a rightly
constituted church, and admitting that by charity we are perfected
before God, what new result do they gain by it? I will always object
in reply, that we never attain to that perfection unless we fulfill
all the parts of charity; and will thence infer, that as all are
most remote from such fulfillment, the hope of perfection is
excluded.
9. I am unwilling to discuss all the things which the foolish
Sorbonnists have rashly laid hold of in Scripture as it chanced to
come in their way, and throw out against us. Some of them are so
ridiculous, that I cannot mention them without laying myself open to
a charge of trifling. I will, therefore, conclude with an exposition
of one of our Savior's expressions with which they are wondrously
pleased. When the lawyer asked him, "Good Master, what good thing
shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" he answers, "If thou wilt
enter into life, keep the commandments," (Matth. 19: 16, 17.) What
more (they ask) would we have, when the very author of grace bids us
acquire the kingdom of heaven by the observance of the commandments?
As if it were not plain that Christ adapted his answers to the
characters of those whom he addressed. Here he is questioned by a
Doctor of the Law as to the means of obtaining eternal life; and the
question is not put simply, but is, What can men do to attain it?
Both the character of the speaker and his question induced our Lord
to give this answer. Imbued with a persuasion of legal
righteousness, the lawyer had a blind confidence in works. Then all
he asked was, what are the works of righteousness by which salvation
is obtained? Justly, therefore, is he referred to the law, in which
there is a perfect mirror of righteousness. We also distinctly
declare, that if life is sought in works, the commandments are to be
observed. And the knowledge of this doctrine is necessary to
Christians; for how should they retake themselves to Christ, unless
they perceived that they had fallen from the path of life over the
precipice of death? Or how could they understand how far they have
wandered from the way of life unless they previously understand what
that way is? Then only do they feel that the asylum of safety is in
Christ when they see how much their conduct is at variance with the
divine righteousness, which consists in the observance of the law.
The sum of the whole is this, If salvation is sought in works, we
must keep the commandments, by which we are instructed in perfect
righteousness. But we cannot remain here unless we would stop short
in the middle of our course; for none of us is able to keep the
commandments. Being thus excluded from the righteousness of the law,
we must retake ourselves to another remedy, viz., to the faith of
Christ. Wherefore, as a teacher of the law, whom our Lord knew to be
puffed up with a vain confidence in works, was here directed by him
to the law, that he might learn he was a sinner exposed to the
fearful sentence of eternal death; so others, who were already
humbled with this knowledge, he elsewhere solaces with the promise
of grace, without making any mention of the law. "Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "Take
my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls," (Matth. 11: 28, 29.)
10. At length, after they have wearied themselves with
perverting Scripture, they have recourse to subtleties and sophisms.
One cavil is, that faith is somewhere called a work, (John 6: 29;)
hence they infer that we are in error in opposing faith to works; as
if faith, regarded as obedience to the divine will, could by its own
merit procure our justification, and did not rather, by embracing
the mercy of God, thereby seal upon our hearts the righteousness of
Christ, which is offered to us in the preaching of the gospel. My
readers will pardon me if I stay not to dispose of such absurdities;
their own weakness, without external assault, is sufficient to
destroy them. One objection, however, which has some semblance of
reason, it will be proper to dispose of in passing, lest it give any
trouble to those less experienced. As common sense dictates that
contraries must be tried by the same rule, and as each sin is
charged against us as unrighteousness, so it is right (say our
opponents) that each good work should receive the praise of
righteousness. The answer which some give, that the condemnation of
men proceeds on unbelief alone, and not on particular sins does not
satisfy me. I agree with them, indeed, that infidelity is the
fountain and root of all evil; for it is the first act of revolt
from God, and is afterwards followed by particular transgressions of
the law. But as they seem to hold, that in estimating righteousness
and unrighteousness, the same rule is to be applied to good and bad
works, in this I dissent from them. The righteousness of works
consists in perfect obedience to the law. Hence you cannot be
justified by works unless you follow this straight line (if I may so
call it) during the whole course of your life. The moment you
decline from it you have fallen into unrighteousness. Hence it
appears, that righteousness is not obtained by a few works, but by
an indefatigable and inflexible observance of the divine will. But
the rule with regard to unrighteousness is very different. The
adulterer or the thief is by one act guilty of death, because he
offends against the majesty of God. The blunder of these arguers of
ours lies here: they attend not to the words of James, "Whosoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty
of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not
kill," &c., (James 2: 10, 11.) Therefore, it should not seem absurd
when we say that death is the just recompense of every sin, because
each sin merits the just indignation and vengeance of God. But you
reason absurdly if you infer the converse, that one good work will
reconcile a man to God notwithstanding of his meriting wrath by many
sins.
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 3, Part 19
(continued in part 20...)
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