He granteth that the Iewes did passe the Heathen Gentils, in Gods benefits, 9. but not in
their owne workes: concluding, that he hath shewed both Iew and Gentil to be sinners: 18. and
therfore (inferring) that there must be some other way to saluation indifferent to both; which is
to beleeue in Iesvs Christ, that for his sake their sinnes may be foriuen them.
1. WHAT preeminence then hath the Iew, or what is the profit of circumcision?
2. Much by al meanes. First surely because the wordes of God were committed to them.
3. For what if certaine of them haue not beleeued? Hath their incredulitie made the faith
of God frustrate?
4. God forbid. But
*
Iohn 3,33.
God is true, &
*
Psa. 115,11.
euery
✟
God only by nature is true, al mere men by nature may lie, deceiue & be
deceiued: yet God by his grace & spirit may & doth preserue the Apostles
and principal Gouernours of his people & the Church and Councels in al
truth, though they were and are mere men.
man a lyer, as it is written:
*
Psa. 50,6.
That thou
maiest be iustified in thy wordes, and ouercome when thou art iudged.
5. But
If our iniquitie.
S. Paules speaches mistaken of the wicked.
No maruel that many now a-daies deduce false and detestable conclusions out
of this Apostles high and hard writings, seeing that S. Peter *noted it in his daies, and
himself here confesseth that his preaching & speaches were then falsely misconstrued; as though he
had taught that the Iewes & Gentils il life & incredulity had been directly the cause of Gods more
mercie, & that therfore sinne commeth of God to the aduancement of his glorie, & consequently that
men might or should doe il, that good might ensue thereof. Which blasphemous constructions they tooke
of these and the like wordes: **Where sinne abounded, there did grace more abound; and: The Law entred
in, that sinne might abound; and out of the Psalme 50. ***That thou maiest be iustified in thy words, and
ouercome when thou art iudged. As though he meant that men doe sinne, to the end that God may be
iustified.
The sense of the places that sound as if God caused sinne.
And at al these & the like places of the Apostle though forewarned by S. Peter, and the
Apostles owne defence and Protestation, that he neuer meant such horrible things, yet the wicked also of
this time doe stumble and fal. But the true meaning is in al such places, that God can and doth when it
pleaseth him, conuert those sinnes which man committeth against him & his commandments, to his
glorie: though the sinnes themselues stand not with his wil, intention, nor honour, but be directly against
the same, and therfore may not be committed that any good may fal. For, what good soeuer
accidentally falleth, it proceedeth not of the sinne, but of God's mercie that can pardon, and of his
omnipotencie that can turne il to good. And therfore against those carnal interpretations, S. Paul very
carefully & diligently giueth reason also in this place, v. 6, that it is impossible: because God could not
iustly punish any man, nor sit in iudgement at the later day for sinne without plaine iniurie, if either himself
would haue sinne committed, or man might doe it to his glorie. Therfore let al sincere Readers of the
Scriptures, and specially of S. Paules writings, hold this for a certaintie, as the Apostles owne defense
(whatsoeuer he seeme to say hereafter sounding in their sense, that sinne commeth of God, or may therfore
be committed that he may work good thereof) that the Apostle himself condemneth that sense as
slanderous and blasphemous.
*2. Pet. 3.
**Rom. 5,20.
***Rom. 3,4.
if our iniquitie commend the iustice of God, what shal we say? Is God vniust
that executeth wrath? (I speake according to man)
6. God forbid; otherwise how shal God iudge this world?
7. For if the veritie of God hath abounded in my lie, vnto his glorie, why am I
also yet iudged as a sinner,
8. and not (as we are blasphemed, and as some report vs to say) let vs doe euil, that
there may come good? whose damnation is iust.
9. What then? do we excel them? No, not so. For we haue argued the Iewes and the Greeks,
al to be vnder sinne;
10. as it is written:
*
Psa. 13,1. 52,3.
That there is
Not any iust.
How it is said: none iust.
These general speaches, that both Iew and Gentile be in sinne, and none at
al iust, are not so to be taken, that none in neither sort were euer good: the Scriptures expresly saying
that *Iob, **Zacharie, Elisabeth, and such like, were iust before God; & it were blasphemie to say that
these words alleaged out of the 13. Psalme, were meant in Christes mother, in S. Iohn the Baptist, in the
Apostles &c. For, this only is the sense: that neither by the Law of nature, nor law of Moyses, could any
man be iust or auoid such sinnes as here be rekened, but by faith and the grace of God, by which there
were a number in al Ages (specially among the Iewes) that were iust and holy, whom these words touch
not, being spoken only to the multitude of the wicked, which the Prophet maketh as it were a seueral
body conspiring against Christ, and persecuting the iust and godly, of which il companie he saith, that
none was iust nor feared God.
*Iob. 1.
**Luke 1.
not any man iust,
11. there is not that vnderstandeth, there is not that seeketh after God.
12. Al haue declined, they are become vnprofitable together: there is not that
doeth good, there is not so much as one.
13.
*
Psa. 5,11.
Psa. 139,4.
Their throte is an open sepulchre, with their tongues they dealt deceitfully.
The venim
✟
Aspidum. A kind of litle serpents.
of aspes vnder their lippes.
14. Whose mouth is ful of malediction and bitternes:
15.
*
Psa. 9,7.
Isai. 19,7.
Pro. 1,16.
Their feet swift to shede bloud.
16. Destruction & infelicitie in their waies:
17. and the way of peace they haue not knowen.
18.
*
Psa. 35,2.
There is no feare of God before their eyes.
19. And we know that whatsoeuer the Law speaketh, to them it speaketh that are in the
Law; that euery mouth may be stopped, & al the world may be made subiect to God:
20. because
*
Gala. 2,16.
by
By the workes of the Law.
No workes auaile without faith & grace.
S. Hierom and S. Chrysostom expound this of the ceremonial
workes only: and in that sense the Apostle specially prosecuteth this proposition in his Epistle to the
Galatians. But it is true also of al man's moral workes done without faith & the grace of God; which
can not be acceptable or auailable in God's sight, to iustifie any man. And so S. Augustine taketh it.
De Sp. & lit. c. 8. to. 3.
the workes of the Law no flesh shal be iustified before him. For by the
Law is the knowledge of sinne.
21. But now without the Law the iustice of God is manifested; testified by the Law and
the Prophets.
22. And the
Iustice of God.
The Heretikes phantastical or imputatiue iustice.
Beware of the wicked and vaine commentarie of the Caluinistes, glossing,
the iustice of God to be that which is resident in Christ, apprehended by our faith; and so that imputed
to vs which we indeed haue not. Wherein at once they haue forged themselues against God's manifest
word, a new no iustice, a phantastical apprehension of that which is not, a false faith and vntrue
imputation. Whereas the iustice of God here, is that wherewith he indoweth a man at his first conuersion,
and is now in a man, and therfore man's iustice: but yet God's iustice also, because it is of God.
True inhærent iustice.
Of this iustice in vs, whereby we be truly iustified and indeed made iust, S. Augustine
speaketh thus: *The grace of Christ doth worke our illumination and iustification inwardly
also. And againe, He giueth to the faithful the most secret grace of his Spirit,
which secretly he powreth into infants also. And againe: They are iustified in Christ
that beleeue in him through the secret communication and inspiration of spiritual
grace, whereby euery one leaneth to our Lord. And againe: He maketh iust renewing
by the Spirit, and regeneration by grace.
*De pec. mer. li. 1. c. 9. 10.
iustice of God by faith of Iesvs Christ, vnto al and vpon al that
✟
To beleeue in him, here compriseth not only the act of faith, but of hope
& charitie, as the Apostle explicateth himself Gal. 5,6.
beleeue in him. For there is no distinction.
23. For al haue sinned; and doe need the glorie of God.
24. Iustified
✟
No man atteineth his first iustification by the meanes either of his faith
or workes, but merely by Christes grace and mercie: though his faith & workes
proceeding of grace be dispositions and preparations thereunto.
gratis by his grace, by the redemption that is in Christ Iesvs,
25. whom God hath proposed a
✟
'propitiatour.'
propitiation, by faith in his bloud, to the shewing of
his iustice, for the remission of former sinnes,
26. in the toleration of God, to the shewing of his iustice in this time: that he
may be iust, and iustifying him that is of the faith of Iesvs Christ.
27. Where is then thy boasting? it is excluded. By what law? of deeds? No, but by the
law of faith.
28. For we account a man to be iustified
By faith without the workes.
This is the place whereupon the Protestants gather falsely their
only faith, and which they commonly auouch, as though the Apostle said, that only faith doth iustifie.
Where he both in wordes and meaning excepteth only the workes of the Law done without Christ before
our conuersion: neither excluding the Sacraments of Baptisme or Penance, nor hope and charitie, or other
Christian vertues; al which be the iustice of faith. As the good workes proceeding thereof, be likewise the
law and iustice of faith. Al which the Aduersaries would exclude by foisting in the terme, only.
What workes are excluded from iustification.
Of
which kind of men S. Augustine vpon this place saith thus: *Men not vnderstanding that which the
Apostle saith, (we count a man to be iustified by faith without the workes of the Law) did thinke that he
said, faith would suffice a man through he liued il and had no good workes. Which God forbid the vessel
of election should thinke: who in a certaine place after he had said, **In Christ IESVS neither
circumcision nor prepuce auaileth any whit, he straight added, but faith which worketh by loue.
*de grat. & lib. arb. c. 7.
**Gala. 1.
by faith without the workes of the Law.
29. Is he God of the Iewes only? is he not also of the Gentils? Yes of the Gentils also.
30. For it is one God, that iustifieth circumcision by faith, and prepuce by faith.
31. Doe we then destroy the Law by faith? God forbid, but we doe establish the Law.