A Sermon of the Salvation of Mankind by Christ our Saviour Alone, from Sin and Death Everlasting.
Part One
Because all men are sinners and offenders against God, breakers of his law and commandments, no one can by his own acts, works, and deeds — however good they may seem — be justified and made righteous before God. Every man is of necessity compelled to seek another righteousness or justification, to be received at God's own hands: that is, the remission, pardon, and forgiveness of his sins and trespasses in whatever he has offended. And this justification or righteousness, which we so receive by God's mercy and Christ's merits, embraced by faith, is taken, accepted, and allowed by God for our perfect and full justification.
For a fuller understanding of this, it is our part and duty always to remember the great mercy of God: how, when all the world was wrapped in sin by the breaking of the law, God sent his only Son our Saviour Christ into this world to fulfil the law for us, and by shedding his most precious blood to make a sacrifice and satisfaction — or, as it may be called, amends — to his Father for our sins, to assuage his wrath and indignation conceived against us for them. So that infants who are baptized and die in their infancy are by this sacrifice washed from their sins, brought to God's favour, and made his children and inheritors of his kingdom of heaven. And those who sin in act or deed after their baptism, when they turn again to God sincerely, are likewise washed by this sacrifice from their sins, in such a way that there remains no spot of sin to be imputed to their damnation.
This is the justification or righteousness that St. Paul speaks of when he says, "No one is justified by the works of the law, but freely by faith in Jesus Christ." (Galatians 2:16) And again he says, "We believe in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified freely by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for no one shall be justified by the works of the law." (Galatians 2:16)
And although this justification is free to us, it does not come so freely that no ransom at all is paid for it.
But here man's reason may be astonished, reasoning in this way: If a ransom is paid for our redemption, then it is not given to us freely; for a prisoner who pays his ransom is not released freely, since if he goes free, he goes without ransom — for what else is it to go freely than to be set at liberty without payment of ransom? This reasoning is answered by the great wisdom of God in this mystery of our redemption, who has so tempered his justice and mercy together that he would neither, by his justice, condemn us to the everlasting captivity of the devil and his prison of hell, remediless for ever and without mercy; nor, by his mercy, deliver us clean away without justice or the payment of a just ransom; but with his endless mercy he joined his most upright and impartial justice.
His great mercy he showed us in delivering us from our former captivity without requiring any ransom to be paid or amends to be made on our part — which would have been impossible for us to do. And since it did not lie in us to do it, he provided a ransom for us: namely, the most precious body and blood of his own most dear and best-beloved Son Jesus Christ, who, besides his ransom, fulfilled the law for us perfectly. And so the justice of God[1] and his mercy embraced together and fulfilled the mystery of our redemption.
Of this justice and mercy of God knit together St. Paul speaks in the third chapter to the Romans:
All have offended and have need of the glory of God, but are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ; whom God has set forth to us as a reconciler and peacemaker through faith in his blood, to show his righteousness. (Romans 3:23–25)
And in the tenth chapter:
Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4)
And in the eighth chapter:
What was impossible for the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God — sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin — condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:3–4)
In these passages the Apostle especially touches on three things that must go together in our justification: on one side, God's great mercy and grace; on Christ's part, justice — that is, the satisfaction of God's justice, or the price of our redemption by the offering of his body and the shedding of his blood, with the perfect and thorough fulfilling of the law; and on our part, true and lively faith in the merits of Jesus Christ, which yet is not ours except by God's working in us. So that in our justification there is not only God's mercy and grace, but also his justice, which the Apostle calls the justice of God; and it consists in paying our ransom and fulfilling the law.
And so the grace of God does not shut out the justice of God in our justification, but only shuts out the justice of man — that is, the justice of our works — as being merits that deserve our justification. And therefore St. Paul declares nothing on man's behalf concerning his justification but only a true and lively faith, which nevertheless is the gift of God, and not man's work alone without God.
And yet that faith does not shut out repentance, hope, love, dread, and the fear of God, to be joined with faith in every man who is justified; but it shuts them out from the office of justifying. So that although they are all present together in him who is justified, yet they do not justify all together. Nor does that faith shut out the justice of our good works, which must necessarily be done afterward out of duty toward God — for we are most bound to serve God in doing the good deeds he has commanded in his holy Scripture all the days of our life — but it excludes them in this way, that we may not do them with this intent, to be made good by doing them. For all the good works we can do are imperfect, and therefore unable to deserve our justification.
But our justification comes freely, by the mere mercy of God, and of such great and free mercy that, whereas all the world was not able of itself to pay any part toward its ransom, it pleased our heavenly Father, of his infinite mercy, without any merit or deserving of ours, to prepare for us the most precious jewels of Christ's body and blood, by which our ransom might be fully paid, the law fulfilled, and his justice fully satisfied. So that Christ is now the righteousness of all those who truly believe in him. He paid their ransom by his death. He fulfilled the law for them in his life. So that now, in him and by him, every true Christian may be called a fulfiller of the law, because what their weakness lacks, Christ's justice has supplied.
Part Two
We have heard from whom all men ought to seek their justification and righteousness, and also how this righteousness comes to men by Christ's death and merits. You have heard, too, that three things are required for the obtaining of our righteousness: God's mercy, Christ's justice, and a true and lively faith — out of which faith springs good works. It was also declared at large before that no man can be justified by his own good works, because no man fulfils the law according to the full demand of the law.
And St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians, proves the same, saying: "If there had been any law given that could have justified, truly righteousness would have been by the law." (Galatians 3:21) And again he says, "If righteousness is by the law, then Christ died in vain." (Galatians 2:21) And again, "You who are justified in the law are fallen away from grace." (Galatians 5:4) And furthermore he writes to the Ephesians in this way: "By grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God; and not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8–9) And, in short, the sum of all Paul's argument is this: that if justice comes of works, then it does not come of grace; and if it comes of grace, then it does not come of works. And to this end point all the Prophets, as St. Peter witnesses, that through his Name all who believe in him shall receive the remission of sins. (Acts 10:43)
And of this justification by true and lively faith in Christ speak all the old and ancient authors, both Greek and Latin. Of these I will especially name three: Hilary, Basil, and Ambrose. St. Hilary says these words plainly, in the ninth Canon upon Matthew: "Faith alone justifies." And St. Basil says:
This is a perfect and whole rejoicing in God, when a man does not boast of himself for his own righteousness, but acknowledges that he lacks true justice and righteousness, and is justified by faith in Christ alone. And Paul, he says, glories in the contempt of his own righteousness, and looks for the righteousness of God by faith.
These are the very words of St. Basil. And St. Ambrose, a Latin author, says these words:
This is the ordinance of God, that whoever believes in Christ should be saved without works, by faith alone, freely receiving remission of his sins.
Consider these words diligently. Without works, by faith alone, we freely receive remission of our sins. What can be spoken more plainly than to say that freely, without works, by faith alone, we obtain remission of our sins?
These and other like statements — that we are justified by faith alone, freely, and without works — we read often in Photius,[2] Bernard, Anselm, and many other authors, Greek and Latin. Nevertheless, this statement, that we are justified by faith alone, is not meant by them in such a way that the justifying faith is alone in man, without true repentance, hope, charity,[3] dread, and the fear of God, at any time or season. Nor, when they say we are justified freely, do they mean that we should or might afterward be idle, and that nothing should be required on our part afterward; nor do they mean that we are so justified without our good works that we should do no good works at all — as shall be more fully expressed hereafter. But this saying, that we are justified by faith alone, freely, and without works, is spoken in order to take away clearly all merit of our works, as being unable to deserve our justification at God's hands; and thereby most plainly to express the weakness of man and the goodness of God, the great infirmity of ourselves and the might and power of God, the imperfectness of our own works and the most abundant grace of our Saviour Christ; and thereby to ascribe wholly the merit and deserving of our justification to Christ alone and his most precious shedding of blood.
This faith holy Scripture teaches; this is the strong rock and foundation of Christian religion; this doctrine all the old and ancient authors of Christ's Church approve; this doctrine advances and sets forth the true glory of Christ and beats down the vain glory of man; whoever denies this is not to be counted a true Christian, nor a setter-forth of Christ's glory, but an adversary of Christ and his Gospel, and a setter-forth of men's vainglory.
And although this doctrine is ever so true — as indeed it is most true, that we are justified freely without all merit of our own good works (as St. Paul expresses it), and freely by this lively and perfect faith in Christ alone (as the ancient authors say it) — yet this true doctrine must also be truly understood and most plainly declared, lest carnal men should unjustly take occasion from it to live carnally, after the appetite and will of the world, the flesh, and the devil. And so that no man should err by mistaking this doctrine, I shall plainly and briefly declare the right understanding of it, so that no man may justly think he can thereby take any occasion of carnal liberty to follow the desires of the flesh, or that thereby any kind of sin may be committed, or any ungodly living the more used.
First, you shall understand that in our justification by Christ the office of God toward man and the office of man toward God are not one and the same thing. Justification is not the office of man, but of God. For man cannot make himself righteous by his own works, neither in part nor in whole; for that would be the greatest arrogance and presumption of man that Antichrist could set up against God — to affirm that a man might, by his own works, take away and purge his own sins, and so justify himself. But justification is the office of God only, and is not a thing we render to him, but which we receive from him; not which we give to him, but which we take from him, by his free mercy, and by the merits of his most dearly beloved Son alone, our only Redeemer, Saviour, and Justifier, Jesus Christ.
So that the true understanding of this doctrine — "We are justified freely by faith without works," or "We are justified by faith in Christ alone" — is not that this our own act, to believe in Christ, or this our faith in Christ, which is within us, justifies us and earns our justification for us; for that would be to count ourselves justified by some act or virtue within ourselves. But the true understanding and meaning of it is this: that although we hear God's word and believe it, although we have faith, hope, charity, repentance, dread, and the fear of God within us, and do ever so many good works besides, yet we must renounce the merit of all these virtues — of faith, hope, charity, and all our other virtues and good deeds, which we either have done, shall do, or can do — as things far too weak, insufficient, and imperfect to deserve remission of our sins and our justification; and therefore we must trust only in God's mercy, and in that sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus, the Son of God, once offered for us upon the cross, to obtain thereby God's grace and remission, both of our original sin in baptism and of all actual sin committed by us after our baptism, if we truly repent and turn sincerely to him again.
So that, just as St. John Baptist, however virtuous and godly a man he was, yet in this matter of forgiving sin put the people away from himself and directed them to Christ, saying to them, "Behold, yonder is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29) — even so, as great and godly a virtue as the lively faith is, yet it puts us from itself, and remits or directs us to Christ, to have remission of our sins or justification by him only. So that our faith in Christ, as it were, says to us thus: "It is not I that take away your sins, but it is Christ alone; and to him alone I send you for that purpose, forsaking in this all your good virtues, words, thoughts, and works, and putting your trust only in Christ."
Part Three
It has been clearly declared to you that no man can fulfil the law of God, and therefore by the law all men are condemned; from which it follows necessarily that something other than the law must be required for our salvation — and that is a true and lively faith in Christ, bringing forth good works and a life according to God's commandments. And you have also heard the ancient authors' minds on this saying, "Faith in Christ alone justifies man," so plainly declared that you can see the very true meaning of this proposition (or saying), "We are justified by faith in Christ alone," according to the meaning of the old ancient authors, is this: We put our faith in Christ, that we may be justified by him alone — justified by God's free mercy and the merits of our Saviour Christ alone, and by no virtue or good work of our own that is in us, or that we are able to have or to do, to deserve it; Christ himself alone being the meritorious cause of it.
Here you perceive that many words are used, to avoid contention in words with those who delight to brawl about words, and also to show the true meaning, to avoid wrong interpretation and misunderstanding. And yet perhaps all this will not satisfy those who are contentious; for contenders will always forge matter for contention, even when they have no occasion for it. Nevertheless, such people deserve the less attention, so that the rest may benefit — those who are more desirous to know the truth than, when it is plain enough, to contend about it and to obscure and darken it with contentious and carping quibbles.
It is true that our own works do not justify us, properly speaking of our justification — that is to say, our works do not merit or deserve remission of our sins, and make us, of unjust, just before God; but God, of his mere mercy, through the only merits and deservings of his Son Jesus Christ, justifies us. Nevertheless, because faith directly sends us to Christ for remission of our sins, and because by the faith given us by God we embrace the promise of God's mercy and of the remission of our sins — which none of our other virtues or works properly does — therefore Scripture uses to say that faith without works justifies. And since it is all one statement in effect to say "Faith without works," and "Faith alone," justifies us, therefore the old ancient fathers of the Church have from time to time expressed our justification with this speech, "Faith alone justifies us," meaning nothing other than what St. Paul meant when he said, "Faith without works justifies us."
And because all this is brought to pass through the only merits and deservings of our Saviour Christ, and not through our merits, nor through the merit of any virtue we have within us, nor of any work that comes from us, therefore, in respect of merit and deserving, we forsake, as it were, faith, works, and all other virtues altogether again. For our own imperfection is so great, through the corruption of original sin, that all is imperfect that is within us — faith, charity, hope, dread, thoughts, words, and works — and therefore not fit to merit and deserve any part of our justification for us. And this form of speaking we use in humbling ourselves before God, and to give all the glory to our Saviour Christ, who is best worthy to have it.
Here you have heard the office of God in our justification, and how we receive it from him freely, by his mercy, without our deserving, through true and lively faith. Now you shall hear the office and duty of a Christian toward God: what we ought, on our part, to render to God again for his great mercy and goodness.
Our office is not to pass the time of this present life unfruitfully and idly after we are baptized or justified, not caring how few good works we do to the glory of God and the profit of our neighbours. Much less is it our office, after we are once made Christ's members, to live contrary to the same, making ourselves members of the devil, walking after his enticements and after the suggestions of the world and the flesh — whereby we know that we serve the world and the devil, and not God. For that faith which brings forth, without repentance, either evil works or no good works is not a right, pure, and lively faith, but a dead, devilish, counterfeit, and feigned faith, as St. Paul and St. James call it.
For the devils know and believe that Christ was born of a virgin; that he fasted forty days and forty nights without food and drink; that he worked all kinds of miracles, declaring himself very God. They believe also that Christ, for our sakes, suffered the most painful death, to redeem us from everlasting death, and that he rose again from death the third day. They believe that he ascended into heaven, and that he sits at the right hand of the Father, and at the last end of this world shall come again and judge both the living and the dead. These articles of our faith the devils believe; and so they believe all things written in the New and Old Testament to be true; and yet, for all this faith, they are but devils, remaining still in their damnable state, lacking the very true Christian faith.
For the right and true Christian faith is not only to believe that holy Scripture and all the aforesaid articles of our faith are true, but also to have a sure trust and confidence in God's merciful promises to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ — from which follows a loving heart to obey his commandments. And this true Christian faith neither any devil has, nor yet any man who, in the outward profession of his mouth and in his outward receiving of the Sacraments, in coming to church and in all other outward appearances, seems to be a Christian, and yet in his living and deeds shows the contrary. For how can a man have this true faith, this sure trust and confidence in God — that by the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of God, and made partaker of the kingdom of heaven by Christ — when he lives ungodly and denies Christ in his deeds? Surely no such ungodly man can have this faith and trust in God. For as they know Christ to be the only Saviour of the world, so they know also that wicked men shall not enjoy the kingdom of God. They know that God hates unrighteousness; that he will destroy all those who speak untruly; that those who have done good works (which cannot be done without a lively faith in Christ) shall come forth into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil shall come into the resurrection of judgment. And very well they know also that to those who are contentious, and who will not be obedient to the truth but obey unrighteousness, shall come indignation, wrath, and affliction.
Therefore, to conclude: considering the infinite benefits of Christ, shown and given to us mercifully without our deserving — who has not only created us out of nothing, and from a piece of vile clay, of his infinite goodness, has exalted us, as touching our soul, to his own similitude and likeness; but also, whereas we were condemned to hell and death everlasting, has given his own natural Son (being God eternal, immortal, and equal to himself in power and glory) to be incarnate, and to take our mortal nature upon him with its infirmities, and in that same nature to suffer the most shameful and painful death for our offences, to the intent to justify us and to restore us to life everlasting — so making us also his dearly beloved children, brethren to his only Son our Saviour Christ, and inheritors for ever with him of his eternal kingdom of heaven:
these great and merciful benefits of God, if they are well considered, neither give us occasion to be idle and to live without doing any good works, nor yet stir us by any means to do evil things; but, on the contrary, if we are not desperate persons, and our hearts harder than stones, they move us to render ourselves wholly to God, with all our will, hearts, might, and power, to serve him in all good deeds, obeying his commandments throughout our lives; to seek in all things his glory and honour, not our sensual pleasures and vainglory; evermore willingly dreading to offend such a merciful God and loving Redeemer in word, thought, or deed.
And these benefits of God, deeply considered, move us also, for his sake, to be ever ready to give ourselves to our neighbours, and, as much as lies in us, to study with all our endeavour to do good to every man. These are the fruits of the true faith: to do good, as much as lies in us, to every man; and, above all things and in all things, to advance the glory of God, from whom alone we have our sanctification, justification, salvation, and redemption. To whom be ever glory, praise, and honour, world without end. Amen.
The 1859 text reads "justice" throughout where modern usage would often say "righteousness." The single word is kept because the sermon's argument turns on the pairing of God's justice and mercy (Latin iustitia, which carries both the sense of judicial justice and of righteousness).↩︎
Source reading uncertain here: the 1859 text names a further author before Photius, but the name is garbled in the original scan and is omitted.↩︎
The 1859 text reads "charity," retained for its technical sense (Greek agapē).↩︎