356. Then when he says for the law he proves the conditional statement through the effect or result of the law.
356. Deinde cum dicit lex enim, probat conditionalem praemissam per effectum sive eventum legis.
First, he proposes the effect or result of the law;
Et primo proponit legis effectum sive eventum;
second, he proves it, at for where there is no law.
secundo, probat, ibi ubi enim non est lex, et cetera.
357. He proves the conditional thus: If a promise is to be fulfilled through something which prevents its fulfillment, such a promise is void and the faith of believers futile. But the law prevents one from obtaining the inheritance, for the law works wrath; therefore, if the promise is to be fulfilled through the law, faith is made void: the promise is made of no effect.
357. Probat autem conditionalem sic: si aliqua promissio sit implenda per id quod impletionem promissionis impedit, talis promissio aboletur et fides credentis exinanitur; sed lex impedit consecutionem haereditatis, lex enim iram operatur: ergo si per legem sit adimplenda promissio, exinanita est fides, abolita est promissio.
Now the law is said to bring wrath, i.e., vengeance, because through the law men were made deserving of God’s vengeance: great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, i.e., of the law (2 Kgs 22:13).
Dicitur autem lex operari iram, id est vindictam, quia per legem facti sunt homines digni Dei vindicta. IV Reg. XXII, 13: magna ira Domini succensa est contra nos, quia non audierunt patres nostri verba libri huius, scilicet legis, etc.
But someone might suppose that the law brings wrath as far as legal ceremonies observed in the era of grace are concerned, in line with Galatians: if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you (Gal 5:2). However, what is stated here refers even to moral precepts, not because they command something which makes its observers deserving of God’s wrath, but because the law commands and does not confer the grace to fulfill, according to 2 Corinthians: the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6), namely, because the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity (Rom 8:26).
Posset autem aliquis intelligere quod lex iram operatur quantum ad caeremonialia tempore gratiae observata, secundum illud Gal. V, 2: si circumcidamini, Christus nihil vobis proderit. Sed quod hic dicitur, intelligendum est etiam quantum ad moralia, non quidem quod legis praecepta moralia praecipiant aliquid, quod qui observant dignos ira Dei efficiat, sed occasionaliter, quia praecipit et gratiam adimplendi non praebet, secundum illud II Cor. III, 6: littera occidit, Spiritus autem vivificat, quia scilicet interius adiuvat infirmitatem nostram, ut dicitur infra VIII, 26.
358. Then when he says for where there is no law, he shows how it brings wrath, saying: for where there is no law, neither is there transgression, because even though a person, with no law given, could sin by commission against what is naturally just, he is not called a transgressor, unless he violates a law: I looked at the transgressors with disgust, because they did not keep your commands (Ps 118:158). Yet every sinner can be called a transgressor, inasmuch as he transgresses the natural law: I have accounted all the sinners of the earth transgressors (Ps 118:119).
358. Deinde cum dicit ubi enim non est lex, etc., ostendit qualiter iram operatur, dicens ubi non est lex, non est praevaricatio, quia et si aliquis, lege non data, peccare possit contra id quod naturaliter iustum est faciendo, non tamen praevaricator dicitur, nisi legem transgrediens. Ps. CXVIII, 158: vidi praevaricantes et tabescebam, et cetera. Et tamen omnis peccator potest dici praevaricator, inquantum legem naturalem transgreditur. Ps. CXVIII, 119: praevaricantes reputavi omnes peccatores terrae.
However, it is more grievous to transgress at once the law of nature and the written law than the law of nature alone. Hence, the law having been given without the help of grace, transgression increased and deserved greater wrath.
Gravius est tamen transgredi simul legem naturae et legem scriptam, quam solam legem naturae. Et ideo lege data sine gratia adiuvante, praevaricatio crevit, et maiorem iram promeruit.
Lecture 3
Lectio 3
Abraham’s faith in the promise
Fides Abrahae in promissio
4:16 Therefore is it of faith, that according to grace the promise might be firm to all the seed: not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, [n. 359]
4:16 Ideo ex fide, ut secundum gratiam firma sit promissio omni semini, non ei qui ex lege est solum, sed et ei qui ex fide est Abrahae, qui pater est omnium nostrum [n. 359]
4:17 (As it is written: I have made you a father of many nations), before God, whom he believed: who quickens the dead and calls those things that are not, as those that are.
4:17 (sicut scriptum est: Quia patrem multarum gentium posui te) ante Deum, cui credidit, qui vivificat mortuos, et vocat ea quae non sunt, tamquam ea quae sunt:
4:18 Who against hope believed in hope; that he might be made the father of many nations, according to that which was said to him: so shall your seed be. [n. 367]
4:18 qui contra spem in spem credidit, ut fieret pater multarum gentium secundum quod dictum est ei: Sic erit semen tuum. [n. 367]
4:19 And he was not weak in faith. Neither did he consider his own body, now dead (whereas he was almost an hundred years old), nor the dead womb of Sarah.
4:19 Et non infirmatus est fide, nec consideravit corpus suum emortuum, cum jam fere centum esset annorum, et emortuam vulvam Sarae.
4:20 In the promise also of God he staggered not by distrust: but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God: [n. 374]
4:20 In repromissione etiam Dei non haesitavit diffidentia, sed confortatus est fide, dans gloriam Deo: [n. 374]
4:21 Most fully knowing that whatsoever he has promised, he is able also to perform.
4:21 plenissime sciens, quia quaecumque promisit, potens est et facere.
4:22 And therefore it was reputed to him unto justice. [n. 377]
4:22 Ideo et reputatum est illi ad justitiam. [n. 377]
4:23 Now it is not written only for him, that it was reputed to him unto justice,
4:23 Non est autem scriptum tantum propter ipsum quia reputatum est illi ad justitiam:
4:24 But also for us, to whom it shall be reputed, if we believe in him that raised up Jesus Christ, our Lord, from the dead,
4:24 sed et propter nos, quibus reputabitur credentibus in eum, qui suscitavit Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum a mortuis,
4:25 Who was delivered up for our sins and rose again for our justification.
4:25 qui traditus est propter delicta nostra, et resurrexit propter justificationem nostram.
359. After showing that the promise made to Abraham and his seed was not to be fulfilled through the law, the Apostle now shows that it is to be fulfilled through faith.
359. Ostenso quod promissio facta Abrahae et semini eius non sit implenda per legem, hic ostendit quod sit implenda per fidem.
In regard to this he does three things:
Et circa hoc tria facit.
first, he shows through what such a promise is to be fulfilled;
Primo ostendit per quid sit huiusmodi promissio adimplenda;
second, in whom it is to be fulfilled, at to all the seed;
secundo ostendit in quibus sit adimplenda, ibi omni semini, etc.;
third, by whom it is to be fulfilled, at who quickens the dead.
tertio a quo sit implenda, ibi qui vivificat mortuos, etc.
360. First, therefore, he concludes to his proposition, as it were by division.
360. Primo ergo concludit propositum quasi ex divisione.
For it seems necessary that the promise be fulfilled either by faith or by the law; but not by the law, because the promise would be abolished. Hence, he concludes, therefore it is of faith, if we are to attain the promise of being heirs of the world: this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith (1 John 5:4).
Videtur enim necessarium esse quod promissio adimpleatur vel per fidem, vel per legem: non autem per legem, quia promissio aboleretur, unde concludit ideo ex fide, scilicet consequimur promissionem, ut haeredes simus mundi. Io. V, 4: haec est victoria quae vincit mundum, et cetera.
Then he confirms this with a middle term contrary to the one he used above. For it was stated that if justice were from the law, the promise would be abolished; but if it be from faith, the promise remains solid in virtue of the power of divine grace justifying man through faith. And that is what he says, that the promise of God might be firm not on actions, which can fall short, but according to grace, which is infallible: my grace is sufficient for you (2 Cor 12:9); for all the promises of God are in him, namely, Christ, i.e., they are true (2 Cor 1:20).
Et hoc confirmat per contrarium medium ei quod supra assumpserat. Dictum est enim quod si iustitia ex lege esset, promissio aboleretur; sed si sit ex fide, remanet firma promissio propter virtutem divinae gratiae iustificantis hominem per fidem. Et hoc est quod dicit ut promissio Dei sit firma, non quidem per operationes hominum quae possunt deficere, sed secundum gratiam quae infallibilis est. II Cor. XII, 9: sufficit tibi gratia mea, et cetera. II Cor. I, 20: quotquot sunt promissiones, in illo, scilicet Christo, sunt, id est, veritatem habent.
361. Then when he says, to all the seed, he shows in whom this promise is fulfilled.
361. Deinde cum dicit omni semini, etc., ostendit in quibus impleatur praedicta promissio.
First, he proposes what he intends and says that this promise, which is to be thus fulfilled through faith, is guaranteed by grace to all the seed, i.e., to every man who would be in any way descended from Abraham: their prosperity will remain with their descendants, and their inheritance to their children’s children (Sir 44:11).
Et primo proponit quod intendit, et dicit quod praedicta promissio sic implenda per fidem, est firma per gratiam. Omni semini, id est, omni homini qui fuerit qualitercumque semen Abrahae. Eccli. XLIV, 11 s.: cum semine eorum permanent bona, haereditas sancta nepotes eorum.
362. Second, at not to that only, he explains what he meant by all the seed.
362. Secundo, ibi non ei, etc., exponit quod dixerat omni semini.
For there is a bodily descendant: we are the descendants of Abraham (John 8:33), and there is a spiritual descendant: God is able from these stones, i.e., from the gentiles, to raise up children to Abraham (Matt 3:9). Only the bodily descendants of Abraham kept the law, but the spiritual descendants also imitate his faith.
Est enim quoddam semen carnale, secundum illud Io. VIII, 33: semen Abrahae sumus. Est aliud semen spirituale, secundum illud Matth. III, 9: potens est Deus de lapidibus his, id est de gentibus, suscitare filios Abrahae; solum autem semen Abrahae carnale legem servavit, sed fidem eius etiam imitatur semen spirituale.
Thus, if the promise were solely through the law, it would be fulfilled not in all the descendants but only in the bodily ones. But because it is fulfilled through faith, which is common to all, it is plain that it is fulfilled in all his descendants.
Et sic, si per solam legem esset promissio, non impleretur in omni semine sed solum in carnali. Quia vero impletur per fidem quae est omnibus communis, planum est, quod impletur in omni semine.
363. Third, at who is the father, he proves something he had presupposed, namely, that the descendants of Abraham are not only the children of the law but also the children of faith. He proves this with a text from Scripture. First, he gives its sense, saying, who, namely, Abraham, is the father of us all, i.e., of all believers, Jew or gentile: that he might be the father of all them that believe (Rom 4:11); look to Abraham, your father (Isa 51:2).
363. Tertio, ibi qui est pater, etc., probat quod supposuerat, scilicet quod semen Abrahae sit non solum quod est ex lege sed etiam quod est ex fide, per auctoritatem Scripturae, cuius, primo, ponit sensum, dicens, qui, scilicet Abraham, est pater omnium nostrum, id est, omnium credentium, sive Iudaeorum, sive gentilium. Supra, eodem: Ut sit pater omnium credentium. Is. LI, 2: attendite ad Abraham patrem vestrum.
Second, he cites the text, saying, as it is written: I have made you a father of many nations (Gen 17:4). Another version has, I have appointed you. But it does not change the sense. Abraham was the great father of a multitude of nations (Sir 44:19).
Secundo inducit auctoritatem, dicens sicut scriptum est, Gen. XVII, 4, quia patrem multarum gentium posui te. Littera alia habet, constitui te, quod sensum non variat. Eccli. XLIV, 20: Abraham magnus pater multitudinis gentium.
Third, at before God, he explains what he had said. For I have made you seems to imply that something destined to be fulfilled in the distant future had already come to pass. However, things that are future in themselves are present in God’s providence: before the universe was created, it was known to him; so it was also after it was finished (Sir 23:20). Accordingly, the Apostle says that the statement, I have made you, should be understood before God, i.e., in his presence, whom he believed. For Abraham had believed God promising things to come as if he saw them present, because, as is stated in Hebrews: faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1).
Tertio, ibi ante Deum, etc., exponit quod dixerat. Sic enim dictum est posui te quasi iam esset impletum quod longe postea erat implendum: sed quae sunt futura in seipsis, in Dei providentia sunt praesentia, secundum illud Eccli. XXIII, 29: Domino Deo nostro, antequam crearentur, omnia sunt agnita, sic et post perfectum respicit omnia. Et ideo Apostolus dicit quod hoc quod dictum est, posui te, intelligendum est ante Deum, id est, in eius praesentia, cui credidisti. Crediderat enim Abraham Deo futura praenuncianti, ac si videret praesentia, quia, ut dicitur Hebr. XI, 1: fides est sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium.