CHAPTER 3
Lecture 4
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: Cursed is every one that abideth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11 But, that in the law no man is justified with God, it is manifest; because the just man liveth in faith.
12 But the law is not of faith; but: he that doth those things shall live in them.
Above, the Apostle proved the power of faith; now he shows the shortcoming of the Law.
First, through the authority of the Law;
Secondly, through a human custom (v. 15).
Concerning the first, he does three things:
First, he shows the curse brought on by the Law;
Secondly, the Law’s inability to remove that curse (v. 11);
Thirdly, the sufficiency of Christ by whom that curse has been removed (v. 13).
In regard to the first he does two things:
First, he sets forth his intended proposition;
Secondly, he proves the proposition (v. 10); For it is written: Cursed is every one that abideth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them.
He says therefore: For as many as are of the works of the law, are under a curse . For since he had said that they who are of faith will be blessed through being sons of Abraham, someone might say that they are blessed both on account of the works of the Law and on account of faith. Hence to exclude this he says: As many as are of the works of the law are under a curse .
But against this it can be said that the ancient fathers were of the works of the Law. Therefore they are under a curse and, consequently, damned—which is a Manichean error. Hence it is necessary to understand this correctly. And it should be noted that the Apostle does not say, “As many as observe the works of the Law are under a curse,” because this is false when applied to the time of the Law. He says rather: As many as are of the works of the Law , i.e., whosoever trust in the works of the Law and believe that they are made just by them are under a curse . For it is one thing to be of the works of the Law and another to observe the Law. The latter consists in fulfilling the Law, so that one who fulfills it is not under a curse. But to be of the works of the Law is to trust in them and place one’s hope in them. And they that are of the Law in this way are under a curse , namely, of transgression; not that the Law produces the curse, for concupiscence does not come from the Law, but the knowledge of sin does, to which we are prone through concupiscence banned by the Law. Therefore, inasmuch as the Law begets a knowledge of sin and offers no help against sin, they are said to be under a curse, since they are powerless to escape it by those works.
Furthermore, some works of the Law are ceremonies carried out in the observances; others are works that pertain to morals, with which the moral precepts deal. Hence, according to a Gloss, that which is said here, namely, as many as are of the works of the law, are under a curse, is to be understood of ceremonial works and not of moral works. Or it should be said that the Apostle is speaking here of all works, both ceremonial and moral. For the works are not the cause making one to be just before God; rather they are the carrying out and manifestation of justice. For no one is made just before God by works but by the habit of faith, not acquired but infused. And therefore, as many as seek to be justified by works are under a curse, because sin is not removed nor anyone justified in the sight of God by them, but by the habit of faith vivified by charity: “And all these being approved by the testimony of faith, received not the promise” (Heb 11:39).
Then when he says, For it is written: Cursed is every one, that abideth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them, he proves the proposition which, according to a Gloss, is proved by the fact that no one can keep the Law in the way in which the Law prescribed: “As many as do not keep and do all that is written in the book of the law,” i.e., who do not fulfill the whole Law, “cursed shall they be” (Deut 28:15). But it is impossible to fulfill the whole Law, as it is said in the Acts (15:10): “Why tempt you God to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” Therefore by the works of the Law no one is anything but cursed.
In another way the passage, For it is written .... can be taken not as a proof of the proposition but as an exposition of the proof. As if to say: I say that they are under a curse, i.e., under that one of which the Law says, For it is written: Cursed is every one, that abideth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them, where the curse is understood to refer to sin. For the Law commands that good be done and evils avoided, and by commanding it puts one under the obligation without giving the virtue to obey. And hence he says, Cursed, as though placed in contact with evil, is every one, without exception; because, as it is said in the Acts (10:34): “God is not a respector of persons”; that abideth not to the end: “He that shall persevere to the end” (Mt 24:13); in all things , not in some only, because as it is said in James (2: 10): “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is become guilty of all”; which are written in the book of the law to do them, not only to believe or will but actually to fulfill them in their works: “A good understanding to all that do it” (Ps 110:10). Yet the holy patriarchs, although they were of the works of the Law, were nevertheless saved by faith in one to come, by trusting in His grace and by fulfilling the Law at least spiritually. “For Moses,” says a Gloss, “did indeed command many things which no one could fulfill, in order to tame the pride of the Jews who said: ‘There are many willing and able, but no one to command’.”
But a difficulty arises about saying Cursed is every one that abideth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them. For it is said: “Bless, and curse not” (Rom 12:14). 1 answer that to curse is nothing else but to say evil. I can therefore say that good is evil and evil good, and again, that good is good and evil evil. The first is what the Apostle forbids when he says, “Curse not,” i.e., do not say that good is evil and evil good. But the second is lawful. Hence when we denounce sin, we do indeed curse, not by way of calling good evil but by saying that evil is evil. Therefore it is lawful to curse a sinner, i.e., to say that he is addicted to evil or is evil.
Then when he says, But that in the law no man is justified with God, it is manifest, he shows the inability of the Law to snatch us from that curse, for it could not make one just. To show this he makes use of a syllogism in the second figure. Justice is by faith, but the Law is not by faith. Therefore the Law cannot justify. With respect to this, therefore:
First, he states the conclusion when he says, But that in the law no one is justified;
Secondly, the major premiss (v. 11): because the just man lives by faith;
Thirdly, the minor (v. 12).
Therefore he says: I say that by the Law a curse was introduced, and yet the Law cannot extricate one from that curse, because it is obvious that no one is justified before God by the Law, i.e., through the works of the Law. On this point it should be noted that those who rejected the Old Testament took occasion to do so from this word. Hence it must be said that no one is justified in the Law, i.e., through the Law. For through it came the knowledge of sin, as is said in Romans (3:20); but justification came not through it: “By the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Rom 3:20).
But against this, it is said in James (2:21): “Was not Abraham our father justified by works?” I answer that “to be justified” can be taken in two senses: either as referring to the execution and manifestation of justice, and in this way a man is justified, i.e., proved just, by the works performed; or as referring to the infused habit of justice, and in this way one is not justified by works, since the habit of justice by which a man is justified before God is not acquired but infused by the grace of faith. Therefore the Apostle says significantly, with God, because the justice which is before God is interior in the heart, whereas the justice which is by works, i.e., which manifests that one is just, is before men. And it is in this sense that the Apostle says, with God: “For not the hearers of the law, but the doers are just before God” (Rom 2:13); “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God” (Rom 4:2). Thus, therefore, the conclusion of his reasoning is obvious, namely, that the Law can not justify.
Then when he says, because the just man lives by faith, he presents the major premiss, which is based on scriptural authority, i.e., Habakkuk (2:4) restated in Romans (1:17) and Hebrews (10:38). Apropos of this point it should be noted that in man there is a twofold life; namely, the life of nature and the life of justice. Now the life of nature is from the soul; hence when the soul is separated from the body, the body continues but is dead. But the life of justice is through God dwelling in us by faith. Therefore the first way in which God is in the soul of man is by faith: “He that cometh to God must believe” (Heb 11:6); “That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts” (Eph 3:17). Accordingly, we say that in the soul the first signs of life appear in the works of the vegetal soul, because the vegetal soul is the first to be present in a generated animal, as the Philosopher says. Similarly, because the first principle whereby God exists in us is faith, faith is called the principle of living. And this is what he means when he says, the just man lives by faith. Furthermore, this is to be understood of faith acting through love.
The minor premiss is set down at, But the law is not of faith.
First, the minor is set down;
Secondly, it is proved (v. 12): but he that doth those things, shall live in them.
He says therefore that the law is not of faith. But this seems to conflict with the truth that the Law commands one to believe that there is one God, which pertains to faith. Therefore the Law had faith. And that there is one God is stated in Deuteronomy (6:4): “Hear, 0 Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord.”
I answer that he is speaking here about keeping the commandments of the Law insofar as the Law consists of ceremonial precepts and moral precepts. This is the Law that is not of faith. For “faith,” as is said in Hebrews (11:1), “is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.” Therefore, strictly speaking, he fulfills the command of faith who does not hope to obtain from it anything present and visible, but things invisible and eternal. Therefore, because the Law promised earthly and present things, as it is said: “If you be willing and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land” (Is 1:19), it is not of faith but rather of cupidity or fear, especially in regard to those who kept the Law in a carnal manner. Nevertheless, some did live spiritually in the Law; but this was not because of the Law but because of faith in a mediator.
And that the Law is not of faith he proves when he says, but he that doth those things, i.e., the works of the Law, shall live in them , namely, in the present life, i.e., will be immune from temporal death and will be preserved in the present life. Or again: I say that the law is not of faith, and this is obvious, because he that doth those things, shall live in them. As if to say: The precepts of the Law are not concerned with what is to be done, even though it proclaims something that must be believed. Therefore its power is not from faith but from works. He proves this on the ground that when the Lord willed to confirm it He did not say, “He that believeth,” but “He that doth those things, shall live in them.” But the New Law is from faith: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mk 16:16).
Nevertheless, the Law is something fashioned and produced by faith. That is why the Old Law is compared to the New as the works of nature to the works of the intellect. For certain works of the intellect appear in the works of nature, not as though natural things understand, but because they are moved and ordained to reach their end by an intellect. In like manner, in the Old Law are contained certain things that are of faith: not that the Jews held them precisely as being of faith, but that they held them only as protestations and figures of the faith of Christ, in virtue of Whose faith the just were saved.