Theological Theses · §2284 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

All works of unbelievers are sins; Pareus requires justifying faith

Thesis XXIV. They therefore count all the works of unbelievers, however fine they look, among sins. And they reckon as unbelievers not only those wholly ignorant of the true God but all who lack true faith in Christ and do not know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. They hold that the works of all such people, however excellent and upright they seem, are not acts of true virtue but sins painted in its colours, as is clear enough from what has already been said.

For without faith nothing can please God, and whatever is done without faith is sin. By faith here they mean not only the faith opposed to a wavering conscience, but the faith that shapes the conscience from God's word as it should, makes it certain, and is even able to justify a man.

This is David Pareus's teaching: 'We say that a morally good work, one ordered to God's law, worship and good pleasure, requires not only the special help of God's singular providence, and not only the special grace of a singular divine motion, but also the special grace of justifying faith' (on Bellarmine, On grace and free choice, book 5, chapter 4).

Latin

XXIV. Adeoque omnia infidelium opera, quantumvis speciosa, inter peccata connumerant. Ac pro infidelibus habent, non solum eos qui prorsus verum Deum ignorant, verum etiam omnes illos qui vera in Christum fide destituuntur, nec cognoscunt unum solum verum Deum, & quem misit Jesum Christum. Omnium qui tales sunt opera, quamlibet egregia & honesta videantur, non actus verae virtutis, sed peccata illius colore fucata esse existimant, ut ex jam dictis satis manifestum est. Quoniam sine fide Deo placere nihil potest, & peccatum est quicquid fit sine fide, non ea solum quae conscientiae fluctuanti opponitur, sed ea quoque quae conscientiam ex Dei verbo ut par est informat, & certam reddit, & etiam hominem justificare valet. Haec est doctrina Davidis Paraei. Dicimus, inquit, ad opus morale bonum, quod sit ad legem, cultum & beneplacitum Dei ordinatum, requiri non modo speciale auxilium singularis providentiae Dei, nec modo specialem gratiam singularis motionis divinae, sed etiam specialem gratiam fidei justificantis. In Bellarm. lib. 5. de Gratia & libero Arbitrio, capite 4.

Report a mistake in this passage