Theological Theses · §2682 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

In some sense the regenerate fulfil the law

Thesis XII. Since Scripture says that the faithful, in whom God's grace is at work, keep God's commandments, they can no doubt also be said in some sense to fulfil God's law. God's commandments are the same thing as his law, and to keep God's commandments and to fulfil them mean one and the same.

Nor can it be denied that true and sincere charity, the love of God and of one's neighbour, is found in those reborn by God's Spirit. Those who believe in Christ and have been born again by his Spirit have passed from death to life, and, as the apostle John testifies, 'whoever does not love remains in death' (1 John 3).

So all who live the spiritual life necessarily love God and their neighbour. Love is the fulfilment of the law, and whoever loves has fulfilled the law, as Paul expressly teaches in Romans 13.

Latin

XII. Porro cum fideles, in quibus gratia divina operatur, dicantur in scriptura Dei mandata servare, dubium non est quin aliquo etiam sensu, dici possint Dei legem implere. Nam Dei mandata sunt idem cum Dei lege. Dei vero mandata servare, & illa eadem implere unum idemque significant. Et certe negari non potest quin vera & sincera charitas, id est, dilectio Dei & proximi, reperiatur in eis qui per spiritum Dei regeniti sunt. Nam qui credunt in Christum, & sunt per spiritum ejus denuo nati, transiverunt a morte ad vitam. Sed, ut testatur Joannes Apostolus, Qui non diligit manet in morte. 1 Joan. 3. Ac perinde quicunque spirituali vita vivunt, necessario Deum & proximum diligunt. Charitas autem est impletio legis, & qui diligit, legem implevit, ut expresse docet Paulus, Rom. 13.

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