Theological Theses · §2686 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

No one has never broken the law

Thesis XVI. Yet there is no human being who has not broken the law at some time. All are born in sin; by nature they are slaves of sin, indeed dead in sins, and would lie for ever in that death and slavery unless Christ's grace raised and freed them. We showed this briefly above, and Scripture drives it home so often and so plainly that collecting its testimonies on the point would seem superfluous.

Paul above all presses the doctrine in his epistles, especially in the first four chapters of Romans. There he proves by many arguments that all have sinned and that all, Jews and Greeks alike, are under sin, in line with the scriptural sayings: 'No one is righteous, no one understands, no one seeks God. All have turned away; together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.'

From this he concludes that no one is justified before God by works of the law, but that all are justified freely by God's grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It follows that no one fulfils God's law perfectly and in every respect. If anyone did, he would surely be justified by works of the law, and that as a matter of debt, not of grace.

Latin

XVI. Jam vero nullus est hominum qui legem non sit quandoque transgressus. Si quidem omnes in peccato nascuntur, & per naturam servi sunt peccati, imo in peccatis mortui, atque in ea morte & servitute perpetuo jacerent, nisi inde per Christi gratiam excitarentur & liberarentur. Quod jam breviter supra ostendimus: idemque Scriptura toties & tam aperte inculcat, ut superfluum videatur testimonia ejus hac de re congerere. Praesertim vero Paulus hanc doctrinam saepius urget atque ingerit in suis Epistolis, & maxime in ea quam scripsit ad Romanos quatuor primis capitibus. Ubi pluribus argumentis convincit, Omnes peccavisse & Omnes, tam Judaeos quam Graecos, esse sub peccato, juxta illa Scripturae dicta, Non est justus quisquam, non est intelligens, non est requirens Deum. Omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt; non est qui faciat bonum, non est usque ad unum. Unde concludit neminem ex operibus legis coram Deo justificari: sed omnes justificari gratis per gratiam Dei per redemptionem quae est in Christo Jesu. Ex eo vero sequitur nullum esse qui legem Dei perfecte & omni ex parte impleat: quandoquidem, si quis legem eo modo impleret, proculdubio per opera legis justificaretur, idque ex debito, non autem ex gratia.

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