Hebreus 10
Augustine of Hippo · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Hebreus 10:38
"Faith working through love," comes not so much by fearing punishment as by loving justice. Still, as the soul does not become just except by sharing in the better one who justifies the ungodly—for what has it that it has not received?—it ought not to glory as if it had not received it, by attributing to itself what comes from God. That is why it was said to him, "Be not high-minded, but fear." And that fear is also commanded for those who live by faith and are heirs of the new covenant, being "called to freedom." — LETTER 140.21
Hebreus 10:38
A better simile, so far, at least, as illustration of spiritual things can be borrowed from material things, is that which compares vice or folly to darkness, and virtue or wisdom to light. The way to wisdom is therefore not like that of a man rising from the water into the air, in which, in the moment of rising above the surface of the water, he suddenly breathes freely, but, like that of a man proceeding from darkness into light, on whom more light gradually shines as he advances. So long, therefore, as this is not fully accomplished, we speak of the man as of one going from the dark recesses of a vast cavern towards its entrance, who is more and more influenced by the proximity of the light as he comes nearer to the entrance of the cavern; so that whatever light he has proceeds from the light to which he is advancing, and whatever darkness still remains in him proceeds from the darkness out of which he is emerging. Therefore it is true that in the sight of God "shall no man living be justified," and yet that "the just shall live by his faith." On the one hand, "the saints are clothed with righteousness," one more, another less; on the other hand, no one lives here wholly without sin—one sins more, another less, and the best is the man who sins least. — LETTER 167.13
Hebreus 10:38
And to what end? That I and all who read the same may reflect out of what depths we are to cry unto Thee. For what cometh nearer to Thine ears than a confessing heart and a life of faith? For who did not extol and praise my father, in that he went even beyond his means to supply his son with all the necessaries for a far journey for the sake of his studies? For many far richer citizens did not the like for their children. But yet this same father did not trouble himself how I grew towards Thee, nor how chaste I was, so long as I was skilful in speaking—however barren I was to Thy tilling, O God, who art the sole true and good Lord of my heart, which is Thy field. — Confessions 2.3.5
Hebreus 10:38
Will any of us dare to say: I am righteous? For I think that this is: I am righteous, which is: I am not a sinner. If you dare to say this, John confronts you: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." What then? Do we have nothing of righteousness? Or do we have something, but not all of it? Let us therefore seek this. For if we have something, and we do not have something; let what we have grow, and what we do not have will be fulfilled. See, men are baptized, all their sins are forgiven them, they are justified from their sins; we cannot deny this: yet there remains a struggle with the flesh, there remains a struggle with the world, there remains a struggle with the devil. But he who struggles, sometimes strikes, sometimes is struck; sometimes wins, sometimes is killed; it is considered how he leaves the stadium. For "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Likewise, if we say that we have nothing of righteousness, we lie against the gifts of God. For if we have nothing of righteousness, we do not have faith either; if we do not have faith, we are not Christians. But if we have faith, we already have something of righteousness. Do you want to know how much that something is? The righteous lives by faith; the righteous, I say, lives by faith; because he believes what he does not see. — SERMON 158.4
Hebreus 10:38
This justice is the grace of the New Testament, by which the faithful are just while they live by faith until, by the perfection of justice, they are brought to the face-to-face vision, as they are also equally brought to immortality of the body itself by the perfection of salvation. Hence, in another place the apostle says, "So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." And then he adds, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin"—that is, a sacrifice for sin, for in that law offerings made for sins were called sin—"so that in him we might become the righteousness of God," that is, in his body, which is the church, of which he is the head, that we may be the justice of God. — LETTER 140.30