Глава XII

The law is fulfilled by grace, not by human will alone 24. Therefore, those who are supported only by the help of the law without the help of grace, who rely on their own strength and are led by their spirit, are not the sons of God. They are similar to those about whom the same apostle says that they, not understanding the righteousness of God and wanting to establish their own righteousness, did not submit to the righteousness of God 134. He said this about the Jews, who, out of self-confidence, rejected grace and therefore did not believe in Christ. And the apostle says that they desired to establish their own righteousness, namely, the righteousness of the law; [he says this] not because the law was established by them, but because they established their righteousness on the law given from God, believing that they could fulfill this very law in their own strength. They did not know the righteousness of God, not the righteousness with which God is righteous, but that which is [given] to man from God. And so that you know that the apostle calls that righteousness which [comes] from the law belongs to them, and the righteousness of God - that which is given to man from God, listen to how he says in another place, speaking about Christ: For His sake I have suffered from all things, and count them as rubbish, that I might gain Christ and be found in Him, having not my own righteousness, which comes from the law, but that which is [acquired] through faith in Christ and [comes] from God 135. What do the words mean: having not one’s own righteousness, which comes from the law, since the law itself is not his, but God’s? Is this not why he calls righteousness his own, although it comes from the law, because he [previously] believed that he could fulfill the law of his own free will, that is, without the help of grace, which is acquired through faith in Christ? That is why, having said: Having not his own righteousness, which comes from the law, he further adds: but that which [is acquired] through faith in Christ and comes from God. This righteousness was not known to those of whom he says that they did not understand the righteousness of God, that is, [coming] from God (after all, it is not given by the killing letter, but by the quickening spirit), and wanting to establish their own (that which he calls the righteousness of the law, when he says: Having not their own righteousness, which comes from the law), they did not submit to the righteousness of God, that is, they did not submit to the grace of God. For they were under the law, and not under grace, and therefore sin dominated over them, from which it is not the law, but grace that frees a person. Therefore, what the apostle said in another place: Let sin not rule over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace 136 does not mean that the law is evil, but [so it is said] because under it are those whom it makes guilty, commanding, but not helping. For grace helps a person to be a doer of the law, and without this grace, being under the law, he will only be its listener. And to such the apostle says: You, justifying yourselves by the law, have fallen from grace 137. De gratia et libero arbitrio (CPL 352). Translation based on the publication: Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Latina. Accurante J.-P. Migne. Paris, 1845. T. 44, Col. 881–912.