Глава XIV

Does the will of the believer precede the grace of God? 27. But when they are exposed, I will not say: defenders of a free decision, but rather exalters and subverters of it - after all, neither the knowledge of the Divine law, nor nature, nor the remission of sins alone - all this is not the grace that is given through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and this grace itself helps to ensure that the law is fulfilled, so that nature is freed, so that sin is deprived of its dominion; So, when they are convicted of this, then they turn to trying in some way to prove that the grace of God is given according to our merits. For they say: “Even if it is not given according to the merits of good deeds, since thanks to it we do good deeds, it is nevertheless given according to the merits of good will, since the good will of the one who prays precedes it, and the will of the believer precedes it, so that because of these merits the grace of the heeding God follows [prayer and faith]. The Spirit of Grace Causes We to Have Faith 28. Above I have already discussed faith, that is, the will of the believer, and showed how [inseparably] it belongs to grace, so that the apostle did not say: “I inherited mercy because I was a believer,” but says: I inherited mercy in order to be a believer 143. There are other testimonies, among which is where he says: Think [of yourself] with modesty, according to the measure of faith that God has allocated to each 144. And this [testimony] which I have already mentioned: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, but the gift of God 145 . And another [testimony] when he writes to the Ephesians: Peace to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ 146. And that [testimony] where he says: Because it has been given to you for the sake of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him 147. So, both of them relate to the grace of God: both the faith of believers and the patience of those who suffer, since the apostle speaks of both as given. And the testimony that comes closest here is where he says: Having the same spirit of faith 148 . After all, he does not say: “knowledge of faith,” but: the spirit of faith, and for this reason he speaks so that we understand that faith is provided without our requests, and then, at its request, everything else is granted. For the apostle says this: How can we call on Him in whom we have not believed? 149 So, the spirit of grace causes us to begin to have faith, and then through faith we ask in prayer that we may be able to fulfill what is commanded to us. Therefore, the apostle himself constantly puts faith above the law: for we are not able to do what the law commands, unless through faith we ask in prayer that we are able to do it. 29. For if faith refers only to a free decision, and is not granted by God, then why do we pray that those who do not yet want to believe will believe? We would do this in vain if we did not, with all justice, believe that the almighty Lord can convert even the perverse and contrary wills of [people] to faith. Truly, the impulse is directed towards the free decision of man where it is said: Now, if you hear His voice, do not desire to harden your hearts 150. But if God could not even remove the hardness of the heart, He would not have said through the prophet: I will take from them the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh 151 . This prediction applies to the New Testament, as the apostle clearly shows when he says: You are our letter, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh of the heart 152. This, as we believe, is said not because those who should have lived spiritually lived carnally, but since a stone is devoid of feeling and a hard heart is compared with it, to what, if not with feeling flesh, should the understanding heart be compared? For this is how the same thing is said through the prophet: And I will give them, says [the Lord], a new heart, and a new spirit I will give them; And I will remove the heart of stone out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My commandments, and keep my excuses, and do them, and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, says the Lord 153 . So, how can we say, without asserting the greatest absurdity, that in a person the good merit of a good will precedes, so that a heart of stone is removed from him, if the heart of stone itself signifies nothing more than the most cruel and completely unyielding will towards God? After all, where good will precedes, there, of course, there is no longer a heart of stone. God gives His gifts not for the sake of human merit, but for the sake of His name 30. And in another place, through the same prophet, God quite obviously shows that He does this not for the sake of some of their good merits, but for the sake of His name, saying: I will not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for the sake of My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have come; and I will sanctify My great name, which is dishonored among the nations, among whom you have dishonored it; And the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness to you before their eyes. And I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land; And I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you, and I will remove from your flesh the heart of stone, and I will give you a heart of money, and I will put My spirit within you. And I will cause you to walk in My justifications, and you will observe and carry out My judgments 154. Who will be so blind that he will not see, who will be so petrified that he will not feel, this grace is not given based on the merits of good will, as the Lord Himself says and testifies: [Not for your sake] I will do this, but for the sake of My holy name? After all, for what purpose did He say: I will do this for the sake of My holy name? Is it so that they would not consider that this was done for the sake of their good merits - and the Pelagians would not be ashamed to say such things? But He shows not only that good merits were absent from them, but also that evil [merits] preceded, when He says: but for the sake of My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations. Who does not recognize that it is a terrible evil to dishonor the holy name of the Lord? But for the sake of that very name of My, He says, which you have profaned, I will make you good, not for your sake; and I will sanctify My great name, which is dishonored among the nations, among whom you have dishonored it. He says that He will sanctify His name, which He has already called holy above. So, this is what it means when in the Lord’s Prayer we pray, saying: Hallowed be Thy name, [we ask] that that which in itself, without any doubt, is always holy, may be hallowed among men. It follows: And all nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I demonstrate My holiness in you. So, although He Himself is always holy, He nevertheless reveals His holiness in those to whom He bestows His grace, removing from them the heart of stone, because of which they profaned the name of the Lord. 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. Rev 94:7–8. To the Synod. Transl.: Oh, if you would now listen to His voice: “Harden not your hearts.”