hearts. And hence the Apostle derived the thought 'not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.' And that the eternal reward of this righteousness was not the land from which the Amorites and Hittites, and other nations therein mentioned were driven out, but God Himself, to whom it is good to hold fast, so that the good thing which they love in God is God Himself whom they love; between whom and men nothing can make a barrier but sins which can only be forgiven by the same grace. Accordingly after He had said for all shall know Me, from the least unto the greatest of them;' He immediately adds 'for I will be merciful to their Iniquity and their sins will I remember no`more.'1

By the Law of works, then, the Lord says, 'Thou shalt not covet:' by the Law of Faith he says, 'without Me ye can do nothing; '2 for the Lord was speaking of good works, that is, the fruit of the vine branches. Here then the difference between the Old Covenant and the New is plain: the former is a Law written on tables, the latter written in the heart, so that what in the former terrifies us from without, in the latter delights us within; in the former a man becomes a transgressor through the letter which killeth, in the latter he becomes a lover of the Law through the life-giving Spirit. We are therefore not to maintain that the manner in which God helps us to work righteousness and works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, is by appealing to our senses

1 Jer. xxxi. 34.

2 John xv. 5.

from without by precepts of righteousness, but by giving the increase within, and by shedding abroad love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who is given to us.

43. We are next to consider in what sense it is that the Apostle says ' for when the Gentiles who have not the Law, do by nature the things of the Law, they, not having the Law, are a Law unto themselves, which show the work of the Law written in their hearts.' 1 For this passage might seem to imply that no clear distinction exists in the New Covenant in the Divine promise to write His Laws in the hearts of His people, inasmuch as the Gentiles possess these Laws by nature. This question therefore has to be discussed; and it is by no means insignificant. For someone will say, if God distinguishes the New Covenant from the old precisely because in the Old He wrote His Law on tables, but in the New has written them in the heart: how are the faithful of the New Covenant to be distinguished from the Gentiles, who have the work of the Law written in their hearts, so that they do by nature the things of the Law; as if they were superior to that ancient people who received the Law written on tables, and in advance of the new nation upon which the New Covenant has conferred what these Gentiles already possess by nature ?

44. Is it possible that the nations whom the Apostle mentioned as having the Law written in their hearts were those who belong to the New Covenant?

1 Rom. ii. 14-15.

The conflowers de by nature, the

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We must look to the context from which it is derived. In the first place, commending the Gospel he says for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the righteous lives by faith.' Then he goes on to speak of the ungodly whose knowledge of God did not profit them, owing to their pride, because they did not glorify Him as God, nor give Him thanks. Thence he passes on to those who judge other people and do the same things which they condemn (meaning unquestionably the Jews, who gloried concerning the Law of God, although he has not so far mentioned them by name), and so he says, ' Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first and of the Greek: but glory and honour and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first and to the Greek. For there is no acceptance of persons with God. For whosoever have sinned without Law shall also perish without Law. And whosoever have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law. For not the hearers of the Law are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified.' To this passage he adds the words under discussion: for when the Gentiles who have no Law do by nature the things contained in the Law,' and the rest which I have already quoted. Evidently therefore no others seem to be represented under the title Gentiles' than those whom he had previously represented as Greeks, when he said, 'To the Jew first and to the Greek.' Further, if the

Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one who believes, to the Jew first and to the Greek; and wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory and honour and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first and to the Greek;' and if this 'Greek' represents the Gentiles, doing by nature the things of the Law, and the work of the Law which they have written in their hearts: then clearly the Gentiles who have the Law written in their hearts belong to the Gospel, which to those who believe is the power of God unto salvation. But to what Gentiles working aright could there be promised glory and honour and peace, if they are placed beyond the grace of the Gospel? For since there is no acceptance of persons. with God, and it is not the hearers of the Law but the doers who are justified; it follows that whether a man is a Jew or a Greek, that is, any Gentile who believes, he shall in either case have salvation in the Gospel. For as he afterwards says 'There is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace.' 1 Or how can it be said that the Greek doer of the Law is justified without the grace of the Saviour?

45. Nor does the Apostle contradict himself in saying that the doers of the Law shall be justified; as if men were justified by their works and not by grace: since he says that a man is freely justified by faith without the works of the Law; and by saying

1 Rom. iii. 23-24.

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ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER

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'freely,' he desires nothing else to be implied but that works do not precede justification. Indeed he openly says elsewhere, if it is of grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.' '1 But the sentence, the doers of the Law shall be justified' is to be understood as meaning that they are not otherwise doers of the Law unless they are justified so that justification is not a supplement to works but precedes them. For what else is meant by justified' than made righteous, that is, by Him. who justifies the ungodly, and out of an ungodly person makes a righteous one? For just in ordinary converse if we say that men shall be made free, it is understood to mean that freedom is to be given to those who are already men: but if we say, men shall be created, it is not understood that persons were created who were men already, but that in the act of their creation they are made men. Similarly, if it is said, that the doers of the Law shall be honoured, it is not correctly understood except as meaning that honour comes to those who are already doers of the Law: but when it is said the doers of the Law shall be justified', what else is said than that the righteous. shall be justified? For the doers of the Law are already righteous. Accordingly it is equivalent to saying, doers of the Law shall be created, not as already existing, but to give them existence: so may the Jewish hearers of the Law understand that they need the grace of the Justifier in order to become doers; or the words they will be justified' may

1 Rom. xi. 6.