After the Apostle has removed the cause and occasion of discord among the Romans, he now invites them to true peace and says:
Rom 5:1 "Therefore, having been justified" — that is, made just by God — "by faith" — that is, through the infusion of formed faith. Or: justified — that is, having wrought true justice — by faith — that is, through the habit of faith. Or: inwardly justified in the soul, without outward work, by faith — that is, by the interior act of faith, namely by believing through charity — and not through the works of the law, nor through works preceding faith.
"Let us have peace with God" — that is, let us be humbly subject to God and submit our will to the divine ordering in all things, existing quiet and tranquil in God. For blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God (Matthew 5:9). Hence Scripture speaks thus: Acquiesce in God and have peace, and by this you shall have the best fruits (cf. Job 22:21). This is the spiritual and divine peace of which the angels spoke: Peace to men of good will (Luke 2:14). And David: Great peace have those who love your law (Psalm 119:165) — which does not belong to the ungodly, according to that word of Isaiah: There is no peace for the ungodly, says the Lord (Isaiah 48:22).
"Through Jesus Christ our Lord" — because through him, or by his merit, we obtain this peace. For all the charisms of divine graces are bestowed on men through Christ insofar as he is the mediator of God and men. Hence it is added:
Rom 5:2 "Through whom" — as through the mediator and meritorious cause — "we have had access" — that is, entry — "through faith" — as through the foundation of the whole spiritual edifice; for one drawing near to God must believe — "into this grace" — that is, to the gifts and endowments of the Holy Spirit, namely to the other perfections or benefits of God — "in which grace we stand" — with the mind directed toward divine and heavenly things and not lying prostrate and immersed in earthly and base things.
For when God first infuses faith he simultaneously bestows in point of time the other virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit; faith, however, precedes by way of generation and in order of nature, since it is the foundation of the virtues. And thus through faith we have access to the other goods. Once faith has been infused, through that same faith we draw near to God in order to merit more abundant grace, insofar as we advance from strength to strength — that is, progressing daily from good to better.
"And we glory" — with spiritual joy — "in hope of glory" — that is, in the certain expectation of eternal happiness, which is the glory of the children of God — that is, of all the blessed enjoying God, who are most perfectly conformed to God. Of these it is written in Job: Where were you when the morning stars praised me together and all the children of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:7). And in the Psalm: For who in the clouds can be equalled to the Lord? Who shall be like to the Lord among the sons of God? (Psalm 89:6). By the children of God, however, all the elect foreordained to eternal life can also be understood.
And certainly this ought by right to be for us an unfailing reason for glorying — that we have hope of acquiring eternal beatitude. Hence nothing is more blessed for a Christian, to whom the kingdoms of heaven are promised.
"And not only do we glory in hope of glory" — believing that we shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living — "but we also glory in tribulations" (Rom 5:3)— that is, in adversities, persecutions, temptations, and illnesses — as James brings forward: Count it all joy, brothers, when you fall into various temptations (James 1:2). And the Savior says: Rejoice and exult in that hour, for your reward is great in heaven (Luke 6:23). For we ought to rejoice in this: that we are on the way of arriving at God. But this is the way of salvation — to be afflicted in many ways. For through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven (Acts 14:22). And rightly do we glory in tribulations.
"Knowing that tribulation works patience" — that is, produces the act of patience in the soul, or the endurance as a mediate object of the virtue called patience. For if there were no tribulation, neither would there be patience. It also strengthens the habit of patience in the soul. For patience, being a moral virtue, is properly concerned with the passion of the soul — for example with sorrow, which it orders — and looks to its act, namely the very bearing of adversity, which tribulation accidentally and occasionally introduces or produces. For frequent tribulation gives to the soul the practice of exercising patience, and so the soul becomes unshaken and immovable in the virtue of patience, so that it is sweet for her to bear tribulation for the love of God and for the purgation of her former sins.
Rom 5:4 "And patience" — that is, the equanimous endurance of adversity — "works proof" — that is, good habitual disposition, or praiseworthy exercise, or also the expurgation of vices even as regards the offering of penalty. For just as interior grief or contrition removes guilt, so the endurance of adversity removes punishment.
"And proof works hope" — that is, the act of hope, namely the certain and actual expectation of future happiness. For the man thus proved confidently awaits eternal life, according to that word of the Savior: Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10). And the word of the Wise Man: The Lord has proved the elect as gold in a furnace, and in time there shall be regard for them (Wisdom 3:6). Now the habit of hope, which is a theological virtue, is infused by God alone through creation; but its act proceeds in part from merits.
Rom 5:5 "And hope does not disappoint" — that is, it does not deceive the one hoping, nor defraud him of the good hoped for, and thus removes all shame. Hence Scripture says: No one has hoped in the Lord and been put to shame (cf. Sirach 2:10). And the Psalmist: Indeed, all who wait for you shall not be confounded (Psalm 25:3). Through Isaiah also the Lord speaks: I am the Lord; all who wait for him shall not be put to shame (Isaiah 49:23). We ought moreover to hope firmly and inviolably, so that we may say with holy Job: Even if he should kill me, in him will I hope (Job 13:15).
That hope does not disappoint but is fulfilled is evident through this: "because the love of God" — which is a supernatural theological virtue, the highest and most divine, by which we love God and neighbor, fulfill the commandments, and are made one with God so that whatever we ask we obtain — "has been poured out" — that is, broadly and liberally shed — "in our hearts" — especially in the will, which is the subject of charity — "through the Holy Spirit" — that is, by the Holy Spirit, to whom goodness, liberality, clemency, communication, and consequently the infusion of charity are appropriated — "who has been given to us" by the Father and the Son, indeed also by himself, as the pledge and earnest of eternal happiness.
For the Holy Spirit is himself both the giver and the gift, and proceeds from the Father in the manner of something that can be given, since he is himself the love or charity of the Father and the Son. Now love is the first free gift in which all gifts are given. And so the Holy Spirit is given to the elect not only in his own gift but also in himself, because through charity he is possessed and is in us in a new and special way. For this reason the Savior says: I will ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete, that he may remain with you forever, the Spirit of truth (John 14:16–17). And in the Acts of the Apostles it is read that through the laying on of the Apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given (cf. Acts 8:17).
Hence, according to blessed Thomas in the first part and on the first book of the Sentences, a divine person is said to belong to someone in two ways. First, by reason of origin — and so belongs to the one from whom he proceeds; in this way the Son and the Holy Spirit belong to the Father, and the Holy Spirit belongs to the Son. Second, by reason of enjoyment or communion — and so belongs to the one by whom he is possessed, that is, to the intellectual creature who can freely enjoy the divine person. Thus therefore the Holy Spirit has been given to us and is ours.
Hereafter the Apostle touches on the motive of our justification, and also continues with the manner of our reconciliation, and says:
Rom 5:6 "For why" — that is, for what other reason — except that the Holy Spirit might be given to us, the love of God poured out in our hearts, and hope fulfilled — "did Christ, when we were still weak" — that is, wounded by the wounds of the soul, bound by punishments and sins — "according to the time" — that is, before we were freed and purged by him — "die for the ungodly" — that is, for us who were unjust and miserable? Or that phrase according to the time refers to what follows — he died — so that the sense is: he died according to the time, that is, for the three days of burial. As if to say: This is very great and wonderful, that Christ deigned to die for us who were weak and ungodly, since he himself is the power of God and the Holy of holies.
The reason why this is so wonderful he then subjoins:
Rom 5:7 "For scarcely" — that is, rarely and with difficulty — "does anyone die for a just man" to rescue him from death. For there are few who would deign to die out of love for or in place of a just man. And I rightly said scarcely and not absolutely never or not at all. "For perhaps someone might dare to die for a good man" — that is, it can happen, though rarely, that someone consents to die for a just man; but that someone should wish to die for an ungodly man is not found, or is certainly extremely rare.
Ambrose, distinguishing between just and good so that just denotes the man who is exercised in virtues and energetic and severe in the observance of justice, while good denotes the man who is simple and innocent, not yet so exercised, expounds it thus: Scarcely does anyone die for a just man so understood. For although such a man is better than the one called good in this way, yet because he does not conduct himself without rigor and severity, his cause is judged less pitiable, or less worthy of compassion. And I have truly said that scarcely does anyone wish to die for a just man. "For perhaps someone might dare to die for a good man" — that is, for a devout, innocent, and simple man — because his cause is reckoned more pitiable, as being one who offended no one. Since therefore this is rarely found, it is certain that scarcely anyone would acquiesce in dying for a just man.
Since therefore Christ deigned to die for the ungodly, it is rightly added:
Rom 5:8 "But God" — the Father, or the Trinity — "demonstrates" — that is, shows as commendable and praiseworthy — "his love in us" — that is, the love which he has toward us and with which he loves us, through the effect of his singular loving-kindness — "because while we were still sinners" — that is, subjected to the yoke of vices and enmeshed in the bonds of sins, and not yet redeemed from original sin — "according to the time" preceding the passion of Christ, that is, before Christ died for us. For the Apostle is speaking in the person of the human race, many individuals of which preceded the time of Christ's passion and were at that time, and it is on their behalf that the Apostle says this. Or according to the time — that is, for the three days of burial — "Christ died for us" — that is, deigned to die, that we, mortified in the flesh and made alive in the spirit, might serve him in holiness and justice. In this there shines forth the inestimable love of God the Father toward us, according to that word of John: God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son (John 3:16). And the Apostle says: For the surpassing love with which God the Father loved us, he sent his Son (cf. Ephesians 2:4–5).
Rom 5:9 "Much more therefore, now justified in his blood" — that is, because Christ died for us when we were still iniquitous, weak, and sinners, how much more now, our reconciliation and liberation having been accomplished, justified — that is, purged from vices and having obtained grace through the outpouring of the blood of Christ — "shall we be saved from wrath" — that is, from eternal damnation — "through him" — namely Christ, or by his merit. For it is a greater thing to justify an ungodly man than to rescue one already justified from punishment.
Rom 5:10 "For if, when we were enemies" — that is, hateful to God on account of iniquity, rebellious, and children of wrath by nature, also on account of original sin — "we were reconciled to God" — that is, recalled to his friendship, the cause of enmity, namely sin, having been blotted out — "through the death of his Son, much more, now reconciled, shall we be saved" — not only from the aforesaid wrath but also by obtaining eternal life — "in his life" — that is, through the glorious life of Christ, or by the power of the glorified Christ. For if he was able through his death to justify us, it is most certain that, now living, he can beatify us — especially since the one is ordered toward the other, namely justification toward beatification.
A question may be raised: since the love of God is unchangeable and eternal, in what sense are we said to be reconciled to God, and in what sense were we his enemies and afterwards made his friends? The answer is that God loved all the elect from before the foundation of the world and loves them immutably according to the reason of divine predestination, but not according to the reason of present justice. We are therefore said to be reconciled to God through Christ insofar as through his passion the guilt was removed from us, by which we displeased God according to the reason and order of his justice in its relation to us.
Or the answer is that God unchangingly loves the elect with respect to the good of grace and glory which he has disposed to give them; but he hates them insofar as concerns their guilt, according to that word: You have hated all who work iniquity (Psalm 5:6). And thus they are said to be reconciled to him when guilt is removed and punishment ended. Hence the Wise Man says: You love, O Lord, all things that you have made, and hate nothing that you have made (Wisdom 11:24). The same also says elsewhere: Hateful to God are the ungodly man and his ungodliness (cf. Wisdom 14:9). For these and similar sayings posit no change in God, but in the creature, which stands in different relations to the Creator at different times.
Rom 5:11"And not only shall we be saved in this way in the future, but we also glory in God" — that is, we also now in the present exile exult through hope in God — that is, rejoicing in the contemplation and love of him, in this: that we hope one day finally to see him face to face. And so we begin in a certain manner even now in the present pilgrimage the future joy and glory.
"And we glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ" — who is for us the way and the door of access to God, and by whose merit this glorying too is given to us — and from the consideration of his passion and other benefits we hope and exult in God, who has bestowed such great things upon us through Christ — "through whom now" — that is, in the time of grace — "we have received reconciliation" with God.
CONTINUE
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