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| Chapter XXXIV. How a man can be shown to be under grace.
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Chapter XXXIV.
How a man can be shown to be under grace.
Whoever then strives to reach
the perfection of evangelical teaching, this man living under grace is
not oppressed by the dominion of sin, for to be under grace is to do
those things which grace commands. But whoever will not submit himself
to the complete requirements of evangelical perfection, must not remain
ignorant that, although he seems to be baptized and to be a monk, yet
he is not under grace, but is still shackled by the chains of the law,
and weighed down by the burden of sin. For it is the aim of Him, who by
the
grace of adoption accepts
all those by whom He has been received, not to destroy but to build
upon, not to abolish but to fulfil the Mosaic requirements. But some
knowing nothing about this, and disregarding the splendid counsels and
exhortations of Christ, are so emancipated by the carelessness of a
freedom too hastily assumed, that they not only fail to carry out the
commands of Christ as if they were too hard, but actually scorn as
antiquated, the commands given to them as beginners and children by the
law of Moses, saying in this dangerous freedom of theirs that which the
Apostle execrates: “We have sinned, because we are not under the
law but under grace.”2224
He then who is
neither under grace, because he has never climbed the heights of the
Lord’s teaching, nor under the law, because he has not accepted
even those small commands of the law, this man, ground down beneath a
twofold rule of sin, fancies that he has received the grace of Christ,
simply and solely for this, that by this dangerous liberty of his he
may make himself none of His, and falls into that state, which the
Apostle Peter warns us to avoid, saying: “Act as free, and not
having your liberty as a cloak of wickedness.” The blessed
Apostle Paul also says: “For ye, brethren, were called to
liberty,” i.e., that ye might be free from the dominion of sin,
“only use not your liberty for an occasion of the
flesh,”2225
i.e., believe
that the doing away with the commands of the law is a licence to sin.
But this liberty, the Apostle Paul teaches us is nowhere but where the
Lord is dwelling, for he says: “The Lord is the Spirit, but where
the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.”2226
Wherefore I know not whether I could
express and explain the meaning of the blessed Apostle, as those know
how, who have experience; one thing I do know, that it is very clearly
revealed even without anyone’s explanation to all those who have
perfectly acquired πρακτικὴ, i.e.,
practical training. For they will need no effort to understand in
discussion what they have already learnt by practice.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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