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Chapter 5Dil.1.5

Christiano quantum incumbat debitum amoris.

The Grounds of Our Love for God

The chapter opens by showing that the measure of our love for God corresponds to the measure of our knowledge of him, and then unfolds the many titles by which God reveals himself to the believer—giver, redeemer, preserver, enricher, and glorifier—drawing on a rich chain of scriptural testimonies to display the abundance of his benefits.

Looking at all this, I believe, one recognizes clearly enough why God should be loved — that is, why he deserves to be loved. Moreover, an unbeliever who does not have the Son does not therefore have the Father either, or the Holy Spirit. For whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him, nor the Holy Spirit whom he sent.✦ It is no wonder, then, that someone who knows God less, loves him less. And yet he himself does not fail to recognize that he owes his entire self to the one from whom he has his whole existence, and whose Author he knows himself to be in the fullest sense. What, then, should I say — I who hold God as my God, the one who gives me life, not only as a generous giver, a most bountiful provider, a tender comforter, a watchful guide, but also, beyond all this, as a most lavish redeemer, an eternal preserver, one who enriches and glorifies me? As it is written: With him there is abundant redemption. And again: He entered once for all into the Holy Place, having secured an eternal redemption. And concerning preservation: He will not abandon his holy ones; they will be preserved forever. And concerning enrichment: They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing. And again: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him. And concerning glorification.✦✦✦✦✦1 We await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our body of humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory. And that passage: The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. And again: This momentary, light affliction of ours is working out for us, beyond all measure, an eternal weight of glory in the splendor of what is to come — for we do not fix our eyes on what is seen, but on what is not seen.✦✦✦2

The Debt That Reason and Faith Demand

The Psalmist's question—what shall I render to the Lord?—introduces an argument that both natural reason and Christian faith oblige the whole person to love God entirely, all the more because he has given not only creation but himself.

What can I give back to the Lord for all these things?✦ Reason urges him, and natural justice, to give himself over entirely to the one from whom he has his whole self, and to owe love entirely out of his whole self. For my part, faith presses me all the more to love him the more I understand that he is to be valued far beyond myself — since I hold him as the giver not only of my own self, but of his own self as well. After all, the time of faith had not yet come; God had not yet made himself known in the flesh, had not yet died on the cross, had not yet come forth from the tomb, had not yet returned to the Father. I say nothing, then, of how he had not yet commended his great love in us — that love about which we have already spoken at length — when now the commandment is given to man to love the Lord his God with his whole heart, with his whole soul, with his whole strength: that is, with all that he is, all that he knows, all that he can do.✦✦✦✦3 And yet God is not unjust, claiming his own work and gifts for himself. Why, then, would the work not love its maker, since it has the means by which it could? And why not as much as it possibly could, since it can do absolutely nothing except by his gift? And this — that it was created from nothing, freely, and in this dignity — makes the debt of love more evident and shows the obligation more exacting and more just.

The Surpassing Kindness of Restoration

God's mercy in saving both humans and beasts leads to a meditation on how far greater is the debt owed for restoration than for creation, since God not only spoke the world into being but endured suffering and shame to restore fallen humanity, giving himself and thereby giving us back to ourselves.

Moreover, how great an increase in kindness do we think was added, since God saved both human beings and beasts of burden — how abundantly did he multiply his mercy!✦ I mean us — we who exchanged our glory for the likeness of a calf eating hay, and by sinning were compared to brute beasts.✦ But if I owe my whole self for having been made, what more can I add now — both for having been restored, and restored in this way? For restoration is not as easy as making — since it is written not only about me, but about everything that was made: He spoke, and it was made.✦ But the one who made me by a single word, once and for all — in restoring me he surely spoke many things, and did wonderful things, and endured harsh things; and not only harsh things, but shameful ones as well. What then shall I repay the Lord for all the things he has repaid to me? In the first work he gave me to myself; in the second, he gave himself: and when he gave himself, he gave me back to myself. Having been given, then, and having been restored, I owe myself for my own sake — and I owe it twice over.

The Insufficiency of All Repayment

The chapter closes with a humble cry of wonder: even if one could repay God a thousand times over, the creature remains incomparable to the Creator, and no return can match the gift of God giving himself.

What can I give back to God for giving himself to me? Even if I could repay him a thousand times over, what am I compared to God?

Read the original Latin

Intuens ergo haec, credo, satis agnoscit quare Deus diligendus sit, hoc est, unde diligi mereatur. Caeterum infidelis non habens Filium, nec Patrem proinde habet, nec Spiritum sanctum. Qui enim non honorificat Filium, non honorificat Patrem qui missit illum; sed nec Spiritum sanctum quem misit ille. Is itaque mirum non est, si quem minus agnoscit, minus et diligit. Attamen et ipse totum ei sese debere non ignorat, quem sui totius non ignorat auctorem. Quid ergo ego, qui Deum meum teneo vitae meae non solum gratuitum largitorem, largissimum administratorem, pium consolatorem, sollicitum gubernatorem; sed insuper etiam copiosissimum redemptorem, aeternum conservatorem, ditatorem, glorificatorem? sicut scriptum est, Copiosa apud eum redemptio: et item, Introivit semel in Sancta, aeterna redemptione inventa: et de conservatione, Non relinquet sanctos suos; in aeternum conservabuntur: et de locupletatione, Mensuram bonam, et confertam, et coagitatam, et superefluentem dabunt in sinum vestrum: et rursum, Nec oculus vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quae praeparavit Deus diligentibus se: et de glorificatione. Salvatorem exspectamus Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, qui reformabit corpus humilitatis nostrae, configuratum corpori claritatis suae: et illud, Non sunt condignae passione hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam, quae revelabitur in nobis: et iterum, Id quod in praesenti est momentaneum et leve tribulationis nostrae, supra modum in sublimitate aeternum gloriae pondus operatur in nobis, non contemplantibus quae videntur, sed quae non videntur.

Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus his? Illum ratio urget et justitia naturalis totum se tradere illi, a quo se totum habet, et ex se toto debere diligere. Mihi profecto fides tanto plus indicit amandum, quanto et eum me ipso pluris aestimandum intelligo: quippe qui illum non solum mei, sed sui quoque ipsius teneo largitorem. Denique nondum tempus fidei advenerat, nondum innotuerat in carne Deus, obierat in cruce, prodierat de sepulcro, redierat ad Patrem: nondum, inquam, commendaverat in nobis suam multam dilectionem, illam de qua jam multa locuti sumus, cum jam mandatum est homini diligere Dominum Deum suum ex toto corde, tota anima, tota virtute sua, id est ex omni quod est, quod scit, quod potest. Nec tamen injustus Deus, suum sibi vindicans opus et dona. Utquid enim non amaret opus artificem, cum haberet unde id posset? Et cur non quantum omnino posset, cum nihil omnino nisi ejus munere posset? Ad haec, quod de nihilo, quod gratis, quod in hac dignitate conditum est; et debitum dilectionis manifestius facit, et exactum justiorem ostendit.

Caeterum quantum putamus adjectum beneficii, cum homines et jumenta salvavit, quemadmodum multiplicavit misericordiam suam Deus? Nos dico, qui mutavimus gloriam nostram in similitudinem vituli comedentis fenum, peccando comparati jumentis insipientibus. Quod si totum me debeo pro me facto, quid addam jam et pro refecto et refecto hoc modo? Nec enim tam facile refectus, quam factus: siquidem non solum de me, sed de omni quoque quod factum est, scriptum est, Dixit, et facta sunt. At vero qui me tantum et semel dicendo fecit, in reficiendo profecto et dixit multa, et gessit mira, et pertulit dura; nec tantum dura, sed et indigna. Quid ergo retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi? In primo opere me mihi dedit; in secundo, se: et ubi se dedit, me mihi reddidit. Datus ergo, et redditus, me pro me debeo, et bis debeo.

Quid Deo retribuam pro se? Nam etiam si me millies rependere possem, quid sum ego ad Deum?

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩John.5.23 — so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Son, the one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
  2. ↩Ps.130.7 — O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
  3. ↩Heb.9.12 — Neither through the blood of goats and bulls, but through his own blood he entered once for all into the holy places, having obtained eternal redemption.
  4. ↩Ps.37.28 — For the LORD loves justice, and he will not abandon his faithful ones; they are kept safe forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
  5. ↩Luke.6.38 — Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, they will put into your lap. For with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you.
  6. ↩1Cor.2.9 — But as it is written: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived—all that God has prepared for those who love him.
  7. ↩Phil.3.21 — who will transform the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.
  8. ↩Rom.8.18 — For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is about to be revealed to us.
  9. ↩2Cor.4.17-2Cor.4.18 — For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 2Cor.4.18 — So we do not focus on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
  10. ↩Ps.116.12 — What shall I return to the LORD, for all his benefits toward me?
  11. ↩Deut.6.5 — And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
  12. ↩Matt.22.37 — And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
  13. ↩Mark.12.30 — And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
  14. ↩Luke.10.27 — And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
  15. ↩Ps.35.7 — For without cause they have hidden for me the pit of their net; without cause they have dug a pit for my life.
  16. ↩Ps.105.20 — A king sent and released him; a ruler of peoples set him free.
  17. ↩Ps.32.9;Ps.148.5 — Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle — or it will not come near you. Ps.148.5 — Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded, and they were created.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩This sentence strings together multiple scriptural citations and allusions: Ps 130:7 (copiosa apud eum redemptio), Heb 9:12 (introivit semel in Sancta), Ps 37:28 / 1 Macc (non relinquet sanctos suos), Luke 6:38 (mensuram bonam… dabunt in sinum vestrum), and 1 Cor 2:9 (nec oculus vidit… quae praeparavit Deus diligentibus se). Final resolution of quotation status belongs to tx-08 Moses resolution.
  2. 2 ↩This sentence weaves together Phil 3:21 (reformabit corpus humilitatis nostrae), Rom 8:18 (non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis), and 2 Cor 4:17-18 (momentaneum et leve tribulationis… pondus operatur… non contemplantibus quae videntur, sed quae non videntur). Final quotation resolution belongs to tx-08.
  3. 3 ↩The closing clause echoes the Shema / Great Commandment (Deut 6:5; Matt 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27), rendered here in its fullest New Testament form.

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