De caritate

De caritate

The question of sin, law, grace, and the gospel, as well as justification, has always been a common concern for all people and will continue to be: How can a person be justified? Philosophers and Pharisees taught that a person can be justified by their own virtues and efforts. We have taught that we are justified by faith alone, which means that the righteousness of Christ is our righteousness through faith, and that our works and efforts are nothing but sin. Whoever holds this, holds the essence of Scripture, namely that believers are justified by the mercy of God. Finally, it’s necessary for us to speak about love. As I mentioned before, the love of God is the fruit of faith. No one can truly love God if they don't understand His mercy through faith; therefore, love for God is the fruit of faith. From love of God arises love for our neighbor, as we desire to serve God in all His creatures. I can give no shorter or better rule for this kind of love. This is what it means: Love your neighbor as yourself. Augustine conceived an order of love, so that we should first love our own souls, then our bodies, first ourselves, and then others. We always prefer faith to love. Therefore, we tend to prefer those things that pertain to the soul over the needs of the body. Moreover, Christ commands that we love not only our friends but also our enemies and those who are distant from us. And Paul writes in Romans. XII, ss. You should do good to those you encounter, both friends and enemies, as the Spirit will easily judge this. Certainly, Paul wanted to take special care of those in his household, as he wrote to the Galatians and to Timothy. I don't want my spirit to be bound by such disputes, whether they are those of the Summularians or Cicero's. In the offices, where it discusses the duty of the one who has reached the same board after a shipwreck, as a wise person might hold it. Stay away from those foolish questions, which have no clear examples in human affairs!