The Gospel Asks More Than the Law

So we ought to know this. We are those from whom the requirements of the law are no longer demanded, but in whose ears the word of the gospel sounds every day: “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When we offer God tithes of our possessions, we are still in a way ground down under the burden of the law, and unable to rise to those heights of the gospel. Those who conform to them are rewarded not only with blessings in this present life but also with rewards to come. For the law promises those who obey it no rewards of the kingdom of heaven, but only comforts in this life, saying: “The man who does these things shall live by them.” But the Lord says to his disciples: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and: “Everyone who leaves house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or field for my name’s sake will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.” And this with good reason. For it is not so praiseworthy for us to keep away from forbidden things as from lawful ones, and to refrain from using these lawful things out of reverence for him who has allowed us to use them because of our weakness. [a]

And so, if even those who faithfully offer tithes of their crops, and obey the more ancient commands of the Lord, cannot yet climb the heights of the gospel, you can see very clearly how far short of it those fall who do not even do this. For how can those men share in the grace of the gospel who disregard even the lighter commands of the law? The weighty words of the lawgiver bear witness to how easy those commands are, since a curse is actually called down on those who do not fulfill them; for it says: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But here, because of the superiority and excellence of the commands, it is said: “Let anyone who can receive it receive it.” There, the forceful compulsion of the lawgiver shows how easy the commands are, for he says: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that if you do not keep the commandments of the Lord your God, you will perish from the face of the earth.” Here, the greatness of these sublime commands is shown by the very fact that he does not order but urges, saying: “If you want to be perfect, go,” and do this or that. There, Moses lays a burden that cannot be refused on those who are unwilling; here, Paul meets with counsels those who are willing and eager for perfection.

For what could not be achieved by everyone, because of its wonderful and lofty nature, was not to be imposed as a general charge, or required from all, if I may put it so, as a fixed rule. Instead, all are spurred on toward grace by counsels, so that those who are great may deservedly be crowned for the perfection of their virtues, while those who are small, and cannot reach “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” though they seem lost to sight and hidden, as it were, by the brightness of greater stars, may still be free from the darkness of the curses that are in the law, and not be sentenced to suffer present evils or be punished with eternal punishment. So Christ does not force anyone to those lofty heights of goodness by the compulsion of a command, but spurs them on by the power of free will, and urges them forward by wise counsels and the desire for perfection. For where there is a command, there is duty, and so there is punishment. But those who keep what the severity of the established law drives them to escape the punishment they were threatened with, rather than gaining rewards and a recompense.