Thomas Hobbes · Complete work
Religion, Chapter XVII, 2
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The government of Christ in this world was not a sovereignty, but counsel, or a government by way of doctrine and persuasion.
6 Now, although the kingdom of God by Christ to be established with a new covenant, were heavenly; we must not therefore think, that they, who believing in Christ would make that covenant, were not so to be governed here on the earth too, as that they should persevere in their faith and obedience promised by that covenant. For in vain had the kingdom of heaven been promised, if we were not to have been led into it; but none can be led, but those who are directed in the way. Moses, when he had instituted the priestly kingdom, himself though he were no priest, yet ruled and conducted the people all the time of their peregrination, until their entrance into the promised land. In the same manner is it our Saviour’s office, (whom God in this thing would have like unto Moses), as he was sent from his Father, so to govern the future subjects of his heavenly kingdom in this life, that they might attain to and enter into that; although the kingdom were not properly his, but his Father’s. But the government whereby Christ rules the faithful ones in this life, is not properly a kingdom or dominion, but a pastoral charge, or the right of teaching; that is to say, God the Father gave him not a power to judge of meum and tuum, as he doth to the kings of the earth; nor a coercive power, nor legislative; but of showing to the world, and teaching them the way and knowledge of salvation; that is to say, of preaching and declaring what they were to do, who would enter into the kingdom of heaven. That Christ had received no power from his Father to judge in questions of meum and tuum, that is to say, in all questions of right among those who believed not, those words above cited do sufficiently declare: Man, who made me a judge or divider between you? And it is confirmed by reason. For seeing Christ was sent to make a covenant between God and men; and no man is obliged to perform obedience before the contract be made; if he should have judged of questions of right, no man had been tied to obey his sentence. But that the discerning of right was not committed to Christ in this world, neither among the faithful nor among infidels, is apparent in this; that that right without all controversy belongs to princes, as long as it is not by God himself derogated from their authority. But it is not derogated before the day of judgment; as appears by the words of St. Paul, speaking of the day of judgment (1 Cor. xv. 24): Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. Secondly, the words of our Saviour reproving James and John, when they had said (Luke ix. 54): Wilt thou that we call for fire from heaven, that it may consume them? (namely the Samaritans, who had denied to receive him going up to Jerusalem): and replying (verse 56), The Son of man is not come to destroy souls, but to save them; and those words: Behold I send you as sheep among wolves; Shake off the dust of your feet; and the like; and those words, God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved; and those: If any man hear my words, and keep them not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, &c.: do all show, that he had no power given him to condemn or punish any man. We read indeed, that the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son; but since that both may, and must be understood of the day of future judgment, it doth not at all repugn what hath been said before. Lastly, that he was not sent to make new laws, and that therefore by his office and mission he was no legislator properly so called, nor Moses neither, but a bringer and publisher of his Father’s laws, (for God only, and neither Moses nor Christ, was a king by covenant), is collected hence; that he said, I came not to destroy, (to wit, the laws before given from God by Moses, which he presently interprets), but to fulfil; and, He that shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Christ therefore had not a royal or sovereign power committed to him from his Father in this world, but councillary and doctrinal only; which himself signifies, as well then when he calls his apostles not hunters, but fishers of men; as when he compares the kingdom of God to a grain of mustard-seed, and to a little leaven hid in meal.
What the promises of the new covenant are on both parts.
7 God promised unto Abraham, first, a numerous seed, the possession of the land of Canaan, and a blessing upon all nations in his seed, on this condition; that he and his seed should serve him: next, unto the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, a priestly kingdom, a government most free, in which they were to be subject to no human power, on this condition; that they should serve the God of Abraham on that fashion which Moses should teach: lastly, both to them and to all nations, a heavenly and eternal kingdom, on condition that they should serve the God of Abraham on that manner which Christ should teach. For by the new, that is to say, the Christian covenant, it is covenanted on men’s part, to serve the God of Abraham on that manner which Jesus should teach: on God’s part, to pardon their sins, and bring them into his celestial kingdom. We have already spoken of the quality of the heavenly kingdom, above in art. 5; but it is usually called, sometimes the kingdom of heaven, sometimes the kingdom of glory, sometimes the life eternal. What is required on men’s part, namely, to serve God as Christ should teach, contains two things; obedience to be performed to God, (for this is to serve God); and faith in Jesus, to wit, that we believe Jesus to be that Christ who was promised by God; for that only is the cause why his doctrine is to be followed, rather than any other’s. Now in holy Scriptures, repentance is often put instead of obedience; because Christ teacheth everywhere, that with God the will is taken for the deed; but repentance is an infallible sign of an obedient mind. These things being understood, it will most evidently appear out of many places of sacred Scripture, that those are the conditions of the Christian covenant which we have named; to wit, giving remission of sins and eternal life on God’s part; and repenting and believing in Jesus Christ, on men’s part. First, the words, (Mark i. 15): The kingdom of God is at hand; Repent ye and believe the gospel, contain the whole covenant. In like manner those (Luke xxiv. 46-47): Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And those (Acts iii. 19): Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come, &c. And sometimes one part is expressly propounded, and the other understood, as here (John iii. 36): He that believeth in the Son, hath everlasting life; He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him: where faith is expressed, repentance not mentioned; and in Christ’s preaching (Matth. iv. 17): Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand: where repentance is expressed, faith is understood. But the parts of this new contract are most manifestly and formally set down there, where a certain ruler, bargaining as it were for the kingdom of God, asketh our Saviour (Luke xviii. 18): Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? But Christ first propounds one part of the price, namely, observation of the commandments, or obedience; which when he answered that he had kept, he adjoins the other, saying (verse 22): Yet lackest thou one thing; Sell all that thou hast, and distribute to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. This was matter of faith. He therefore not giving sufficient credit to Christ and his heavenly treasures, went away sorrowful. The same covenant is contained in these words (Mark xvi. 16): He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned: where faith is expressed, repentance is supposed in those that are baptized. And in these words (John iii. 5): Except a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven: where, to be born of water, is the same with regeneration, that is to say, conversion to Christ. Now that baptism is required in the two places cited just before, and in divers others, we must understand, that what circumcision was to the old covenant, that baptism is to the new. Seeing therefore that was not of the essence, but served for a memorial of the old covenant, as a ceremony or sign, (and was omitted in the wilderness); in like manner this also is used, not as pertaining to the essence, but in memory and for a sign of the new covenant which we make with God. And provided the will be not wanting, the act through necessity may be omitted; but repentance and faith, which are of the essence of the covenant, are always required.
There are no laws added by Christ, beside the institution of the sacraments.
8 In the kingdom of God after this life, there will be no laws; partly, because there is no room for laws, where there is none for sins; partly, because laws were given us from God, not to direct us in heaven, but unto heaven. Let us now therefore inquire what laws Christ established not himself; for he would not take upon him any legislative authority, as hath been declared above in art. 6; but propounded to us for his Father’s. We have a place in Scripture, where he contracts all the laws of God published till that time, into two precepts. (Matth. xxii. 37, 38, 39, 40): Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. The first of these was given before by Moses in the same words (Deut. vi. 5); and the second even before Moses; for it is the natural law, having its beginning with rational nature itself: and both together is the sum of all laws. For all the laws of divine natural worship, are contained in these words, Thou shalt love God; and all the laws of divine worship due by the old covenant, in these words, Thou shalt love thy God, that is to say, God, as being the peculiar King of Abraham and his seed; and all the laws natural and civil, in these words, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. For he that loves God and his neighbour, hath a mind to obey all laws, both divine and human. But God requires no more than a mind to obey. We have another place where Christ interprets the laws, namely, the fifth, sixth, and seventh entire chapters of St. Matthew’s Gospel. But all those laws are set down either in the decalogue or in the moral law, or are contained in the faith of Abraham; as that law of not putting away a wife is contained in the faith of Abraham. For that same, two shall be one flesh, was not delivered, either by Christ first, or by Moses, but by Abraham, who first preached the creation of the world. The laws therefore which Christ contracts in one place, and explains in another, are no other than those to which all mortal men are obliged, who acknowledge the God of Abraham. Beside these, we read not of any law given by Christ, beside the institution of the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist.
That these and the like forms, repent, be baptized, keep the commandments, are not laws.
9 What may be said then of these kind of precepts, Repent, Be baptized, Keep the Commandments, Believe the Gospel, Come unto me, Sell all that thou hast, Give to the poor, Follow me; and the like? We must say that they are not laws, but a calling of us to the faith: such as is that of Isaiah (lv. 1): Come; buy wine and milk without money and without price. Neither if they come not, do they therefore sin against any law, but against prudence only; neither shall their infidelity be punished, but their former sins. Wherefore St. John saith of the unbeliever, The wrath of God abideth on him; he saith not, The wrath of God shall come upon him. And, He that believeth not, is already judged; he saith not, shall be judged, but is already judged. Nay, it cannot be well conceived, that remission of sins should be a benefit arising from faith, unless we understand also on the other side, that the punishment of sins is an hurt proceeding from infidelity.
It belongs to the civil authority, to define what the sin of injustice is.
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from Hobbes’s own 1651 English version of De Cive, complete (epistle, preface, eighteen chapters with annotations; Molesworth’s 1841 text) for fidelity, the author’s force and cadence, and modern clarity. Molesworth’s index is omitted.
Christ’s government in this world was not sovereignty but counsel, a government through teaching and persuasion.
6 Although the kingdom of God to be established by Christ under a new covenant was heavenly, we must not suppose that those who believed in Christ and entered that covenant were not also to be governed here on earth so that they would persevere in the faith and obedience promised by it. The kingdom of heaven would have been promised in vain if we were not to be led into it; and none can be led there without being shown the way. Moses established the priestly kingdom; though no priest himself, he ruled and guided the people throughout their wanderings until they entered the promised land. Similarly, our Savior’s office—as one whom God wished in this respect to be like Moses—was to govern the future subjects of his heavenly kingdom during this life, as one sent by his Father, so that they could reach and enter it; though the kingdom belonged properly not to him but to his Father. Yet Christ’s government of the faithful in this life is not properly kingship or dominion, but a pastoral charge, or the right to teach. God the Father gave him neither the power that earthly kings have to judge questions of mine and yours, nor coercive or legislative power, but the power to show the world and teach it the way and knowledge of salvation: to preach and declare what those who wished to enter the kingdom of heaven must do. The words already quoted sufficiently show that Christ received no power from his Father to judge questions of mine and yours—that is, questions of rights among unbelievers: “Man, who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you?” Reason confirms it. Christ was sent to make a covenant between God and humanity, and no one is bound to obey before making a contract; had he judged questions of rights, no one would have been bound to obey his sentence. But his lack of jurisdiction over rights in this world, among believers no less than unbelievers, is clear because that right unquestionably belongs to rulers until God himself withdraws it from their authority. He does not withdraw it before the day of judgment, as St. Paul’s words concerning that day show (1 Cor. xv. 24): “Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have abolished all rule, authority, and power.” Secondly, consider our Savior’s rebuke of James and John when they said (Luke ix. 54): “Do you wish us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”—the Samaritans who refused to receive him on his way to Jerusalem—and his reply (verse 56): “The Son of Man has not come to destroy souls but to save them.” Consider also “Behold, I send you as sheep among wolves”; “Shake the dust from your feet”; and similar words, as well as “God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him,” and “If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I came not to judge the world,” and so forth. All these show that he had been given no power to condemn or punish anyone. We do read that the Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son. But since this can and must be understood of the future day of judgment, it in no way contradicts what has been said. Finally, he was not sent to make new laws and so, by virtue of his office and mission, was not properly a legislator—nor was Moses—but a bearer and herald of his Father’s laws, since God alone, not Moses or Christ, was king by covenant. This follows from his words: “I came not to destroy”—meaning the laws previously given by God through Moses, which he immediately interprets—“but to fulfill”; and “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” Thus Christ had no royal or sovereign power committed to him by his Father in this world, but only the power of counsel and teaching. He signifies this both when he calls his apostles fishers of men rather than hunters and when he compares God’s kingdom to a mustard seed and to a little leaven hidden in flour.
The promises of the new covenant on both sides.
7 God first promised Abraham numerous descendants, possession of the land of Canaan, and a blessing for all nations through his seed, on condition that he and his descendants serve him. Next he promised Abraham’s descendants in the flesh a priestly kingdom, a government of the greatest freedom in which they would be subject to no human power, on condition that they serve Abraham’s God in the manner Moses would teach. Finally he promised both them and all nations a heavenly and eternal kingdom, on condition that they serve Abraham’s God as Christ would teach. For in the new, that is, the Christian covenant, humanity covenants to serve Abraham’s God as Jesus teaches, and God covenants to forgive their sins and bring them into his heavenly kingdom. We have already discussed the nature of the heavenly kingdom in art. 5; it is variously called the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of glory, and eternal life. What is required of humanity—to serve God as Christ teaches—contains two things: obedience to God, which is what serving God means, and faith in Jesus, namely, belief that Jesus is the Christ God promised. For this alone is the reason to follow his doctrine rather than anyone else’s. Now Holy Scripture often puts repentance in place of obedience, because Christ teaches everywhere that God accepts the will as the deed, and repentance is an unfailing sign of a mind disposed to obey. Once this is understood, many passages of sacred Scripture make it perfectly clear that the Christian covenant has the conditions we have named: forgiveness of sins and eternal life on God’s part, repentance and faith in Jesus Christ on ours. First, the words (Mark i. 15), “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel,” contain the whole covenant. Likewise these words (Luke xxiv. 46-47): “Thus it is written, and thus Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day; and repentance and forgiveness of sins must be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” And these (Acts iii. 19): “Repent and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing come,” and so forth. Sometimes one part is expressed and the other understood, as here (John iii. 36): “Whoever believes in the Son has everlasting life; whoever does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but God’s wrath remains upon him.” Faith is expressed here, repentance omitted. And in Christ’s preaching (Matth. iv. 17), “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” repentance is expressed and faith understood. But the terms of this new contract are set out most plainly and formally when a certain ruler asks our Savior (Luke xviii. 18), as though bargaining for God’s kingdom: “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Christ first sets out one part of the price—keeping the commandments, or obedience. When the man answers that he has kept them, Christ adds the other (verse 22): “One thing you still lack: sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” This concerned faith. For want of sufficient trust in Christ and his heavenly treasures, the man went away sorrowful. The same covenant appears in these words (Mark xvi. 16): “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved; whoever does not believe shall be condemned.” Faith is expressed here, repentance assumed in those baptized. And in these words (John iii. 5): “Unless a person is born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” Here birth of water is the same as regeneration, that is, conversion to Christ. As to the requirement of baptism in those two passages and many others, we must understand that baptism stands to the new covenant as circumcision stood to the old. Circumcision was not essential to the old covenant, but served as a ceremonial memorial or sign of it, and was omitted in the wilderness. In the same way baptism is used not as something essential, but as a memorial and sign of the new covenant we make with God. Provided the will is present, necessity may prevent the act; but repentance and faith, which are essential to the covenant, are always required.
Christ added no laws besides the institution of the sacraments.
8 In the kingdom of God after this life there will be no laws: partly because laws have no place where sins have none, and partly because God gave us laws to guide us not in heaven but toward heaven. Let us therefore inquire what laws Christ set before us on his Father’s authority, not on his own, since, as stated in art. 6, he claimed no legislative authority. In one passage of Scripture he reduces all God’s laws published up to that time to two precepts (Matth. xxii. 37, 38, 39, 40): “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Moses had already given the first in the same words (Deut. vi. 5); the second precedes even Moses, for it is natural law, originating with rational nature itself. Together they sum up all laws. All the laws of the natural worship owed to God are contained in “You shall love God”; all the laws of divine worship owed under the old covenant in “You shall love your God,” that is, God as the particular king of Abraham and his descendants; and all natural and civil laws in “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Anyone who loves God and neighbor intends to obey every law, divine and human; and God requires nothing more than the intention to obey. Another passage in which Christ interprets the laws comprises the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of St. Matthew’s Gospel. Yet all these laws are given either in the Decalogue or the moral law, or contained in Abraham’s faith, as the prohibition on putting away a wife is contained in Abraham’s faith. For the saying “the two shall be one flesh” was first delivered neither by Christ nor by Moses, but by Abraham, who first preached the creation of the world. The laws Christ summarizes in one place and explains in another are therefore none other than those binding on all mortal people who acknowledge Abraham’s God. Beyond these, we read of no law given by Christ except the institution of the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist.
That “Repent,” “Be baptized,” “Keep the commandments,” and similar expressions are not laws.
9 What, then, should be said of such precepts as “Repent,” “Be baptized,” “Keep the commandments,” “Believe the gospel,” “Come to me,” “Sell all you have,” “Give to the poor,” “Follow me,” and the like? We must say they are not laws but a summons to faith, like Isaiah’s invitation (lv. 1): “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Those who do not come do not thereby sin against a law, but act only against prudence; it is not their unbelief that will be punished, but their previous sins. Thus St. John says of an unbeliever, “God’s wrath remains upon him,” not “God’s wrath shall come upon him.” And “Whoever does not believe is already judged”: not “shall be judged,” but “is already judged.” Indeed, we could hardly understand forgiveness of sins as a benefit arising from faith unless, conversely, we also understood the punishment of sins as a harm resulting from unbelief.
Defining the sin of injustice belongs to the civil authority.
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from Hobbes’s own 1651 English version of De Cive, complete (epistle, preface, eighteen chapters with annotations; Molesworth’s 1841 text). Molesworth’s index is omitted.
Christ’s government in this world was not sovereign rule. It was guidance through teaching and persuasion.
6 God’s kingdom, to be established through Christ by a new covenant, was heavenly. Still, we must not think that people who believed in Christ and entered this covenant needed no government here on earth to keep them faithful and obedient to what they promised. The promise of heaven would be useless if we were not led there. And no one can be led without directions along the way. Moses established the priestly kingdom. Although he was not a priest himself, he governed and guided the people throughout their journey until they entered the promised land. Our Savior has a similar office; in this respect God intended him to be like Moses. His Father sent him to guide this life’s future subjects of the heavenly kingdom so that they could reach and enter it, though the kingdom properly belonged to the Father, not to him. But Christ’s government of believers in this life is not properly a kingdom or dominion. It is a pastor’s responsibility, the right to teach. God the Father did not give him the power to judge what is mine and what is yours, as he gives earthly kings. Nor did he give Christ coercive or legislative power. He gave him the work of showing the world and teaching it the way to salvation and knowledge of it: preaching and declaring what people must do to enter heaven’s kingdom. The words quoted above make clear that Christ received no power from his Father to judge disputes over what is mine and yours, that is, any question of rights among unbelievers: “Man, who appointed me a judge or divider between you?” Reason confirms it. Christ was sent to make a covenant between God and human beings, and no one owes obedience before making the contract. So if Christ had judged disputes over rights, no one would have been obliged to obey his rulings. It is also clear that in this world he was not charged with deciding rights among believers or unbelievers. That right unquestionably belongs to princes unless God himself removes it from their authority. God does not remove it before the day of judgment, as St. Paul’s words about that day show (1 Cor. xv. 24): “Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after abolishing every rule, authority, and power.” Second, consider our Savior’s rebuke of James and John. The Samaritans had refused to receive him on his way to Jerusalem, so they asked (Luke ix. 54): “Do you want us to call fire down from heaven to consume them?” He answered (verse 56): “The Son of man did not come to destroy lives but to save them.” Consider also “I send you like sheep among wolves,” “Shake the dust from your feet,” and similar sayings. There are also these words: “God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but to save the world through him,” and “If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. I did not come to judge the world,” and so forth. All show that Christ was given no power to condemn or punish anyone. We do read that the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son. But that can, and must, refer to the future day of judgment, so it does not contradict what has just been said. Finally, Christ was not sent to make new laws. By virtue of his office and mission, he was not a legislator in the strict sense. Nor was Moses. Both delivered and published the Father’s laws, since only God, not Moses or Christ, was king by covenant. We can see this from Christ’s words: “I came not to destroy” the laws previously given by God through Moses, which he goes on to interpret, “but to fulfill them.” He also says, “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” His Father therefore entrusted Christ with no royal or sovereign power in this world, only the power to advise and teach. Christ himself shows this both when he calls his apostles fishers of people, not hunters, and when he compares God’s kingdom to a mustard seed and to a little yeast mixed into flour.
What each side promises in the new covenant.
7 God first promised Abraham many descendants, possession of Canaan, and a blessing for all nations through his descendants, on condition that Abraham and his descendants serve him. Next, God promised Abraham’s descendants by birth a priestly kingdom, a government with the greatest freedom, in which they would answer to no human power. The condition was that they serve Abraham’s God as Moses would teach them. Finally, God promised both them and every nation a heavenly and eternal kingdom, on condition that they serve Abraham’s God as Christ would teach. Under the new, Christian covenant, human beings promise to serve Abraham’s God in the way Jesus teaches. God promises to forgive their sins and bring them into his heavenly kingdom. We have already discussed the nature of the heavenly kingdom in art. 5. It is commonly called the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of glory, or eternal life. What people must do—serve God as Christ teaches—has two parts: obedience to God, which is what serving God means; and faith in Jesus, believing that Jesus is the Christ whom God promised. This faith alone is the reason to follow his teaching rather than someone else’s. Scripture often uses repentance in place of obedience, because Christ teaches everywhere that God accepts the will as the deed. Repentance is a sure sign of a mind willing to obey. With this understood, many passages of Scripture clearly show the conditions of the Christian covenant that we have named. God gives forgiveness of sins and eternal life; people repent and believe in Jesus Christ. First, the words (Mark i. 15) “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel” contain the whole covenant. So do these words (Luke xxiv. 46-47): “It is written that Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to every nation, starting in Jerusalem.” And these (Acts iii. 19): “Repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out when times of refreshment come,” and so forth. Sometimes one part is stated and the other is understood. For example (John iii. 36): “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not believe in the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him.” Faith is stated and repentance left unstated. Christ’s preaching (Matth. iv. 17) says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Repentance is stated and faith understood. The terms of this new contract appear most clearly and formally when a certain ruler seems to bargain for God’s kingdom. He asks our Savior (Luke xviii. 18): “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Christ first names part of the price: keeping the commandments, or obedience. When the man answers that he has kept them, Christ adds the other part (verse 22): “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give the proceeds to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” This called for faith. The ruler did not trust Christ and his heavenly treasures enough, and went away sad. The same covenant appears in these words (Mark xvi. 16): “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Faith is stated; repentance is assumed in those who are baptized. And in these words (John iii. 5): “Unless someone is born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” Birth from water here is the same as regeneration, or conversion to Christ. Baptism is required in these two passages and in several others. We must understand that baptism stands in the new covenant as circumcision stood in the old. Circumcision was not essential to the old covenant. It served as a ceremony or sign reminding people of it, and was omitted in the wilderness. Likewise, baptism is used not as an essential part but as a memorial and sign of the new covenant we make with God. When someone is willing but necessity prevents the act, it may be omitted. But repentance and faith are essential to the covenant and always required.
Christ added no laws except the institution of the sacraments.
8 There will be no laws in God’s kingdom after this life. One reason is that laws have no place where sin has no place. Another is that God gave us laws to direct us toward heaven, not to direct us once we are there. So let us ask what laws Christ presented to us as coming from his Father, not what laws he himself established. As explained above in art. 6, he did not claim legislative authority. In one passage he brings together all the laws God had published up to that time in two commands (Matth. xxii. 37, 38, 39, 40): “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Moses had already given the first in the same words (Deut. vi. 5). The second predates Moses: it is the law of nature, originating with rational nature itself. Together they sum up all laws. “Love God” contains all the laws of natural worship due to God. “Love your God” contains all the laws of worship due to God under the old covenant: it means worshiping him as the particular king of Abraham and his descendants. “Love your neighbor as yourself” contains all natural and civil laws. Anyone who loves God and their neighbor is willing to obey all laws, divine and human. God requires no more than the will to obey. There is another passage in which Christ explains the laws: the whole of chapters five, six, and seven of St. Matthew’s Gospel. But all those laws either appear in the Ten Commandments or in moral law, or are included in Abraham’s faith. For example, the rule against divorcing a wife is included in Abraham’s faith. The declaration that two will become one flesh was first delivered neither by Christ nor by Moses, but by Abraham, who first preached the creation of the world. So the laws Christ sums up in one passage and explains in another are simply the laws binding all mortals who acknowledge the God of Abraham. Apart from these, we read of no law Christ gave except the institution of the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist.
Expressions such as “Repent,” “Be baptized,” and “Keep the commandments” are not laws.
9 What, then, should we say about commands like “Repent,” “Be baptized,” “Keep the commandments,” “Believe the gospel,” “Come to me,” “Sell everything you have,” “Give to the poor,” and “Follow me”? They are not laws, but calls to faith. Isaiah’s words (lv. 1) are like them: “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without paying.” Those who do not come do not thereby break a law; they act unwisely. Their unbelief will not be punished, but their earlier sins will. That is why St. John says of the unbeliever, “God’s wrath remains on him,” not “God’s wrath will come upon him.” And he says, “Whoever does not believe has already been judged,” not “will be judged.” In fact, we cannot properly understand the forgiveness of sins as a benefit arising from faith unless we also understand the punishment of sins as a harm that follows unbelief.
Defining the sin of injustice belongs to the civil authority.