Monday, April 24, 2023

Ambrosiaster on Grace and Romans 11:6

The following comes from:

 

Ali Bonner, The Myth of Pelagianism (British Academy Monographs; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 188-90

 

Ambrosiaster on grace

 

Interpreting Rom. 11:6: But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace, Ambrosiaster described two aspects of this unearned grace, both of which were a generalised grace given to all humanity. The first was God’s forgiveness of mankind’s sins, and the second was the aspect of God’s kindness that sought to heal people; Ambrosiaster described grace as something offered.264 God’s grace did not control any individual since it could be rendered void.265 Ambrosiaster consistently used the word ‘grace’ to refer to the universal gift of God’s forgiveness of mankind’s sins and Christ’s advent.266 He (p. 189) described the action of grace as ‘to goad’ (conpungere), and ‘to help’ (adiuuare).267 Faith was something to which Paul provoked people (‘to provoke’, lacessere) through his teaching and through example.268 Ambrosiaster glossed the word ‘grace’ as Paul’s teaching.269

 

Ambrosiaster consistently assumed that grace was something given to those who were worthy of receiving it, and that individuals controlled whether or not they were worthy. Just as Evagrius had done, Ambrosiaster used reflexive personal pronouns to make clear the individual’s control over whether or not he received grace.270 He stated explicitly that grace was merited. Commenting on Rom. 16:20, he said of Paul: ‘The grace which he promised he will give them by coming to them, he now prays that they will have. For if they merit to receive that grace, then he is already with them in hope.’271 Clearly for Ambrosiaster the concept of meriting grace was acceptable.

 

Ambrosiaster used the word ‘grace’ to refer to Christ’s wiping away of mankind’s sins and the resultant reconciliation between man and God.272 He also used it to denote salvation in a context in which he at the same time asserted that (p.190) this salvation lay in the control of the autonomous human will; grace was given to those who already believed:

 

[Christ] Through whom also we have access to this grace, in which we stand and rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. It is clear that through Christ we have access to the grace of God. For he is the arbitrator between God and men, who, raising us up with his teaching, made those of us who stand in his faith hope for the gift of God’s grace. And as a result of this we stand, because before we were prone on the ground, but believing, we have been raised upright, rejoicing in the hope of the glory which he has promised to us.273

 

Ambrosiaster’s interpretation of 1 Cor. 4:7: What do you have that you have not received? made no reference to grace or to being given virtue. He explained the passage as Paul referring to the fact that the Corinthians had not received anything good other than Paul’s own teaching, in the context of argument about which teachers the Corinthians should accept.274

 

Notes for the Above:

 

(264) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on Rom. 11:6 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/1, p. 365), ‘But if it is by grace, then it is not on the basis of works. It is clear that because grace is the gift of God, it is not a reward due for works, but is granted freely by reason of the mercy which intervenes. Otherwise grace would not be grace. It is true that if it is a reward it is not grace; but because it is not a reward, it is undoubtedly grace, since to grant pardon to sinners is nothing other than grace, granted to those who are not asking for it but offered to them so that they might believe. Grace therefore has two aspects to it, because it is a characteristic of God, who abounds in mercy, so that it also seeks out those whom it heals gratuitously’; ‘Si autem gratia, iam non ex operibus. Manifestum est, quia gratia donum Dei est, non debita merces operibus, sed gratuita ratione misericordia interueniente concessa. Alioquin gratia iam non est gratia. Verum est, quia si merces est, non est gratia; sed quia merces non est, sine dubio gratia est, quia ueniam peccantibus dare non est aliud quam gratia, et his qui non requirunt, sed offertur illis ut credant. Duplex ergo gratia est, quia hoc conpetit Deo, qui abundat misericordia, ut et requirat quos gratis curat.’

 

(265) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on Rom. 9:4 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/1, p. 303), ‘Once the adopted sons of God, they have made the affection and grace of God the Father ineffectual’; ‘Olim filii adoptati afectum et gratiam Dei patris in irritum deduxerunt.’

 

(266) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on Rom. 5:15–16 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/1, p. 181), ‘The grace of God abounded in the descent of the Saviour, granting forgiveness to all, when they have been raised up to heaven in triumph . … But the grace of God in Christ has justified men not from one sin but from many sins, by giving them remission of sins’; ‘Gratia Dei abundauit in descensu Saluatoris, omnibus dans indulgentiam, cum triumpho sublatis eis in caelum . … Gratia uero Dei per Christum non ex uno delicto, sed ex multis peccatis iustificauit homines, dando illis remissionem peccatorum.’

 

(267) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on Rom. 8:30 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/1, p. 291), ‘But those whom he has predestined, he has also called. To call is to help someone who is considering faith or to goad whomever God might know will listen’; ‘Quos autem praedestinauit, illos et uocauit. Vocare est cogitantem de fide adiuuare aut conpungere eum, quem sciat audire.’

 

(268) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on Rom. 1:13 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/1, p. 33), ‘He provokes them to correct faith by the example of the other Gentiles’; ‘Lacessit illos ad fidem rectam exemplo ceterarum gentium.’

 

(269) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on Rom. 1:11–12 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/1, pp. 27–9), ‘He wants to come to them quickly, so that drawing them out of that tradition, he might give them a spiritual gift, so that he might acquire them for God, making them partakers in spiritual grace . … So that the application of spiritual grace through the preaching of the Apostle might bring about this effect’; ‘Se autem cupere citius uenire, ut ab hac illos traditione abstrahens spiritale eis traderet donum, ut adquireret illos Deo, participes hos faciens gratiae spiritalis . … Vt administratio gratiae spiritalis euangelizante Apostolo hunc praestaret effectum.’

 

(270) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on Rom. 1:13 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/1, pp. 31–3), ‘He encourages them to prepare themselves, so that hearing that a spiritual grace is to be given to them, they should make themselves worthy to receive it’; ‘Hos ut se praeparent hortatur, ut audientes gratiam sibi spiritalem ministrandam ad excipiendam eam dignos se efficerent.’

 

(271) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on Rom. 16:20 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/1, p. 491), ‘Gratiam quam promisit illis in aduentu suo, iam optat esse cum illis. Si enim merentur accipere, iam cum illis est in spe.’

 

(272) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on Rom. 5:1 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/1, p. 151), ‘Faith makes us have peace with God, not the law. For this reconciles us to God when our sins have been removed, which had made us God’s enemies. And because the Lord Jesus is the minister of this grace, it is through him that we have made peace with God’; ‘Pacem cum Deo habere fides facit, non lex. Haec enim nos Deo reconciliat sublatis peccatis, quae nos Deo fecerant inimicos. Et quia Dominus Iesus huius gratiae minister est, per ipsum pacificati sumus Deo.’

 

(273) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on Rom. 5:2 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/1, p. 153), ‘Per quem et accessum habemus ad gratiam istam, in qua stamus et gloriamur in spe gloriae Dei. Manifestum est per Christum nos aditum habere ad gratiam Dei. Ipse est enim arbiter Dei et hominum, qui nos doctrina sua erigens sperare fecit donum gratiae Dei stantes in fide eius. Et ideo stantes, quia prius iacuimus, credentes autem erecti sumus gloriantes in spe claritatis quam promisit nobis.’

 

(274) Ambrosiaster, In epistolas Paulinas, on 1 Cor. 4:7 (ed. Vogels, CSEL 81/2, p. 45), ‘For what do you have that you have not received? He says that that man has not obtained anything good from anyone else beyond what he had received from the Apostle, and so it is pointless to complain. For what they possessed, they had received from the Apostle. The Apostle seems to speak to one man, because he is speaking to a part of the people’; ‘Quid autem habes quod non accepisti? Nihil illum boni ultra dicit consecutum ab aliis quam ab eo acceperat, ideo frustra queri. Quod enim habebant, ab Apostolo acceperant. Ad unum autem uidetur loqui, quia ad partem plebis loquitur.’