Marius
Victorinus
The first Latin commentator on the Pauline writings was
Marius Victorinus, who wrote after his conversion to Christianity in 362. He
may have written on all the letters, but the only surviving commentaries are
those on Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians. His role in the conversion of
Augustine is well known (Confessions 8:2), and he is sometimes thought
to have been an influence as well in the development of Augustine’s views on
grace and justification.
It is quite clear that Marius Victorinus teaches
salvation by grace through faith. “We know that man is not justified by the
works of the law but through faith and the faith of Jesus Christ. . . . It is
faith alone that gives justification and sanctification.” (Comm. in Gal.
2:15-16) The Spirit is received from the hearing of the faith, not the works of
the law. We are the children of Abraham, and life will be accounted to us unto
justice. We are not saved by our own merits but by the grace of God.
But, as always, when one seeks to penetrate more deeply
into those themes, a more precise specification is difficult to pin down. When he
speaks of faith, does he emphasize the fides quae, the fact that it is
faith in Christ as opposed to Judaism and paganism> When speaking of
salvific faith, he sometimes clearly specifies content: faith in Christ as the
Son of God who suffered, died, and rose for us. Believing in Christ is to gain
immortality and merit eternal life.
When he stresses faith over works, do the scorned works
really refer to the Jewish law, especially the ceremonial law? On several
occasions he specifies the works of the law as Sabbath observance,
circumcision, and new moons. Christ has now emptied the law of meaning, the law
thus “carnally understood.” Finally, one must ask the very general question:
Does he (and do the other commentators) simply repeat the terms and phraseology
of Paul without fully meaning or even understanding all that Paul understood
and intended?
Victorinus makes it clear that love is necessary: it is
the fulfillment of the law. “If a person has faith, it necessarily follows that
he will have love and these two fulfill everything which the law of Christ
commands. . . . Faith frees and love builds.” (Comm. in. Gal. 5:6) All virtue
in Christians is love because it was God’s love that freed us. “’Walk in love.
A great commandment, universally applicable, for love ends and perfects
everything. And in this is the whole law and the whole mystery of Christianity,
love and chastity.” (Comm. in Eph. 5:1)
Marius Victorinus makes it clear that we are freed from
our sins by believing in Christ. Yet it is clear as well that in life good
works are to follow this forgiveness of sins. Faith is the head of all the
virtues, so that we may be just. But there is a certain reciprocal effect as
well. Justice will benefit us if faith is there, but this faith will only be “full
faith” if we are just. Good works are necessary each day, yet they also come
from God and not from our merits. Thus all boasting on our part must be
avoided. While we must do good works according to the rule and discipline of
the commandments of Christ, we are to keep our minds on what is ahead,
forgetting the past, including our good works, lest we think of our merits. We
must live according to the rule of Christ, but we must do so as if we were
starting anew each day. We do them all by the grace of Christ (but we are to do
them!) (Robert B. Eno, “Some Patristic Views on the Relationship of Faith and
Works in Justification,” in Justification by Faith, ed. H. George
Anderson and T. Austin Murphy [Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue VII; Minneapolis,
Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1985], 113-15)
