Taken from Questiones de epistolis Pauli:
[Rom. 3:22] “Iustitia autem est per fidem Ihesu Christi.” Hie iterum
queritur, de qua fide loquatur Apostolus. Sed manifestum est quia de fide
Christi.
De qua queritur, utrum possit haberi a bonis et malis.
Et dicunt quidam, quia tides Christi est “tides operans per dilectionem”,
que a nullo nisi a bono haberi potest.
Sed potest queri ab his, quid
intelligant per fidem operantem per dilectionem, an unum an duo, id est, an
fidem tantum, an fidem cum dilectione. Sunt autem duo tides et dilectio. Dilectio enim nascitur ex fide. Quod
autem duo sint, manifestat Apostolus dicens : “Nunc autem manent tides, spes,
caritas, tria hec, maior autem his est caritas.”
Ipsi tamen, similitudine inducta,
hoc confirmant, quod tides operans per dilectionem nichil aliud est quam tides.
... (Charles P. Carlson, Jr., Justification in Earlier Medieval Theology [The
Hague, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 1975], 53)
[Rom. 3:22] “But righteousness is through the faith of Jesus
Christ.” Here again the question arises as to what kind of faith the Apostle is
speaking of. But it is clear that he is speaking of the faith of Christ.
The question is whether it can be found in both good
and evil people.
And some say that the faith of Christ is “faith working
through love,” and that this can be possessed by no one except a good person.
But one may ask them what they mean by “faith working
through love”: whether it is one thing or two—that is, whether they mean faith
alone, or faith together with love. For faith and love are two things. Love is
born from faith. That they are two is made clear by the Apostle when he says:
“Now faith, hope, and charity abide, these three; but the greatest of these is
charity.”
Yet they, using an analogy, try to prove this point,
namely that faith working through love is nothing other than faith. ...
Glossa : “Sed ei qui habet tempus operandi.” Unde, quia non excluditur hie quin
et quidam habentes tempus operandi et non facultatem, ex sola fide salvantur,
id est, sine operibus misericordie. Nam quod alibi [dicitur quod] tides sine
operibus [non] mereatur, ad terrorem est dictum; vel de interiore opere [est]
intelligendum, sine quo nemo adultus salvatur.
[Rom. 4:4] “Ei autem, qui operatur,” etc. Hie ostenditur quia valent opera
ad merendum. Sed queritur de quibus operibus hie agat, an de interioribus, an
de exterioribus. Sunt quidem exteri- ora, ut vestire pauperes, vagos et egenos
inducere in domum suam, visitare infirmos et huiusmodi. Quod si agat de
huiusmodi operibus, tunc multi sunt qui habent tempus operandi et non
operantur, ut sunt viri contemplativi qui tantum vacant contemplationi. Unde et
ipsi meriti minoris erunt quam illi qui fidem habentes huiusmodi operantur.
Item, si de opere interiore agat, quod est amore, orare et huiusmodi, cum
unusquisque iustificatus per fidem opera huiusmodi habeat, quomodo dicit hos
per solam fidem iustificari, qui non habentes tempus operandi exeunt sine
operibus. Est autem opus fidei dilectio, sine qua nemo potest exire et salvari.
Agit autem de his qui possunt in exterioribus operari; quibus, si aliqua
necessitate preventi fuerint se huiusmodi opera faciant, “sola fides sufficit
ad iustitiam." (Charles P. Carlson, Jr., Justification in Earlier
Medieval Theology [The Hague, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 1975], 54)
Glossa: “But to him who has time to work.” Hence, because this
does not exclude that even some who have the time to work but not the means are
saved by faith alone, that is, without works of mercy. For what is said
elsewhere, that faith without works does not merit, is said as a warning; or it
must be understood of the inward work, without which no adult is saved.
[Rom. 4:4] “But to him who works,” etc. Here it is shown that
works are effective for meriting. But it is asked what works he is speaking of
here, whether inward or outward. There are outward works, such as clothing the
poor, taking in the homeless and needy into one’s house, visiting the sick, and
the like. But if he is speaking of such works, then there are many who have
time to work and yet do not work, such as contemplative men, who devote
themselves only to contemplation. Therefore they will also have less merit than
those who, having faith, perform such works. Likewise, if he is speaking of
inward works, such as love, prayer, and the like, then since everyone justified
by faith has works of this kind, how does he say that those are justified by
faith alone who, having no time to work, depart this life without works? For
the work of faith is charity, without which no one can depart and be saved.
Rather, he is speaking of those who are able to work in
outward things; and if necessity prevents them from doing such works, “faith
alone suffices for righteousness.”
