第十三节 信一切善皆出于主，则不以行为为功
439# 人在仁义的实践中，若相信一切善皆出于主，便不将功德置于行为之中。
人为得救而行的行为，若将功德置于其中，乃是有害的；因为其中潜藏着诸恶，而行事者对此毫无所知。其内潜藏着：否认上帝在人里面的流入与运行；在关乎救恩之事上信靠自己的能力；信自己而不信上帝；自我称义；凭自己的力量得救；使神性的恩典与怜悯归于无有；拒绝通过神性媒介而来的改造与重生；尤其贬损主上帝拯救者的功德与公义，而这些原本唯独归属于祂。此外，其中还潜藏着对赏报的持续注视，并将赏报视为首要与终极目的；使对主的爱与对邻舍的爱被淹没并熄灭；对天堂之爱那不带功德的快乐全然无知，也无从感知，而只感觉自爱之乐。
因为凡将赏报置于首位、将救恩置于次位的人，也就是为赏报而求救恩的人，乃是颠倒了秩序；他们把自己心思内在的欲求沉没于自我之中，并在身体中以自己肉体的恶玷污这些欲求。因此，带功德的善在天使面前显现如铁锈；而不带功德的善，则显现如紫红之华彩。
主在路加福音中教导说，不可为了赏报这个目的而行善：“你们若善待那善待你们的人，有什么可酬谢的呢？……你们倒要爱你们的仇敌，也要善待他们，并要借给人不指望偿还；你们的赏赐就必大了，你们也必作至高者的儿子；因为他恩待那忘恩的和作恶的。”（路6:33-36）
至于人若非从主，便不能行那本身为善的善，主在约翰福音中说：“你们要常在我里面，我也常在你们里面。枝子若不常在葡萄树上，自己就不能结果子；你们若不常在我里面，也是这样。……因为离了我，你们就不能做什么。”（约15:4-5）又在别处说：“若不是从天上赐的，人就不能得什么。”（约3:27）
439# 将功德归于为了救赎所做的作为或行为是有害的，因为邪恶就隐藏在其中，而如此行的人对此却浑然不知。这些隐藏的邪恶包括：否认神在人里面的流注和运作；在关乎救赎的事上信靠人自己的能力；信仰人自己而不是神；自我称义；靠人自己的力量得救；将神性恩典和怜悯化为乌有；拒绝通过神性方法改造和重生；尤其贬低主神救主的功德和公义，这些人将这功德和公义据为己有；此外还包括不断期待回报，他们把回报视为最初和最后的目的；淹没或窒息和灭绝对主之爱和对邻之爱；完全不知道没有任何功德观念的天堂之爱的快乐，并缺乏对它的感知，只感觉到自我之爱。那些将回报置于第一位，将救赎置于第二位，因而为了回报而关注或重视救赎的人，就颠倒了秩序，把心智的内在渴望或内在事物沉浸在他们自己的自我中，并在身体上用肉体的邪恶或欲望玷污了它们。这就是为何关注功德的良善在天使看来像是铁锈色的，而不关注功德的良善像是紫色的。主在路加福音中教导说，不要为了回报而行善：
你们若善待那善待你们的人，有什么可酬谢的呢？你们倒要爱仇敌，行善、借出，不要再期望什么；你们的赏赐就必大了，你们也必作至高者的儿子，因为祂恩待那忘恩的和作恶的。（路加福音6:33-36）
祂在约翰福音中教导说，若非从主那里，人不能行本身为良善的良善：
你们要住在我里面，我也住在你们里面。枝子若不住在葡萄树上，凭自己就不能结果子，你们若不住在我里面，也是这样；因为离了我，你们就不能作什么。（约翰福音15:4，5）
又：
若不是从天上赐给人的，他就不能得什么。（约翰福音3:27）
439. As Long as We Believe That Everything Good Comes from the Lord, We Do Not Take Credit for the Things We Do As We Practice Goodwill
It is damaging for us to take credit for things we do for the sake of our salvation. Hidden within our credit-taking there are evil attitudes of which we are unaware at the time: denial that God flows in and works in us; confidence in our own power in regard to salvation; faith in ourselves and not in God; [the delusion that] we justify and save ourselves by our own strength; contempt for divine grace and mercy; rejection of reformation and regeneration by divine means; and especially disregard for the merit and justice of the Lord God our Savior, which we then claim as our own. In our taking credit there is also a continual focus on our own reward and perception of it as our first and last goal, a stifling and an extinction of love for the Lord and love for our neighbor, and total ignorance and unawareness of the pleasure involved in heavenly love (which takes no credit), while all we feel is our love for ourselves.
People who put their own reward as the first priority and salvation as the second, and therefore seek salvation as a reward, turn the proper arrangement upside down. They drown their inner desires in self-absorption and physically pollute them with evils belonging to their flesh. For this reason, goodness that we do to earn merit looks to the angels like a rust-colored plant disease, while goodness that we do not do to earn merit looks a rich purplish-red.
The Lord teaches in Luke that we are not supposed to do good for the purpose of getting a reward:
If you benefit people who benefit you, what grace do you have? Rather, love and benefit your enemies, and lend [to people] expecting nothing back. Then your reward will be large, and you will be children of the Highest, since he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. (Luke 6:33-36)
It is also taught in John that we cannot do anything truly good except from the Lord:
Live in me and I [shall live] in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it lives in the vine, neither can you unless you live in me, because without me you cannot do anything. (John 15:4-5)
We cannot receive anything unless it is given to us from heaven. (John 3:27)
439. XIII. In the exercise of charity a person avoids attributing merit to deeds, so long as he believes that all good is from the Lord.
To attribute merit to deeds executed to gain salvation is ruinous; for evils lie hidden in this of which the doer is quite unaware. Among these are denial of God's influence and working on people, trust in one's own powers in matters concerning salvation, faith in oneself and not in God, self-justification, salvation by one's own strength, the cancelling of Divine grace and mercy, the rejection of reformation and regeneration by Divine means; in particular they detract from the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the Saviour, since they claim these for themselves. Moreover they have constantly in view the reward which they regard as their first and last aim; they drown and kill love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. They are totally ignorant of and unable to feel the pleasure of heavenly love, which is free from all idea of merit; all they feel is self-love. Putting the reward first and salvation second, so that salvation is for the sake of the reward, turns the order upside down; and such people plunge the interior desires of their minds in the self (proprium), and in the body they befoul them with the evils of the flesh. That is why in the sight of the angels good done to gain merit looks like rust, and good not done to gain merit like purple.
[2] The Lord teaches in Luke that good is not to be done to gain merit:
If you do kindnesses to those who do them to you, what credit is that to you? Rather love your enemies, and do kindnesses, and lend without expecting any return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked, Luke 6:33-36.
We learn in John that a person can do no good which is essentially good, except from the Lord:
Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it remains part of the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me, because without me you can do nothing, John 15:4-5.
And elsewhere:
A man cannot take anything, unless it is given him from heaven, John 3:27.
439. XIII. IN THE EXERCISES OF CHARITY MAN DOES NOT PLACE MERIT IN WORKS SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD.
To ascribe merit to works that are done for the sake of salvation is harmful because evils lie concealed in so doing of which the doer is wholly ignorant. There also lies hid in it a denial of God's influx and operation in man; also a confidence in one's own power in matters of salvation; faith in oneself and not in God; self-justification; salvation by one's own abilities; a reducing of Divine grace and mercy to nought; a rejection of reformation and regeneration by Divine means; especially a limitation of the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the Savior, which such claim for themselves; together with a continual looking for reward, which they regard as the first and last end; a submersion and extinction of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; a total ignorance and lack of perception of the delight of heavenly love as being without merit, and a sense only of self-love. For those who put rewards in the first place and salvation in the second, and who value salvation for the sake of the reward, invert order and immerse the interior desires of the mind in what is their own [proprium], and defile them in the body with the evils of the flesh. This is why the good that claims merit appears to the angels as rust, and the good that does not claim merit as purple. That good ought not to be done for the sake of reward, the Lord teaches in Luke:
If ye do good to them who do good to you, what thank have ye? But rather love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and then your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High for He is kind unto the unthankful and the evil (Luke 6:33-35).
And that man cannot do good that in itself is good, except from the Lord, He teaches in John:
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye abide in Me; for apart from Me ye can do nothing (15:4, 5). And again,
A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven (John 3:27).
439. XIII. IN THE EXERCISE OF CHARITY, A MAN DOES NOT ASCRIBE MERIT TO WORKS SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD.
It is harmful for men to ascribe merit to works which are done for the sake of salvation; for in this lie concealed many evils of which the agent is unaware. These hidden evils are: a denial of God's influx and operation with man; trust in one's own power in matters concerning salvation; faith in oneself and not in God; self-justification; trust in salvation by one's own strength; making of no account the Divine grace and mercy; rejection of reformation and regeneration by Divine means; especially disparagement of the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the Savior, which such men claim for themselves; besides a continual expectation of reward, which with them is the first and last end to be regarded. There is also the suffocation and extinction of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; complete ignorance concerning the delight of heavenly love which is free from any idea of merit, and inability to perceive it, the only love they experience being the love of self.
Those who put reward in the first place and salvation in the second, and who thus regard salvation for the sake of reward, invert the order of things and immerse the interior things of the mind in their own proprium, and in the body defile them with the lusts of the flesh. This is the reason why the good which regards merit appears in the sight of angels the color of rust, and that which does not regard merit like purple. That good ought not to be done with a view to reward, the Lord teaches in Luke:
"If ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye?... But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil" 6:33-36;
and that a man cannot do good which in itself is good, except from the Lord, He teaches in John:
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me... for without me ye can do nothing" 15:4-5.
And in another place:
"A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven" 3:27.
439. Quod homo in exercitiis Charitatis non ponat meritum in Operibus, dum credit quod omne bonum sit a Domino.
Meritum ponere in operibus, quae fiunt salutis causa, damnosum est, in illo enim latent mala, de quibus factor nihil scit; latet negatio influxus et operationis Dei apud hominem; fiducia propriae potentiae in rebus salutis; fides in se et non in Deum; justificatio sui; salvatio ex propriis viribus; annihilatio gratiae et misericordiae Divinae; rejectio reformationis et regenerationis per Divina media; in specie derogatio meriti et justitiae Domini Dei Salvatoris, quae sibi vindicant; praeterea continua intuitio mercedis, quam pro fine primo et ultimo spectant; submersio et exstinctio amoris in Dominum et amoris erga proximum; totalis ignorantia et imperceptibilitas jucundi amoris Coelestis, quod est absque merito, et sola sensatio amoris sui; nam qui mercedem primo loco ponunt, et salutem secundo, ita hanc propter 1 illam, invertunt ordinem, ac desideria interiora mentis suae immergunt proprio suo, et in corpore conspurcant illa malis suae carnis: inde est, quod bonum meriti coram Angelis appareat sicut rubigo, et bonum non meriti sicut purpura.
[2] Quod non faciendum sit bonum fine mercedis, docet Dominus apud Lucam; Si benefacitis illis, qui benefaciunt vobis, quae vobis gratia est; potius diligite inimicos vestros, et benefacite, atque mutuo date nihil inde sperantes; tunc erit merces vestra multa, et eritis filii Altissimi, quia ille benignus super ingratos et malos, Cap. 6:33-36. Quod homo non possit facere bonum, quod in se bonum est, nisi a Domino, apud Johannem, Manete in Me, et Ego in vobis; quemadmodum palmes non potest fructum ferre a se ipso, nisi manserit in vite; ita neque vos nisi in Me manseritis, quia sine Me non potestis facere quicquam, Cap. 15:4-5. Et alibi, Non potest homo sumere quicquam, nisi sit datum illi e Coelo, Cap. 3:27.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: proptcr.