The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 04 (of 11)
Thomas Hobbes · en
how that of works a man is justified, and not of faith only_. And
both of these are joined to salvation, as in St. Mark i. 15: _Repent
and believe the gospel_. And Luke xviii. 18-22, when a certain ruler
asked our Saviour, what he ought to do to inherit eternal life, he
propounded to him the keeping of the commandments; which when the
ruler said he had kept, he propounded to him the faith, _Sell all
that thou hast, and follow me_. And John iii. 36: _He that believeth
in the Son, hath everlasting life_. And _He that obeyeth not the
Son, shall not see life_. Where he manifestly joineth obedience and
faith together. And Rom. i. 17: _The just shall live by faith_; not
every one, but _the just_. For also _the devils believe and
tremble_. But though both faith and justice (meaning still by
justice, not absence of guilt, but the good intentions of the mind,
which is called righteousness by God, that taketh the will for the
deed) be both of them said to justify, yet are their parts in the
act of justification to be distinguished. For justice is said to
justify, not because it absolveth, but because it denominates him
just, and setteth him in an estate, or capacity of salvation,
whensoever he shall have faith. But faith is said to justify, that
is, to absolve, because by it a just man is absolved of, and
forgiven his unjust actions. And thus are reconciled the places of
St. Paul and St. James, that _Faith only justifieth_, and _a man is
not justified by faith only_; and showed how faith and repentance
must concur to salvation.
[Sidenote: That in Christian commonwealths, obedience to God and man
stand well together.]
11. These things considered, it will easily appear, that under the
sovereign power of a Christian commonwealth, there is no danger of
damnation from simple obedience to human laws; for in that the
sovereign alloweth Christianity, no man is compelled to renounce
that faith, which is enough for his salvation, that is to say, the
fundamental points. And for other points, seeing they are not
necessary to salvation, if we conform our actions to the laws, we do
not only what we are allowed, but also what we are commanded by the
law of nature, which is the moral law taught by our Saviour himself.
And it is part of that obedience which must concur to our salvation.
[Sidenote: This tenet, whatsoever is against the conscience is sin,
interpreted.]