SECOND DISPUTATION. Whether Noah, or any other mortal living on earth, could truly be called perfect — Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

LatineEnglish

SECOND DISPUTATION. Whether Noah, or any other mortal living on earth, could truly be called perfect.¹

SECUNDA DISPUTATIO. Utrum Noë aut quivis alius mortalium in terris vivens vere appellari potuerit perfectus.

Verum illud non caret difficultate, quemadmodum vere appellatus sit Noë perfectus, cum id verbi nulli mortalium dum in terris vivitur videatur posse competere. Siquidem perfectum est cui nihil abest eorum quae ad eius integritatem et absolutionem pertinent; gratia vero et virtus cuiuslibet hominis in hac vita semper est imperfecta, in dies nempe augescens et proficiens, nec nisi post mortem in caelis ultimum complementum et perfectionem accipiens — nimirum ibi tantum est gratia consummata, cui nulla fieri potest accessio. Quid quod ultima perfectio non potest contingere nisi adeptis ultimum suum finem? finis autem hominis beatitudo est; sicut igitur nemo in terris beatus est, ita nec perfectus. Quin auget illud etiam difficultatem, quod non solum in sacris litteris aliqui appellantur perfecti, sed etiam Deus iubet hominem esse perfectum; dixit enim Abrahae, Ambula coram me et esto perfectus.

But this is not without difficulty: how Noah was truly called perfect, since that word seems unable to fit any mortal while he lives on earth. For the perfect is that to which nothing is lacking of the things that pertain to its integrity and completion; but the grace and virtue of any man in this life is always imperfect, increasing and advancing day by day, and not receiving its final complement and perfection until after death in heaven — for there alone is grace consummate, to which no addition can be made. And what of the fact that the final perfection cannot occur except by those who have attained their ultimate end? But the end of man is beatitude; as, therefore, no one is blessed on earth, so neither is anyone perfect. Indeed, this too increases the difficulty: that not only are some called perfect in the sacred writings, but God even bids man to be perfect; for he said to Abraham, ‘Walk before me and be perfect.’²

...et Dominus noster, Estote perfecti sicut et Pater vester caelestis perfectus est. Cum autem Deus nihil homini praecipiat impossibile, esse autem perfectum impossibile sit in hac vita, mirum videri potest quomodo id Deus praecipiat homini. Adiice quod Beatus Paulus, nec gratia Dei nec ullius virtutis praestantia inferior Noë, negavit se esse perfectum, ita scribens ad Philippenses capite tertio: Non, inquit, quod iam acceperim aut iam perfectus sim; sequor autem, si quo modo comprehendam, in quo et comprehensus sum a Christo Iesu. Fratres, ego me non arbitror comprehendisse. Unum autem, quae quidem retro sunt obliviscens, ad ea vero quae sunt priora extendens me ipsum, ad destinatum persequor, ad bravium supernae vocationis Dei in Christo Iesu.

…and our Lord, ‘Be ye perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.’ But since God commands man nothing impossible, and to be perfect is impossible in this life, it may seem strange how God commands this to man. Add that the blessed Paul — inferior to Noah neither in the grace of God nor in the excellence of any virtue — denied that he himself was perfect, writing thus to the Philippians in the third chapter: “Not,” he says, “as though I had already attained, or were already perfect; but I follow after, if I may by any means lay hold, wherein I am also laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have laid hold. But one thing — forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth myself to those that are before — I press toward the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus.”³

B. Augustinus in libro De Perfectione iustitiae contra Caelestium hanc difficultatem exsolvit; nec tantum hanc, sed illam quoque, Quomodo in sacris litteris nonnulli appellentur immaculati, innocentes, irreprehensibiles et sine peccato, cum alibi scriptura doceat neminem vivere sine peccato; scriptum enim est in libro Ecclesiastae cap. 7, Non est homo iustus in terra qui faciat bonum et non peccet; et Ioannes dixit, Si dixerimus quoniam peccatum non habemus, ipsi nos seducimus et veritas in nobis non est; et Dominus Apostolos suos docuit orare dicendo, Dimitte nobis peccata nostra. Haec igitur quomodo intelligenda sint docens Augustinus ita scribit: Horum testimoniorum scripturae aliqua currentes exhortantur ut perfecte currant, aliqua ipsum finem commemorant quo currendo pertendat. Ingredi autem sine macula non absurde etiam ille dicitur, non qui iam perfectus est, sed qui ad ipsam perfectionem irreprehensibiliter currit, carens criminibus damnabilibus atque ipsa peccata venialia non negligens mundare eleemosynis. Hoc enim iter nostrum quo tendimus ad perfectionem munda mundat oratio; munda est autem oratio qua veraciter dicitur, Dimitte nobis debita nostra, ut, dum reprehenditur quod non imputatur, sine reprehensione, hoc est sine macula, noster ad perfectionem cursus habeatur; in qua perfectione, cum ad eam pervenerimus, iam non sit omnino quod ignoscendo mundetur. Haec B. Augustinus.

The blessed Augustine, in the book On the Perfection of Justice against Caelestius, resolves this difficulty — and not only this, but that other too: how some are called in the sacred writings immaculate, innocent, irreproachable, and without sin, when elsewhere Scripture teaches that no one lives without sin; for it is written in the book of Ecclesiastes, ch. 7, ‘There is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin’; and John said, ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us’; and the Lord taught his Apostles to pray, saying, ‘Forgive us our sins.’ Teaching, then, how these are to be understood, Augustine writes thus: “Of these testimonies of Scripture, some exhort those running to run perfectly; some recall the very goal to which one tends by running. And not absurdly is he too said to walk without spot — not he who is already perfect, but he who runs irreproachably toward perfection itself, lacking damnable crimes and not neglecting to cleanse even venial sins by almsgiving. For this our journey, by which we tend toward perfection, a clean prayer cleanses; and that is a clean prayer in which it is truly said, ‘Forgive us our debts’ — so that, while what is not imputed is reproved, our course toward perfection may be held without reproach, that is, without spot; in which perfection, when we have reached it, there may be nothing at all that needs to be cleansed by pardon.” Thus the blessed Augustine.⁴

Ergo perfecti dicuntur, auctore Augustino, non qui iam habent perfectionem, sed qui ad eam consequendam perfecte currunt. Ideo autem perfectio praecipitur homini, non quod eam in hac vita possit habere, sed ut eam spectando et desiderando perfecte currat ad eius consecutionem. Nam ipsemet Augustinus paulo ante ea verba quae posui sic ait: Cur non praeciperetur homini perfectio, quamvis eam in hac vita nemo habeat? Non enim recte curritur si quo currendum est nesciatur; quomodo autem sciretur si nullis praeceptis ostenderetur? Sic ergo curramus ut comprehendamus. Omnes enim qui perfecte currunt comprehendunt, non sicut in agone theatrico ubi omnes quidem currunt sed unus accipit palmam. Curramus credendo, sperando, desiderando; curramus corpus castigando, et eleemosynas in dandis bonis malisque ignoscendis hilariter ex corde faciendo, et currentium vires ut adiuventur orando; et sic audiamus praecepta perfectionis ut non currere negligamus ad plenitudinem caritatis. Hactenus ex Augustino.

Therefore the ‘perfect,’ on Augustine’s authority, are called not those who already have perfection, but those who run perfectly toward attaining it. And perfection is commanded to man, not because he can have it in this life, but that, by looking to it and desiring it, he may run perfectly toward its attainment. For Augustine himself, a little before the words I have set down, says thus: “Why should not perfection be commanded to man, although in this life no one has it? For one does not run rightly if it is not known whither one must run; and how would it be known if it were shown by no precepts? So, then, let us run that we may lay hold. For all who run perfectly lay hold — not as in a theatrical contest, where all indeed run but one receives the palm. Let us run by believing, hoping, desiring; let us run by chastising the body, and by doing alms in giving goods and in pardoning evils cheerfully from the heart, and by praying that the strength of those who run may be aided; and so let us hear the precepts of perfection that we neglect not to run to the fullness of charity.” Thus far Augustine.⁵

Sed nos breviter ac distincte (scilicet more scholastico) propositam quaestionem enodemus. Quinque modis aliqui possunt appellari perfecti, etiam in hac vita, licet non sint usquequaque et omnino perfecti. Primo modo dicuntur aliqui perfecti comparatione aliorum qui sunt imperfecti: nam in militia Christi quidam sunt quasi tyrones et novitii milites, alii vero tanquam veterani; illi nominantur imperfecti in via Domini, hi autem perfecti. Unde sectatorum Christianae disciplinae tres distinguuntur gradus: unus Incipientium, alter Proficientium, tertius Perfectorum. Sane B. Paulus inter Christi sectatores alios quidem perfectos, alios vero imperfectos agnoscebat, et his quidem opus esse lacte tanquam infantibus, illos vero solido cibo ali, quippe qui exercitatos habent sensus ad discretionem boni et mali; et inter hos Paulus loquebatur sapientiam. Cum deberetis magistri esse propter tempus (ait Paulus scribens ad Hebraeos cap. quinto), rursum indigetis ut vos doceamini quae sint elementa exordii sermonum Dei; et facti estis quibus lacte opus sit, non solido cibo. Omnis enim qui lactis est particeps expers est sermonis iustitiae, parvulus enim est; perfectorum autem est solidus cibus, eorum qui pro consuetudine exercitatos habent sensus ad discretionem boni ac mali.

But let us, briefly and distinctly (namely, in the scholastic manner), untangle the proposed question. In five ways some can be called ‘perfect,’ even in this life, although they are not in every way and altogether perfect. In the first way, some are called perfect by comparison with others who are imperfect: for in the warfare of Christ some are, as it were, recruits and novice soldiers, but others are like veterans; the former are named imperfect in the way of the Lord, the latter perfect. Whence three grades of the followers of Christian discipline are distinguished: one of Beginners, another of Proficients, the third of the Perfect. Indeed the blessed Paul recognized among the followers of Christ some as perfect, but others as imperfect, and that these latter needed milk like infants, but the former are nourished with solid food, as those who have their senses exercised for the discernment of good and evil; and among these Paul spoke wisdom. “Whereas you ought to be masters for the time,” says Paul, writing to the Hebrews in the fifth chapter, “you have again need to be taught what are the elements of the beginning of the words of God; and you are become such as have need of milk, not of solid food. For everyone who is a partaker of milk is unskilled in the word of justice, for he is a little child; but solid food is for the perfect, for those who by custom have their senses exercised for the discernment of good and evil.”⁶

Altero modo dicuntur aliqui perfecti, non simpliciter, sed ea tantum perfectione quae exigitur in hac vita et cuius haec vita capax est, non ea quae post hanc vitam in caelis erit omnibus numeris absoluta. Perfectio autem huius vitae in eo maxime posita est ut perfecte curratur ad consequendam illam caelestem perfectionem. Perfecte autem currere in via Domini est non solum non retrogredi aut insistere, sed nec lente et remisse ingredi, verum quanta maxima fieri potest contentione illuc properare. Quocirca Paulus, scribens ad Philippenses capite tertio, cum dixisset se non esse perfectum, subiungit: Quotquot ergo perfecti sumus, hoc sentiamus. Prius dixerat se non esse perfectum, et mox non modo se sed alios quoque nominavit perfectos. Verum illud Quotquot perfecti sumus idem significat (uti B. Augustinus in libro De Perfectione iustitiae contra Caelestium interpretatur) atque Quotquot perfecte currimus, hoc sapiamus, scilicet quod nondum perfecti sumus, ut illic perficiamur quo perfecte adhuc currimus. Perfectio igitur huius vitae in eo est ut semper magis ac magis in studio virtutum proficiamus, et Qui iustus est iustificetur adhuc; nam ut scriptum est Proverb. 4, Iustorum semita quasi lux splendens procedit et crescit usque ad perfectam diem.

In the second way, some are called perfect, not absolutely, but only with that perfection which is required in this life and of which this life is capable — not that which after this life will be in heaven, complete in every respect. And the perfection of this life consists chiefly in this: that one run perfectly toward attaining that heavenly perfection. And to run perfectly in the way of the Lord is not only not to go backward or to stand still, but not even to advance slowly and slackly, but to hasten thither with the greatest possible exertion. Wherefore Paul, writing to the Philippians in the third chapter, after he had said that he was not perfect, subjoins: ‘As many of us, therefore, as are perfect, let us be thus minded.’ He had first said that he was not perfect, and soon named not only himself but others too ‘perfect.’ But that phrase ‘As many of us as are perfect’ means the same (as the blessed Augustine, in the book On the Perfection of Justice against Caelestius, interprets) as ‘As many as run perfectly, let us be thus minded’ — namely, that we are not yet perfect, that we may there be perfected whither we are still running perfectly. The perfection of this life, then, consists in this: that we ever more and more advance in the pursuit of the virtues, and that ‘He who is just, let him be justified still’; for, as it is written in Proverbs 4, ‘The path of the just, like a shining light, goes forward and grows even to the perfect day.’⁷

Tertio modo dicuntur perfecti aliqui non tam per sese quam ratione status in quo sunt, quemadmodum Christiani dicuntur perfecti comparatione Iudaeorum, quia status Christianismi perfectus est, Iudaismi autem erat imperfectus; atque hoc modo etiam Religiosi nominantur perfecti comparatione Secularium. Quarto modo dicuntur aliqui perfecti quod studeant virtuti non quolibet modo, sed perfecte, nec mediocriter et vulgariter, sed eximie, singulari...

In the third way, some are called perfect not so much in themselves as by reason of the state in which they are — just as Christians are called perfect in comparison with the Jews, because the state of Christianity is perfect, but that of Judaism was imperfect; and in this way too the Religious are named perfect in comparison with seculars. In the fourth way, some are called perfect because they pursue virtue not in any manner whatever, but perfectly — not moderately and commonly, but eminently, with a singular…⁸

...gulariter, omni studio, et quanta maxima fieri potest cura et diligentia, supremumque virtutis gradum concupiscunt et sectantur, et heroicam quandam cuiusque virtutis excellentiam amplectuntur. Quinto modo dicuntur perfecti quibus non sat est praecepta Dei servare, sed praeterea colunt Evangelica Christi consilia. Hi sunt qui se castraverunt propter regnum caelorum; qui vendiderunt omnia quae habebant et dederunt pauperibus, quo expeditius et alacrius Christum sequerentur; qui se totos aliorum hominum arbitrio et iudicio propter Christum permiserunt et dicarunt, ut illi omnes ipsorum vitae rationes ordinent, regant ac moderentur; denique, qui abnegarunt semetipsos et, sublata cruce sua, Christum secuti sunt. Verum his de perfectione hominis in hac vita breviter disputatis, revertamur ad Noë.

…with a singular [zeal], with all earnestness, and with the greatest possible care and diligence, desire and pursue the highest degree of virtue, and embrace a certain heroic excellence of each virtue. In the fifth way, those are called perfect for whom it is not enough to keep the precepts of God, but who besides cultivate the evangelical counsels of Christ. These are they who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven; who sold all that they had and gave to the poor, that they might follow Christ more unencumbered and more eagerly; who handed over and dedicated themselves wholly, for Christ’s sake, to the will and judgment of other men, that those might order, rule, and govern all the affairs of their life; and, finally, who denied themselves and, taking up their cross, followed Christ. But having briefly disputed these things about the perfection of man in this life, let us return to Noah.⁹

Praeter hoc encomium Noë paucis verbis hic a Mose comprehensum, extant aliis in locis sacrarum litterarum locupletissima eius viri praestantiae testimonia et praeconia. Apud Ezechielem capite 14 haec dixit Dominus: Si fuerint tres viri isti in medio populi istius, Noë, Daniel et Iob, ipsi iustitia sua liberabunt animas suas; filios autem suos et filias suas non liberabunt, sed terra desolabitur. Quibus verbis simul exaggerat Deus inexpiabilem Iudaeorum impietatem et singularem sanctitatem atque gratiam qua Noë plurimum valebat apud Deum. Namque illorum verborum haec est sententia: Tanta est Iudaeorum impietatis et scelerum gravitas et acerbitas, et usque eo illis sum infensus et iratus, ut si Noë, ceteroqui vir apud me gratiosissimus, filium haberet in isto populo mihique pro eo supplicaret, non essem tamen eum exauditurus. Cur autem tres illi viri praecipue nominati sint, declarat Hieronymus super illum locum Ezechielis, et Augustinus super Psalmum 132 et libro 2 Quaestionum Evangelicarum quaest. 44.

Besides this encomium of Noah, here comprised by Moses in a few words, there exist in other places of the sacred writings most copious testimonies and commendations of that man’s excellence. In Ezekiel, chapter 14, the Lord said this: ‘If these three men be in the midst of this people, Noah, Daniel, and Job, they shall deliver their own souls by their justice; but their sons and daughters they shall not deliver, but the land shall be made desolate.’ By these words God at once magnifies the inexpiable impiety of the Jews and the singular sanctity and grace by which Noah had great power with God. For this is the sense of those words: ‘So great is the gravity and bitterness of the impiety and crimes of the Jews, and I am so hostile and angry with them, that if Noah — otherwise a man most gracious in my sight — had a son among this people, and besought me on his behalf, I would nevertheless not hear him.’ And why those three men in particular are named, Jerome declares on that passage of Ezekiel, and Augustine on Psalm 132 and in book 2 of the Questions on the Gospels, q. 44.¹⁰

Eidem Noë hoc encomium perhibetur in libro Ecclesiastici capite 44: Noë inventus est perfectus, iustus, et in tempore iracundiae factus est reconciliatio; ideo dimissum est reliquum terrae cum factum est diluvium; testamenta saeculi posita sunt apud illum, ne deleri possit diluvio omnis caro. Haec verba cursim exponenda sunt. Cum dicitur Noë perfectus, iustus, alluditur ad id quod de eo scripsit Moses Genesis 6, Noë invenit gratiam coram Domino fuitque iustus atque perfectus in generationibus suis, cum Deo ambulavit. Nec emphasi caret illud, Inventus est perfectus; significat enim unum ipsum et solum inter omnes sui temporis homines fuisse iustum, quasi Deus, quaerens in universo illo genere hominum aliquem qui iustus esset, nullum alium nisi unum Noë invenerit, sicut ipse dixit illi: Te vidi iustum coram me in generatione hac. Quod autem sequitur, In tempore iracundiae (vel ut est Graece orgēs) factus est reconciliatio, hoc significat: Cum Deus adeo esset iratus hominibus illius temporis ut omne genus hominum delere vellet, Noë sua iustitia et innocentia obtinuit a Deo ut ipse cum paucis diluvii...

To the same Noah this encomium is given in the book of Ecclesiasticus, chapter 44: ‘Noah was found perfect, just, and in the time of wrath he was made a reconciliation; therefore was a remnant left to the earth when the Flood came; the covenants of the age were placed with him, that all flesh might not be destroyed by the Flood.’ These words must be expounded in passing. When it is said ‘Noah, perfect, just,’ allusion is made to what Moses wrote of him in Genesis 6, ‘Noah found grace before the Lord, and was just and perfect in his generations, he walked with God.’ Nor is that phrase ‘was found perfect’ without emphasis; for it signifies that he alone, and he only, among all the men of his time was just — as if God, seeking in that whole race of men someone who was just, found no other but the one Noah, as he himself said to him: ‘Thee I have seen just before me in this generation.’ And what follows, ‘In the time of wrath (or, as it is in Greek, orgēs) he was made a reconciliation,’ signifies this: that, when God was so angry with the men of that time that he wished to destroy the whole race of men, Noah, by his justice and innocence, obtained from God that he himself, with a few, escaping the calamity of the Flood…¹¹

...cladem evadens conservaret seminarium generis humani. Pro vocabulo illo reconciliatio Graece est allagma, significans pretium quo quid emitur aut redimitur, ut Noë sua sanctitate et innocentia quasi quodam pretio apud Deum genus hominum ab interitu redemerit. Unde subditur, Ideo dimissum est reliquum terrae, hoc est, propter Noë qui invenit gratiam apud Deum relictae sunt in orbe terrarum reliquiae aliquae humani generis, per quas rursus post diluvium repararetur genus hominum. Nam illud reliquum substantive positum est pro eo quod est reliquia, et illud terrae dativi casus est, ut sit sensus: Ideo, id est propter Noë qui factus est reconciliatio, dimissum est reliquum terrae, id est, Derelictae sunt in terra aliquae hominum reliquiae. In verbis autem quae sequuntur, Testamenta saeculi posita sunt apud illum, vocabulum testamenta significat foedus et pactum, et positum est plurale pro singulari; et illud saeculi positum est pro adiectivo saeculare, id est aeternum et omni saeculo duraturum. Et his verbis alluditur ad id quod narratur libro Geneseos capite octavo, Noë transacto diluvio egressum arca aedificasse altare Domino et obtulisse super eo holocausta, quae Deus dicitur odoratus in odore suavitatis, id est adeo fuisse ei accepta ut promitteret se nequaquam ultra maledicturum terrae propter hominem. Eamque promissionem pacto confirmavit, addito eius pacti signo, arcu scilicet caelesti, qui apparens in nubibus, unde periculum diluvii videri posset imminere, certiores promissionis ac foederis divini homines faceret.

…might preserve the seedbed of the human race. For that word ‘reconciliation,’ in Greek it is allagma, signifying the price by which something is bought or redeemed, so that Noah, by his sanctity and innocence, as it were by a certain price, redeemed the race of men from destruction before God. Whence it is subjoined, ‘Therefore was a remnant left to the earth,’ that is: on account of Noah, who found grace with God, there were left in the world some remnants of the human race, through whom the race of men might again, after the Flood, be repaired. For that ‘remnant’ is put substantively for ‘a remainder,’ and that ‘to the earth’ is in the dative case, so that the sense is: ‘Therefore’ — that is, on account of Noah, who was made a reconciliation — ‘a remnant was left to the earth,’ that is, ‘Some remnants of men were left on the earth.’ And in the words that follow, ‘The covenants of the age were placed with him,’ the word ‘covenants’ signifies a treaty and pact, and is put in the plural for the singular; and that ‘of the age’ is put for the adjective ‘age-long,’ that is, eternal and to endure for every age. And by these words allusion is made to what is narrated in the eighth chapter of Genesis: that Noah, the Flood being over, having gone out of the ark, built an altar to the Lord and offered upon it holocausts, which God is said to have smelled in an odor of sweetness — that is, they were so acceptable to him that he promised he would never more curse the earth for man’s sake. And he confirmed that promise by a pact, adding the sign of that pact — namely, the heavenly bow, which, appearing in the clouds (whence the danger of a flood might seem to threaten), would make men more certain of the divine promise and covenant.¹²

Magnifica quoque laus est Noë quam ei tribuit B. Paulus in capite 11 Epistolae ad Hebraeos, ita de eo scribens: Fide Noë, responso accepto de iis quae adhuc non videbantur, metuens aptavit arcam in salutem domus suae, per quam damnavit mundum, et iustitiae quae per fidem est haeres est institutus. Quorum verborum velut intra cursum attingenda est interpretatio. Noë igitur, ait Paulus, cum nullum venturi diluvii indicium esset nec ulla coniectura aut suspicione id futurum esse praesagiri posset, cumque omnes eius temporis homines voluptatibus atque deliciis indulgerent, ipse Deo venturum diluvium denuncianti sine dubitatione ulla credidit, arcamque Dei iussu construxit, qua se suamque familiam ex illo diluvii exitio servavit. Per quam (inquit Paulus) damnavit mundum. Et quidem illud per quam, si referatur ad fidem Noë, significat incredulitatem eorum hominum damnatam esse ex comparatione fidei Noë, dum, ceteris permanentibus incredulis et pereuntibus, solus ipse credidit et evasit. Sin autem illud per quam referatur ad arcam, haec erit illorum verborum sententia: per arcam a se constructam damnavit Noë mundum, quia illi, videntes virum probum Deique cultorem arcam adversus imminens diluvium fabricare, nec sic quidem crediderunt, quocirca per arcam damnati sunt; quia nisi Noë arcam fabricasset, non utique illi auditi et non crediti diluvii fuissent rei.

There is a magnificent praise too of Noah which the blessed Paul attributes to him in chapter 11 of the Epistle to the Hebrews, writing of him thus: ‘By faith Noah, having received an answer concerning those things which as yet were not seen, fearing, framed the ark for the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world, and was instituted heir of the justice which is by faith.’ The interpretation of these words must be touched on, as it were, in passing. Noah, then, says Paul — when there was no sign of the coming Flood, nor could it be foreboded by any conjecture or suspicion that it would come, and when all the men of his time indulged in pleasures and delights — believed, without any doubt, God announcing that the Flood would come, and built the ark at God’s command, by which he saved himself and his family from that destruction of the Flood. ‘By which,’ says Paul, ‘he condemned the world.’ And indeed that ‘by which,’ if it be referred to the faith of Noah, signifies that the unbelief of those men was condemned by comparison with the faith of Noah, since, while the rest remained unbelieving and perishing, he alone believed and escaped. But if that ‘by which’ be referred to the ark, this will be the sense of those words: by the ark built by himself Noah condemned the world, because they, seeing an upright man and worshiper of God building an ark against the imminent Flood, did not even so believe, and were therefore condemned by the ark; for unless Noah had built the ark, they would not have been guilty of the Flood heard of and not believed.¹³

Quod autem subditur, Et iustitiae quae per fidem est haeres est institutus, sic exponit Theophylactus...

But what is subjoined, ‘And was instituted heir of the justice which is by faith,’ Theophylact expounds thus…¹⁴

...lucratus est seu nactus est Noë ut iustus videretur apud Deum, quod iustitiae nomen et laudem fides ei largita est; quasi dicat, Noë credendo Dei oraculo hoc lucratus est, ut testimonio Dei iustus appellaretur. Verum mihi congruentior videtur eorum verborum explanatio quae est in commentario eius loci apud Caietanum. Nam quia ceteris omnibus diluvio pereuntibus, solus Noë, quia iustus erat, cum suis servatus est, scite dicitur a Paulo fuisse haeres iustitiae, scilicet maiorum suorum et priscorum patrum, quorum iustitia quasi hereditaria ad unum Noë devenit et penes eum servata est.

…Noah gained, or obtained, that he should seem just before God, because faith bestowed on him the name and praise of justice; as if to say, Noah, by believing God’s oracle, gained this, that by God’s testimony he was called just. But to me a more fitting explanation of those words seems to be that which is in Cajetan’s commentary on that passage. For because, while all the rest were perishing in the Flood, Noah alone, because he was just, was saved with his own, he is aptly said by Paul to have been heir of justice — namely, of his forefathers and of the ancient fathers, whose justice, as if hereditary, came down to the one Noah and was preserved with him.¹⁵

Non est tacendum eiusdem Noë praeconium a B. Petro posterioris Epistolae capite secundo traditum, verbis quidem exiguum, verum sententia amplissimum. Sic enim ait: Et originali mundo Deus non pepercit, sed octavum Noë iustitiae praeconem custodivit, diluvium mundo impiorum inducens. Appellat Petrus mundum originalem homines qui fuere ante diluvium, quod ea fuerit quasi prima aetas et pueritia mundi, origini et primordiis mundi vicina. Dicitur autem Noë octavus, non ab Adamo (fuit enim ab eo decimus), sed inter eos qui per arcam servati sunt a diluvio; alii enim fuerunt septem, et ipse octavus. Cur autem Petrus nominaverit Noë iustitiae praeconem, supra exposuimus in Praefatione huius libri.

Not to be passed over is the commendation of the same Noah handed down by the blessed Peter in the second chapter of his latter Epistle — small indeed in words, but in sense most ample. For he says thus: ‘And the original world he spared not, but preserved Noah the eighth, a herald of justice, bringing in the Flood upon the world of the impious.’ Peter calls ‘the original world’ the men who lived before the Flood, because that was, as it were, the first age and childhood of the world, near to the origin and the beginnings of the world. And Noah is called ‘the eighth,’ not from Adam (for from him he was the tenth), but among those who were saved from the Flood by the ark; for the others were seven, and he himself the eighth. And why Peter named Noah ‘a herald of justice,’ we expounded above in the Preface of this book.¹⁶

Sed concludamus laudationem Noë his addendo quae de eo prodit Iosephus primo libro Antiquitatum; nam cum de improbitate hominum eius temporis commemorasset, de Noë subtexuit haec: Noë autem facta eorum moleste et indigne ferens, suadebat ut in melius voluntates et opera sua commutarent. Verum cum videret illos sibi non parere totosque vitiorum dulcedini succumbere, veritus ne se suamque familiam interimerent, secedens cum suis in aliam regionem migravit. Tum Deus, viri iustitia delectatus, non eius solum saeculi homines extrema malitia damnavit, sed cum decrevisset universum genus humanum extinguere aliudque novum et a vitiis purum instaurare, diluvio illud hominum abolevit universum; Noë autem solus est servatus, divino oraculo viam evadendi et rationem edoctus.

But let us conclude the praise of Noah by adding what Josephus sets forth about him in the first book of the Antiquities; for, when he had recalled the wickedness of the men of that time, he subjoined this about Noah: ‘But Noah, bearing their deeds with grief and indignation, urged them to change their wills and works for the better. But when he saw that they did not obey him and were wholly succumbing to the sweetness of vices, fearing lest they should kill him and his family, withdrawing with his own he migrated into another region. Then God, delighted with the man’s justice, did not condemn the men of his age alone for their extreme malice, but, having decreed to extinguish the whole human race and to establish another new one and pure from vices, abolished by the Flood that whole [race] of men; but Noah alone was saved, taught by a divine oracle the way and the manner of escaping.’¹⁷

Translator’s notes

Heading of the Second Disputation of Book IX. ↩
§23 (continues on p. 152): the difficulty — ‘perfect’ seems to fit no mortal; God yet commands perfection. Margins: ‘How Noah was truly called perfect, since the perfect is defined as that to which nothing is lacking’; Gen. 17. ↩
§23 (continued from p. 151): Christ too commands perfection; yet Paul denied he was perfect. Margin: Matt. 5. ↩
§24: Augustine resolves the difficulty — to walk ‘without spot’ is not yet to be perfect, but to run blamelessly toward perfection. Margins: Augustine; Eccles. 7; 1 John 1; Luke 11; Matt. 6. ↩
§25: hence the ‘perfect’ are those who run perfectly toward perfection; why God commands what none can fully have here. Margins: Augustine. ↩
§26: a scholastic resolution — five ways one may be called ‘perfect’ in this life. The first: by comparison with the imperfect (beginners, proficients, the perfect). Margins: ‘Five ways some are called perfect even in this life’; ‘The three grades of the followers of Christian discipline’; 1 Cor. 2. ↩
§27: the second way — perfect not absolutely, but with the perfection this life admits (running perfectly toward heavenly perfection). Margins: Augustine; Apoc. (last ch.). ↩
§28 (continues on p. 154): the third and fourth ways — perfect by the state one is in (Christians vs. Jews; religious vs. seculars), and by pursuing virtue eminently; sentence breaks off. ↩
§28 (continued from p. 153): the fourth way (pursuing virtue eminently) and the fifth (the perfect who keep the evangelical counsels). Margins: Matt. 19; Matt. 16. ↩
§29: other scriptural praises of Noah — Ezekiel 14 (Noah, Daniel, Job). Margins: ‘The praises of Noah from other places of Scripture’; Ezekiel 14; Jerome; Augustine. ↩
§30 (continues on p. 155): the praise in Ecclesiasticus 44 (‘Noah was found perfect, just; in the time of wrath he was made a reconciliation’). Margins: Ecclesiasticus 44; Gen. 7 (‘Thee I have seen just’). ↩
§30 (continued from p. 154): ‘reconciliation’ (Greek allagma, a ransom-price); the ‘covenants of the age’ = God’s post-Flood pact (the rainbow). Margin: Gen. 9. ↩
§31: the praise of Noah in Hebrews 11 — ‘by faith… he condemned the world.’ Margin: Paul, Hebrews 11. ↩
§32 (continues on p. 156): ‘heir of the justice which is by faith’ — Theophylact’s reading. Margin: Theophylact on Hebrews 11. ↩
§32 (continued from p. 155): Cajetan’s preferred reading — Noah heir of his forefathers’ justice. Margin: Cajetan on Paul. ↩
§33: the praise in 2 Peter 2 (Noah the ‘eighth, a herald of justice’); ‘the original world.’ Margins: 2 Peter 2; ‘the original world.’ ↩
§34: Josephus’s account — Noah, unable to reform his contemporaries, withdrew; God saved him alone. Margin: Josephus. ↩