Good works and merit in the early church

1 Clement 33.1Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Faith is no excuse for idleness; hurry to do good.
1 Clement 33.7Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The righteous and God himself are adorned with good works.
1 Clement 33.8Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Do the work of righteousness with all your strength.
1 Clement 34.1Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The good worker has confidence before his employer.
1 Clement 34.2Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Be eager to do good.
1 Clement 34.3Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The Lord comes with his reward.
1 Clement 34.4Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Do not be idle in good works.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.3.3 (56.3)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Doing good beyond the commandments brings greater glory.
2 Clement 3.4Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · We confess Christ by obeying him wholeheartedly.
2 Clement 4.2Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Not all who say “Lord, Lord” will be saved.
2 Clement 4.3Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Confess Christ by works of love, purity, and generosity.
2 Clement 9.5Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Christ became flesh; so we will be rewarded in the flesh.
2 Clement 11.6Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · God is faithful to reward each one's works.
Against Heresies 4.30.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christians enjoy the peace and goods of the Roman world; using what came from pagans for almsgiving builds God’s tabernacle in us.
Miscellanies 1.7.38Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Good deeds without faith do not profit after death; the Scriptures were translated into Greek so the Greeks would have no excuse; many ways lead to the one gate of righteousness, which is Christ, as 1 Clement shows.
Miscellanies 5.1.7Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · We are saved by grace, but not without good works and a sound will; we need grace, right teaching, and the Father's drawing; God cannot be seen clearly in this life, as Paul, Plato, and Moses say, but the pure in heart will see him; so the Savior was sent as divine teacher.
Letters to Virgins 1.2.2Anonymous · 3rd century · The kingdom is gained by active faith, shown in good works.
Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting 6Tertullian · ca. 211–213 · Martyrdom is a contest like the athletic games, in which God tests and crowns his people, and a second baptism, in blood, that restores those who have fallen after baptism.
Against Marcion 2.23Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · God's choosing and later rejecting Saul or Solomon is not fickleness but justice, judging each person by his conduct at the time.
On First Principles 1.8.1Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The angels receive their offices, such as healing, war and prayer, according to the merits they showed before the world was framed, by God's just judgment.
On First Principles 2.9.7Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Paul's question about Jacob and Esau applies to all creatures: their diversity is just only if each has its causes in itself, preceding bodily birth.
PG 12:1159 (Ps 4 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · The literal reading would make health and wealth higher than virtue and leads to crude hopes of eating and begetting after the resurrection; Origen’s own view: the unchosen good is the Lord’s power that cooperates with our building and guarding.
Fragment on 1 Corinthians (Jenkins § 39, part 1)Origen · ca. 226-254 · Origen distinguishes commanded duties from voluntary counsels such as virginity, notes that Paul calls chastity “good” but marriage only “not sin,” and on 1 Cor 7:27 says the married must not seek release nor the released seek a wife.
Commentary on John 19.152Origen · ca. 230–248 · One who dies in sin has not truly believed, even if he claims to; faith without works is dead.
Commentary on John 20.66Origen · ca. 230–248 · “The works of Abraham” is plural: it means all his works, not faith alone.
Commentary on John 32.360Origen · ca. 230–248 · As sinners bring blasphemy on God's name, the saints' good works bring it glory.
Exhortation to Martyrdom 14Origen · 235 · Addressing the wealthy Ambrose, Origen says those who leave the most for Christ in martyrdom receive a hundredfold, even becoming fathers of holier children in heaven.
Homily on 1 Samuel 1.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Origen interprets Elkanah as “possession of God”, Peninnah as conversion, and Hannah as grace: grace is wedded first by faith, but the works of conversion must be born before grace bears a son like Samuel.
Homilies on Exodus 7.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Since the manna began on the first day and ceased on the Sabbath, the Lord's Day was already preferred to the Sabbath; the manna is the word of God, minute and spiritual, and the double portion of the sixth day is the good works we store up in this life for the age to come.
Homilies on Leviticus 5.12Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Only the healed may offer the peace offering, by the 'hands' of good works; the priest's portion, the breast and right shoulder, signifies the converted heart and right-handed works of sinners brought back by the priest's labour.
Homilies on Leviticus 13.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The lamp fed by the people's oil is the law and the prophets, which went out among the Jews when their good works failed; Christians must keep their own lamps burning with the oil of good works, love, and peace.
Homilies on Numbers 22.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · God’s answer to the daughters of Zelophehad gave lasting laws of inheritance; spiritually, the five daughters are good works done through the five senses, by which even simple believers without deep understanding (“shadow in his mouth”) inherit with the people of God.
Homilies on Numbers 28.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · As the earthly land had named places, so the heavenly Jerusalem has regions in which the saints will receive their inheritance through Jesus according to their merits; the priests’ lands and the cities of refuge for involuntary sins will also have their heavenly counterparts.
Homilies on Jeremiah 12.2Origen · ca. 240 · Every soul is a wineskin filled with wine: the wicked drink the unmixed cup of punishment, the mixed in character drink a cup mixed in proportion to their good and bad deeds, and the righteous drink Christ's cup of the new covenant.
Homilies on Jeremiah 16.5Origen · ca. 240 · The reading “I will repay first their sins double” (lost in the Septuagint but found in the other versions) shows that believers who sin after baptism must first receive the purifying consequences of their sins before the reward of their good works.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 45Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The true sabbath is rest from evil works while doing good; one without good works is easily overcome by false doctrine, the greatest tribulation, and God “shortens the days” by cutting away false additions to Scripture.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 63Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The ten virgins are all who have received the word; the five senses, outward and divine, are all wise or all foolish together, and the oil is the word of teaching gathered from teachers, which the foolish neglected to store up.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 72Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The works of mercy stand for every virtue, bodily and spiritual: Christ is fed, clothed, received, and visited in his weak and imprisoned members; the Father blesses, but each person is the author of his own curse, and the eternal fire, invisible, was prepared not for men but for the devil and his angels.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 77Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Origen argues that the Gospels tell of three different women who anointed Jesus, not one, and reads their differences as degrees among the faithful: penitents anoint the Lord's feet with works that serve others, while the perfect pour precious ointment on his head with works done for God's glory alone.
Commentary on Matthew 15.10Origen · ca. 246–248 · Only God is good in the proper sense; others are called good by extension, and Origen compares the Saviour, the image of God’s goodness, with the Father and with lesser goods.
Commentary on Romans 2.5Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · All secrets will be revealed on the day of judgment, which is fixed at the world's end because the good and evil influence of the dead continues until then; God renders to each by works, not by nature; and Origen explains glory, honor, incorruption, and eternal life as the knowledge of God and Christ.
Commentary on Romans 2.7Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Jews come first for both punishment and reward because they knew God's will; Origen distinguishes Christians, who alone have eternal life, from unbelieving Jews and Gentiles, whose good works will still receive glory, honor, and peace, since believers too are judged for their deeds.
Commentary on Romans 2.12Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · True circumcision is the heart's cutting off of vices, but it profits only if joined to doing good, since perfection lies in good works, not merely in avoiding evil; so a baptized Christian who transgresses Christ's law has his baptism counted as uncircumcision.
Commentary on Romans 3.3Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · To 'turn aside' implies that rational nature was created upright; doing only what is commanded leaves one a 'useless servant,' so works beyond the precept such as virginity make one good and faithful; no one but Christ has brought goodness to completion; and Origen explains the 'open grave' and 'deceit.'
Commentary on Romans 3.10Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · There is one God of Jews and Gentiles, against those who separate the God of the Law from the God of the Gospel; Origen explains Paul's 'from faith' for the circumcision and 'through faith' for the uncircumcision by the distinction of prepositions, concluding that faith and good works complete each other.
Commentary on Romans 4.1Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Abraham's example shows that justification by faith has glory before God, who sees the heart, while justification by works has glory only before men or angels; true faith excludes continued sin and bears works as fruit from a root; Abraham's faith became perfect and was counted as righteousness, and the 'debt' Paul mentions is the debt of sin, since eternal life is grace.
Commentary on Romans 7.15Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen explains that God’s promises to Israel have not failed, because Isaac and Jacob were chosen not by fleshly descent or works but by God’s purpose, so that the promise passes to the sons of God, not the sons of the flesh.
Commentary on Romans 8.7Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · God has not rejected Israel, as Paul himself and the remnant, like Elijah's seven thousand, show; the 'election of grace' marks those who adorn grace with virtue, and the works Paul excludes are circumcision, sacrifices and sabbaths, not the works of righteousness, while grace must not be made void by sin.
To Quirinus 3.1Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Scripture passages on almsgiving and works of mercy, from Isaiah's true fast to Christ's judgment of the nations by what was done for the least of his brothers.
On Works and Almsgiving 5Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 253 · Scripture teaches that sins are redeemed by mercy to the poor, as Daniel counseled Nebuchadnezzar and Raphael told Tobit; prayers and fasts without almsgiving avail little.
On Works and Almsgiving 26Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 253 · Cyprian praises almsgiving as a remedy for sin and a crown within reach of all; those who give will receive a white crown in peace and a purple one in persecution.
Homilies 8.4Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter sees the crowds as fulfilling Jesus' words about many coming from east and west, but teaches that reward depends on good deeds after the call.
Homilies 8.5Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter teaches that faith in Moses or Jesus is God's gift, but salvation and reward depend on doing what they taught, not on calling them lords.
Book 3, lines 548–571Juvencus · ca. 330 · The first will be last; the parable of the labourers in the vineyard.
Demonstration 1.12Aphrahat · 337-345
Catechetical Lecture 15.26Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The way to the kingdom is the works of mercy of Matthew 25 and faithful stewardship of every gift.
Commentary on Matthew 6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Holy things are not to be given to dogs (pagans) or pigs (heretics); Hilary treats asking and receiving, the golden rule, the narrow gate, false prophets known by fruits, and the houses on rock and sand.
Commentary on Matthew 27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary applies the faithful and unfaithful servant to bishops, interprets the ten virgins (bridegroom and bride as the divine Spirit and the flesh in Christ, lamps as souls shining from baptism, oil as good works), and, after a gap in the text, the servant who hid his talent as the people of the law.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 15Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's fifteenth rule: no one may rely on the good works of others and neglect his own.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 18Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's eighteenth rule: God's commandments must be done in the way the Lord directed, for God's glory, with a good conscience, faithfully in small things, with insatiable desire, and so that others are enlightened.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God gave freedom of will so that goodness might be meritorious, setting reward before us and punishment as a restraint.
Tractates on the Psalms 51.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Righteous works need God's mercy to attain eternal life; confession is possible only in this life, since after death the will is no longer free.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.19.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Though perfect in good works, the psalmist relies wholly on God's mercy, unlike those who think one fast or a small alms earns them a hearing.
Tractates on the Psalms 127.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'labors' to be eaten are good works that nourish the soul now, with the living bread, while their fruit is reaped in eternity.
Tractates on the Psalms 127.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Wisdom, the wife, bears good works as her children, who surround the table of the Lord's bread and of Scripture.
Tractates on the Psalms 133.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Lifting hands in the night means doing works of mercy in this dark age, the true evening sacrifice, given cheerfully as Moses' raised hands won the battle.
Commentary on Ephesians 2.9Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Salvation comes neither from ourselves nor from works, but is God’s gift, so that no one may boast of merit.
Commentary on Ephesians 2.10Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · God formed believers in Christ for good works that he prepared, which Victorinus takes to mean works done in the present life.
Commentary on Ephesians 3.7Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul was made minister of the gospel by God’s gift, and even his working is the grace of God’s power, so that he, the least of the saints, preaches the incomprehensible riches of Christ.
Commentary on Galatians 2.10Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · The Jerusalem leaders added only that Paul remember the poor, which Victorinus takes as a reminder, not a condition of salvation, though Paul was eager to do it.
Commentary on Philippians 3.13Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Even Paul, after all his sufferings, has not yet laid hold of Christ; he forgets even his good past deeds, lest he claim merit or grow careless, and presses on by the Christian rule toward the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ.
Oration 19.8Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory teaches that God accepts every offering, however small, as the Israelites all gave to the tabernacle, and measures gifts by the giver’s ability and goodwill.
Oration 26.3Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory contrasts himself with self-serving shepherds and asks his people to account for the fruit of his teaching in sound faith and good works.
Oration 40.12Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Baptism should not wait for a fever; there should be time to work with its grace and earn a reward; the saved are slaves, hirelings or sons, and every moment is the time for baptism.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:58Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul closes his teaching by urging steadfast good works, which the Lord will reward.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Believers should strive by good works to please Christ in this life and at his judgment.
Commentary on Ephesians 2:9–10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Salvation is God's gift through faith, not from works, so all boasting is in God, who recreated us for good works.
Commentary on Romans 4:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Keeping the law is a debt imposed by necessity and earns no glory before God, but faith is free and is rewarded, as Abraham’s was.
Commentary on Titus 2:11–12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God’s grace revealed in Christ teaches us to confess the Creator in the unity of the Trinity and to live godly lives, awaiting the glory to be revealed at Christ’s judgment; faith without good works is vain.
Letter 64.20Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets the blue robe, ephod, and breastplate as the higher knowledge, good works, and true teaching required of a priest, works coming before teaching.
Letter 98.20Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus urges that knowledge and faith be completed in good works, for which all will give account at the judgement.
Letter 148.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · The writer agrees to give Celantia a rule of life from Scripture and insists that faith must be joined to obedience.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.20.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They say Church members need good works, but they are saved by nature.
On Cain and Abel 2.1Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · The soul must not only conceive but bring forth and nourish its good thoughts in good works before the day of judgment.
On Cain and Abel 2.8Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Faith first, then perfect works, are the whole offering God asks; exchanging the ass's firstborn for a sheep means turning labour into fruit.
On Cain and Abel 2.10Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Israel freed from brick-making in Egypt exchanged labour for fruit, as Christ calls the labouring Gentiles to his rest; we are both cleansed by baptism and redeem our sins by good works, faith and mercy.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 58Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Believers are justified by deeds, not words only, for the kingdom of God is in power.
Apology of the Prophet David 24Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Our deeds are weighed in a balance; the just, whose good works go before, have their sins covered by love and by the cross.
On the Duties of the Clergy 1.31Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Benefits should be returned more fully than received, like seed from the earth, and Solomon’s banquet is read as the feast of good works and God’s word.
On the Duties of the Clergy 2.2Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Against the philosophers’ varied views of happiness, Scripture places eternal life in the knowledge of God and in good works, as David taught long before them.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.3.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · It is not arrogant to ask God for reward; faith may claim it, as Peter’s rebuke for doubting shows.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.3.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · As Paul moved from unworthiness to confidence in his crown, David now asks for the reward of his labors; hope spurs work.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.4.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Like an athlete seeking the crown, the righteous may ask confidently for their reward.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.33.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · A servant owes more than any single good deed, as in the parable of the plowing servant.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.33.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · No service can repay God’s gifts; so we ask mercy, since no one is justified before him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.35.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Human good works are rare, partial, or a mere show of righteousness.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.33.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Even the righteous must pray to be heard by God’s mercy, not their merits.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.40.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · God weighs each person’s works and gives grace and mercy by measure.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.42.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · No one merits heaven; God’s decrees toward us proceed from mercy, not merit.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.55.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Love surpasses duty; yet the lover still begs for mercy rather than demanding reward.
Exposition of Psalm 118 21.18.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The generous should not be troubled by contempt; reward here diminishes the eternal reward.
Exposition of Psalm 118 21.18.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Store your reward for the future; let neither adversity nor prosperity move you.
Letter 140.75Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The wise virgins' reply is humble; their lamps are good works done for God's glory and fed by the oil of a good conscience, while the foolish virgins' lamps fail when human praise is withdrawn.
Letter 140.77Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The virgins signify continence and the five senses, the lamps good works, and the oil the inner intention of loving God; the foolish lack it because they ascribe their good works to themselves and delight in praise.
Letter 186.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Only Christ distinguishes anyone from the mass of perdition; faith, good will and good works are all received, so works come from grace and not grace from works.
Letter 186.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Before grace no one has good merits, only sins; grace is given freely, not paid as a debt, which is why it is called grace.
Letter 186.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Those who claim merit by their own will repeat carnal Israel's error of seeking righteousness by works, whereas true righteousness comes from God through faith.
Letter 186.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · No human merit precedes grace; grace itself merits increase and perfection, and even man's merit is God's free gift.
Letter 186.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Though God's judgments are unsearchable, one must hold that no one is justified by merit and no one is hardened without desert.
Letter 194.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Pelagians want some merit to precede grace, but God's mercy and truth meet so that the saved have no merit before being freely justified, though the righteous then have merits.
Letter 194.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Though Pelagius anathematized the view that grace is given by merit, his followers still teach it, contrary to Romans, which teaches that grace justifies the ungodly.
Letter 194.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Hardening has its merit in sin, as God simply withholds mercy, but mercy has no merit, or it would not be grace.
Letter 194.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · When God crowns our merits he crowns his own gifts; even eternal life, given for merits, is grace because the merits themselves were given.
Letter 194.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paul calls eternal life 'the grace of God' rather than wages of righteousness to exclude pride, since righteousness itself is received; we receive 'grace for grace'.
Letter 214.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that good works, prayer, and faith are themselves gifts of God, so that grace precedes merit, though God will still crown good merit at the judgment.
Letter 215.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that God "knows" the right-hand ways because he made them, as good works prepared by him, while the wicked make their own left-hand ways.
Letter 216.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Valentinus professes the monastery's faith that grace heals the free will now, while at the judgment God will reward each according to works, a faith he says Florus also holds.
Letter 268.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks the congregation to repay the loan for Fascius as an act of charity to a brother in the faith, citing Gal 6:9–10 and 2 Cor 9:6.
Homilies on Matthew 3.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The foreign and sinful women in the genealogy show that Christ came as physician and bridegroom of a church that had played the harlot, as Ruth figures; moral exhortation on humility, forgetting one's good deeds, and David's meekness toward Shimei and Saul.
Homilies on Matthew 64.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The thrones mean sharing Christ’s glory and condemning unbelieving Israel; leaving wife means preferring godliness, not breaking marriages; the parable of the laborers teaches that late converts can receive the full reward, while faith without a worthy life and even one neglected virtue can shut one out of heaven.
Homilies on Matthew 65.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ answers that the seats at his right and left are given not by favor but to those whose works make them worthy, since the throne at the Father’s right belongs to the Son alone; he rebukes the ten’s indignation by contrasting Gentile rulers with his own example of service unto death.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.42.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Faith and works belong together, like fruit and leaf.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.12.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Joshua stopped the sun not by his own confidence but by trust in Christ, attributing nothing to his works.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.12.5Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · God gives the reward from mercy, not merit, as with Abraham’s faith and the parable of the labourers.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.47.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Not all will be changed at the resurrection; lighter sins may be relieved by good works, but grave sins have no exchange.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 47.23.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The “steps” are the many dwellings of heaven, assigned by order of merit.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.35.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · God will render to each according to his works, by their number and their quality.
On Free Choice of the Will 1.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–395 · All want happiness but not all want to live rightly, and since the eternal law joins happiness to the will to live rightly, the miserable fail to reach what they want.
On Genesis against the Manichaeans 1.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 388–390 · Augustine applies the six days to the spiritual growth of each believer, from the light of faith to the ordering of the soul under reason, after which comes the rest God gives.
Tractates on Matthew 15.1Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius teaches that fasting, like prayer, must be done for God alone and not for human praise, or its reward is lost.
Sermon 10.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Judaizing Christians claimed the Gospel as owed to their works, like the false mother claiming the child; but grace is given not to merits, as Paul says, and the Church holds it as a gift.
Sermon 26.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · No one gave to God first, so that grace could be a repayment; all good comes from him, and salvation is by grace through faith, God’s gift.
Sermon 31.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The psalm about sowing in tears and reaping in joy suits the martyrs but applies to all Christians: the seeds are good works and the sheaves the eternal reward; but why tears, if God loves a cheerful giver?
Sermon 31.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The martyrs spent themselves for Christ, as those who eat at his great table must give their lives for the brothers; secure of the resurrection, they sowed, and so must we by good works.
Sermon 37.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Church works for Christ, not for herself; her wool and flax, the outward and the inward, must go together, so that neither showy almsgiving without God nor private worship without the Church will do.
Sermon 37.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The distaff holds the work still to be done, the spindle the work already done; in prayer we can appeal only to good works already accomplished, so all our effort should pass onto the spindle.
Sermon 47.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s commands to let good works shine and not to do righteousness before men agree: the works are seen so that God, not we, may be glorified.
Sermon 53.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Each beatitude’s reward fits its precept: the humble get a kingdom, the meek the land, mourners comfort, the hungry fullness, the merciful mercy, the clean of heart the sight of God.
Sermon 53.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The breadth, length, height, and depth of Ephesians are good works, perseverance, hope of heavenly reward, and the hidden grace of God.
Sermon 53.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The four dimensions fit Christ’s cross: crossbeam, upright, top, and buried foot signify good works, perseverance, hope, and hidden grace; through these we come to know Christ’s love and be filled with God.
Sermon 54.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The difference lies in intention: one who wants his own glory breaks both commands, while one who lets his works be seen so that God is glorified keeps both.
Sermon 72.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A person must first become a good tree before bearing good fruit.
Sermon 88.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · To cry out to Christ is to live by his commands; the crowd that tries to silence the blind men stands for lukewarm Christians who discourage the zealous, who must persevere until Jesus stands still and heals them.
Sermon 93.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The foolish virgins’ oil was human praise; it kept their lamps lit in this life, but at the resurrection, when everyone is taken up with his own case, there is no one to praise them and their lamps go out.
Sermon 93.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The wise humbly ask not to be judged and pray for forgiveness, and did their works before God for his glory, while the foolish did theirs to be seen by men and so received human praise as their only reward.
Sermon 108.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, who came, departed, and will come again, warns us to wait for the end with girded loins, abstaining from unlawful desires, and with lamps burning in good works, for we became Christians in hope of another world.
Sermon 108.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The psalm that promises life and good days demands in return that we keep our tongues from evil and our lips from deceit; the wage of life without end is given only to those who work.
Sermon 111.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine urges hospitality, since every Christian is a stranger and guest even in his own house, passing on to the homeland above; he closes by announcing the anniversary of Bishop Aurelius’s ordination.
Sermon 131.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Psalm 103 lists God’s benefits in order: forgiveness in baptism, the healing of weakness now, redemption from corruption at the resurrection, and finally the crown, which is given in mercy, since even our merits are God’s gifts.
Sermon 158.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Good works should seek only God himself as reward, who alone satisfies; faith working through love belongs to this life and will give way to sight.
Sermon 172.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Funerals and monuments console the living, but the Church's prayers, the eucharistic sacrifice, and alms help the faithful dead, though only those who lived so as to be helped; no new merit is gained after death.
Sermon 179.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Martha's service of bodily needs will cease when mortality ends, though its reward remains; Christ deigned to hunger so that those who fed him might be rewarded, while Mary's part will never be taken away.
Sermon 183.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · All heretics, and bad Catholics too by their deeds, deny Christ come in the flesh; faith without works is like the demons' faith, which confessed Christ from fear, unlike Peter's confession from love.
Sermon 216.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The kingdom of heaven is offered freely; the candidates are to be good soil for the word, bearing a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold.
Sermon 297.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Paul expects the crown as owed to his fight and faith, yet that crown follows a grace not owed, by which the blasphemer and persecutor became an apostle and labored, not he but God’s grace with him.
Sermon 297.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God renders Paul the crown owed to his merits, but those merits are God’s gifts: his victory came through Christ, his running through God’s mercy, and his faith, like his suffering, was given.
Sermon 315.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Stephen stood when he asked Jesus to receive his spirit because he was claiming a debt promised to the martyrs; like Paul, who received the unmerited grace of apostleship before claiming the crown of righteousness, he had first received what was not owed.
The Lord's Sermon on the Mount 1.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 393–396 · Augustine explains that good works are to be shown not for human praise but so that God may be glorified, and introduces Christ’s saying that he came to fulfil the Law.
Against Jovinianus 2.18Jerome · 393 · Jerome sets out Jovinian's fourth proposition: there are only two orders, the righteous and sinners, with one reward and one punishment.
Against Jovinianus 2.22Jerome · 393 · Jerome grants the division between good and evil but argues from Ezekiel and Paul that there are differences of merit and reward among the righteous themselves.
Against Jovinianus 2.23Jerome · 393 · Jerome argues from Paul's teaching on gifts, the ranks of the Church, and the different glories of sun, moon, and stars that there will be degrees of reward among the saved.
Against Jovinianus 2.25Jerome · 393 · Jerome answers Jovinian's arguments from the equal manna, the parables, the flood, and the Passover: these concern the division between good and bad, not equality among the good.
Against Jovinianus 2.33Jerome · 393 · Jerome argues from the Gospels (the debtors, talents, minas) and Old Testament examples (cities of refuge, Gibeonites, Jonathan) that there are degrees of merit and reward.
On Continence 16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 395 · God made man able not to sin, so that not sinning would be merit and being unable to sin its reward, as the saints will be at the end.
On Continence 30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 395 · Paul's warning of God's wrath shows that faith without works does not save; the 'members' to be put to death are the vices dwelling in the members.
Confessions 13.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · What matters is not the gift but the fruit, the good will of the giver, as with the widow who fed Elijah.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 5.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues from Christ’s sayings that the kingdom is promised to those who keep his commands, never to those who confess his birth.
On the Trinity 14.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · The mind does not remember its lost happiness in paradise, which it knows only by Scripture, but it does remember God, in whose light even the ungodly see the unchangeable rules of justice.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 78–79Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · David, restored by repentance, remained after God's heart, so Christ could descend from Bathsheba, though the child of the adultery died; and Josiah's violent death punished his disobedience to the prophet's warning, while his idolatrous sons' captivity refutes pagan claims of the gods' revenge.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 4.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Our true rest is not in ourselves or our works but in God, after good works that are his gift; God sanctified the day of rest because he is blessed in himself, not in his works.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Wis 8:19–20 seems to favor souls coming from above, but it cannot mean that souls are sent into bodies for prior merits, which contradicts Rom 9:11; some refer it to Christ's soul.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · From Christ's fullness we receive first the grace of faith and forgiveness, given freely to sinners who deserved only punishment, and also truth, the fulfilment of God's promises.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Paul first confessed that he received mercy undeserved and then claimed the crown as owed; yet God, in crowning merits, crowns his own gifts.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 17.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The number forty, hallowed by the fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Christ, signifies the perfection of good works in abstaining from worldly desires; with the reward of the denarius (ten) it becomes fifty, the joy of Eastertide.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 51.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Serving Christ means following him: seeking his interests, doing good works for his sake, and even laying down one's life for the brothers.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 68.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ goes away to prepare the place by making us live by faith, which cleanses the heart for the sight of God; the dwelling places differ as merits differ.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 82.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father is glorified when we bear fruit, because our good works are his grace and the glory belongs to him, not to us.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 8.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Good works should be seen so that God, not the doer, is praised, as the churches glorified God for Paul's conversion; Paul, once proud Saul, became 'small'.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 8.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Pride can do all the outward works of love, even martyrdom, so the test is the root within; good works should be seen so that God is praised and others imitate them.
On the Christian Life 7Fastidius · ca. 411-430 · From Cain and Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Lot, Scripture shows that God is pleased by righteousness and offended by wickedness.
On the Christian Life 10Fastidius · ca. 411-430 · To love one's neighbour is not only to avoid evil but to do good; those who neglect works of mercy are condemned, and innocence is what commends us to God.
On the Spirit and the Letter 50Augustine of Hippo · 412 · Righteousness comes from Christ's gifts, not the law; Israel failed not because of ceremonies but because it claimed to fulfill God's moral commands by its own power.
City of God 21.21Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine reports the view that catholics who persevere in the church, however wicked their lives, will be saved “through fire” because they have Christ as their foundation.
On Faith and Works 20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · Christ told the rich man to keep the commandments to enter life; faith and conduct are inseparable, so Scripture sometimes names one for both.
On Faith and Works 23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · James compares faith without works to the demons' belief and calls it dead.
On Faith and Works 25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · If faith alone saved through fire, even persistent adulterers and prostitutes should be baptized, and the many texts excluding the wicked from God's kingdom and the judgment of Matthew 25 would be false.
On Faith and Works 30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · The Canaanite woman was praised because Christ saw her changed; believing in Christ means faith working through love, not the dead faith of demons.
Commentary on Jeremiah 3.29Jerome · ca. 414-419 · The people confess that their sins have brought the drought and appeal to God to save for his name's sake, not for their merit.
Commentary on Jeremiah 6.21Jerome · ca. 414-419 · God answers penitent Ephraim as his beloved, favored son; though God's words were truly in his heart, he still needs God's mercy, for all human righteousness depends on it (Jer 31:20).
Commentary on Jeremiah 6.38Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jeremiah recalls God's signs in Egypt and gift of the land, which Israel received by the fathers' merits and lost at once through disobedience; their unfulfilled promise refutes those who think a man can do all he vows (Jer 32:20–23).
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 35Augustine of Hippo · 417 · Paul's crown is paid to his merits, but those merits are themselves God's gifts: victory, running, and keeping the faith are all by grace.
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 36Augustine of Hippo · 417 · Paul himself says he was unworthy to be an apostle because he persecuted the church, and that he is what he is by grace, which labored in him.
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 40Augustine of Hippo · 417 · Pelagius's claim that Paul was worthy of all graces contradicts both Paul's words and Pelagius's own condemnation of Caelestius's proposition that grace is given according to merit.
On the Proceedings of Pelagius 51Augustine of Hippo · 417 · Augustine explains the courteous terms of his short letter to Pelagius, which quietly reminded him that goodness is God's gift.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 1.23Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Pelagius's book to a consecrated virgin teaches that grace is merited by doing God's will, which contradicts his condemnation of that view at the Palestinian synod.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 1.34Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Pelagius says the grace of the Lord is merited by the good use of free choice; Augustine answers that faith itself, the beginning of all merit, is God's free gift.
The Institutes 12.11John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · The penitent thief, David's forgiveness, and our calling show that salvation and perfection are God's gift, not earned by our labour.
The Institutes 12.14John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Perfection requires both human effort and God's grace; grace is given to those who labour, and God awaits even the first occasion of good will.
The Institutes 12.15John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · The truly holy fathers grew more aware of their sins as they grew purer, and hoped for salvation by God's mercy, not their works.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine answers the charge that he calls the saints only relatively good, explaining that right faith, not moral achievement alone, distinguishes the righteous, and illustrating this with two contrasting men.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine explains that sinlessness and perfect wisdom after the resurrection are not new commandments to be fulfilled but the reward for keeping the commandments now.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine distinguishes the small righteousness of faith in this life, which merits, from the full righteousness of the resurrection, which is its reward.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine lists Scriptures the Pelagians ignore, above all Ezekiel 36, where God says he acts not for Israel's merits but for his own name's sake.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 67Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Against those who hold that baptized catholics who die unrepentant in grave sin will be saved through a temporary fire, Augustine argues from Paul and James that faith without works does not save.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 107Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Eternal life, though the reward of good works, is grace, since good merits are themselves God's gifts; Adam chose his own will, and God's will was done concerning him.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 110Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · The Eucharistic sacrifice and alms offered for the baptized dead help those whose lives merited such help, as thanksgiving for the very good, propitiation for the not very bad, and consolation to the living for the very bad.
On Grace and Free Will 5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 426 · Against the Pelagian claim that grace follows the merit of turning to God, Augustine shows that conversion itself is God's gift, and that Paul received grace for evil merits.
On Grace and Free Will 6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 426 · Good merits follow grace and depend on it; even eternal life, the crown of righteousness, is God crowning his own gifts.
On Grace and Free Will 7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 426 · Paul's good fight, finished course, and kept faith were all God's gifts; faith that works through love, itself God's gift, produces the works for which eternal life is rendered.
On Grace and Free Will 8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 426 · Eternal life is both a reward for good works and grace, because the good works themselves are God's grace; it is “grace for grace”.
The Conferences 1.9John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Germanus and Cassian object that works of mercy cannot be taken away, since Christ rewards them with the kingdom.
The Conferences 1.10John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Moses answers that the reward of good works remains, but the works themselves, which exist because of bodily need and human inequality, will cease, while love and contemplation continue for ever.
The Conferences 13.1John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Germanus is troubled that Chaeremon seemed to deny any merit to human effort in attaining chastity, and Chaeremon asks what is troubling them.
The Conferences 13.2John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Germanus objects that chastity, won by one’s own labor, should be credited to that labor, as a farmer’s harvest is to his work.
The Conferences 13.13John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Grace cooperates with the will, sometimes waiting for some effort from it, yet remains free, since slight efforts receive an immeasurable reward; David’s sin and confession were his own, his pardon was God’s gift, and Paul’s labors were his yet done by grace with him.
The Conferences 23.4John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Scripture calls many things good, yet compared with God none is good; so all virtues, like the law beside the Gospel, are dimmed beside contemplation, and busy good works hold the saints back from it.
On the Predestination of the Saints 12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · Infants and Christ himself refute merit before grace; the suggestion that infants are baptized or not according to merits they would have had if they had lived is absurd, since judgment is according to what one did in the body.
Chapter 3Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 432-433 · Prosper argues that Cassian's middle position, granting grace to some and self-started good will to others, implies that grace is given according to merit and contradicts his own first definition.
Chapter 11Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 432-433 · Prosper charges that Cassian's warning not to refer all the saints' merits to God combines two condemned Pelagian theses: that grace is given according to merits and not for each single act.
Chapter 16Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 432-433 · Prosper rejects Cassian's claim that the centurion's faith would have earned no praise had it been God's gift, showing from Paul's thanksgivings that faith is both praised and given by God.
Chapter 17Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 432-433 · Prosper shows that Cassian, though disowning the thesis that grace is given according to merit, implies it by making the centurion's faith his own meritorious possession.