{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-500","native_reference":{"book_number":690,"chapter_from":2,"chapter_to":2,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":29,"verse_to":29},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: \"If ye know that He is righteous, know ye that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.\" The righteousness which at present is ours is of faith. Perfect righteousness is not, save only in the angels: and scarce in angels, if they be compared with God: yet if there be any perfect righteousness of souls and spirits which God hath created, it is in the angels, holy, just, good, by no lapse turned aside, by no pride falling, but remaining ever in the contemplation of the Word of God, and having nothing else sweet unto them save Him by whom they were created; in them is perfect righteousness: but in us it has begun to be, of faith, by the Spirit. Ye heard when the Psalm was read, \"Begin to the Lord in confession.\" \"Begin,\" saith it; the beginning of our righteousness is the confession of sins. Thou hast begun not to defend thy sin; now hast thou made a beginning of righteousness: but it shall be perfected in thee when to do nothing else shall delight thee, when \"death shall be swallowed up in victory,\" when there shall be no itching of lust, when there shall be no struggling with flesh and blood, when there shall be the palm of victory, the triumph over the enemy; then shall there be perfect righteousness. At present we are still fighting: if we fight we are in the lists; we smite and are smitten; but who shall conquer, remains to be seen. And that man conquers, who even when he smites presumes not on his own strength, but relies upon God that cheers him on. The devil is alone when he fights against us. If we are with God, we overcome the devil: for if thou fight alone with the devil, thou wilt be overcome. He is a skillful enemy: how may palms has he won! Consider to what he has cast us down! That we are born mortal, comes of this, that he in the first place cast down from Paradise our very original. What then is to be done, seeing he is so well practised? Let the Almighty be invoked to thine aid against the devices of the devil. Let Him dwell in thee, who cannot be overcome, and thou shalt securely overcome him who is wont to overcome. But to overcome whom? Those in whom God dwelleth not.<br/><i>— Ten Homilies on 1 John 4</i></p><p><b>Bede</b>: If you know that he is righteous, know that our righteousness is now by faith. Perfect righteousness is found only in angels, and scarcely in angels if compared to God. However, if any perfect righteousness exists in the souls and spirits that God created among the angels and saints, the righteous and the good, who fell by no lapse, were not brought down by pride, but always remained in the contemplation of God's word and found nothing else sweet except the one from whom they were created, in them is perfect righteousness. But in us, it began to be according to the Spirit through faith. Whence the Psalmist says: Begin to the Lord in confession (Psalms 146). He says, begin. The beginning of our righteousness is the confession of sins. You have begun not to defend your sin; you have already started righteousness. It will be perfected in you when you will be pleased to do nothing else. When death is swallowed up in victory, when no desire will titillate, when there will be no struggle with flesh and blood, when there will be the crown of victory, and triumph over the enemy, then there will be perfect righteousness. Therefore, if you know that he is righteous, he says, know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him; that is, of Christ. And because he has said, he is born of him, he encourages us now that we are born of him, so that we may be perfect. Listen of course to what follows.<br/><i>— Commentary on the Catholic Epistles</i></p><p><b>Clement of Alexandria ((as quoted by Cassiodorus))</b>: \"Every one,\" he says, \"who does righteousness is born of God;\" being regenerated, that is, according to faith.<br/><i>— From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"3e993ee4e4adfeac387015fefe0880e5cfacf7a65d79f6f26b43a5af279e5b78","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":500,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"13a57a75958dccb0291f78dc1ec7c644a529cc53b4bf5cbccbfa85f5cc4b3167","translator":null,"work":null}