On the Spirit and the Letter

St. Augustine of Hippo

1. 1. [I.] — The Occasion of Writing This Work; A Thing May Be Capable of Being Done, and Yet May Never Be Done
2. 2. [II.]— The Examples Apposite
3. 3. — Theirs is Comparatively a Harmless Error, Who Say that a Man Lives Here Without Sin
4. 4. — Theirs is a Much More Serious Error, Requiring a Very Vigorous Refutation, Who Deny God's Grace to Be Necessary
5. 5. [III.]— True Grace is the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Which Kindles in the Soul the Joy and Love of Goodness
6. 6. [IV.]— The Teaching of Law Without the Life-Giving Spirit is The Letter that Kills.
7. 7. [V.]— What is Proposed to Be Here Treated
8. 8. — Romans Interprets Corinthians
9. 9. [VI].— Through the Law Sin Has Abounded
10. 10. — Christ the True Healer
11. 11. [VII.]— From What Fountain Good Works Flow
12. 12. — Paul, Whence So Called; Bravely Contends for Grace
13. 13. [VIII.]— Keeping the Law; The Jews' Glorying; The Fear of Punishment; The Circumcision of the Heart
14. 14. — In What Respect the Pelagians Acknowledge God as the Author of Our Justification
15. 15. [IX.]— The Righteousness of God Manifested by the Law and the Prophets
16. 16. [X.]— How the Law Was Not Made for a Righteous Man
17. 17. — The Exclusion of Boasting
18. 18. [XI.]— Piety is Wisdom; That is Called the Righteousness of God, Which He Produces
19. 19. [XII]— The Knowledge of God Through the Creation
20. 20. — The Law Without Grace
21. 21. [XIII.]— The Law of Works and the Law of Faith
22. 22. — No Man Justified by Works
23. 23. [XIV.]— How the Decalogue Kills, If Grace Be Not Present
24. 24. — The Passage in Corinthians
25. 25. — The Passage in Romans
26. 26. — No Fruit Good Except It Grow from the Root of Love
27. 27. [XV.]— Grace, Concealed in the Old Testament, is Revealed in the New
28. 28. [XVI]— Why the Holy Ghost is Called the Finger of God
29. 29. [XVII.]— A Comparison of the Law of Moses and of the New Law
30. 30. — The New Law Written Within
31. 31. [XVIII.]— The Old Law Ministers Death; The New, Righteousness
32. 32. [XIX.]— The Christian Faith Touching the Assistance of Grace
33. 33. — The Prophecy of Jeremiah Concerning the New Testament
34. 34. — The Law; Grace
35. 35. [XX.]— The Old Law; The New Law
36. 36. [XXI.]— The Law Written in Our Hearts
37. 37. [XXII.]— The Eternal Reward
38. 38. [XXIII.]— The Re-Formation Which is Now Being Effected, Compared with the Perfection of the Life to Come
39. 39. [XXIV]— The Eternal Reward Which is Specially Declared in the New Testament, Foretold by the Prophet
40. 40. — How that is to Be the Reward of All; The Apostle Earnestly Defends Grace
41. 41. — The Law Written in the Heart, and the Reward of the Eternal Contemplation of God, Belong to the New Covenant; Who Among the Saints are the Least and the Greatest
42. 42. [XXV.]— Difference Between the Old and the New Testaments
43. 43. [XXVI.]— A Question Touching the Passage in the Apostle About the Gentiles Who are Said to Do by Nature the Law's Commands, Which They are Also Said to Have Written on Their Hearts
44. 44. — The Answer Is, that the Passage Must Be Understood of the Faithful of the New Covenant
45. 45. — It is Not by Their Works, But by Grace, that the Doers of the Law are Justified; God's Saints and God's Name Hallowed in Different Senses
46. 46. — How the Passage of the Law Agrees with that of the Prophet
47. 47. [XXVII.]— The Law Being Done by Nature Means, Done by Nature as Restored by Grace
48. 48. — The Image of God is Not Wholly Blotted Out in These Unbelievers; Venial Sins
49. 49. — The Grace Promised by the Prophet for the New Covenant
50. 50. [XXIX.]— Righteousness is the Gift of God
51. 51. — Faith the Ground of All Righteousness
52. 52. [XXX.]— Grace Establishes Free Will
53. 53. [XXXI.]— Volition and Ability
54. 54. — Whether Faith Be in a Man's Own Power
55. 55. [XXXII.]— What Faith is Laudable
56. 56. — The Faith of Those Who are Under the Law Different from the Faith of Others
57. 57. [XXXIII.]— Whence Comes the Will to Believe?
58. 58. — The Free Will of Man is an Intermediate Power
59. 59. — Mercy and Pity in the Judgment of God
60. 60. [XXXIV.]— The Will to Believe is from God
61. 61. [XXXV.]— Conclusion of the Work
62. 62. — He Returns to the Question Which Marcellinus Had Proposed to Him
63. 63. — An Objection
64. 64. [XXXVI.]— When the Commandment to Love is Fulfilled
65. 65. — In What Sense a Sinless Righteousness in This Life Can Be Asserted
66. 66. — Although Perfect Righteousness Be Not Found Here on Earth, It is Still Not Impossible

After reading the short treatises which I lately drew up for you, my beloved son Marcellinus, about the baptism of infants, and the perfection of man's righteousness — how that no one in this life seems either to have attained or to be likely to attain to it, except only the Mediator, who bore humanity in the likeness of sinful flesh, without any sin whatever — you wrote me in answer that you were embarrassed by the point which I advanced in the second book, that it was possible for a man to be without sin, if he wanted not the will, and was assisted by the aid of God; and yet that except One in whom all shall be made alive, [[1 Corinthians 15.22]] no one has ever lived or will live by whom this perfection has been attained while living here. It appeared to you absurd to say that anything was possible of which no example ever occurred — although I suppose you would not hesitate to admit that no camel ever passed through a needle's eye, and yet He said that even this was possible with God; you may read, too, that twelve thousand legions of angels could possibly have fought for Christ and rescued Him from suffering, but in fact did not; you may read that it was possible for the nations to be exterminated at once out of the land which was given to the children of Israel, [[Deuteronomy 31.3]] and yet that God willed it to be gradually effected. [[Judges 2.3]] And one may meet with a thousand other incidents, the past or the future possibility of which we might readily admit, and yet be unable to produce any proofs of their having ever really happened. Accordingly, it would not be right for us to deny the possibility of a man's living without sin, on the ground that among men none can be found except Him who is in His nature not man only, but also God, in whom we could prove such perfection of character to have existed.