Today we continue St Robert Bellarmine's commentaries on Psalm 31, the second in the series of Penitential Psalms.
The Latin is reproduced courtesy of the Digital Collection site - UANL and is accompanied by my fairly literal translation. The Scripture excerpts (Douay Rheims/Vulgate) are taken from the DRBO site but the verse numbering follows that of Bellarmine’s Latin text.
Where footnotes are included, the text follows each verse.
Verses 1 & 2
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
Beati quorum remissae sunt iniquitates, et quorum tecta sunt peccata.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Beatus vir cui non imputavit Dominus peccatum, nec est in spiritu ejus dolus.
This reading is most true, proved for us sufficiently by the Septuagint translation and confirmed by the Apostle. Again, the Greek codex has
in ore eius / in whose mouth for the Hebrew and Latin
in spiritu ejus / in whose spirit; but St Jerome, in his epistle
ad Suniam et Fretellam, is witness to the derivation of
in ore eius / in whose mouth from the translation of Symmachus; the Septuagint, and all the other translators, have
in spiritu ejus / in whose spirit, as in the Hebrew. Heretics from this time have tried to raise three false teachings from this text: and perhaps the Holy Spirit included Understanding in the title for this Psalm, having foreseen that it would be wrongly understood by many. For the heretics say that justification consists only in the remission of sins and does not involve an infusion of justice. For David speaks quite unequivocally of the blessed, that is the just, whose iniquities are forgiven. They add besides that this remission of sins is not a real but an imputed remission, by which God does not take away sins but, as it were, covers them and does not impute them. Finally, they take from this text that no satisfaction is necessary after the remission of sins, because if God were to demand penance, even temporal, from a justified man, it might not truly be said that He did not impute the sin to him; for how could He not impute sin to him if he punishes him?
But the holy Prophet, who in the title included the words
to David understanding, understood fully that justification of sin was not brought about by God without an infusion of grace; and by this he understood that through the grace of justification, men could be turned from the wicked into not only men who were not wicked but into men who were just; just as the physical sun does not expel darkness unless it pours in its light, so too the sun of justice, and the Father of men, does not forgive sin except through the grace or justice which it pours into a soul. Wherefore St Paul, citing this text in the Psalm, says: “ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin;”
[1] he also says: “As David also termeth the blessedness of a man, to whom God reputeth justice without works:
[2] by which words the Apostle has indicated that justice is truly included in the forgiveness or non-imputation of sin. But the first and the second error can be refuted by an explanation of the words
tegi / covered and
non imputari / not imputed. For, in this text, sins are said to be covered not because they continue to be and are not seen but because they are actually eradicated and justice takes their place; and thus they are truly covered and hidden even from the eyes of God, from whom nothing may be covered or hidden of those things which still exist. For which reason the Prophet uses various metaphors to signify the remission of sin; so that if an explanation is missing in one, its absence can be supplied by another; and amongst all, the most famous is in Psalm 50: “ Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.”
[3] By this text, forgiveness is said not only to cover the stain of sin but truly to wash it away, and not only to wash it away but to add brightness to the soul;
[1] Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin. Beatus vir,
cui non imputavit Dominus peccatum.[Rom. iv. 8]
[2] As David also termeth the blessedness of a man, to whom God reputeth justice without works: Sicut et David dicit beatitudinem hominis, cui Deus accepto fert justitiam sine operibus : [Rom. iv. 6]
[3] Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor; lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor. [Ps. L. 9]
not only to take away blackness, but to add whiteness such that it might be said to surpass the brightness of snow. What is taking away a stain and adding brightness other than taking away sin and infusing grace? What is taking away blackness and
putting on brightness other than taking away injustice and conferring justice? We read of the same in Chapter I of Isaias: “ If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.”
[1] Moreover, The Holy Fathers, St Gregory Nazianzenus, in his sermon
in sanctum lavacrum, St Augustine, and Pope Gregory in their commentaries on this Psalm, demonstrate that sins are covered but do not remain and are no longer seen; but assuredly they are taken away and therefore may not be seen because they no longer exist; they say that sins are covered by God in justification in the way that wounds are covered by a physician’s plaster; and this plaster truly cures and takes away the wound so that it may no longer be seen.
[1] And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. Et venite, et arguite me, dicit Dominus. Si fuerint peccata vestra ut coccinum, quasi nix dealbabuntur; et si fuerint rubra quasi vermiculus, velut lana alba erunt. [Isai. I. 18]
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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