115. Those who are in faith separate from charity and who have confirmed themselves in it from the saying of Paul to the Romans,
That a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law. Rom. iii. 28,
revere this saying as those who adore the sun; and they become like those who steadily fix their eyes on the sun whereby the keenness of their sight is destroyed and they see nothing in full daylight. For they do not see that in that passage by "the deeds of the Law" are not meant the commandments of the Decalogue but the rituals described by Moses in his books, which are everywhere in them called the Law. Lest, therefore, it should be understood that the commandments of the Decalogue are meant, he explains it by saying,
Do we then make void the Law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the Law. Verse 31 of the same chapter.
Those who, from this saying, have confirmed themselves in faith separate [from charity], by gazing at this passage as at the sun fail to see where Paul enumerates the laws of faith as being the very works of charity; and what is faith without its laws? Nor do they see where he enumerates evil works while he declares that those who do them cannot enter into heaven. From this it is evident what blindness has been induced by a wrong understanding of this single passage.