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Qui Credit in Filium Dei* (“ He Who Believes in the Son of God ….”) [April 13, 1455; preached in Innsbruck] [1] “ He who believes in the Son of God has God’s attestation within himself.” ([Verse contained] in the Epistle of John).1 The Gospel of this same [writer]—[a Gospel] that is read today—states toward the end that the whole of the Gospel was written in order that we would believe that Jesus is the Son of God.2 And [the Gospel] adds what we shall obtain as a result of our [believing]: “… in order that, believing, you may have life in His name.” 3 [2] Now, consider, first of all, that God’s attestation is present in everyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. “Faith comes by hearing”;4 and so, it needs an attestation. For certainty does not result from hearing. For unless that which is said is manifest either to the sen- sory eye or to the intellectual eye, it does not have within it a warrant for belief [fides]. For the statements made can be either true or false or doubtful. But faith, which unhesitatingly is supposed to affirm to be true the things it has heard, is, necessarily, free of the false and the doubtful. Seeing, then, is the certainty of all the senses, just as we are taught in the Gospel. For [Doubting] Thomas did not believe the report of the Apostles without his having seen and having touched.5 For it happens that sight is sometimes mistaken—as when a stick [partly] in water seems broken but the sense of touch discloses the mistake. Moreover, sometimes one thing seems, to the sense of touch, to be two things—as when a pea is touched with two fingers that are crossed and to the sense of touch there appear to be two peas, though there is only one. Accordingly, touch discloses the mistake of sight, and vice versa. Thus, [Doubting] Thomas wanted to see and to touch, in order not to be mistaken. But certitude is referred to as seeing. So Christ said: “ Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.” 6 Now, He does not say “[because] you have touched” but says “[because] you have seen.” For to see is to apprehend in the highest degree of certi- tude. Believing (fides) that arises in this way, [viz., from seeing], is [but] small faith and is of little merit. For that which is seen cannot fail to be believed; and so, to believe to be true that-which-is-seen is of lit- tle merit. For what would the one [who sees] merit more than all oth- ers, since, like him, there is no one who, [upon seeing], would not 211 212 Qui Credit in Filium Dei believe? This belief (fides) does not result from any strength, or victo- ry, over what impedes [belief]. And so, Christ said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and [nonetheless] have believed.”7 For great is that faith which is supported by no visible evidence; and so, those-who- [thus]-believe merit to obtain happiness. [3] There are some things that are declared by a teacher, but yet the students do not believe the teacher unless [the bases for these decla- rations of his] are shown to the intellect. An instance would be when an inference is set forth—for example, that there is [only] one world— [and] the inference is not believed unless it is shown by evidential con- siderations to be true. The intellect sees in the evidential considerations the true inference and believes. There are other things which cannot be shown true either to the sensory eye or to the intellectual eye—e.g., the inference that the true man Jesus is the true Son of God. Now, although many evidences are educed for proving [this point], nevertheless it is not possible that all the evidences prove to be anything other than surmises. In particular, in the Epistle [of John] there are said to be three8 who give an attestation on earth and Three who give attestation in Heaven.9 And although the Three in Heaven agree, so that there is [but] one attestation of all Three, nevertheless all of these attestations in Heaven and on earth do not establish the truth in such a way that faith is lessened because of certitude; rather, faith is increased because of the attestation. As regards Jesus: by means of water there came to be publicized that He was the Son of God. For John the Baptist bap- tized in water for the following reason: [viz.,] in order to get to know, and to make manifest, Jesus, who would come for baptism. Moreover, blood likewise attests; for a knowledge of Him comes not only by water but also by blood. For He shed His blood in support of those claims which he asserted to be true. Among these claims was the following principal claim: viz., that He was the Son of God who was sent by the Father for the salvation of the world. Furthermore, the Spirit attests that Christ is Truth. For after the Apostles received the Spirit of truth, they became witnesses to Christ’s being the Truth.10 And this is the case because in and through them there spoke only the Spirit that they [had] received and that the Father [had] sent in the Son’s name. And, hence, [that Spirit] is called the Spirit of truth because Christ, in whose name the Spirit was sent, is Truth. And in the case of all those who were baptized and who believe, the Spirit was the one who attested. Likewise, there are Three in Heaven11—the Father, the Word, and the Spirit—who attest. And the attestation is [but] one— He Who Believes in the Son of God 213 as when the Father said from Heaven “ This is my Son,” and the Spirit descended upon the Son and remained.12 These are the attestations that cause faith to be greater and that rightly oblige us to believe that Christ is the Son of God. [4] However, after faith has been received because of the fore- going considerations, the believer experiences within himself God's attestation. For as John the Baptist said, he who receives [divine attes- tation] knows that God is truthful.13 Jesus said to the Father as regards His own believing disciples: “ The words that You have given me I gave to them. And they received [them] and now know that I have gone out from You. And they have believed that You sent me.”14 See how it is that after the reception of faith, which is preached by means of words,15 there arises the knowledge that comes from faith. This fact is ascertained by experience. For example, believers who have born wit- ness by means of their own blood possess within themselves God’s witness; otherwise, they would not joyously have accepted death in order to declare their faith. For if they had not had within themselves God’s attestation, how would they have been made witnesses by means of their blood? For a martyr is a witness. [5] Moreover, consider that conscience is said to render an attes- tation, as Paul and John the Evangelist say. For if we who are believ- ers seek to know for sure whether Christ is the Word of God, and if we see clearly with our inner eye Christ’s commandments, then we dis- cover that in all the commandments of Christ there is contained only that which the Lord speaks in our respective conscience. However, we do not doubt that the word that speaks in us who have a clean con- science is the word of the King of kings, who is Justice and Truth and who commands our reason and enlightens it so that it may see that that which Christ commands is true and just. Hence, each good man endeavors to conduct himself in such a way that he is found to be obe- dient and blameless before the word-of-God, which he hears in his conscience, which is the spirit of the intellectual ear. [6] Many law-givers have endeavored to explicate the [divine] word by means of laws, so that laws are certain expressions of God’s word, or of eternal reason. By means of laws [these expressions] com- mand that conscience be in-formed as if by God’s word, which is unfolded in the laws. Thus, by means of the written Law and as a tes- timonial to the fact that the Law is holy, Moses referred the people to the word-of-God that was within those to whom he made the Law 214 Qui Credit in Filium Dei known. It was as if God’s word were the judge of all laws and were not a word to be sought at a great distance either above or below or beyond-the-sea but were a word that in us speaks to the rational soul by means of the ears of conscience. However, although that [Mosaic] Law explicated the authority of [God’s] word in many respects that have to do with the well-being of groups of people living in this world, nevertheless it did not explicate the highest happiness. For this latter is not of this world but is of the world of [God’s] word. And so, with respect to Christ’s law,16 in which eternal life is promised, temporal life is counted as nothing.

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