Now that I have shown that all the obedience required to salvation consisteth in the will to obey the law of God, that is to say, in repentance; and all the faith required to the same is comprehended in the belief of this article, “Jesus is the Christ”; I will further allege those places of the Gospel that prove that all that is necessary to salvation is contained in both these joined together. The men to whom St. Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, next after the ascension of our Saviour, asked him and the rest of the apostles, saying (Acts 2:37), “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” To whom St. Peter answered (in the next verse), “Repent, and be baptized every one of you, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Therefore repentance and baptism, that is, believing that “Jesus is the Christ,” is all that is necessary to salvation. Again, our Saviour being asked by a certain ruler (Luke 18:18), “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” answered (verse 20), “Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honour thy father and thy mother.” Which when he said he had observed, our Saviour added (verse 22), “Sell all thou hast, give it to the poor, and come and follow me”: which was as much as to say, Rely on me that am the king. Therefore to fulfil the law, and to believe that Jesus is the king, is all that is required to bring a man to eternal life. Thirdly, St. Paul saith ( Rom. 1:17), “The just shall live by faith”; not everyone, but the “just”; therefore “faith” and “justice” (that is, the “will to be just,” or “repentance”) are all that is necessary to life eternal. And (Mark 1:15) our Saviour preached, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the evangile,” that is, the good news that the Christ was come. Therefore, to repent, and to believe that Jesus is the Christ, is all that is required to salvation.
Seeing then it is necessary that faith and obedience, implied in the word repentance, do both concur to our salvation; the question by which of the two we are justified, is impertinently disputed. Nevertheless, it will not be impertinent to make manifest in what manner each of them