Theological Origins of Modernity

166 chapter five
points to Paul’s admission that there is actual good in some philosophers. 138
Indeed, pagan virtue rightly puts many Christians to shame and books
of philosophy contain precepts similar to those of the prophets. 139 Th us
Luther is mad to believe that supremely moral men such as Socrates are
evil: “Even though we grant that moral virtues are not suffi cient to gain
evangelical justifi cation without faith, people still were not doing wicked
deeds when they honored their parents, loved their children and wives,
supported the poor, sick, and affl icted.” 140
Th e position that Erasmus defends here clearly moves in a Pelagian direction,
although in comparison to some of his other remarks during the
same period it is relatively restrained. In 1522, he has one of his characters
in Th e Holy Treat declaim “Saint Socrates, pray for us,” and in 1523 he
uses the same phrase in his own name. 141 He also virtually proclaimed the
salvation of Cicero in his introduction to the Froben edition of Cicero’s
Tusculan Disputations. 142 While this certainly diminishes the importance
of Christ and his sacrifi ce, these claims for Socrates and Cicero do not
necessarily demonstrate that Erasmus was heterodox. In fact, Luther himself
comes close to Erasmus in his admiration for Cicero. He asserted, for
example, that Cicero would sit higher than Duke George of Saxony in the
world to come, and if he [Luther] sat where Cicero did he would be saved. 143
He also says that the pagans who obeyed the law will be punished less
severely by God than those who knowingly violate it. 144 But in contrast to
Erasmus, this does not mean that grace plays any less a role. As McSorley
concisely puts it, Luther does not so much deny natural goodness as show
a complete disinterest in it because in his view ethical goodness is totally
irrelevant for salvation. 145
Erasmus in contrast to Luther cannot believe that charitable works are
irrelevant to salvation: “Although we grant that works do not confer justifi
cation, certainly they do not make a person wicked unless they spring
from a perverse motive.” 146 In fact, he agrees with Paul that “if our contributions
were not there we would not be saved.” 147 Even for pagans, works
made a diff erence. He asks Luther to “imagine for me some pagan who
never heard of the mysteries of faith (and it was through no fault of his
own that he did not) but has his mind set on learning what is best and living
blamelessly in so far as he can through the guidance of nature; I do not
think that everything he does is sinful, whether it be loving his wife and
bringing up his children in a wholesome way or contributing as much as
he can to the common good.” 148 While deeds do not produce justifi cation,
they do invite the kindness of God. 149
For Luther there is literally nothing that man can do to attain salvation,