{"id":415,"date":"2017-04-09T14:24:33","date_gmt":"2017-04-09T21:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readingthechurchfathers.wordpress.com\/?p=415"},"modified":"2017-04-09T14:24:33","modified_gmt":"2017-04-09T21:24:33","slug":"tertullian-the-foundation-of-morality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-the-foundation-of-morality\/","title":{"rendered":"Tertullian: The Foundation of Morality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Knowledge of God is Necessary for Virtue<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taught of God himself what goodness is, we have both a perfect knowledge of it as revealed to us by a perfect Master; and faithfully we do His will, as enjoined on us by a Judge we dare not despise. But your ideas of virtue you have got from mere human opinion; on human authority, too, its obligation rests: hence your system of practical morality is deficient, both in the fulness and authority requisite to produce a life of real virtue. Man\u2019s wisdom to point out what is good, is no greater than his authority to exact the keeping of it; the one is as easily deceived as the other is despised.<\/p>\n

Though withal you know that these very laws also of yours, which seem to lead to virtue, have been borrowed from the law of God as the ancient model. Of the age of Moses we have already spoken. But what is the real authority of human laws, when it is in man\u2019s power both to evade them, by generally managing to hide himself out of sight in his crimes, and to despise them sometimes, if inclination or necessity leads him to offend? Think of these things, too, in the light of the brevity of any punishment you can inflict\u2014never to last longer than till death.<\/p>\n

–Apology ch. 45<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Knowledge of God is Necessary for Virtue Taught of God himself what goodness is, we have both a perfect knowledge of it as revealed to us by a perfect Master; and faithfully we do His will, as enjoined on us by a Judge we dare not despise. But your ideas of virtue you have got from mere human opinion; on human authority, too, its obligation rests: hence your system of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tertullian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1027,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-on-spiritual-authority\/","url_meta":{"origin":415,"position":0},"title":"Tertullian On Spiritual Authority","author":"Nemo","date":"January 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Discipline governs a man, power sets a seal upon him; apart from the fact that power is the Spirit, but the Spirit is God. .. Who was able to forgive sins? This is His alone prerogative: for \u201cwho remitteth sins but God alone?\u201d and, of course, (who but He can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tertullian"","block_context":{"text":"Tertullian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/tertullian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1012,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-on-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":415,"position":1},"title":"Tertullian: On Prayer","author":"Nemo","date":"January 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In the Lord's Prayer is comprised an epitome of the whole Gospel. Prayer is alone that which vanquishes God. But Christ has willed that it be operative for no evil: He had conferred on it all its virtue in the cause of good. And so it knows nothing save how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tertullian"","block_context":{"text":"Tertullian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/tertullian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":799,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-on-christian-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":415,"position":2},"title":"Tertullian On Christian Worship","author":"Nemo","date":"January 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We are a body knit together as such by a common religious profession, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. 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