Folio 78
Council of Carthage XVI, 418
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be able to puff us up. Moreover, just as it is written of God: "Who teaches man knowledge" [Ps. 93:10], so also it is written: "Charity is from God" [I John 4:7].
105. Can. 5. It has likewise been decided that whoever says that the grace of justification is given to us for this reason: that what we are ordered to do through free will, we may be able to accomplish more easily through grace, just as if, even if grace were not given, we could nevertheless fulfill the divine commands without it, though not indeed easily, let him be anathema. For concerning the fruits of His commands the Lord spoke not when He said: "Without me you can accomplish with greater difficulty," but when He said: "Without me you can do nothing" [John 15:5].
106. Can. 6. It has likewise been decided that what St. John the Apostle says: If we say, that we have not sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us [I John 1:8], whoever thinks that this ought to be interpreted thus: that he asserts that this ought to be said on account of humility, namely, that we have sin, and not because it is truly so, let him be anathema. For the Apostle continues and adds: If however we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, who remits our sins and cleanses us from all iniquity [I John 1:9], wherein it is quite clear, that this is said not only humbly but truly. For the Apostle could have said: If we say: we have not sin, we extol ourselves, and humility is not in us. But when he says: We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, he shows clearly that he who said he had not sin, spoke not the truth but a falsehood.
107. Can. 7. It has likewise been decided that whoever says that for this reason the saints say in the Lord's prayer: "Forgive us our debts" [Matt. 6:12], that they say this not for themselves, because that petition is not now necessary for them, but for others who are sinners among their people, and that on this account each one of the saints does not say: Forgive me my debts, but, Forgive us our debts; so that the just man is understood to seek this for others rather than for himself, let him be anathema. For the Apostle James was holy and just, when he said: "For in many things we all offend" [Jas. 3:2]. For why was "all" (omnes) added, unless that this meaning was proper and in the Psalm where one reads: Enter not into judgment with thy servant, because no (ne omnes) living person shall be justified in thy sight [Ps. 142:2]. And in the prayer of wisest Solomon: There is not a man who has not sinned [III Kings 8:46]. And in the book of holy Job: In the hand of every (omnis) man he signs, so that every (omnis) man may know his infirmity [Job 37:7]. Hence also holy and just Daniel, when he spoke in the plural in his prayer: "We have sinned, we have done evil" [Dan. 9:5, 15], and the rest which he there truly and humbly confesses, lest it should be thought, as certain ones do think, that he said this not about his own sins, but rather about the sins of his people, declared afterwards: "When . . . I prayed and confessed