Peter Martyr Vermigli, In Epistolam ad Romanos Commentarii (Basel, 1558)
Peter Martyr Vermigli; English by “H. B.” (1568)
It knows the fathers better than the men who accuse it, and it still lets Paul have the last word.
Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.
The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.
High. It goes through Romans verse by verse and stops to write a full treatise wherever Paul raises a doctrine.
High. On justification it quotes Paul, then Origen, Basil, Hilary, Ambrose and Chrysostom all saying “faith only”, to answer the charge that the doctrine was new.
Solid. Vermigli ranks every father under Scripture, so an opponent cannot win by finding one father on the other side.
Lower. Its English translation runs to more than eight hundred folio pages.
Peter Martyr Vermigli lectured on Romans at Oxford and published the commentary at Basel in 1558. Its treatise on justification argues that we are justified by faith alone. It answers the charge of novelty by quoting the church fathers who had already said “faith only”. But it ranks them all under Scripture.
A book develops as it is read — the fragment becomes the work, the work becomes the corpus.
By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.
| Lv | Move | Type | Cat. | Pwr | Acc | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Random Verse | Bible | Argument | 10 | 100% | 30 |
| 8 | Chapter… | Bible | Scripture | — | — | 12 |
| 14 | Affirm | — | Status | — | — | 1 |
| 30 | Will They or Nill They | Natural Theology | Argument | 86 | 100% | 15 |
| 34 | One or Two of the Fathers | Exegesis | Argument | 84 | 100% | 15 |
| 36 | Faith Only, Gathered | Soteriology | Argument | 88 | 100% | 10 |
| 38 | The Fathers Said Only | History | Argument | 86 | 100% | 10 |
| 44 | All Truth Is of God | Natural Theology | Argument | 80 | 100% | 15 |
| 50 | Speak Latin | History | Status | — | 100% | 5 |
How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.
Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.
In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.
“The Epicures go about to blot out of men’s minds those things which by natural anticipation are imprinted into our minds concerning God… For will they, or nill they, these truths continue still in the minds of men.”
Peter Martyr Vermigli, Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans, ch. 1 (Basel, 1558; English trans. H. B., London, 1568), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameOn Romans 1. The Epicureans tried to argue God out of the human mind, and the Academic sceptics said nothing can be known for certain. Vermigli says neither succeeded: the knowledge of God is planted in every person, and it stays there whether they want it or not.
The sceptic says nothing can be known. Vermigli, on Romans 1, says the knowledge of God is planted in every mind, and the sceptic cannot argue it out of his own.
“We ought not so much to consider what one or two of the Fathers say, but what agreeth with the holy scriptures.”
Peter Martyr Vermigli, Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans, ch. 11 (Basel, 1558; English trans. H. B., London, 1568), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameHe knew the fathers well enough to quote them against Rome, and he still would not let them be the judge. Where a father and Scripture part ways, Scripture decides.
Vermigli ranks the fathers under Scripture. One or two fathers against Paul do not decide anything; what agrees with Scripture does.
“Wherefore we say that justification consisteth of faith only… All these places (I say) most truly conclude, that we are justified by faith only: although this word, Only, be not read in the holy scriptures.”
Peter Martyr Vermigli, Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans, ch. 11 (Basel, 1558; English trans. H. B., London, 1568), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameRome said the word only is not in the Bible. Vermigli agreed, and said it does not need to be. Paul says we are justified freely, without works, by grace and not by works, and faith only is what those sentences mean.
Trent says the word only is not in Paul. Vermigli agrees and shows it does not need to be. Paul says freely, and without works, and by grace not works, and faith only is what those words mean.
“The ancient fathers abhorred not from this word Only, which our adversaries so much detest.”
Peter Martyr Vermigli, Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans, ch. 11 (Basel, 1558; English trans. H. B., London, 1568), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameTold that faith alone was a new invention, he opened the fathers. Origen, Cyprian, Basil, Hilary, Ambrose and Chrysostom all say that faith only justifies, and he quotes each of them by name.
Vermigli answers with the fathers themselves. Origen, Basil, Hilary, Ambrose and Chrysostom all wrote that faith only justifies. The consent you claim was never against faith alone.
The word only is not new. Vermigli lists the fathers who used it, from Origen in the third century to Bernard in the twelfth.
“Hereby is gathered, that all truth is of God. For it springeth not of our selves… God hath grafted in our minds… that is, anticipations, and fore instructions”
Peter Martyr Vermigli, Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans, ch. 1 (Basel, 1558; English trans. H. B., London, 1568), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameOn Romans 1:19. Whatever is true, however a person came to it, came from God. He planted first ideas in the mind that lead it toward him. So a Christian can honour a true thing wherever he finds it.
