642. In the decrees of the councils and the articles of the confessions that Protestants swear to observe, we read that through an infusion of Christ's merit God justifies the godless. In fact, though, not even the goodness of an angel can be communicated to a godless person, much less joined to that person, without either being rejected and bouncing back like a rubber ball thrown against a solid wall, or being swallowed up like a diamond thrown into a swamp. In fact, forcing something truly good on such a person would be like tying a pearl to the snout of a pig.

Surely everyone realizes that you cannot inject mercy into ruthlessness, or innocence into revenge, or love into hatred, or harmony into discord. Doing so would be like mixing heaven and hell.

People who have not been reborn are, in spirit, like panthers and eagle-owls; they can be compared to brambles and stinging nettles. People who have been reborn are like sheep and doves, and they can be compared to olive trees and grapevines. Please consider, if you will, how panther-people could possibly be converted into sheep-people, or eagle-owls into doves, or brambles into olive trees, or stinging nettles into grapevines, through any assignment or attribution or application of divine justice. Would that process not sooner condemn them than justify them? In reality, in order for that conversion to take place the predatory nature of the panther and the eagle-owl and the damaging nature of the brambles and the stinging nettles must first be removed and something truly human and harmless implanted in their place. The Lord in fact teaches in John 15:1-7 how this transformation occurs.