(56) VI. That all those, and those only, who obey God by their manner of
life are saved; the rest of mankind, who live under the sway of their
pleasures, are lost. (57) If we did not believe this, there would be no
reason for obeying God rather than pleasure.

(58) VII. Lastly, that God forgives the sins of those who repent. (59) No
one is free from sin, so that without this belief all would despair of
salvation, and there would be no reason for believing in the mercy of God.
(60) He who firmly believes that God, out of the mercy and grace with which
He directs all things, forgives the sins of men, and who feels his love of
God kindled thereby, he, I say, does really, know Christ according to the
Spirit, and Christ is in him.

(61) No one can deny that all these doctrines are before all things
necessary, to be believed, in order that every man, without exception, may
be able to obey God according to the bidding of the Law above explained, for
if one of these precepts be disregarded obedience is destroyed.
(62) But as to what God, or the Exemplar of the true life, may be, whether
fire, or spirit, or light, or thought, or what not, this, I say, has nothing
to do with faith any more than has the question how He comes to be the
Exemplar of the true life, whether it be because He has a just and
merciful mind, or because all things exist and act through Him, and
consequently that we understand through Him, and through Him see what
is truly just and good. (63) Everyone may think on such questions as he
likes,

(64) Furthermore, faith is not affected, whether we hold that God is
omnipresent essentially or potentially; that He directs all things by
absolute fiat, or by the necessity of His nature; that He dictates laws like
a prince, or that He sets them forth as eternal truths; that man obeys Him