Introduction
Bonaventure's quaestio: are the goods done by human beings while in sin vain or meritorious? «No good is without merit in front of God» (reference to Augustine); three reasons: 1. «Divine equity»: it would not be right if God inflicted the same punishment on one sinner who has also done something good and on another who has never done any good. 2. “Honor your father and your mother” (quote from Exodus 20, 12): God has addressed this precept to all human beings, good and bad, so even a sinner will be worthy if he observes it. 3. «reason of goodness»: if one who does a good work for vainglory nevertheless receives a reward (reference to Matthew 6, 2), then a sinner who does a good work for God also deserves a reward: in fact, it is better to do good for God and not for vainglory.
Divisio (see above) 1) First part: God multiplies the temporal goods of sinners who also do good works (exemplum taken from Exodus 1, 15-21: God's reward for the Jewish midwives Shiphrah and Puah [names not mentioned] who saved the Hebrew boys). God, in fact, rewards even one good done among a hundred mortal sins (reference to Jerome); exemplum taken from Luke 16, 19-31: parable of the rich man and Lazarus (the rich man, though a sinner, is rewarded for his good deeds, but only in life; for the interpretation of the parable, reference is made to Gregory the Great, Homeliae in Evangelia). 2) Second part: reference to Decretum Gratiani. Exemplum taken from Acts 10 (conversion of Cornelius (centurion)). 3) Third part: the devil's power is enormous (“There is no power on earth equal to that of Satan”, reference to Job 41, 25 [but the source refers to Leviathan’s power]), but doing good deeds enables the human being - even the sinner - to free himself from the devil's grasp; exemplum: short story about a sinner who escapes from the devil's hands by simply reciting three Ave Maria and three Pater noster every day. 4) Fourth part: “participation in all goods” means that if you do a good work for the benefit of someone or something, then you will become a sharer in every good (temporal or eternal, depending on your condition) concerning that person or thing; for example, if you give alms to a Church, then you will benefit from all the prayers made by the clerics of that Church (references to Book of Sirach 29, 15 and Psalmi 118, 63). 5) Fifth part: a sinner who does good works receives less punishment than one who does not. 6) Sixth part: one must persevere in doing good, because sooner or later one will obtain divine mercy (reference to Luke 11, 9).