DIVINE GRACE AS POSITIVE FUNDAMENTAL OPTION

Divine grace as positive fundamental option

Grace in St. Paul, St. Augustine and in the church’s teaching. Nature

of habitual and actual graces-sufficient and efficacious. Causes and effects

 of grace (justification and merit) grace and liberator

I.            Grace as Fundamental Option

      From the Council of Trent up to this time, there has been no substantial change in the theology of grace. However, in today’s treatment in grace, the stress varies from yesteryears, so also the vocabulary used. The emphasis of contemporary theology is on grace as presence of the Blessed trinity, as based on the relationship between God and man; the vocabulary used to express the interpersonal approach to grace is personalistic.

The advocates of personalistic theology are as forerunners: Karl Rahner, who in his article concerning the relationship between the Nature and grace, proposes the Ontological-personal approach and then in his article the “Supernatural Existential” he speaks of the theology of grace in terms of personal relations. In “Sacramentum Mundi”, he gives a brief synthetic view of Grace as God’s free self-communication, which is both  healing and elevating which is actual when offered to man to attract him, and habitual when fully accepted. Along with Karl Rahner, Juan Alfaro, developed his theology on grace in his “Personal Y Gracia” where he situates grace in his definition of man as a finite spirit or better, a created person, who speaks fulfillment which he can only receive from an infinite, uncreated person. Thus grace is primarily God’s free gift of Himself to man; its effect is created grace-in the sinner, a mysterious inner call to personal union with God, in the justified man, a permanent disposition for an “I”-Thou relationship with God.

At about the same time that Rahner and Alfaro developed their theories/ideas, Piet Franzen, in his divine grace and man present his theology of grace basing from scriptural passages such as the parable of the prodigal son (Lk. 15:11-32). He exposes first the merciful love of God for man. From this, he describes grace as an inner invitation to a fundamental option of man for God. For him, the key notion of grace is that of the presence of Trinity within us: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Thus, he tries to bring out the relationship between grace and the Trinity as well as to stress the ecclesial dimension of grace and to relate the theology to psychological studies. Franzen also says that grace by its inner dynamism connects us with the Trinity.

Whole we admit that the approach to grace by the scholastic may lead to a  static and structural and objective understanding of grace, yet, the proponents of this new methodology have not come up with purely personalistic and at the same time systematic presentation of grace. Their writings are in more than underdeveloped attempts for a more dynamic, subjective analysis of grace. The main reason is that the traditional treatise is still not surpassed by this recent and praiseworthy theological soundings. Thus, following Rahner and Haring, we still can say that the core of the theology of grace is found in St. Thomas. Thus, in the discussion, we follow St. Thomas in his presentation on the nature of habitual and actual graces, the causes and effects.

Suffice it to say then that grace as presented by the proponents of the contemporary theologians is a dynamic movement toward God who moves man first by His gift of grace. In short, grace is both the gift of God and man’s movement towards God-movement by choices.

II.          Grace In St. Paul

1.      “Together with Christ Jesus and in Him, God raise us up and enthroned us in the heavenly realm. (Eph. 2:9)

2.      Put on the new self, created after the image of God in the justice and holiness that come from Truth (Eph. 4:24)

3.      “Yes, it is by grace that you have been saved through faith; it is the gift of God; it is not the result of anything you did; so that no one has any ground for being boasting” (Eph. 2:8-9; cf. Eph. 2:5)

4.      “Therefore, as for the offence of the one man the result was the condemnation to all men. So from one’s (Christ) fulfillment of a mandate the result is the sanctification which gives life to all men. In other words, just as by the disobedience of one man, (Adam) the many were constituted sinners, so also by obedience of one (Christ) the many will be constituted holy” (Rom. 5:28-20)

5.      “For the wages that sin gives is death, but the gift that God bestows is life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23)

6.      “Your are, in fact, children of God through faith in Jesus Christ since all of you who have come to Christ by baptism have clothed yourselves with Christ” ( Gal. 3:26-27)

7.      “But to teach us, grace has been given to the extent to which Christ imparts it” (Eph. 4:7)

8.      “Now you have not received the Spirit of bondage so that you are again in fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, in virtue of which we cry: Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15)

9.      “Out of love He predestined us for Himself to become His adopted children through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:5)

10.   “Do you not know that you are God’s temple, and God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple God will destroy him, for God’s temple, which you yourselves are, is holy” (I Cor. 3: 16-17; cf. 1 Cor. 6:19; Gal. 2:20)

11.   “Because this perishable nature of ours is destined to be clothed in imperishable glory, and this mortal nature of ours must be clothed  in immortality. (1 Cor. 15: 53)

III.        Grace in St. Augustine

      Framework: The relationship between grace and freedom.

                  In the context of the Pelagian controversy

1.      Fallen man is a slave of concupiscence and of sin; he has lost freedom or the power to love the good and to realize it: (to be free is to love goodness and to rejoice in justice; fallen man, however, does not possess this freedom).

2.      The grace of Christ, which justifies fallen man, returns to him his freedom, that is, the love of the good or the joy in justice: Justification is the action of God that converts the sinner; it makes the will good; a good will consist in loving the true good; a good act is inspired by charity.

3.      All the deeds of the infidels are sinful. St. Augustine affirms that only the deeds vivified by charity are truly good; however, he admits that the Christians in sin can perform some initial good actions. How about the deeds of the infidels? St. Augustine admits at times, that they can perform some good actions; other times, however, he seems to hold that all the deeds of the Gentiles are sinful.

4.      Saving faith, without which man cannot be justified, is also a gift from God; No one can believe unless there is an antecedent grace of God; thus, preaching and even seeing miracles have no efficiency in producing faith, if there is no anterior movement of God.

5.      The believing sinner is regenerated by baptism and incorporated in Christ and in the church, and made a son of God and a temple of the Holy Spirit: Thus, the liberating and sanctifying aspects of grace; this divinized man making him adopted son of God.

6.      Justification comprises the uncreated gift of the Holy Spirit and the created gift of charity; the Holy Spirit is “gratia”; but also the effect produced in our souls, that is, the created and gratuitous gift of charity.

7.      The justified man has always need of the actual grace of God to realize saving deeds and persevere in justice; the justified man is like a sick man on the way to recovery: not to fall again, he needs always the graces of God; the need of “gratia excitans” and “gratia adjuvans” of later theology

8.      The justified man merits eternal life through his cooperation to the grace of God, however, perseverance is a gift of God that can only be attained through prayer (supplicitor emereri). Grace precedes good deeds, not follows them: one cannot merit grace by good deeds, because the good deeds cannot be made without grace. The justified man will receive eternity as merit, if he dies with love, that is, if he perseveres till the end. However, he cannot merit final perseverance; he ought to ask for it in prayer, it is the object of predestination.

9.      Predestination to eternal life is absolutely gratuitous; however, from the part of God, there can be no predestination of man to sin, and thereby to eternal damnation. Predestination is the election of God which attains its end-salvation. The elect are few. Sin is evil, and therefore God cannot want it nor operate it, He tolerates it. The sinner, however, are predestined to punishment, to eternal death.

      Thus St. Augustine stresses the gratuitousness of grace in his doctrine, however, freedom is diminished. “It seems that St. Augustine did not feel enough the terrible power of the created freedom of man – the power to resist grace, and to oppose God. (Baumgartner, 99). “God created thee without thee will not save thee without thee” ( St. Augustine). Augustine’s doctrine on predestination is a little discouraging – “in the long run, human autonomy is rally compromised” (height, 39). Augustine’s teaching on grace as sanctifying and liberating became a permanent fixture of the Catholic and protestant doctrine on grace, a grace that expands human freedom and giving it a depth and power (Haight, 51).

      From St. Paul, St. Augustine understood that his conversion was not the result of his efforts, but a gratuitous work of God (Baumgartner, 85).

IV.        Grace in Church ‘s Teaching

      A

1.           Man does not need grace to know natural truth (Vat. I, Session III, ch. 2, canon, denz.1806)

2.           To know spiritual truth man needs grace. (Trent, Session VI. Canon 3, denz. 813)

3.           Without grace there can be no work valid fro salvation. (Trent, VI Canon, 2, denz. 812)

4.           Without grace man cannot begin work for salvation (Orange, can. 5 denz, 178

5.           Not all the work of the just are sins (trent, VI, can. 32, denz, 811)

6.           Works are not always evil if they are done without perfect charity. (Trent, VI, can. 7, denz 817)

7.           Not all the work of infidels are sins. (Trent, Session Vi, can. 7, denz, 817)

      B.

1.           Without grace man cannot keep any supernatural precepts as to the substance of the work. (Trent, VI, can. 3, denz, 813)

2.           No man can keep any natural precept according to the mode of charity without grace. (Trent, VI, can. 3, denz, 813)

3.           Without grace man cannot merit eternal life. (Trent, VI, can. 2, denz, 812)

4.           Actual grace is necessary to attain habitual grace. (Orange, can. 3, denz, 176)

5.           Man cannot rise from sin without grace. (Orange, can. 4, denz, 177)

6.           Man in the state of fallen nature, healed by habitual grace, can avoid single venial sin, but not venial sins unless by special privilege.

7.           Man in this state, not healed by habitual grace, cannot long remain without mortal sin.

      C.

1.           Man needs actual grace to perform a supernaturally good work

2.           For final perseverance man needs a special divine help directing and protecting him against temptations

3.           Grace is something created and infused in the soul, inhering there by way of habit

4.           God is the first universal cause and His knowledge is universal and infallible, depending on no one or nothing else

5.           The will of man is free in its actions, even its supernatural actions

6.           God is the only principal efficient cause of grace.

     D.

1.           Some preparation is necessary for habitual grace

2.           Man prepares himself for grace by good movements of his free will

3.           All the just are given grace sufficient to observe all precepts

4.           To all the sinners among the faithful, even obdurate and blinded, God gives grace truly sufficient for repentance and avoidance of new sins

5.           Grace sufficient for salvation is given to all infidels even negative infidels, according to time and place

      E.

1.           Sanctifying grace can be increased and is not equal to all

2.           Without special revelation man cannot know certainly that he has grace

3.           Movement of free will is necessary for the justification of the sinner

4.           For the justification of the sinner a movement of faith is required

5.           Remission of sin is enumerated among the things required for justification

      F.

1.           The just truly merit

2.           The power of meriting is from the mercy of God and the merit of Christ

3.           Our merits give us a true right to reward

4.           No one can merit for himself the first actual grace

5.           No one can merit the first habitual grace “de condigno”

6.           Man can merit an increase in grace and charity

7.           Man can merit eternal life

V.          Nature of Habitual and Actual Grace

    A. Habitual Grace

      Sanctifying or habitual grace is a supernatural entity by which an intellectual creature participates physically, formally, but analogically and accidentally in the divine nature and life of God.

      Man needs first a permanent, habitual gift by which his wounded nature is healed, and having been healed, is elevated to the state of friendship with God. This habitual grace is sharing in the supernatural order what the soul is to the body in the natural order, for just as the soul is the principle of supernatural life for the soul, it is permanent of its very nature.

    B. Actual Grace

      Actual grace may be defined as that which disposes or moves in a transient manner for doing or receiving something in reward to eternal life. Ordained by its very nature to the infused habits, it serves to dispose the soul to receive those infused habits when it does not yet receive them, or to put them into operation when it already possesses them. Actual grace is received into the faculties of the soul, sometimes elevating them so that they can produce in deliberate supernatural acts-as happens with operating grace (gratia operans) and at other times to produce them in a deliberate manner (cooperating grace or “gratia co-operens).

      Actual grace may be sufficient or efficacious

1.      Sufficient Grace: It is a passing supernatural motion from God which brings the will to perfect preparation in the order of potentiality and makes the will adequately proportional for the performance of a salutary act. It is help from God by which we can perform actions.

2.      Efficacious grace: it is a passing supernatural motion from which applies the prepared will react so that man may perform an act meritorious of salvation

Efficacious grace does not become efficacious because the will asserts it, nor it is efficacious because it is given in congenial or opportune circumstances. Rather, it is efficacious grace because God makes it so.  By means of physical pre-motion grace not only reduces the will to act; it causes the mode of freedom in the act and sustains the will in its acts.

Therefore, sufficient grace is the same as imperfect efficacious grace, fallible grace, grace which can be resisted; efficacious grace is efficacious, infallibly accomplishes the effect

VI.        Causes of Grace

    A. Principal Cause

By sanctifying grace, man becomes the adopted son of God.