Prima Secundae
Lecture 289: Grace, Sin, and the Need for Divine Aid

Transcript
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We're up to Article 8, huh? To the eighth one goes forward thus. It seems that man without grace is able to not sin, right? For no one sins in that which he is not able to what? Avoid, right? As Augustine says in the book on the to what? And in the book on free will, right? If, therefore, man existing in mortal sin is not able to avoid sin, it seems that he did not sin by sinning. I got that right, which is inconvenient for our thinking, huh? To the first, therefore, it should be said that man is able to avoid individual acts of sin, but not all, except the grace, as has been said. But nevertheless, because it is from his own defect that a man does not prepare himself for having grace, through this he is then not excused from sin, that without grace he cannot, what, avoid sin, right? Okay? He doesn't seek that aid, I guess, huh? Yeah, that's the same. Alphonsus says that if a man goes without thinking about the business of his soul, that's a sin by itself. Mm-hmm. I'm arguing with the others, but that's a great sin because he's neglected what's most important. Moreover, man is what? Corrective, is it? That he does not sin, right? If, therefore, man in mortal sin existing is not able not to sin, it seems in vain that a, what? Yeah. Which is inconvenient, huh? To second, it should be said that the useful, what? Rebuke, yeah? Is that, what? From the sadness of the rebuke, the will of regeneration arises. Now, if the one who is corrected is a son of, what, the promise, that by the sounding in an extrinsic way, right, and whipping him, right, God in him intrinsic by a, what, hidden inspiration operates and what? Yeah. As Augustine says in the book on corruption and grace, therefore is necessary, yeah, because the will of man requires this, nor that he might abstain from sin. But nevertheless, this corruption is not sufficient without the aid of God. Whence it is said in Ecclesiastes 7.14, consider the works of God that no one can be corrected whom he despises. Tough words, huh? Tough love. Yeah, yeah. Third objection, huh? Before man is life and death, the good and the bad. What pleases him will be given to him, right? But someone by sinning, but someone by sinning does not cease to be a man. Therefore, it is still in his power to choose good or evil. And thus, a man can, without grace, avoid sin. Augustine says in the, what, hypogonostic sin. Is that against the gnost? It says inter supposition, is Augustine, maybe not. That word should be understood about man according to the status of, what, integral nature, when he was not yet the slave of sin. Whence he was able to sin and to not sin, right? Now also, whatever a man wishes will be given to him. But this, that he wishes the good, he has from the, what, help of grace. Against this, what Augustine says in the book on perfect justice, huh? Whoever denies, huh, that we ought to pray, lest we enter into temptation, right? He negates, right, this which he attempts, not sinning, that the grace of God is not, the aid of the grace of God is not necessary for a man, but only by the law taken in human, the law suffices. They should be removed from the ears of all, right? And the mouth of all, what, anathletizing, I don't doubt, huh? Those are hard words, I guess, to me. You've got to pray. You need us not into temptation, right, huh? Yeah, yeah. You need to pray. That prayer is essential, right? The answer should be said that we can speak of man in two ways. Now, according to the status of integral nature, even, what, without habitual grace, a man is able to, what, not sin, neither mortally nor veniently, because to sin is nothing other than to recede from that which is according to nature, which man can avoid in the integrity of nature, right? But he's not able to do this without the, what, God conserving him in the good, which being taken away, even the nature itself would fall to nothing else. But in the state of corrupt nature, a man needs habitual grace, healing, nature, in order that he can entirely abstain from sin, which healing first is in the present life, in the, what, spiritual side of man, that mind there, mental means, you know, the will too. The flesh they desire, not yet wholly repaired. Whence the apostle says in the epistle to Romans, in the person of a man repaired, and I, myself, right, in my mind I serve the law of God, but in my flesh I serve the law of sin, in which status a man is able to abstain from mortal sin, which consists in reason, right, as has been said above. But a man is not able to abstain from every, what, venial sin, huh? That's when St. Paul, or when St. John says, I mean, we all have some sin. right on account of the corruption of the lower sensual appetite right of which singular or individual emotions reason is able to repress right and from this they have the notion of sin and voluntary to give into them right but not overall because while he resists one perhaps another one arises right and also because reason is not able always to be vigilant right to avoiding these what motions this hasn't said above likewise above human reason in which is mortal sin is repaired through what before is repaired through justifying grace he can avoid individual mortal sins and according to some time right because it's not necessary that he continual sin in act that's good to know but that he long remained without mortal sin cannot be once august gregory says upon ezekiel that the sin that is not at once wiped out by penance by its weight draws into another and the reason for this is because just as the lower appetite ought to be subject to reason so also reason not to be subject to god and to constitute in him the end of his will but through the end it's necessary that all human acts be ruled just as through the judgment of reason how got to rule the motions of the lower appetite thus therefore the lower appetite not being holy subject to reason it cannot be but that there be disorder movements in the sense desiring power so also the reason of man not existing subject to god is consequent that there happens many disorders in the acts of what reason but it's important right since then man does not have his heart firmly in god that for no good achieving it or avoiding any evil from it he wishes to be separated right there occurs many things on account of which obtaining or avoiding man receives receives from god by condemning his precepts right and thus he sins mortally especially because in sudden things a man acts according to his preconceived in and according to his pre-existing habit as the philosopher says right in the third book of the ethics although from the premeditation of reason man is able to do something you know outside of the order of his sin preconceived right and an account and outside of the inclination of the habit but because a man cannot be always in such premeditation it cannot happen that he remained long but he operates according to the consequence of a disordered will by god unless he be repaired through grace to a suitable order right now there's a nice quote down here from thomas gone to gentiles it says when the mind is inclined to something it does not have itself equally to both opposites right but more to that which is inclined but that to which the mind has itself more it chooses unless through a discussion of reason it is led away from what yet by student solicitude whence in sudden things the sign of the interior habit especially can be taken right okay it is not ever possible for the mind demand to be continually in that vigilance that to reason it what discusses uh whatever it ought to do or will right whence the mind sometimes chooses that which is inclined the inclination remaining and thus if it is inclined in sin it cannot stand long but that it's in giving an impediment to grace unless it be reduced to the state of rectitude okay a little breaker now Article 9 here. The ninth one goes forward thus. It seems that the one who has already achieved grace through himself now is able to do good and avoid sin without another aid of grace, huh? Well, the first argument is each thing is either in vain or it's imperfect if it does not fulfill that for which it is given, right? But grace is given to us that we could do something good, right? And avoid sin. If, therefore, through grace a man is not able to do this, it seems that grace is either given in vain or that it's imperfect. Okay, well, I'm convinced by that argument, aren't you? To the first it should be said that the habitual gift of grace is not given to us, that to it we would not, what, need a further divine aid. For every creature, each creature needs, right? That he be conserved by God in the good that he has taken from him. Okay? Even your being, right, requires God's help to continue. And, therefore, if after the grace received, man still needs divine aid, it cannot be concluded that the grace has been given in vain, right? Or does it be imperfect any more than my being, right, huh? Still requires God, huh? That's one of the articles that take up in the discussion of creation, right, huh? You know, whether God can give to the creature a being so he doesn't require God any more for his being, right? Well, he can't do that, right, huh? Because being depends upon God, right? That gift. Because even in the state of glory, right, when grace will be altogether, what, perfect, right, God, or man, rather, will need divine, what, assistance, yeah. Here, however, grace is in some way, what, imperfect, insofar as man is not entirely, what, healed. This has been said, right, huh? Okay, now the second objection. Moreover, through grace, the Holy Spirit himself dwells in us, huh? According to that of the first epistle to the Corinthians, do you not know that you are the temple of God, that the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you, but the Holy Spirit, since he is omnipotent, is sufficient that he lead us to doing well, and that he guard us from sin. Therefore, man is able to, what, please things without another aid of grace, huh? So it gets kind of, you know, annoyed all this dependence we have. To the second, it should be said, that the operation of the Holy Spirit, by which he moves us, protects us, is not, what, circumscribed through the effect of the habitual gift that he causes in us. But in addition to this, what, effect, he moves and, what, protects us together with the Father and the Son, huh? More, if man, having achieved grace, still needs another aid of grace, nor that he might live rightly and abstain from sin, for a like reason, if that other aid of grace he has achieved, still he would need, what, another aid, huh? And this will go on forever, my gosh, which is inconvenient, huh? Therefore, the one who is in grace does not need another aid of grace in order that he act well and he abstain from sin, huh? Well, Thomas, I answered that the way he did that other objection earlier, right? To the third, it should be said that that argument concludes that man does not need another habitual grace, huh? But against this is what Augustine says in the book on nature and, what, grace, huh? That just as the eye of the body, fully, what, healthy, needs to be edited by the candor, brightness of light, is not able to, what, discern things, right? So also man, most perfectly justified, unless he be aided by the eternal light of divine justice, divinely, he cannot live, what, rightly. But justification comes about through grace according to that of Romans 3. You're justified gratuitously through his grace, huh? Therefore also man having grace needs another aid of grace in order that he might live rightly. But now it's grace being used here in difficulty, see? Because later on I think we'll have that distinction between the habitual grace and this emotion. I answer it should be said that as has been said above, man needs for living rightly in two ways the aid of, what, God, right? Now, skip a little line there, right? Then you just write down the first way. In one way, as regards some, what, habitual gift, huh? Through which human nature, corrupt human nature, he is healed, right? Being healed is elevated to doing works meritorious of eternal life, which exceed the proportion of nature. In another way, man needs the aid of grace that he might be moved by God to, what, doing something else. Now, as regards the first kind of aid, man existing in grace does not need another aid of grace, as it were, another habit infused, huh? That habit is, what, in the line more of a form than a doing, right, huh? He needs another aid of grace according to another mode that he be moved by God to acting, what, right thing, huh? I'm often thinking of how in Aristotle talks about the four kinds of causes, huh? And the first cause is called matter, and the second cause is called form, and the third is called mover, but he kind of puts in there in also the maker, right? And there's a difference in the causality of the maker, right? And the mover, right? Because the mover is responsible for the motion of the move, right? But the maker is responsible for the form of the made, right? And then I think of, you know, what is Thomas doing in the second and the third book of the Summa Contra Gentiles? Maker, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Because in the second book you're talking about God making heaven and earth, right, huh? God creating things, giving them their form, their nature, right, huh? And what are you talking about in the third book, right? In the third book you're talking about God being the end of all things, and then he's moving everything he's made towards himself, huh? Kind of a little difference there between the mover and the maker, right, huh? Well, it's kind of, that distinction is similar to the distinction being made here, right? That we need God's aid both as regards this form, which is habitual grace, right? And then we need to also be moved by God, right? So as regards that first kind of aid, man existing in grace does not need another aid of grace as were another infused habit, another form, right, huh? But he needs the aid of grace another way that he'd be moved by God to acting, right? They used to see it again in different offices, right, huh? You know, if we ask God to help you, right, you know? Yeah? Yeah, that's emotion, right? Yeah, that's emotion, right? Yeah, that's emotion, right? Yeah, that's emotion, right? Yeah, that's emotion, right? Yeah, that's emotion, right? Yeah, that's emotion, right? Yeah, that's emotion, right? Yeah, that's emotion, right? and this an account of two things. First, for a general reason, right? An account of this that has been said above, no created thing can be in any what? Can any act go forth except by the power of the divine motion? Secondly, for a special reason, an account of the condition of the state of human nature, which although it is healed by grace, right, as regards the higher powers, you might say, the mind, nevertheless, in it there is the corruption and infection as regards the flesh, through which it serves the law of sin, as is said in Romans 7, right? There remains also a certain obscurity of ignorance in the understanding, according as it is said in Romans 8, what we ought to pray for as we ought, we don't know, on account of various happenings of things, because also we ourselves do not know ourselves perfectly, right? We cannot fully know what is expedient for us, right? According to that of Wisdom, Chapter 9, the thoughts of mortals are timid, and uncertain are our providences, right? And therefore it is necessary for us that we be directed by God and protected, who knows all things, and is able to do all things, right? An account of this also, those we born as sons of God to grace, it is suitable, it's convenient, right? Belongs to us to say, and ne nos in dukas in tentationa, and lead us not into temptation, right? And may your will be done, as it is in heaven, so also in earth. And the other things which in the Lord's Prayer are contained pertaining to this son. So it's reasoning from the prayer, right? Okay, one more article. And we'll have no necessity of grace completely, huh? I always like this thing about perseverance, right? You need a special grace to persevere, right? To continue in good works until you're in, huh? Well, can I choose, you know, to continue to be good throughout the rest of my life? To do good works for the rest of my life? Can I choose that? Do I have the ability to choose that? Do I have the, you know? I can choose to do something good, maybe right today. Can I choose to be doing something good every day, you know, for the rest of my life and nothing bad? Can I choose that? I might want it, but can I choose it? Isn't it my power to do that? To the tenth one goes forward thus. It seems that man, constituted in grace, does not need the aid of grace to persevere. For perseverance is something less than, what? Virtue. Just as, what? Continence. This is clear to the philosopher in the seventh book of the ethics. Aristotle does not have a perseverance there. He talks about continence being something less than virtue, right? Because the continent man, he resists the temptation, right? But he's got a hell of a temptation to resist. While the virtuous man, right, his emotions are, you know, controlled, you know? Quieted down, right? So it doesn't have a great thing, huh? Some of these, some saints had this trouble with even anger, right? Which is kind of interesting. Yeah. Yeah. He said, even though in class he'd throw a book at you, you know what I mean? And then he said, after class he'd kneel down in front of you and ask forgiveness. This is all his life and whiteness. His cousin burst together, but then he would humble himself every single night. But man does not need another aid of grace to having virtues, right, from which he is justified by grace. Therefore, much less does he need an aid of grace to having perseverance. You have to wait there, huh? Because you have to see the body of the article. You see, that he replied to that objection. In the same way for the second objection. All virtues are poured in together, but perseverance is laid down to be a certain virtue. Therefore, it seems that together with grace, the what? Yeah, perseverance should be given, right? But it's perseverance, you know, a virtue. You see, I've got to wait to see the body of the article. See that. Moreover, as the apostle says in the epistle to the Romans, more is returned to man through the gift of Christ than was lost through the sin of Adam. But Adam had taken, had received, that once he was able to persevere. Therefore, much more to us is restored through the grace of Christ that we are able to persevere. And thus, man does not need grace to persevere. We'll see what he says to that when we see the body. Against, this is what Augustine says in the book on perseverance. He's got a book on everything, it's Augustine. Wherefore, why is perseverance asked from God if it is not given by God, right? And this would be a, what, laughable petition when that is asked from someone that one knows is not what is to give. But him not giving, it would be in the power of man. But perseverance is asked from those who, is asked by those who are, what, sanctified by grace. Which is understood when we say, hallowed be thy name. As Augustine confirms there through the words of Cyprian, huh? Therefore, a man also constituted in grace, needs that he, what, yeah. That's the thing that, Cyprian's famous thing on the Our Fathers, and then he's got a famous little work on the Our Father. I read it one time, but that's part of his explanation there, right? Now, Thomas says, I answer, it should be said that perseverance is said in three ways, huh? Okay, that's a distinction I'm sure you're all familiar with, huh? At least I'm trying to agree. For sometimes it signifies a habit of the mind by which a man firmly stands, right? Lest he be, what, removed from that which is a coin to virtue. Through what? Being, yeah, it's kind of worn down, right, through sadnesses, right, huh? Thus he has perseverance as regards sadnesses, right, huh? Just as continence, right, to what? Concupiscence and pleasures, yeah. Desires and pleasures, yeah. As the philosopher says in the seventh book of the Ethics, right? There he says in comparison between those things. In another way, perseverance can be said to be a certain habit by which a man has a proposal of persevering in good, with squintfinim, right? And in both of these ways, perseverance together with grace is poured in, just as continence and the other, what, virtues, huh? In another way, perseverance is said, the continuation of good all the way to the end of life. And for such perseverance, having, man constituted in grace does not need another, what, habitual grace, huh? But the divine aid directing him and protecting him against the impulse of, what, temptations, just as it is clear from the, what, preceding question, huh? And therefore, after someone is justified by grace, since he necessarily has to ask from God the foresaid gift of perseverance, that he be guarded, right, from evil all the way to the end of, what, life. But to many is given, what, grace to whom is not given to persevere in the grace. So you've got to ask God. So he says to the first objection, then, it proceeds about the first way of perseverance, just as the second one proceeds about the, what, second, huh? To the third, it should be said, as Augustine says in the book on nature and grace, man in his first state received a gift in which he is able to persevere. He did not ever receive that he would persevere. Now, through the grace of Christ, many receive and, what, gift to the grace by which they are able to persevere. And further is given to them that they will, in fact, persevere. And thus, the gift of Christ is greater than the defect of Adam. Nevertheless, a man more easily, through the gift of grace, is able to persevere in the state of innocence in which there is no rebellion of flesh to the U.S. spirit, which now we are able, and now we're able, when the operation of the grace of Christ, although it has begun as regards the mind, is not yet completed, yeah, consummated, as regards the flesh, which will be in the fatherland, huh? Where man not only is he able to persevere, but also he cannot, what? Yes. Yeah. Can't stop loving God there. In eternal life, I guess. Reminds me, kind of, the argument, you know, for the perpetuation of the species, right? Can... Can... Can the reproducing animals ensure their perseverance of their kind? Or does it need some superior cause, right? Well, no one animal can, you know. I mean, I've got all these grandchildren, but I didn't really generate them. I generated my son, my daughter. They generated some more, but can I, I won't be here, you know. I can't be responsible for this, my line, you know. What, would the line of Perkos die out or something, you know. I wouldn't go on, you know. Can I be responsible for that? I'm not going to be forever around here, so I can't be doing this, right. I can't do it. Can all of us together, or we're not all together, you know. Well, some higher power must be, but directing this continuation of this, you know. Of course, you read all of it, certain ones, and they say, this line died out. This line came as you read, and they used to do books all the time, you know. This line, this line of kings, or what it was, you know, died out, and so on and so on, and then have some. That's a big worry. That was just excuse, eh? Yeah. Now, should we go on, or should we wait until next class? Yeah, this is nice now, huh? Question 110. Let's look at the framing, though. What's your appetite in? Then we're not to consider about the grace of God as regards its what? Yes, it's so. And about this, four things are asked. Where the grace places something in the soul. Where the grace is a quality. Now we're back to the categories, right? Then, where the grace differs from the, what, infused virtue. And then fourth, the subject of grace. What is grace, huh? 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