#2Faith
#6(Questions 1 to 16)
#31. The Object of Faith
1.The faith of which we speak here is not the mere human faith by which we accept the testimony of men, but the faith by which we accept the revealed word of God. The object of this faith is truth about God and the things that pertain to God.
2.To human understanding, the truth about God and divine things is not simple, but complex. For though God is infinite simplicity, the finite human mind cannot grasp His being, and truths related to His being, with simplicity. The finite mind does the best it can, in its limited way, with the infinite. Therefore, the truths which constitute the object of faith are involved, for the human understanding, in some complexity.
3.Since faith has for its object the truth about God, nothing false can enter into its content.
4.The object of faith is not something seen or sensed; nor, in itself, is this object grasped by the intellect. Faith, says St. Paul, "is the evidence of things that appear not." (Heb. 11:1).
5.The object of faith cannot be, at the same time, the object of scientific knowledge. St. Gregory says: "When a thing is manifest, it is the object, not of faith, but of perceiving." (Horn, xxi in Ev.).
6.It is a convenient and useful practice, in studying the object of faith, to arrange its truths as logically connected heads or topics. These heads or topics are then called the articles of faith.
7.The articles of faith are never increased in their substantial content, as time goes on. But, since the study of anything tends to reveal in detail what is implicitly contained in it, the study of the object of faith may result in an increased number of articles inasmuch as these are explicit statements of what is implicitly contained in the original articles.
8.The articles of faith are adequately expressed in the Apostles' Creed.
9.A creed or symbolum is a compact statement, or series of formulas which express the articles of faith. There are several of such creeds or symbola in general use in the Church: the Apostles' Creed,
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the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed. Such creeds differ only as to fullness of expression; all are identical in substance. A creed is useful, both as an approved expression of the whole object of faith, and as a means of instruction and guidance for the faithful.
10. It is essential that a creed have the approval of the Sovereign Pontiff to whom is committed the infallible teaching office in what pertains to the whole Church.
#32. The Internal Act of Faith
1.What we hold by faith, we believe. St. Augustine says that the verb to believe means "to think with assent." {Be Praedest. Sanct. II). In this definition the verb to think means to inquire mentally and consider what the truth is. Having found, by such consideration, sufficient motive for accepting what is proposed as true, the mind, under command of the will, accepts it without hesitation. And this is belief or faith; rather, it is the internal act of faith. Hence, the internal act of faith is the unhesitant assent of the mind or intellect, under the direction of the will, to truth that is proposed for belief upon sufficient authority. In the case of religious faith, the authority is God, who is truth itself.
2.One and the same act of faith in divine truths involves three things: a) belief in a God—that is, belief that God exists; b) believing God—that is, recognizing His word as the truth; c) belief in God—that is, accepting His word as the rule of life and the way to salvation.
3.For a man to reach Heaven, he must accept, and live by, the word of God even as a pupil accepts the word and direction of a good and trusted teacher. And though human reason—the thinking mind—can prove many of the truths that man must know about God, there are other necessary truths beyond the reach of reason which a man must hold by faith in the word of his infallible Teacher.
4.And even the truths that reason can prove in its study of God and divine things are a part of the object of faith. For a man needs to know these truths from his early youth before he has opportunity or ability to think them out. Besides, many men have neither talent nor training for the sustained reasoning needed to think these truths out. And many men are lazy in mind, or are preoccupied with other things, and these men would never study out these necessary truths at all. Moreover, in a long and involved process of reasoning, mistakes are likely to creep in, as is evident from the disputes of scholars. Hence, it is needful that man should have the certitude of God's infallible word for all divine truths, even those naturally knowable, which must be known quickly, clearly,
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and without error. Now, all truths to be held on God's authority belong to the object of faith.
5.Faith is not a foggy or general acceptance of truth in bulk. It is explicit and definite in its essential articles. Other points of faith, involved in these articles in an implicit manner, may, in time, be worked out explicitly. Meanwhile, these truths are accepted implicitly by the believer.
6.The simplest man and the most learned scholar hold the same faith. Each person, according to his state and capacity, holds explicit knowledge of the truths of faith. But the explicitness of the scholar's grasp of essential truths is far more detailed than that of the simpleminded man, the young, and less gifted persons. In God's plan, the more learned and enlightened are to teach others; upon these teachers rests the obligation of having a more detailed knowledge than others of the truths of faith which all hold in common.
7.Everyone who is capable of explicit faith must have such faith in Christ as God made man for our salvation, who died, and rose again, and ascended into Heaven, opening the way thither for mankind.
8.And all must believe explicitly in the Blessed Trinity, one God in three divine Persons, who are really distinct and equal.
9.Since the act of faith is an act of intellect moved by the will, under influence of grace, to assent fully to divine truths, it can be a meritorious act. For merit can be gained by any will-act freely performed with God's grace.
10. Although we accept the truths of faith on God's authority, it is right for us to study these truths, to think seriously upon them, and to notice how they are in accord with human reason. Such study is not a doubting or skeptical inquiry; nor is it a presumptuous summoning of God to the bar of our poor judgment. Rather, such study is an effort to appreciate the truths of faith; it indicates our interest in divine truth, and our devotion to it. Hence, such study does not decrease, but rather increases, the merit of the act of faith.
#33. The External Act of Faith
1.The external declaration, in words or deeds, of what we believe, is a true act of faith. Though faith itself is in the soul, and its act is primarily internal, it can be outwardly expressed without losing its essential character. Hence, if internal thought and assent make an act of faith, the external expression of that thought and assent makes an act of faith.
2.A man is obliged to declare his faith outwardly (that is, he
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is obliged to make an external act of faith) whenever the honor of God or his neighbor's good requires that he should do so.
#34. The Virtue of Faith
1.St. Paul defines faith as "the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not." (Heb. 11:1).
2.The act of believing, the act of faith, is the assent of the intellect under the motion of the will; both intellect and will are involved in the act of faith. But the virtue of faith is a habit of the intellect. Faith thus resides in the intellect which assents to truth and holds onto it possessingly. This fact is in no wise affected by the further fact that the intellect was moved to its assent by the will.
3.Whatever gives a thing a determinateness of being is called, in the language of philosophy, a form of that thing. What gives a thing its essential being in itself, is its intrinsic form; what comes to a thing from outside, lending perfection or effectiveness, is an extrinsic form. Now, the virtue of faith has its intrinsic form in being the habitual assent of the intellect to truth. But for the virtue of faith to be operative, to be living and active, it must be suffused with charity. Hence, it is often said that "charity is the form of faith." Charity is here an extrinsic form.
4.And when charity (which is the grace, love, and friendship of God) is not in the soul, faith is not operative; it is lifeless; it is without its activating extrinsic form. Such faith is called formless. Thus, when a person commits a mortal sin, and thereby deprives his soul of charity, he does not lose the faith, but he renders it powerless to get him on to Heaven; he renders the faith in him "formless."
5.Faith with its extrinsic form of charity is living faith. This is the virtue of faith, that is a habit in a man that serves as the principle of good acts. Lifeless or formless faith is not a virtue.
6.Faith in itself is one virtue, and it is also one in its content of truths, that is, in its object. Of course, there is a subjective distinction between John's faith and Richard's faith, inasmuch as these are two individual persons, each with his own faith. But the faith itself is one and the same, whether it be in John or Richard. Says St. Paul: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Eph. 4:5).
7.Living faith is the first of virtues, preceding all others. As St. Augustine says (Contra Julian, iv), there are no real virtues unless faith be presupposed. He speaks, of course, of supernatural virtues.
8.Faith gives absolute certitude of the truths believed, because it is a virtue directly infused into the soul by God who is truth itself.
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#35.Those Who Have Faith
1.Man in the state of innocence before the Fall, and angels before their confirmation in grace and glory, had faith. Some of the truths which for us are in the object of faith were doubtless in their knowledge, but they could not have known all the divine truths thus; they held some by faith.
2.The fallen angels have faith. St. James says: "The devils . . . believe and tremble." {James 2:19). Yet their faith is not a living faith, not a virtue. It is formless or lifeless faith, and consists, not in the infused virtue, but in the fact that the fallen angels see many signs by which they understand that the teaching of the Church is from God and is therefore true.
3.To reject any article of the Faith is to reject the Faith itself. This is like pulling one stone out of an arch; it is like putting one hole in the hull of a ship. The whole arch tumbles down; the whole ship sinks. A man who has the Faith, accepts God's word. Now, God's word has set up the Church as man's infallible teacher and guide. If a man, therefore, rejects one article of the Faith, and says that he believes all the other articles, he believes these by his own choice and opinion, not by faith. Rejecting one article of the Faith, he rejects the whole authority of the Church, and he rejects the authority of God which has set up and authorized the Church to teach truth. Hence, it is entirely incorrect to say that a man may have lifeless or formless faith in some articles of the Creed while he rejects others; such a man has not the Faith at all, living or lifeless.
4.One man's faith can be greater than that of another in the sense that one man can have a fuller and more explicit knowledge of the truths of faith than another has. And one man's faith may be called greater than the faith of another in the sense that he has a greater confidence and devotion in the practice of faith than another has. But the faith, considered in itself, is one thing, not capable of being lesser or greater.
#36.Cause of Faith
1.What is proposed for man's belief as the object of supernatural faith, is revealed by God. The truths of supernatural faith surpass the power of human reason to discover. Man is moved inwardly by grace to accept what is divinely proposed for belief. Therefore, faith is infused into the soul by almighty God. God is the cause of faith.
2.Thus, faith is a gift of God. Even lifeless or formless faith, which is not the virtue of faith, is God's gift. For a gift is a gift, even when it is mistreated and spoiled by the receiver.
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#37.Effects of Faith
1.Faith makes us aware of God's judgment, and thus arouses fear of incurring penalties for sin. This is servile fear. And faith also makes the soul fear to be separated from God by sin, and to deserve the penalties of sin. This is filial fear. Servile fear is an effect of lifeless faith; filial fear is an effect of living faith.
2.Faith raises the heart and reason to the love of God, and so takes away or lessens our tendency to cling to creatural goods. Thus, an effect of faith is the purifying of the heart.
#38.The Gift of Understanding
1.Man has by nature a power to penetrate into the meaning of things and to grasp reality in its essence. This is the natural power of mind, intellect, understanding. But man needs more than natural intellect to understand the end for which he exists and the means of attaining it. For this, man requires the light of the gift of supernatural understanding.
2.The light of supernatural understanding does not impart scientific knowledge of divine things, so that man ceases to know them by faith. By the gift of supernatural understanding man knows the mysteries of the faith surely, but imperfectly. He sees that these mysteries involve no contradiction, and he assents to their truth on God's word; thus he holds these truths by faith.
3.The gift of understanding gives knowledge of the truths of faith and also of things subordinate to faith, such as human action which springs from faith. Hence this gift is not purely speculative or theoretical; it is also practical or directive.
4.Just as the gift of charity, which is the love, grace, and friendship of God, is found in all who are in the state of sanctifying grace, so also is the gift of supernatural understanding found in them.
5.And, without sanctifying grace, no one has the gift of supernatural understanding.
6.The gift of supernatural understanding gives to the mind of man the light of faith. In this light, the gift of wisdom enables a person to judge rightly of divine things; the gift of knowledge makes him capable of right judgment about created things; the gift of counsel equips him to apply the judgments of wisdom and knowledge in. individual human acts.
7.The sixth beatitude, "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God," corresponds to the gift of supernatural understanding. For there is a special cleanness in the mind and heart which, purged of evil phantasms, understands the truths of faith. Such an under-
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standing sees God in His creatures on earth, and will behold Him hereafter in the heavenly vision.
8. The fruit of the Holy Ghost called faith, that is, the certitude of faith, also corresponds to the gift of spiritual understanding.
#39.The Gift of Knowledge
1.Man needs a sound grasp of the truths of faith, and he has it by the gift of understanding. And man also needs to make sure and right judgments, in the light of faith, in all the affairs and situations of life; he is equipped to do this by the gift of knowledge.
2.The gift of knowledge is concerned with human and created things inasmuch as these pertain to the faith in any way.
3.The gift of knowledge is primarily of speculative knowledge, for it deals with certitude in judging what things are in the light of faith. But all knowledge of creatures that refers to God and the faith must indicate, in some manner, what a person is to do as he strives to walk in the way of such knowledge. Therefore, the gift of knowledge is not entirely speculative; it is also practical.
4.The third beatitude, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted," corresponds to the gift of knowledge. For knowledge of creatures in reference to God, and in the light of faith, is knowledge of how man fails through creatures, and loses his true good by putting his trust in them. Hence, knowledge involves sorrow for sin—that is, fruitful mourning.
#310.Unbelief
1.The unbelief of a person who refuses to hear the truths of faith, or who despises these truths, is a sin.
2.Unbelief, like faith, is in the intellect as its proper subject. It is also in the will, inasmuch as every human act is in the will as its principle. Unbelief in the intellect, accepted or at least unre-jected by the will, is sinful unbelief.