Question Three: On the Cause and Effects of Faith

St. Thomas, II-II, q. 6 and 7; De Verit., q. 8 and q. 18, a. 3.

726. God is the cause of faith: a) because exteriorly He proposes both the things to be believed which without divine revelation we cannot know, and the manifest signs by which we know this revelation to be divine. But b) this does not suffice, for many who know these things do not believe; whence there is also required an interior cause which interiorly moves man to assenting to those things which are of faith: not however free will alone, which is insufficient for a supernatural act; therefore God also interiorly through grace (habitual or only actual) moves us to assenting to revealed truths. "Since man, by assenting to those things which are of faith, is elevated above his nature, it is necessary that this be in him from a higher principle moving interiorly, which is God. And therefore faith as to the assent which is the principal act of faith, is from God interiorly moving through grace" (q. 6, a. 1). Therefore faith, since it is grace, is per se infused.

727. Faith is supernatural, not only objectively because as object it has the very truth of God revealing supernatural things; but also subjectively because it is produced by a supernatural principle, the grace of God not only medicinal or healing but also elevating. For it is impossible that by the powers of nature we attain any object supernatural in itself as such;¹ besides, faith, because namely it is the beginning of salvation and the root of justification, is the means by which we tend to the end supernatural in itself, but the means must be proportioned to the end. Thus the Second Council of Orange defined, can. 5, 6, 7; and Trent, sess. 6, c. 6, can. 3; and the Vatican Council, sess. 3, c. 3, can. 5, against Hermes. - Cf. John VI, 44, 45, 64; Eph. II, 5, 8; I Cor. III, 7; II Cor. III, 5; Phil. I, 29.

¹ A supernatural object as conformable to reason, or as reasonably credible, or as representable or conceivable by created symbols, is something natural; but as a thing and as truth in itself it is supernatural.

Moreover, not only the act itself of faith, but also the very affection of credulity or motion of the will, as the beginning of faith, is elicited by the powers of grace, as the Second Council of Orange defined, can. 5 and 7, against the Semipelagians. For it is to tend to a supernatural object, namely, to the act of faith.

But the judgment itself of credibility perhaps can be made by the powers of nature, because as object it has the reasonableness of faith; but when that judgment is immediately and ultimately practical (here and now it must be believed by me, here and now you should believe), so that it is made in order to supernatural faith and is the cause that we will to believe and do believe, or that the will of believing follows it, then it is occupied with a supernatural object as such, namely, the act of faith to be exercised, and pertains to the beginning of faith, and therefore cannot be made except by the powers of grace, as is certainly drawn from the same Council (can. 5) and from the Council of Milevis (can. 4). Cf. St. Augustine, l. 2, Contra duas ep. Pel., c. 8.

The act of faith and the judgment of credibility are elicited by the habit of theological faith in him who possesses it;² otherwise this happens only by the powers of actual grace. The pious affection itself of credulity, according to St. Thomas, is elicited by charity in the just man; but in the sinner it happens only with the help of actual grace.

² St. Thomas admits that other acts, besides the act itself of faith, proceed from the habit of faith, q. 6, a. 1.

728. Observations. - 1. The powers of grace which are granted to our intellect, whether by way of habit or by way of actual grace, so that it can believe, are called by the Holy Fathers and Theologians the light of faith: for just as by the light of reason we are able to know natural things, so by these powers, which elevate our intellect, we are able to know supernaturally supernatural things.

2. Faith elevates us to the supernatural and divine order; whence the act of faith is supernatural not as to mode alone but according to itself and as to substance: for it is divine because as material and formal object it has God in Himself, such as He can naturally be known only by Himself. Hence we believe the same mysterious truths which we shall see in heaven, and indeed on account of the same motive: first truth revealing them. The only difference is on the part of the condition of the object, which in heaven is clear, here remains obscure. Hence just as the beatific vision is an act of divine life, so also is faith.

3. The habit of faith not only causes the act itself of faith, but as in other habits, its causality extends itself to other acts subordinated to the principal act (I-II, q. 54, a. 4), whether they are preparatory acts of the principal act, or preservative of it. Hence by the habit of faith there are also effected both acts pertaining to the previous judgment of credibility, as was said in the preceding number,³ and acts by which (on account of the authority of the Church) we admit truths not indeed revealed in themselves but connected with these, which are defined by the Church, or at least proposed with authority, for preserving faith securely.

³ Cf. St. Thomas, q. 1, a. 4, ad 3; a. 5, ad 1, q. 2, a. 9, ad 3; Quodl. II, 6.

4. From the things said before, the various properties of faith are already known: on the part of the material object are infallibility and obscurity; on the part of the will, liberty; on the part of the judgment of credibility: reasonableness (and rational credibility of the object); on the part of the intellect adhering to the formal object, supreme certitude; on the part of the exterior cause, God moving through grace: supernaturality; finally on the part of the subject, irrevocability belongs to faith, as will be said below, n. 736, 3.

729. Effects of faith. - Faith has as effect: 1. fear: for insofar as by unformed faith we apprehend evils to be inflicted by divine judgment, it is the cause of servile fear, by which someone fears to be punished by God; but insofar as by formed faith we esteem God as the Supreme Good, from whom to be separated is the worst thing and to whom to will to be equal is evil, it is the cause of filial fear, by which someone is subject to God and fears to be separated from God; - 2. it has as effect the purification of the heart: for that is called impure which is mixed with baser things; and that is purified which is mixed with nobler things. From this it is clear that a man becomes impure if he subjects himself by love to temporal things, which are baser than himself; but through faith he tends to things higher than himself, namely, supernatural and divine things, and therefore faith is the principle of the purification of the heart: indeed unformed faith purifies from error, which happens from this, that the intellect adheres inordinately to lower things; formed faith purifies also from impurity of affection. Hence Acts XV, 9: purifying their hearts by faith.