Dist. 17, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 2
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 17
Quaestio II. Utrum ad iustificationem sit necessarius motus liberi arbitrii.
Secundo quaeritur, utrum ad iustificationem sit necessarius motus liberi arbitrii. Et quod sic, videtur.
1. Augustinus1: « Qui creavit te sine te non iustificat te sine te »: ergo necessario ad iustificationem requiritur eius motus.
2. Item, Bernardus, de Libero Arbitrio2: « Opus salutis duo requirit, id est Deum dantem et liberum arbitrium recipiens et consentiens »3: ergo necessario concurrit opus liberi arbitrii.
3. Item, ratione videtur: quia Deus, quantum est de se, semper paratus est iustificare hominem: ergo quod homo modo iustificetur et non prius, non est secundum variationem ex parte Dei, sed a
parte hominis; sed adultus iustificatur sine aliqua variatione circa sensum: ergo necesse est, quod sit variatio circa liberum arbitrium.
4. Item, Deus plus exigit ab homine, qui plus potest, ergo plus ab adulto quam parvulo, cum plus possit; sed illud quod exigit, non potest minus esse quam motus liberi arbitrii: ergo ad iustificationem illum exigit.
Contra: 1. Iustificatio est per virtutem; sed « virtus est bona qualitas mentis, quam Deus in nobis sine nobis operatur4 »: ergo etc.
2. Item, in iustificatione accedit homo ad Deum; sed Ioannis sexto5: Nemo venit ad me, nisi traxerit eum Pater; sed tractus est motus violentus, et libero arbitrio non potest inferri violentia: ergo non est ibi motus liberi arbitrii.
3. Item, potentius agens est Deus quam aliquod agens creatum; sed agens creatum sine aliqua cooperatione suscipientis expellit oppositum, ut patet in luce, quae expellit tenebram sine aliqua cooperatione aeris: ergo etc.
Item, quaero, quis sit ille motus: cum enim omnis motus meritorius sit a libero arbitrio6, videtur, quod ille possit esse cuiuslibet virtutis.
Conclusio. Ad iustificationem in adulto requiritur motus liberi arbitrii consentiens gratiae, qui est motus fidei.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod sicut iustificatio non est nisi volentis, sic etiam non dat eam Deus nisi volenti, dum sit in tali statu, quod consentire et dissentire possit. Ideo ad susceptionem iustificationis in adulto requiritur motus liberi arbitrii, secundum quem consentit gratiae. Et quia primus motus per quem consentit gratiae est motus fidei, ideo motus ille est motus fidei. Unde ad Romanos quinto7: Iustificati per fidem; Glossa: « Id est, ex motu liberi arbitrii, qui est ex fide ». Ideo dicitur, Actuum decimo quinto: Fide purificans corda, quia motus fidei primo requiritur ad purificationem.
1. Ad illud ergo quod obiicitur, quod Deus operatur virtutem sine nobis8; dicendum, quod verum est sine nobis efficientibus, non tamen sine nobis disponentibus vel consentientibus.
2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod Deus trahit; dicendum, quod est trahi per coactionem, et sic non trahit; et est trahi per inductionem et sublevationem, et sic trahit, quia inducit et etiam sublevat hominem ad illud, ad quod per se non potest pertingere9.
3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod Deus est potentissimus; dicendum, quod hoc non est propter impotentiam ex parte Dei, sed propter congruentiam in agendo. Non enim facit Deus quidquid potest, sed quod decet et quod congruit; et decens est, quod imprimat formam in materiam, sicut convenit formae et materiae suscipienti; et forma est iustitia, quae est libertatis; et materia similiter est voluntas libera, libera in agendo et recipiendo10; et ideo non datur sine actu eius, cum quo nata est agere.
Ad illud quod quaeritur de illo motu, quis sit; dicendum, quod, sicut Glossa dicit expresse, quae prius habita est ad Romanos quinto11, ille est motus fidei. Liberum enim arbitrium est facultas voluntatis et rationis; et gratia adveniens utramque potentiam facit in actu, ut ratio sit in actu credendi, qui est fidei, et voluntas in actu detestandi, qui est contritionis12.
Vide scholion ad quaestionem I huius articuli (bon-sent-IV-d17-p1-a1-q1, §§ I–VI), quod totum articulum I quaestiones I–IV complectitur. See the scholion to Question I of this article (bon-sent-IV-d17-p1-a1-q1, §§ I–VI), which covers all four questions of Article I.
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Question II. Whether for justification a movement of free will is necessary.
Secondly it is asked whether for justification a movement of free will is necessary. And that it is, seems [to be the case].
1. Augustine1: "He who created you without you does not justify you without you": therefore for justification a movement of his [free will] is necessarily required.
2. Likewise, Bernard, On Free Will2: "The work of salvation requires two things, that is, God who gives and free will receiving and consenting"3: therefore the work of free will necessarily concurs.
3. Likewise, by reason it seems [so]: because God, as far as he himself is concerned, is always ready to justify a man: therefore that a man is justified now and not earlier is not according to a variation on the part of God, but on
the part of the man; but an adult is justified without any variation as to sense: therefore it is necessary that there be a variation as to free will.
4. Likewise, God demands more from a man who is more capable, therefore more from an adult than from an infant, since he is more capable; but that which he demands cannot be less than a movement of free will: therefore for justification he demands it.
On the contrary: 1. Justification is through virtue; but "virtue is a good quality of the mind, which God works in us without us4": therefore etc.
2. Likewise, in justification a man approaches God; but in John six5: No one comes to me unless the Father draws him; but being drawn is a violent movement, and violence cannot be inflicted on free will: therefore there is no movement of free will there.
3. Likewise, God is a more powerful agent than any created agent; but a created agent, without any cooperation of the recipient, expels its opposite, as is evident in light, which expels darkness without any cooperation of the air: therefore etc.
Likewise, I ask what that movement is: for since every meritorious movement is from free will6, it seems that it could be [a movement] of any virtue whatever.
Conclusion. For justification in an adult there is required a movement of free will consenting to grace, which is the movement of faith.
I respond: It must be said that, just as justification belongs only to one willing it, so too God does not give it except to one willing, provided he be in such a state that he can consent and dissent. Therefore for the reception of justification in an adult there is required a movement of free will, according to which he consents to grace. And because the first movement by which he consents to grace is the movement of faith, therefore that movement is the movement of faith. Hence to the Romans five7: Justified by faith; the Gloss: "That is, by the movement of free will, which is from faith." Therefore it is said, in Acts fifteen: Purifying their hearts by faith, because the movement of faith is required first for purification.
1. To that, then, which is objected, that God works virtue without us8; it must be said that this is true without us as efficient [causes], yet not without us as disposing or consenting.
2. To that which is objected, that God draws; it must be said that there is a being-drawn through coercion, and thus he does not draw; and there is a being-drawn through inducement and uplifting, and thus he draws, because he induces and even uplifts a man to that to which by himself he cannot attain9.
3. To that which is objected, that God is most powerful; it must be said that this is not on account of any impotence on the part of God, but on account of fittingness in acting. For God does not do whatever he can, but what is becoming and what is fitting; and it is fitting that he impress a form upon matter, as befits the form and the matter that receives it; and the form is justice, which belongs to freedom; and the matter likewise is the free will, free in acting and in receiving10; and therefore it is not given without an act of it, with which it is born to act.
To that which is asked about that movement, what it is; it must be said that, as the Gloss expressly states, which was cited above on the Romans five11, it is the movement of faith. For free will is a faculty of will and reason; and grace, when it comes, brings both powers into act, so that reason is in the act of believing, which is [the act] of faith, and the will is in the act of detesting, which is [the act] of contrition12.
Vide scholion ad quaestionem I huius articuli (bon-sent-IV-d17-p1-a1-q1, §§ I–VI), quod totum articulum I quaestiones I–IV complectitur. See the scholion to Question I of this article (bon-sent-IV-d17-p1-a1-q1, §§ I–VI), which covers all four questions of Article I.
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- 1Dub. 4.[See] Doubt 4 [of this article, below].
- 2Vide supra pag. 327, nota 2.See above, p. 327, note 2.
- 3Cap. 1. n. 2. Verba vide supra pag. 112, nota 1.Ch. 1, n. 2. For the words see above, p. 112, note 1.
- 4Secundum August. a Magistro, II. Sent. d. XXVII. c. 5, allegatum. Cfr. ibid. dub. 3.[Drawn] from Augustine by the Master, cited in II. Sent., d. XXVII, c. 5. Cf. ibid., doubt 3.
- 5Vers. 44: Nemo potest venire ad me, nisi Pater, qui misit me, traxerit eum. Cfr. tom. II. pag. 618, nota 2, ubi etiam sententia Aristotelis de tractu invenitur.Verse 44: No one can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him. Cf. vol. II, p. 618, note 2, where also the opinion of Aristotle concerning "drawing" is found.
- 6Cfr. tom. II. pag. 892, nota 2; tom. III. pag. 350, nota 9. et pag. 381, nota 1. — Pro quis hic et in solut. cod. H quid.Cf. vol. II, p. 892, note 2; vol. III, p. 350, note 9, and p. 381, note 1. — For quis ["what"], here and in the solution, codex H reads quid.
- 7Vers. 1: Iustificati ergo ex fide. In Glossariis Strabi, Petri Lombardi et Lyrani in hunc loc. glossa allegata sic non habetur. Apud Petr. Lombard.: Quia ex fide est iustificatio. Cfr. II. Sent. lit. Magistri, d. XXVI. c. 3. seqq. et d. XXVII. c. 5. et 9. — Seq. textus est Act. 13, 9.Verse 1: Justified therefore by faith. In the Glosses of Strabo, of Peter Lombard, and of Lyra on this passage, the gloss cited is not found thus. In Peter Lombard: Because justification is from faith. Cf. II. Sent., letter of the Master, d. XXVI, c. 3 ff., and d. XXVII, c. 5 and 9. — The following text is Acts 13:9.
- 8Cod. X addit in nobis.Codex X adds in nobis ["in us"].
- 9Cfr. II. Sent. d. 25. p. II. q. 5. ad 1. 2. 3. — Pro hominem cod. K rationem.Cf. II. Sent., d. 25, p. II, q. 5, to [objections] 1, 2, 3. — For hominem ["man"] codex K reads rationem ["reason"].
- 10Vide II. Sent. lit. Magistri, d. XXV. c. 8.See II. Sent., letter of the Master, d. XXV, c. 8.
- 11Vers. 1. — De libero arbitrio cfr. II. Sent. d. 25. p. I. q. 2. seqq.Verse 1. — On free will, cf. II. Sent., d. 25, p. I, q. 2 ff.
- 12Vide scholion ad praecedentem quaest.See the scholion to the preceding question. ---