A simple, and calm argument this week, and as far as I can tell, without controversy.
THAT MAN NEEDS THE HELP OF GRACE TO PERSEVERE IN THE GOOD
1 Man also needs the help of divine grace so that he may persevere in the good.
2 Indeed, everything that is variable in itself needs the help of an immovable mover so that it may be fixed on one objective. But man is subject to variation, both from evil to good and from good to evil. So, in order that he may immovably continue in the good, which is to persevere, he needs divine help.
3 Again, for that which surpasses the powers of free choice, man needs the help of divine grace. But the power of free choice does not extend to the effect of final perseverance in the good. This is evident as follows. In fact, the power of free choice applies to those things which fall within the scope of election.
Now, what is chosen is some particular operation that can be performed. But such a particular operation is what is here and now present. Hence, that which falls under the power of free choice is something that is to be done now. But to persevere does not mean something as now operable, but the continuation of an operation throughout time. Now, this effect, of persevering in the good, is beyond the power of free choice. Therefore, man needs the help of divine grace to persevere in the good.
4 Besides, though man is the master of his action through will and free choice, he is not the master of his natural powers. So, while he is free to will or not to will something, he cannot by willing produce such a result that his will, by the very fact of willing, would be immovably fixed on what be wills or chooses. But this is what is required for perseverance; that is, the will must endure immovably in the good. So, perseverance is not within the scope of free choice. Therefore, the help of divine grace must be available to man so that he may persevere.
5 Moreover, suppose that there are several agents in succession, such that one of them acts after the action of another: the continuation of the action of these agents cannot be caused by any one of them, for no one of them acts forever; nor can it be caused by all of them, since they do not act together. Consequently, the continuity must be caused by some higher agent that always acts, just as the Philosopher proves, in Physics VIII, that the continuity of the generative process in animals is caused by some higher, external agent.
Now, let us suppose the case of someone who is persevering in the good. There are, then, in his case many movements of free choice tending toward the good, successively following each other up to the end. So, for this continuation in the good, which is perseverance, no one of these movements can be the cause, since none of them lasts forever. Nor can all of them together, for they are not together, and so they cannot cause something together. It remains, then, that this continuation is caused by some higher being. Therefore, man needs the help of higher grace to persevere in the good.
6 Furthermore, if many things are ordered to one end, their entire order until they reach the end comes from the first agent directing them to the end. Now, in the case of a man who perseveres in the good there are many movements and many actions reaching to the end. So, the entire order of these movements and actions must be caused by the first agent directing them to the end. But we showed that they are directed by the help of divine grace to the ultimate end. Therefore, the entire order and continuity of good works, in him who perseveres in the good, is due to the help of divine grace.
7 Hence, it is said to the Philippians (1:6): “He who hath begun a good work in you will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus”; and in 1 Peter (5:10): “the God of all grace, Who has called us to His eternal glory… after you have suffered a little, will Himself perfect you and confirm you and establish you.”
8 There are also found in Sacred Scripture many prayers in which perseverance is sought from God: thus, in the Psalm (16:5): “Perfect You my goings in Your paths, that my footsteps be not moved”; and in 2 Thessalonians (2:15-16): “May God, our Father, exhort your hearts and confirm you in every work and word.” This is also what is asked in the Lord’s Prayer, especially when one says, “Your kingdom come”; indeed, the kingdom of God will not come for us unless we have persevered in the good. Now it would be ridiculous to ask something from God if He were not the giver of it. So, man’s perseverance is from God.
9 By this we set aside the error of the Pelagians, who said that free choice is sufficient for man to persevere in the good, and that he does not need the help of grace for this purpose.
Notes Put simply, the chance for mistake is too great.
10 However, we should note that even he who possesses grace asks God that he may persevere in the good. just as free choice is not sufficient without the external help of God, for this effect of persevering in the good, so neither is a habit infused in us enough for this purpose. For habits that are divinely infused in us during the present state of life do not take away entirely from free choice the possibility of being moved toward evil, even though free choice is somewhat fixed in the good by means of them.
And so, when we say that man needs the help of grace to persevere unto the end, we do not understand that, in addition to habitual grace previously infused to assure good operation, another must further be infused for persevering; what we do understand is that, once possessed of all the gratuitous habits, a man still needs the help of divine providence externally governing him.
The “Help of Grace” was acknowledged and accepted in 1776 by the representatives of the 13 American States, when they confirmed the ENDOWMENT of the Creator of Men in de Declaration of Independence as the unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Eudaimonia. The ‘good’, so they also held, was to be found in the securement of the Endowment in Men’s polities. Grace will befall when one unconditionally accepts the endowment as made by He Whose name is “I am.”
“as far as I can tell, without controversy.”
It may be without controvery among your co-religionists, but the claim (no, it doesn’t rise to the level of “argument”) is, outside of that bubble, among the most morally offensive and unsupportable tenets with which the faithful regularly harass their superiors.
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Romans 8: 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.…
That Glorious freedom will still subject to the condition of Grace ? Difficult, since the argument presented is that above is that Grace provides the pathway to Glorious freedom of the children of God.
Lee: “”…regularly harass their superiors.”
Superiors? Who are our superiors?
One of your very best, Briggs.
21I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Romans 7: 21-25.
So yes, it is only by and through Jesus Christ giving to us His grace that we can overcome our attraction to sin, which attraction is inherent in every person due to our adamic nature which remains even after we become Christ’s, and which works continually to draw us to the attractions of this world.
And so, Paul writes in Chapter eight of Romans 8: 1-8:
1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
God bless, C-Marie
Praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster!
Pope Leo XIII hs Locke et all.
The Declaration of Independence was a crock.
Society is the natural condition of man, not a social compact. Govt’s are not instituted amongst men, they exist owing to man and community/society is a necessary aspect of humanity and AL authority descends from God, it des not ruse from people to some crummy enforcers of some imaginary compact.
Govts are from God and govt OWE their existence and allegiance to God – not to Locke, or any other lubricious liberal who lost this pants falling in line being the ghastly misnamed enlightenment.
ABS hope stash is not too churlish.
Thanks to liberalism citizens are now told they are under house arrest (quarantined) and will be arrested or fined if they disobey the liberals who tells us “we are all in this together” although they are not in it with us but they get paid by our taxes.
O, and social distancing is the way we stay united.
Hgwah.
I say we stop paying the politicians because no salary means wealth.
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