From: jhpb@sarto.budd-lake.nj.us (Joseph H. Buehler)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Catholics & Faith and Works
Date: 26 Jul 92 20:24:04 GMT
Organization: none

The word "faith" is normally used by Catholics to mean the assent we
give to God's revelation.  To be "faith", this assent must have the
additional note of springing from the grace of God.

There is a classic passage in St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa that explains
the nature of Faith well.  He divides belief into three types.  I
usually call them:

- knowledge
- opinion
- faith

This is based on scholastic psychology, in which the primary faculties
of the human soul are the intellect (knowing) and will (doing).

Knowledge is of things that are intrinsically evident to the mind.
The intellect sees that something *must* be true and assents.

Opinion is of things that we think are true, based on the available
evidence, but are not really sure.  Here, the nothing is intrinsically
evident to the intellect.  The will takes over, and assents to that
which seems most likely.

Faith is similar to opinion, in that the intellect does not see that
the thing assented to must be intrinsically true, and the will is the
cause of the assent.  It differs, however, in that the assent of the
will is due, not to natural human faculties, but to the grace of God.

Faith and opinion are usually confused, because people only think of
the fact that the intellect does not see clearly that which they
assent to.

It should be kept in mind however, that faith and opinion are very
different, in that one comes from God's grace, the other from the
normal exercise of human faculties.

Scripturally, this idea of faith can be seen in St. Paul:

	Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of
	things that appear not.

St. Thomas uses this verse to elucidate on the basic explanation I
just gave above.  "Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for"
refers to the objective part of faith, the things that are assented
to.  "[Faith is] the evidence of things that appear not" refers to the
subjective aspect of faith, that it is an assent that comes from
grace, and not from the intrinsic evidence of the thing itself.

Faith is meritorious, because, although it springs from grace, the
assent is still free, meaning that a man who has faith need not have
it.

Faith is necessary ("Without faith it is impossible to please God.")
but not sufficient for salvation.  Catholics believe that salvation
comes from charity.  Here's another verse from St. Paul:

	Now there remain these three, faith, hope and charity, but the
	greatest of these is charity.

Here, faith is as I have outlined it above, belief arrived at under
the influence of grace.

Hope springs from faith.  Once one knows God, one knows He is good,
and has great confidence in Him, relying on Him for those things
necessary for salvation.

Charity is what drives sin out of the soul and makes it anew in the
image of its creator.  It is the love of God above all things.  A
*supernatural* love, a love that can only come from grace, that
implies viewing all things in the light of faith, adhering totally to
what God has revealed.

Faith and hope disappear in Heaven.  The things that were once
believed are then known to be true.  The Saints see that God is a
Trinity, for example.  That which was once hoped for is then
possessed.  Only charity remains in Heaven.  As St. Paul says.

These three virtues -- faith, hope, charity -- are called the
theological virtues in Catholic theology.  They are the sum total of
the whole Christian life.