Recreation and Rebirth and Grace and Freedom Questions and Answers

[Lucretius]

Moments ago I was given this insight:

In the beginning, God created everything by the Spirit, the Giver of Life, through the Word, the Son, from and with the Father, creator of all things visible and invisible, from no thing else, with no obligation to do so.

Since salvation is recreation, rebirth, into sons of God, to say that we can be saved somehow without absolute, freely given grace, is saying that we can recreate ourselves, which is like saying we can create ourselves. It was really Adam who formed the clay, and it was really Adam who breathed life into himself!

In other words, just as creation was ex nihilo, so recreation be. It follows that grace must be as absolute, freely given now as it was in the beginning.

My questions are: did any Fathers or Doctors view, approach, and word the doctrines of grace like this? This seems too juicy to be something that that originates with me. I usually find that any “original” thoughts I have or figure out myself were already thought of by St. Augustine, St. Thomas, etc., all ready, and usually explained more clearly and connect insightful to many other truths.

Second, how do you think this account might relate to the relationship between human freedom and grace? (And yes, I know I’m opening up a can of worms, but I’m not familiar with the Thomist-Molinism debates).

Thank you. Christi pax

 

[fhansen]

Moments ago I was given this insight:

In the beginning, God created everything by the Spirit, the Giver of Life, through the Word, the Son, from and with the Father, creator of all things visible and invisible, from no thing else, with no obligation to do so.

Since salvation is recreation, rebirth, into sons of God, to say that we can be saved somehow without absolute, freely given grace, is saying that we can recreate ourselves, which is like saying we can create ourselves. It was really Adam who formed the clay, and it was really Adam who breathed life into himself!

In other words, just as creation was ex nihilo, so recreation be. It follows that grace must be as absolute, freely given now as it was in the beginning.

My questions are: did any Fathers or Doctors view, approach, and word the doctrines of grace like this? This seems too juicy to be something that that originates with me. I usually find that any “original” thoughts I have or figure out myself were already thought of by St. Augustine, St. Thomas, etc., all ready, and usually explained more clearly and connect insightful to many other truths.

Second, how do you think this account might relate to the relationship between human freedom and grace? (And yes, I know I’m opening up a can of worms, but I’m not familiar with the Thomist-Molinism debates).

Thank you. Christi pax

It seems to me that it changes nothing as far as the free will / determinism debate goes; that one will never be completely resolved . But in any case our very *existence *is owed to God to begin with-creation is *all *grace in that sense. Man was made for communion with Him and the Fall initiated an unnatural anomaly into man’s world-he excommunicated himself-and the rest of us in the process. Man’s job here is to gain wisdom, to learn what Adam failed to grasp, of his limitations, of his dependence on God, so that he will accept the offer of forgiveness and reconciliation once made and the flow of grace that is intrinsic to that communion can then be restored.

The Fall and our separation from God is all foolishness, but a foolishness that God allowed man to wallow in so that, eventually, when the time is ripe, man may come to see what he missed, to begin to overcome the “distorted image” (CCC399) he had of the Father, and come running back to Him like Prodigals from the pigsty. God left that decision, to believe in, to hope in and, most importantly, to love Him, up to us, even as He draws us into that relationship with grace and ultimately accomplishes it in us as a work of His own. Jesus came to reveal the Father to a degree that had never been done before. We just need to respond; then the Holy Spirit will come to dwell in and lead us as was always meant to be the case. Just some thoughts FWIW, but yes, you’ve presented great food for more.

 

[fhansen]

From the Summa, First Part of Part Two, ques 110, article 1, Aquinas says that the goodness (grace) that God bestows on creatures flows from His love and can be different, ”… one is common, whereby He loves “all things that are” (Wisdom 11:25), and thereby gives things their natural being. But the second is a special love, whereby He draws the rational creature above the condition of its nature to a participation of the Divine good; and according to this love He is said to love anyone simply, since it is by this love that God simply wishes the eternal good, which is Himself, for the creature.”

 

[PNEUMA]

Moments ago I was given this insight:

In the beginning, God created everything by the Spirit, the Giver of Life, through the Word, the Son, from and with the Father, creator of all things visible and invisible, from no thing else, with no obligation to do so…

God the Father spoke the world into existence. His voice (word), his breath (spirit), made it all.

 

[fhansen]

Moments ago I was given this insight:

In the beginning, God created everything by the Spirit, the Giver of Life, through the Word, the Son, from and with the Father, creator of all things visible and invisible, from no thing else, with no obligation to do so.

Since salvation is recreation, rebirth, into sons of God, to say that we can be saved somehow without absolute, freely given grace, is saying that we can recreate ourselves, which is like saying we can create ourselves. It was really Adam who formed the clay, and it was really Adam who breathed life into himself!

In other words, just as creation was ex nihilo, so recreation be. It follows that grace must be as absolute, freely given now as it was in the beginning.

And this is what it means to say that man is “lost”. He doesn’t even have the means to find himself, let alone save himself. The Church teaches however, that once God “finds” us, we can still refuse and reject His grace. The delicate dynamic operating between God’s desire and overtures to save us, which is absolutely essential, and our own wills, is touched upon in the catechism:

**"1993 Justification establishes cooperation between God’s grace and man’s freedom. On man’s part it is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent:

When God touches man’s heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God’s grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God’s sight.42"**