Sanctifying Grace = God Himself?

[Antonius_Lupus]

Dear brethren,

I came across an interesting conundrum that I need help with.

The CCC says the following about sanctifying grace:

1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification…

2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.

The first paragraph, 1999, seems to suggest (to me anyway) an equivalence between sanctifying grace and God’s own life. Indeed, it would seem to me that one could substitute “The grace of Christ” above with “sanctifying grace.” I checked the Latin and it appeared to say the same thing.

But in next paragraph, 2000, it speaks of sanctifying grace as a gift that enables us to live with God (I assume that refers to sharing in His Divine Life).

So, my question is: Is sanctifying grace created or uncreated? That is to say, is the CCC trying to tell us that sanctifying grace IS God’s own life (thus making it God in my mind) or what?

Please help me out with this. I have always thought of sanctifying grace as being God’s own life rather than a mere gift that gives us that Divine life. Other writings I have read (Dr. Ludwig Ott for example) say that this is not the case.

What’s up with the CCC? Or, probably more accurately, what’s up with my reading of it?

 

[Antonius_Lupus]

Here is the corresponding subject in the Compendium:

1. What is the grace that justifies?

1996-1998
2005
2021

That grace is the gratuitous gift that God gives us to make us participants in his trinitarian life and able to act by his love. It is called habitual, sanctifying or deifying grace because it sanctifies and divinizes us. It is supernatural because it depends entirely on God’s gratuitous initiative and surpasses the abilities of the intellect and the powers of human beings. It therefore escapes our experience.

 

[ERose]

I looked into this recently myself and from what I can understand is that sanctifying grace is an accident (philosophy term) and not a substance. So since the divine substance is the only uncreated this makes sanctifying grace a created accident.

What sanctifying grace does for a Christian is that it makes you pleasing to Him and allows for the unifying of your spirit with His through His Love, which is the Holy Spirit. This union though is not a union of substances since God’s substance cannot change. But is a accidental union.

That is how I understood it. Anyway an interesting point here is that the EO does see sanctifying grace as divine through an expression of divine energies from the Godhead. Personally I think this does not hold much water since anything that comes forth the God head must by definition be created and cannot be divine.

 

[Antonius_Lupus]

Here is the original Latin version of the above text:

1999 Christi gratia donum est gratuitum, quod Deus nobis praebet, vitae Eius per Spiritum Sanctum in animam nostram infusae ad eidem medendum a peccato eamque sanctificandam: illa est gratia sanctificans seu deificans, in Baptismo recepta. Ipsa est in nobis operis sanctificationis fons: 234

« Si quis ergo in Christo nova creatura; vetera transierunt, ecce, facta sunt nova. Omnia autem ex Deo, qui reconciliavit nos Sibi per Christum » (2 Cor 5,17-18).

2000 Gratia sanctificans donum est habituale, dispositio stabilis et supernaturalis ipsam perficiens animam ut eam capacem efficiat vivendi cum Deo et propter Eius amorem agendi. Distinguendae sunt gratia habitualis, dispositio permanens ad vivendum et agendum secundum divinam vocationem, et gratiae actuales quae interventus designant divinos sive in conversionis initio sive in operis sanctificationis decursu.

 

[Antonius_Lupus]

I looked into this recently myself and from what I can understand is that sanctifying grace is an accident (philosophy term) and not a substance. So since the divine substance is the only uncreated this makes sanctifying grace a created accident.

What sanctifying grace does for a Christian is that it makes you pleasing to Him and allows for the unifying of your spirit with His through His Love, which is the Holy Spirit. This union though is not a union of substances since God’s substance cannot change. But is a accidental union.

That is how I understood it. Anyway an interesting point here is that the EO does see sanctifying grace as divine through an expression of divine energies from the Godhead. Personally I think this does not hold much water since anything that comes forth the God head must by definition be created and cannot be divine.

Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut. Pretty much everything you said was congruent with what I am reading thus far. Also, I think there might be some issues with the translation from Latin to English regarding the Catechism…but I’m not a good enough Latin scholar to make sure. Sigh

Thanks again.

 

[Little_One0307]

I looked into this recently myself and from what I can understand is that sanctifying grace is an accident (philosophy term) and not a substance. So since the divine substance is the only uncreated this makes sanctifying grace a created accident.

What sanctifying grace does for a Christian is that it makes you pleasing to Him and allows for the unifying of your spirit with His through His Love, which is the Holy Spirit. This union though is not a union of substances since God’s substance cannot change. But is a accidental union.

That is how I understood it. Anyway an interesting point here is that the EO does see sanctifying grace as divine through an expression of divine energies from the Godhead. Personally I think this does not hold much water since anything that comes forth the God head must by definition be created and cannot be divine.

Love comes from the Godhead, is this created? God is love.

Little One0307

 

[Antonius_Lupus]

Love comes from the Godhead, is this created? God is love.

Little One0307

??? I guess it would mean that it is uncreated, since God is love.

Ack! Now I’m even more confused, lol.

 

[Little_One0307]

Hi,

Yeah I was too until I found this last night. The forums can be bad for sleep lol sometimes.

I quote from the Catholic Encyclopedia from Broderick

Grace

There are three common acceptances of the word pgrace.

1. It refers to something ffreely bestowed, which is not due. In this sense it is used classically and in bibilcal writings.
2. Grace also means the very gift itself, for example, the grace granted as a favor at court.
3. Grace means gratititude for the things received.

In understanding the theilogical meaning of grace, that is, in the supernatural significance of the term, we find three acceptances.

1. The love of God through which supernatural life is confeerred is UNCREATED GRACE.
2. Grace is the supernatural, free gift of GOd. Directing towrad and ordained to eternal life, this is CREATED GRACE.
3. Grace is in turn our gratitude to God.

By definition, grace is a "a gratuitous gift infused by God into the rational creature with reference to the end: eternal life. BY this we mean specifically CREATED GRACE.

[There are different classifciations of grace that it goes into. The Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma spell themn out in complex terms.]

Sanctifying Grace

Infused into the very essence of the soul, sanctifying grace is a certain supernatural quality granted by God, without which we are not sanctified or assured justification and salvation. It is “God abiding in the soul.” [John 14:23]. and the Council of Trenth declared: “it is called our jsutice because by its inherence in us we are justified.”

It is also called habitual grace, but this is a broader term.

[My writing from this point on.]

Sanctifying grace is the grace that provides us with the Presence of God in us. When we sin, we lose His presence and the grace that is the means he is present in us, namely Sanctifying Grace. Sanctifying grace by definition is uncreated. It is not God, it is a gift, albeit a wonderful gift.

Hopefully this will help. I just wanted to get to the sources this morning.

Little One0307

 

[JimG]

My understanding is that Sanctifying Grace is a created sharing in God’s own life.

(If it were an uncreated sharing in God’s life, it would be identical to God’s essence, which is indivisible, and therefore be the Beatific Vision.)

 

[Catholic_Dude]

This post (#95) is something that helped shed light on the situation for me:

calledtocommunion.com/2011/05/imputation-and-infusion-a-reply-to-r-c-sproul-jr/#comment-18523

 

[Antonius_Lupus]

My understanding is that Sanctifying Grace is a created sharing in God’s own life.

(If it were an uncreated sharing in God’s life, it would be identical to God’s essence, which is indivisible, and therefore be the Beatific Vision.)

Yeah, that seems to be a pretty good argument excluding the reality of sanctifying grace as uncreated. Thanks for formulating it well.

 

[Antonius_Lupus]

Whoa…this stuff is deep!

 

[Little_One0307]

Hi,

I should have posted this in the beginning but thought someone else would do it. However I submit this to this thread.

This is taken from Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Dr. Ludwig Ott.

1. Sanctifying Grace is a CREATED supernatural gift really distinct from God. [Sent. fidei proxima]

According to the view of Petrus Lombardus the grace by which we are justified is not a created grace, but the uncreated Holy Ghost himself, who dwells in the souls of the just, and immediately, of Himself, effects the acts of love of God and love of one’s neighbor.

The Tridentine definition of Sanctifying Grace as “God’s justice, not by means of which He is Himself just, but by which He makes us just.” [Denzinger 799] excludes the identity of Sanctifying Grace with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is not the formal cause, but the efficient cause of justification. According to Romans 5:5 " The charity of God is poured forth in our heart by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us." The Holy Ghost is the mediator of the love fo God, which is given to us in the justification, and is therefore distinguished from Sanctifying Grace, as the gift from the giver.

[NOTE: There are theological graces of certainity. {Sent. fidei proxima doctrines means - a teaching proximate to Faith is a doctrine, which is regarded by theologians generally as a truth of Revelation, but which has not yet been finally promulgated as such by the Church} The De Fide doctrines and Fides Ecclesiastica doctrines or Church doctrines are higher than Sent. Fidei proxima doctrines.]

Yeah it is getting deeper in this thread all the time. I think I may have deepend it a bit.

Little One0307

 

[RyanBlack]

I looked into this recently myself and from what I can understand is that sanctifying grace is an accident (philosophy term) and not a substance. So since the divine substance is the only uncreated this makes sanctifying grace a created accident.

What sanctifying grace does for a Christian is that it makes you pleasing to Him and allows for the unifying of your spirit with His through His Love, which is the Holy Spirit. This union though is not a union of substances since God’s substance cannot change. But is a accidental union.

That is how I understood it. Anyway an interesting point here is that the EO does see sanctifying grace as divine through an expression of divine energies from the Godhead. Personally I think this does not hold much water since anything that comes forth the God head must by definition be created and cannot be divine.

This is not just an Eastern Orthodox understanding, it is also an Eastern Catholic (at least among those Eastern Catholics in the Byzantine tradition) understanding. BTW, this belief was taught by St. Basil the Great, who is recognized as a Doctor of the Church by the Catholic Church.

Your statement that “anything that comes forth from the Godhead must by definition be created and cannot be divine” is incorrect. Those things we attribute to God, such as love, grace, goodness, holiness, etc., must be eternal, and therefore, cannot possibly be created. If they were not eternal, then we would have to admit that God changes-something that Catholics and Orthodox alike reject as heresy.

God has always been loving, good, gracious, holy, etc. Therefore, these attributes of God are themselves eternal, because God is eternal, and God has always possessed these attributes. However, none of these attributes is the divine essence.

The way the East deals with this is to distinguish between the divine essence (which the East believes to be eternally impenetrable to all but God Himself) and the divine energies (love, goodness, grace, holiness, mercy, etc.). While this distinction is often associated with St. Gregory Palamas, the teaching is much older, and goes back at least as far as St. Basil the Great, and can be found in his Letter 234, to Amphilocious, bishop of Iconium. It should be noted that St. Basil uses the term “operations,” rather than energies.

 

[RyanBlack]

My understanding is that Sanctifying Grace is a created sharing in God’s own life.

(If it were an uncreated sharing in God’s life, it would be identical to God’s essence, which is indivisible, and therefore be the Beatific Vision.)

There is another way of looking at it. God’s essence is indivisible, but God’s essence is not all there is to God.

Is it not true to say that God is love? Of course. However, it is not true to say that love is God’s essence. However, the love of God is eternal, as is the mercy of God, the grace of God, etc., for God does not change. He was not once without love, and at some time came to be in possession of love.

The eternal qualities of God, such as love, grace, holiness, goodness, mercy, truth, and so forth, are indeed aspects of God which humans can encounter, and in which humans can participate. The sacraments of the Church and the gift of the Holy Spirit make this possible.

In the Byzantine tradition of Christianity (both Orthodox and Catholic), we speak of these aspects of God in which humans can participate as God’s energies. On the other hand, we affirm that his essence is indivisible and transcendent. So, for us, God’s grace is indeed uncreated, because God has always been a God of grace. We do not and cannot know God’s essence, but yet, we can and do know God through those eternal attributes (energies, activities, operations-take your pick) of His that He has chosen to reveal to us.

 

[ERose]

This is not just an Eastern Orthodox understanding, it is also an Eastern Catholic (at least among those Eastern Catholics in the Byzantine tradition) understanding. BTW, this belief was taught by St. Basil the Great, who is recognized as a Doctor of the Church by the Catholic Church.

Your statement that “anything that comes forth from the Godhead must by definition be created and cannot be divine” is incorrect. Those things we attribute to God, such as love, grace, goodness, holiness, etc., must be eternal, and therefore, cannot possibly be created. If they were not eternal, then we would have to admit that God changes-something that Catholics and Orthodox alike reject as heresy.

God has always been loving, good, gracious, holy, etc. Therefore, these attributes of God are themselves eternal, because God is eternal, and God has always possessed these attributes. However, none of these attributes is the divine essence.

The way the East deals with this is to distinguish between the divine essence (which the East believes to be eternally impenetrable to all but God Himself) and the divine energies (love, goodness, grace, holiness, mercy, etc.). While this distinction is often associated with St. Gregory Palamas, the teaching is much older, and goes back at least as far as St. Basil the Great, and can be found in his Letter 234, to Amphilocious, bishop of Iconium. It should be noted that St. Basil uses the term “operations,” rather than energies.

What you are discribing is Divine Attributes. Divine Attributes are a qualities of the Divine Essence and they cannot be separated from the Divine Essence. Thus the Attributes are identical to God’s Essence.

In a sense they discribe to us what God is. Thus His attributes are not something other than God’s essence. When we say that God is Good, we are not just saying that He is a good person or being. Rather we are saying that Goodness is perfect in Him and is Him. All good comes from God.

This is hard to discribe because this falls into the realm of human thought upon something so far beyond us. We as humans must break down that which is one to try to understand it and this is so difficult. The best way I can explain this is when we say that God is Good, Simple, All-Powerful, Transcendent, etc. All of these attributes as we think of them in the plural are God’s Essence (singular).

Sanctifying grace and the Holy Spirit are not the same. The Holy Spirit is God and is uncreated and He does come to dwell within us and to fill us and one can call the HS uncreated grace since a.) He is uncreated being God and b.) He is the Gift of God. Sanctifying grace is created since it is not God even though it is supernatural. I think a good analogy for sanctifying grace it is what makes us a “livable” home for the HS to live in. In other words, before our conversion we where a house that was run down, no water, furniture was torn and not usable, holes in the roof and walls, windows busted out, etc. We where a house that was not a proper dwelling. Sanctifying grace is the grace given that fixes the plumbing, brings in new furniture, patches the holes in the walls and roof, etc. It makes our house livable. Sin on the other hand is damage that we do to the house, such as breaking the stove, clogging up the toilet, catching the kitchen on fire, etc. Depending upon the gravity of our sin we can make our house harder to live in or even make it completely unlivable again. As we grow stronger in Christ more grace is given that allows us to make the house better and better. Maybe a new kitchen; a fancy lawn, an addition added, etc. Thus through our growth in Christ through the sacraments we strive with the grace God gives us to make our house perfect for a perfect resident.

So what I am saying I think that the difference between sanctifying grace and the indwelling of the HS is that sanctifying grace makes us the home or as scripture says “temple” and the HS is He that comes to make His dwelling with us.

Note: This is a complicated subject no doubt and is a very difficult subject to type on for it is so easy to type something that may be heresy by using just one term wrongly. I want to point out that I am not speaking for the church on this matter, I am putting in words how I believe what the church means. I pray that I do not do so, but if I do I pray that someone please corrects me.

 

[RyanBlack]

What you are discribing is Divine Attributes. Divine Attributes are a qualities of the Divine Essence and they cannot be separated from the Divine Essence. Thus the Attributes are identical to God’s Essence.

I disagree. Following the teachings of the Cappadocian Fathers (among others), I believe that the God’s essence is beyond human ability to know or describe. I agree that what I have described can be called divine attributes, but I disagree that they are identical to the divine essence. The divine essence is-and eternally remains-unknowable. When speaking of God, there is the divine essence, the three hypostases of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the divine energies. The divine essence remains eternally transcendent. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-the three hypostases-reveal themselves to us through the divine energies/attributes. It is by our participation in the divine energies/attributes that we are deified/divinized.

 

[fhansen]

Dear brethren,

I came across an interesting conundrum that I need help with.

The CCC says the following about sanctifying grace:

The first paragraph, 1999, seems to suggest (to me anyway) an equivalence between sanctifying grace and God’s own life. Indeed, it would seem to me that one could substitute “The grace of Christ” above with “sanctifying grace.” I checked the Latin and it appeared to say the same thing.

But in next paragraph, 2000, it speaks of sanctifying grace as a gift that enables us to live with God (I assume that refers to sharing in His Divine Life).

So, my question is: Is sanctifying grace created or uncreated? That is to say, is the CCC trying to tell us that sanctifying grace IS God’s own life (thus making it God in my mind) or what?

Please help me out with this. I have always thought of sanctifying grace as being God’s own life rather than a mere gift that gives us that Divine life. Other writings I have read (Dr. Ludwig Ott for example) say that this is not the case.

What’s up with the CCC? Or, probably more accurately, what’s up with my reading of it?

I believe St Thomas Aquinas equated grace with the Holy Spirit. Man effectively rejected God from His life at the fall-and without His spirit dwelling inside, in a mutual relationship of love, man cannot live up to the holiness God desired for him to begin with. This is why reconciliation between man and God is so important-to restore that broken relationship. And this is the real reason why the greatest commandment is what it is, to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is mans justice.

 

[JimG]

What you are discribing is Divine Attributes. Divine Attributes are a qualities of the Divine Essence and they cannot be separated from the Divine Essence. Thus the Attributes are identical to God’s Essence.

In a sense they discribe to us what God is. Thus His attributes are not something other than God’s essence. When we say that God is Good, we are not just saying that He is a good person or being. Rather we are saying that Goodness is perfect in Him and is Him. All good comes from God.

This is hard to discribe because this falls into the realm of human thought upon something so far beyond us. We as humans must break down that which is one to try to understand it and this is so difficult. The best way I can explain this is when we say that God is Good, Simple, All-Powerful, Transcendent, etc. All of these attributes as we think of them in the plural are God’s Essence (singular).

Sanctifying grace and the Holy Spirit are not the same. The Holy Spirit is God and is uncreated and He does come to dwell within us and to fill us and one can call the HS uncreated grace since a.) He is uncreated being God and b.) He is the Gift of God. Sanctifying grace is created since it is not God even though it is supernatural. I think a good analogy for sanctifying grace it is what makes us a “livable” home for the HS to live in. In other words, before our conversion we where a house that was run down, no water, furniture was torn and not usable, holes in the roof and walls, windows busted out, etc. We where a house that was not a proper dwelling. Sanctifying grace is the grace given that fixes the plumbing, brings in new furniture, patches the holes in the walls and roof, etc. It makes our house livable. Sin on the other hand is damage that we do to the house, such as breaking the stove, clogging up the toilet, catching the kitchen on fire, etc. Depending upon the gravity of our sin we can make our house harder to live in or even make it completely unlivable again. As we grow stronger in Christ more grace is given that allows us to make the house better and better. Maybe a new kitchen; a fancy lawn, an addition added, etc. Thus through our growth in Christ through the sacraments we strive with the grace God gives us to make our house perfect for a perfect resident.

So what I am saying I think that the difference between sanctifying grace and the indwelling of the HS is that sanctifying grace makes us the home or as scripture says “temple” and the HS is He that comes to make His dwelling with us.

Note: This is a complicated subject no doubt and is a very difficult subject to type on for it is so easy to type something that may be heresy by using just one term wrongly. I want to point out that I am not speaking for the church on this matter, I am putting in words how I believe what the church means. I pray that I do not do so, but if I do I pray that someone please corrects me.

The way you state this is pretty clear, and is in accord with what I have always been taught. God’s attributes are not distinct from his essence, although from a human standpoint we can consider each attribute separately.

I also like the idea that sanctifying grace makes the soul a fit place for the indwelling of the holy spirit. Actually, for a person in the state of sanctifying grace, the Trinity is indwelling.

Because sanctifying grace is created by God as a sharing in the divine life, it is distinguished from the beatific vision in which we will perceive the essence of God directly, even though we can never, even in eternity, fully comprehend it.

 

[Antonius_Lupus]

The way you state this is pretty clear, and is in accord with what I have always been taught. God’s attributes are not distinct from his essence, although from a human standpoint we can consider each attribute separately.

I also like the idea that sanctifying grace makes the soul a fit place for the indwelling of the holy spirit. Actually, for a person in the state of sanctifying grace, the Trinity is indwelling.

Because sanctifying grace is created by God as a sharing in the divine life, it is distinguished from the beatific vision in which we will perceive the essence of God directly, even though we can never, even in eternity, fully comprehend it.

So…

Beatific Vision = Uncreated Grace

Sanctifying Grace = Created Grace