Sect. 146The State of Grace, Continued—the Holy Ghost, the Substantial Complement of Accidental GraceThe State of Grace, Continued—the Holy Ghost, the Substantial Complement of Accidental Grace

Elevation to the state of grace implies an indwelling of God in the soul which is peculiar to this state and essentially differs from the presence of God in all things created. The question then arises whether, and if so, how far, the Divine indwelling is a constituent element of the state of grace. The Theologians of the West, especially the Schoolmen, have adopted a view on this point which, at first sight, seems entirely opposed to that of the Eastern Theologians. The two systems are in close connection with the different ways of conceiving the doctrine concerning the Trinity followed by the same writers (see supra, Book II., § 98). We shall set forth the two theories separately, and then show how they can be harmonized.

I. The indwelling of God is conceived as a relation of intimate friendship between Him and His adoptive children, the whole intimacy and force of which appears in this, that the same Holy Ghost, Who in the Trinity represents the union of Love between Father and Son, is here also the mediator of the love which unites God and His adopted sons. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost is not considered as a factor of the sonship: the latter is formally and exclusively constituted by created grace inhering in the soul. The communication of elevating grace, or the constant infusion of Charity, is attributed to the Holy Ghost by appropriation, because He represents the Divine Love by which grace is given; He is the Exemplar of created charity and its Pledge or guarantee that the possession of God by Charity in this life will be continued and made perfect in the next. The leading idea of the Western theory is that God gives Himself in possession to His creatures, and is thus bound to them as a father to his children or as a bridegroom to his bride. In the language of the Schools the whole theory may be expressed in a few words: God, or more particularly the Holy Ghost, is the exemplar, the efficient principle, and the final object of the grace of sonship; whereas its formal or constituent principle is created grace.

This latter point was especially urged against the view set forth by Peter Lombard, “that the sonship was quite independent of created or inherent grace; that all the effects ascribed to such grace were the immediate work of the Holy Ghost himself.” When the Council of Trent defined, (against the Protestant theory of Justification by imputation), that “the sole formal cause of justification is the justice of God, not that by which He Himself is just, but that by which He makes us just” (sess. vi., c. 7), Theologians saw in this definition a new motive for excluding the indwelling of the Holy Ghost from the constituent elements of sonship. The intention of the Council, however, was but to secure to justification its character of an inherent quality. The essential constitution of the state of grace, or the higher personal dignity of the adopted sons of God, was not dealt with by the Council. But when Baius afterwards attacked the “deiform state” of the children of God, the Church explained its dignity by insisting, not merely upon infused grace, but likewise on the indwelling of the Holy Ghost (prop. xiii., and xv.). This gave occasion to several theologians of note, especially Lessius, Petavius, and Thomassin, to further consider and develop the indwelling of the Holy Ghost as a constituent element of the state of grace.

II. The Greek Fathers held that the indwelling of the Holy Ghost was a substantial union with God and a constituent factor of adoptive sonship. This theory is found in St. Irenaeus, and is quite familiar to the Fathers who opposed the Arians, Macedonians and Nestorians, especially St. Athanasius, St. Basil, and St. Cyril of Alexandria. To them the indwelling of the Holy Ghost is the most important of the elements which constitute adoptive sonship. They look upon it as containing a participation in the substance of the Divine Nature, a substantial union or cohesion with God, whereby the Spirit of God in a certain sense becomes by His substance a form informing the soul, a form constituting Divine being, thus establishing in the adopted sons of God a likeness to Him analogous to that of His own Son. The new birth out of God is conceived as a generation, in as far as it implies a communication of the Divine substance, whereas, in the other theory, it implies only a likeness of nature.

By the words “substantial union” (ἕνωσις φυσική), the Fathers understand a union of independent substances intermediate between the simply moral union of persons and the union of substances as parts of one whole. The union of father and son, of husband and wife, are instances of such union, which is perhaps better designated by the term cohesion, or tying together (συνάφεια), or welding together (κόλλησις). To bring out the fact that the two united substances, at least to a certain extent, belong to each other, the union is also called communion, communication (κοινωνία), and participation (μετοχή). The Fathers point out the union with the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Eucharist as an analogy of the union of the Holy Ghost with the soul (cf. Card. Newman, St. Athan., ii. 88, 193, 257).

We now proceed to give a deeper analysis of this theory, feeling confident that it will be preferred by the student.

1. The manner in which Scripture describes the communication of the Holy Ghost to the sons of adoption, clearly implies a communication of Divine substance. It is spoken of as a being generated (γεννᾶσθαι); a “seed” of God is given to and remains in the adopted sons; the expressions used, especially by St. John, to convey an idea of the substantial union of God the Son with the Father, are repeated, in the same context, as descriptive of the union between God and His adopted children (John 1:13; 3:5–6; 17:22; 1 John 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23). The necessary difference between the communication of Divine Substance in the life of grace, and the same communication in the eternal generation of God the Son, is that the adopted sons are first created and then generated; they do not receive their essence and being by Divine generation, but only are made to participate in the generation of God’s own Son. The Divine progenitor does not form a new physical being, but only effects a union between the Creator and the creature. This union, however, is more perfect than the union of father and son, because it is a cohesion (συνάφεια) of the whole Divine Substance with the creature, whereas a son is physically separate from his father.

2. As, then, the generation in the order of grace is intended to raise an existing life to a higher perfection, it must be conceived as the welding together (κόλλησις) of the Divine Substance with the creature, or as an insertion of the Divine seed into a being already in existence. From this point of view the substantial union of God and creature bears a striking analogy with the union of the sexes in generation. St. Paul uses this very illustration (1 Cor. 6:16, 17). The “mutual possession” is more intimate in the supernatural union of God with the soul than in the union which makes the two one flesh. To preserve the spiritual character of the union, the names of “bride” and “bridegroom” are commonly used. The analogy under consideration, if fully carried out, explains at the same time the difference and the organic connection between the eternal and adoptive sonship. The latter is intended to raise the creature to the dignity of God’s own Son. This is effected by the Son contracting a spiritual marriage with the creature; viz. by communicating the Divine Substance in the manner described. Further, the dignity of the Only begotten Son comes out more strikingly when, as Bridegroom, He communicates His Sonship to His bride, than when He is spoken of as the “First-born among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).

3. Another analogy illustrating the communication of the Divine Substance to the sons of adoption is found in the union between the spiritual soul and the body. The Divine Substance cannot enter the creature so as to form part of it; it is necessarily communicated as a living, substantial principle, the possession of which by the creature represents a substantial conjunction, and moreover a substantial similarity between the progenitor and the progeny. The Holy Ghost is sent to the soul to inform it with supernatural life in the same manner as the soul itself is sent by God into the body to inform it with natural life. St. Paul points to this character of the union in 1 Cor. 6:17–19, where, after speaking of the “joining” with God (κόλλησις), He compares the sanctified creature to a temple filled with and possessed by the Holy Ghost. The text quoted, and its parallels (1 Cor. 3:16, 17, and 2 Cor. 6:16), are the classical texts in proof of the substantial union with God. From the indwelling of the Holy Ghost the Apostle infers that we are not our own but God’s, which shows that the indwelling establishes between the Holy Ghost and man a union equivalent to the union of the human soul with the body. We may, therefore, call it “an informing;” not, however, in a literal sense, because the Divine and the created substances cannot be parts of one nature, and also because the human soul, not being matter, cannot be the bearer of a higher form. It is best described as an informing by conjunction and penetration or inhabitation, similar in its effects to the natural information whereby matter and form constitute one nature. In this respect the relation between the Holy Ghost and the soul is perfectly similar to that between the body of the faithful and the Body of Christ received in Holy Communion. Again, as the Fathers point out, it is analogous to the relation which exists in Christ between His Divine Nature and Substance and His human nature and substance; with this difference, however, that in Christ one Person has two natures, whereas, in the order of grace, two persons are united for one purpose. The latter analogy is fully borne out by the language of Scripture. Both indwellings of the Divinity in humanity (viz. in Christ and in sanctified souls) are designated by the same terms and represented as a sealing and anointing of the flesh with the Holy Ghost or with God’s own Spirit (2 Cor. 1:22, et passim). The sealing and anointing convey the idea of communication by insertion, as, e.g., the insertion of a jewel in a ring, and of filling, as e.g. a vessel with precious balm. As the sealing and anointing are done by the Spirit, they point to a communication of life; and as this Spirit is God’s own Spirit, they imply a participation in the Divine Life, a dignity, a holiness, and a likeness to God best expressed as a communication or fellowship of and with the Holy Ghost (2 Cor. 13:13).

4. Starting from the notion that the Holy Ghost, by communicating the Divine Substance to the sanctified, establishes between Him and them a relation analogous to that between spirit and flesh in man, or between Divinity and humanity in Christ, we can easily determine the connection of the Indwelling with the constitution of the state of grace. Speaking generally, the connection consists in this, that the possession of the Holy Ghost, the Substantial Uncreated Grace, conjoined to and dwelling in the creature, concurs with created grace, inherent in and affecting the creature, so as to give a higher lustre to adoptive sonship and a deeper foundation to its privileges than created grace alone could give. Thus, to give a few details, in the Greek theory the sonship is more than an accidental likeness of the creature to the Divine Nature; it entails the joint possession of God’s own Spirit and of the Substance of the Divine Nature; it implies a substantial relationship and a substantial likeness to God, and, lastly, a substantial welding together of God and the creature and of the creature and God. The holiness of the adopted sons is also more than a quality or accident of the soul; it is like a seal and an unction—that is, an ornament and a refreshment—of which the Holy Ghost is not only the author but the substance. Again, the possession of the Holy Ghost gives to the sanctified that personal dignity which makes them pleasing to God and enables them to perform salutary works; it causes God to extend to them the Love He bears to Himself, and to admit them to Divine privileges.

III. When the Greek theory explains the union of the Holy Ghost with the sanctified as a union into one organic whole, it certainly introduces an element not contained in the Latin theory, which admits only the moral union of friendship. There is, however, no contradiction between the two. The organic union of the Greek Fathers is, after all, only equivalent to physical union, as the name Indwelling itself sufficiently shows. Such a union does not interfere with the distinction of persons and natures, nor, consequently, with the union of friendship. On the other hand, the friendly union of God with the sanctified acquires, by reason of the presence and influence of the Divine Substance, the character of simultaneous organic life and of fusion into one being.

The main point, however, is to show that, in the Greek theory, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost does not make the infusion of created grace superfluous or unimportant.

1. In order to transform the soul into His living temple, the Holy Ghost must endow it with a new principle of life, and adorn it in a manner becoming its exalted dignity. The infused virtues are the principle of Divine life, and elevating grace gives the temple of the Holy Ghost the required sanctity and glory. The Fathers compare the indwelling Spirit of God to a living fire which absorbs and assimilates all the powers of the soul. Again, created grace is required to act as a disposition for the reception of the Holy Ghost and as a bond of union between Him and the sanctified soul. The disposition for the reception of the Holy Ghost lies in Charity (John 14:23), and in elevating grace, which prepare the innermost soul for the coming of its Divine Guest. The transformation of the soul by elevating grace may be considered as the special link binding it to the Holy Ghost. In fact, this link or bond is analogous to that which unites child and father, wife and husband, body and soul: it implies, therefore, an active and plastic influence from one substance on the other, and a dependence of the formed or transformed substance on the substance which communicates itself. Although these two elements may be found also in infused Charity, they stand out more strikingly in the elevation of the soul to a supernatural state; for in this case the very substance of the soul is affected and is made like unto the Divine Substance, whereas Charity is but an accidental quality of the soul, and cannot be the foundation of a substantial relation. Thus, then, the infusion of grace, as a quality affecting the very being of the soul, represents also the entrance of the Holy Ghost into the soul. By virtue of this grace He takes root in the soul’s innermost depths (Ecclus. 24:16), and establishes there His throne, from which He pours out the Divine gifts on the sanctified soul. This grace gives the Holy Ghost Himself to the soul; all other graces are but operations of the Holy Ghost either consequent upon or preparatory to His coming.

2. The importance of created grace is not diminished by the introduction of Uncreated Grace as a constituent element of the state of grace. The latter is not introduced in order to make up for what is wanting in created grace, but in order to place Uncreated Grace, the substantial principle, side by side with created grace, the accidental principle of the state of grace, thus introducing an element which the creature, even in its highest possible perfection, cannot contain, viz. substantial union with God. The substantial principle exercises in union with the accidental one, but in quite a different manner, the functions of sanctifying grace. Created grace preserves all its power and importance, and, moreover, assumes the character of a “grace of union” similar to the hypostatic union in Christ, inasmuch as it is the bond of union between the soul and the Holy Ghost.