Sect. 152The Supernatural Endowment of Mans Nature as Distinct from the AngelsThe Supernatural Endowment of Mans Nature as Distinct from the Angels
I. The relatively supernatural consists in goods and privileges which are above the requirements of human nature, but are natural to the angels. Man endowed with these gifts is raised, to some extent, to the nature of the angels (cf. § 136).
II. The final perfection to which man is called includes the salvation of his entire nature—that is, of his body as well as of his soul. Man is to be transfigured and his whole nature renewed; his earthy and animal elements are to be transformed into heavenly and spiritual elements, and his whole nature raised to the level of pure spirits (1 Cor. 15:42 sqq.). The change is wrought by the Spirit of God, Who dwells in the soul and enables it so to subdue and assimilate to itself the earthy and animal elements that they cease to be of a different kind from it, and compose, with the soul, one homogeneous whole. Dissolution and corruption are then no longer possible, and all the conditions of bodily life cease to exist; all disturbing influences, all motions of concupiscence are excluded. In this state man “shall be as the angels of God” (Matt. 22:30), elevated above his own nature to that likeness with God which is natural to the angels.
In the very beginning, God exempted human nature from its inherent weakness, viz. the infirmity of the flesh and the consequent infirmity of the spirit, so that man, unless he willed otherwise, was free from the consequences of his weakness or had the power to prevent them.
The elevation of the first man comprised the following privileges (cf. § 133):—
1. Immortality.
2. Impassibility—that is, freedom from all bodily sufferings.
3. Immunity from a rebellious concupiscence—that is, the power either to prevent or to control all inordinate motions of the senses.
4. Immunity from ignorance and error, or the power to prevent all disturbing influences of the senses on the operations of the mind.
5. Immunity from sin and from difficulties in doing good; in other words, the power of being morally perfect by preventing all sensual influences from moving the will in a wrong direction.
6. Perfect control over external nature, especially over animals and hurtful natural influences.
As these privileges are beyond the power of pure nature, and as none of them is essential to man’s natural perfection, they are relatively supernatural. The Fathers, following Holy Scripture, describe the bestowal of them as a gracious glorification of nature, and as a clothing and crowning of man with heavenly honour and glory.
The fact that the first man was endowed with the aforesaid immunities and powers is a matter of faith. The granting of several of them, e.g. the immunity from death and rebel concupiscence, is expressly mentioned in the history of creation, and has been defined by Councils. All of them are presupposed in the Catholic doctrine concerning Original Sin, and are universally taught by Fathers and Theologians, especially by the Fathers in the controversy with the Pelagians.
IV. An essential difference exists between man’s original and his final perfection. The latter is a real transformation of all the elements of his nature which destroys even the root and possibility of his natural infirmities. The former, on the contrary, left the possibility of death, suffering, sin, etc., because it did not alter man’s nature. The only supernatural influence required for the privileges of the original state was an intrinsic strengthening, elevation, and clarification of man’s intellectual faculties—in the words of St. Thomas, “the removal of the infirmity of the mind by the vigour of reason.” A higher intrinsic quality of intellect and will is indeed necessary to account for the intellectual and moral perfection of the original state, but no intrinsic elevation of any faculty is required to account for the other privileges. The vigour of reason holds sway over the lower faculties, subdues the motions of the flesh, avoids the hurtful and utilizes the useful forces of nature for man’s own well-being and his dominion over lower creation.
V. The special effects of the original endowment of man with privileges raising him to almost angelic perfection, in as far as they are distinct from the effects of grace, are described as:
1. Incorruption (ἀφθαρσία);
2. Integrity;
3. Justice, or perfect Rectitude;
4. Innocence.
These four designations complete each other. The term incorruption, applicable also to man’s final perfection, is more frequently used by the Greek Fathers, who insist chiefly on the supernatural character of the original state. The same remark applies to the terms glory and beatitude (δόξα, μακαριότης) in connection with man’s original estate. The three other designations are more in favour with the Latin Fathers, who chiefly consider the original state in comparison with the state of Original Sin. The vagueness of the terms is determined by qualifying adjectives, such as perfect, full, original.
VI. Original justice might be lost, because it was not due to or required by nature, and, as it did not produce a radical change of nature, the fact that it was once granted did not imply that it would always last. Besides, original perfection, like sanctifying grace, was incompatible with grievous sin: the commission of sin entailed the loss of the privileges (Gen. 3:7, sqq.) Perfect justice implies perfect submission of reason and will to God; grievous sin implies an aversion of reason and will from God; justice and sin are therefore incompatible. But if sin destroys the principle upon which all the other privileges depend, it must also destroy the entire structure of original perfection. The same conclusion may be drawn from the close connection between original integrity and sanctifying grace, of which we shall speak further on.
VII. The absolutely supernatural is clearly not due to human nature, and is a free gift of grace. But there is some question as to whether the relatively supernatural is likewise not due (indebitum). Many Theologians who own that it is supernatural and gratuitous, say that God was bound “in decency” to grant it to man. The Church has not decided the matter, even after the controversies with Baius.
VIII. The gifts constituting the integrity of original nature—that is, the relatively supernatural on the one hand, and grace, or the absolutely supernatural, on the other—are gifts neither identical nor essentially bound together. Their essential difference is evident from the effects they produce externally and internally. Integrity raises and clarifies only the inferior side of the soul so as to bring man nearer to the nature of the Angels, whereas grace elevates and transforms the superior side of the soul into a perfect likeness of God Himself. The separability of the two gifts is likewise evident. We can easily conceive man raised to angelic perfection without being at the same time admitted to a participation in the Divine Life; and, vice versâ, we can conceive man in a state of grace without being freed from the imperfections inherent in his nature. The latter is, in fact, the present state of man when justified. In the beatific vision, however, the light of glory will consume all the weaknesses of human nature and raise it to a perfection higher even than that which is natural to the angels.
Although distinct and separable, yet integrity and grace, when bestowed together, unite into one harmonious organic whole. The Fathers look upon this union in the original state of man as an anticipation of his state of final beatitude in the vision of God, so that grace bears to integrity the same relation which the future glory of the soul bears to the future glory of the body. Integrity and grace, when combined, elevate man to the most perfect likeness with God attainable in this life; they dispose and prepare him for the still more complete likeness of eternal life.
To sum up: In the existing order of the universe the relatively supernatural does not constitute an independent, self-sufficient order. It is completely and thoroughly dependent on the order of grace—nay, it is but a ramification of the supernatural order. This dependence is not merely speculative; it is a truth of great theological and practical importance on account of its bearing on the fact that human nature itself is created for the supernatural order, and is entirely incorporated with it by the Creator. Cf. § 148.
I. The relatively supernatural consists in goods and privileges which are above the requirements of human nature, but are natural to the angels. Man endowed with these gifts is raised, to some extent, to the nature of the angels (cf. § 136).
II. The final perfection to which man is called includes the salvation of his entire nature—that is, of his body as well as of his soul. Man is to be transfigured and his whole nature renewed; his earthy and animal elements are to be transformed into heavenly and spiritual elements, and his whole nature raised to the level of pure spirits (1 Cor. 15:42 sqq.). The change is wrought by the Spirit of God, Who dwells in the soul and enables it so to subdue and assimilate to itself the earthy and animal elements that they cease to be of a different kind from it, and compose, with the soul, one homogeneous whole. Dissolution and corruption are then no longer possible, and all the conditions of bodily life cease to exist; all disturbing influences, all motions of concupiscence are excluded. In this state man “shall be as the angels of God” (Matt. 22:30), elevated above his own nature to that likeness with God which is natural to the angels.
In the very beginning, God exempted human nature from its inherent weakness, viz. the infirmity of the flesh and the consequent infirmity of the spirit, so that man, unless he willed otherwise, was free from the consequences of his weakness or had the power to prevent them.
The elevation of the first man comprised the following privileges (cf. § 133):—
1. Immortality.
2. Impassibility—that is, freedom from all bodily sufferings.
3. Immunity from a rebellious concupiscence—that is, the power either to prevent or to control all inordinate motions of the senses.
4. Immunity from ignorance and error, or the power to prevent all disturbing influences of the senses on the operations of the mind.
5. Immunity from sin and from difficulties in doing good; in other words, the power of being morally perfect by preventing all sensual influences from moving the will in a wrong direction.
6. Perfect control over external nature, especially over animals and hurtful natural influences.
As these privileges are beyond the power of pure nature, and as none of them is essential to man’s natural perfection, they are relatively supernatural. The Fathers, following Holy Scripture, describe the bestowal of them as a gracious glorification of nature, and as a clothing and crowning of man with heavenly honour and glory.
The fact that the first man was endowed with the aforesaid immunities and powers is a matter of faith. The granting of several of them, e.g. the immunity from death and rebel concupiscence, is expressly mentioned in the history of creation, and has been defined by Councils. All of them are presupposed in the Catholic doctrine concerning Original Sin, and are universally taught by Fathers and Theologians, especially by the Fathers in the controversy with the Pelagians.
IV. An essential difference exists between man’s original and his final perfection. The latter is a real transformation of all the elements of his nature which destroys even the root and possibility of his natural infirmities. The former, on the contrary, left the possibility of death, suffering, sin, etc., because it did not alter man’s nature. The only supernatural influence required for the privileges of the original state was an intrinsic strengthening, elevation, and clarification of man’s intellectual faculties—in the words of St. Thomas, “the removal of the infirmity of the mind by the vigour of reason.” A higher intrinsic quality of intellect and will is indeed necessary to account for the intellectual and moral perfection of the original state, but no intrinsic elevation of any faculty is required to account for the other privileges. The vigour of reason holds sway over the lower faculties, subdues the motions of the flesh, avoids the hurtful and utilizes the useful forces of nature for man’s own well-being and his dominion over lower creation.
V. The special effects of the original endowment of man with privileges raising him to almost angelic perfection, in as far as they are distinct from the effects of grace, are described as:
1. Incorruption (ἀφθαρσία);
2. Integrity;
3. Justice, or perfect Rectitude;
4. Innocence.
These four designations complete each other. The term incorruption, applicable also to man’s final perfection, is more frequently used by the Greek Fathers, who insist chiefly on the supernatural character of the original state. The same remark applies to the terms glory and beatitude (δόξα, μακαριότης) in connection with man’s original estate. The three other designations are more in favour with the Latin Fathers, who chiefly consider the original state in comparison with the state of Original Sin. The vagueness of the terms is determined by qualifying adjectives, such as perfect, full, original.
VI. Original justice might be lost, because it was not due to or required by nature, and, as it did not produce a radical change of nature, the fact that it was once granted did not imply that it would always last. Besides, original perfection, like sanctifying grace, was incompatible with grievous sin: the commission of sin entailed the loss of the privileges (Gen. 3:7, sqq.) Perfect justice implies perfect submission of reason and will to God; grievous sin implies an aversion of reason and will from God; justice and sin are therefore incompatible. But if sin destroys the principle upon which all the other privileges depend, it must also destroy the entire structure of original perfection. The same conclusion may be drawn from the close connection between original integrity and sanctifying grace, of which we shall speak further on.
VII. The absolutely supernatural is clearly not due to human nature, and is a free gift of grace. But there is some question as to whether the relatively supernatural is likewise not due (indebitum). Many Theologians who own that it is supernatural and gratuitous, say that God was bound “in decency” to grant it to man. The Church has not decided the matter, even after the controversies with Baius.
VIII. The gifts constituting the integrity of original nature—that is, the relatively supernatural on the one hand, and grace, or the absolutely supernatural, on the other—are gifts neither identical nor essentially bound together. Their essential difference is evident from the effects they produce externally and internally. Integrity raises and clarifies only the inferior side of the soul so as to bring man nearer to the nature of the Angels, whereas grace elevates and transforms the superior side of the soul into a perfect likeness of God Himself. The separability of the two gifts is likewise evident. We can easily conceive man raised to angelic perfection without being at the same time admitted to a participation in the Divine Life; and, vice versâ, we can conceive man in a state of grace without being freed from the imperfections inherent in his nature. The latter is, in fact, the present state of man when justified. In the beatific vision, however, the light of glory will consume all the weaknesses of human nature and raise it to a perfection higher even than that which is natural to the angels.
Although distinct and separable, yet integrity and grace, when bestowed together, unite into one harmonious organic whole. The Fathers look upon this union in the original state of man as an anticipation of his state of final beatitude in the vision of God, so that grace bears to integrity the same relation which the future glory of the soul bears to the future glory of the body. Integrity and grace, when combined, elevate man to the most perfect likeness with God attainable in this life; they dispose and prepare him for the still more complete likeness of eternal life.
To sum up: In the existing order of the universe the relatively supernatural does not constitute an independent, self-sufficient order. It is completely and thoroughly dependent on the order of grace—nay, it is but a ramification of the supernatural order. This dependence is not merely speculative; it is a truth of great theological and practical importance on account of its bearing on the fact that human nature itself is created for the supernatural order, and is entirely incorporated with it by the Creator. Cf. § 148.
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