Part III (Secunda Secundae) Part 9 (2/2)

Obj. 3: Further, the Apostle says (Rom. 10:17) that ”faith ...

cometh by hearing.” Now this could not apply to angels and man in their original state; for then they could not hear anything from another. Therefore, in that state, there was no faith either in man or in the angels.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Heb. 11:6): ”He that cometh to G.o.d, must believe.” Now the original state of angels and man was one of approach to G.o.d. Therefore they had need of faith.

_I answer that,_ Some say that there was no faith in the angels before they were confirmed in grace or fell from it, and in man before he sinned, by reason of the manifest contemplation that they had of Divine things. Since, however, ”faith is the evidence of things that appear not,” according to the Apostle (Heb. 11:2), and since ”by faith we believe what we see not,” according to Augustine (Tract. xl in Joan.; QQ. Evang. ii, qu. 39), that manifestation alone excludes faith, which renders apparent or seen the princ.i.p.al object of faith.

Now the princ.i.p.al object of faith is the First Truth, the sight of which gives the happiness of heaven and takes the place of faith.

Consequently, as the angels before their confirmation in grace, and man before sin, did not possess the happiness whereby G.o.d is seen in His Essence, it is evident that the knowledge they possessed was not such as to exclude faith.

It follows then, that the absence of faith in them could only be explained by their being altogether ignorant of the object of faith.

And if man and the angels were created in a purely natural state, as some [*St. Bonaventure, Sent. ii, D, 29] hold, perhaps one might hold that there was no faith in the angels before their confirmation in grace, or in man before sin, because the knowledge of faith surpa.s.ses not only a man's but even an angel's natural knowledge about G.o.d.

Since, however, we stated in the First Part (Q. 62, A. 3; Q. 95, A.

1) that man and the angels were created with the gift of grace, we must needs say that there was in them a certain beginning of hoped-for happiness, by reason of grace received but not yet consummated, which happiness was begun in their will by hope and charity, and in the intellect by faith, as stated above (Q. 4, A. 7).

Consequently we must hold that the angels had faith before they were confirmed, and man, before he sinned. Nevertheless we must observe that in the object of faith, there is something formal, as it were, namely the First Truth surpa.s.sing all the natural knowledge of a creature, and something material, namely, the thing to which we a.s.sent while adhering to the First Truth. With regard to the former, before obtaining the happiness to come, faith is common to all who have knowledge of G.o.d, by adhering to the First Truth: whereas with regard to the things which are proposed as the material object of faith, some are believed by one, and known manifestly by another, even in the present state, as we have shown above (Q. 1, A. 5; Q. 2, A. 4, ad 2). In this respect, too, it may be said that the angels before being confirmed, and man, before sin, possessed manifest knowledge about certain points in the Divine mysteries, which now we cannot know except by believing them.

Reply Obj. 1: Although the words of Hugh of S. Victor are those of a master, and have the force of an authority, yet it may be said that the contemplation which removes the need of faith is heavenly contemplation, whereby the supernatural truth is seen in its essence.

Now the angels did not possess this contemplation before they were confirmed, nor did man before he sinned: yet their contemplation was of a higher order than ours, for by its means they approached nearer to G.o.d, and had manifest knowledge of more of the Divine effects and mysteries than we can have knowledge of. Hence faith was not in them so that they sought an absent G.o.d as we seek Him: since by the light of wisdom He was more present to them than He is to us, although He was not so present to them as He is to the Blessed by the light of glory.

Reply Obj. 2: There was no darkness of sin or punishment in the original state of man and the angels, but there was a certain natural obscurity in the human and angelic intellect, in so far as every creature is darkness in comparison with the immensity of the Divine light: and this obscurity suffices for faith.

Reply Obj. 3: In the original state there was no hearing anything from man speaking outwardly, but there was from G.o.d inspiring inwardly: thus the prophets heard, as expressed by the Ps. 84:9: ”I will hear what the Lord G.o.d will speak in me.”

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SECOND ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 5, Art. 2]

Whether in the Demons There Is Faith?

Objection 1: It would seem that the demons have no faith. For Augustine says (De Praedest. Sanct. v) that ”faith depends on the believer's will”: and this is a good will, since by it man wishes to believe in G.o.d. Since then no deliberate will of the demons is good, as stated above (I, Q. 64, A. 2, ad 5), it seems that in the demons there is no faith.

Obj. 2: Further, faith is a gift of Divine grace, according to Eph.

2:8: ”By grace you are saved through faith ... for it is the gift of G.o.d.” Now, according to a gloss on Osee 3:1, ”They look to strange G.o.ds, and love the husks of the grapes,” the demons lost their gifts of grace by sinning. Therefore faith did not remain in the demons after they sinned.

Obj. 3: Further, unbelief would seem to be graver than other sins, as Augustine observes (Tract. lx.x.xix in Joan.) on John 15:22, ”If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin.” Now the sin of unbelief is in some men. Consequently, if the demons have faith, some men would be guilty of a sin graver than that of the demons, which seems unreasonable.

Therefore in the demons there is no faith.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (James 2:19): ”The devils ...

believe and tremble.”

_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 1, A. 4; Q. 2, A. 1), the believer's intellect a.s.sents to that which he believes, not because he sees it either in itself, or by resolving it to first self-evident principles, but because his will commands his intellect to a.s.sent.

Now, that the will moves the intellect to a.s.sent, may be due to two causes. First, through the will being directed to the good, and in this way, to believe is a praiseworthy action. Secondly, because the intellect is convinced that it ought to believe what is said, though that conviction is not based on objective evidence. Thus if a prophet, while preaching the word of G.o.d, were to foretell something, and were to give a sign, by raising a dead person to life, the intellect of a witness would be convinced so as to recognize clearly that G.o.d, Who lieth not, was speaking, although the thing itself foretold would not be evident in itself, and consequently the essence of faith would not be removed.

Accordingly we must say that faith is commended in the first sense in the faithful of Christ: and in this way faith is not in the demons, but only in the second way, for they see many evident signs, whereby they recognize that the teaching of the Church is from G.o.d, although they do not see the things themselves that the Church teaches, for instance that there are three Persons in G.o.d, and so forth.

Reply Obj. 1: The demons are, in a way, compelled to believe, by the evidence of signs, and so their will deserves no praise for their belief.

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