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Objection 1: It would seem that the habitual grace did not follow
after the union. For nothing follows itself. But this habitual grace
seems to be the same as the grace of union; for Augustine says (De
Praedest. Sanct. xv): "Every man becomes a Christian from the
beginning of his belief, by the same grace whereby this Man from His
beginning became Christ"; and of these two the first pertains to
habitual grace and the second to the grace of union. Therefore it
would seem that habitual grace did not follow upon the union.
Objection 2: Further, disposition precedes perfection, if not in
time, at least in thought. But the habitual grace seems to be a
disposition in human nature for the personal union. Therefore it seems
that the habitual grace did not follow but rather preceded the union.
Objection 3: Further, the common precedes the proper. But
habitual grace is common to Christ and other men; and the grace of
union is proper to Christ. Therefore habitual grace is prior in
thought to the union. Therefore it does not follow it.
On the contrary, It is written (Is. 42:1): "Behold my
servant, I will uphold Him . . . "and farther on: "I have
given My Spirit upon Him"; and this pertains to the gift of
habitual grace. Hence it remains that the assumption of human nature
to the unity of the Person preceded the habitual grace of Christ.
I answer that, The union of the human nature with the Divine
Person, which, as we have said above (Question 2, Article 10;
Question 6, Article 6), is the grace of union, precedes the
habitual grace of Christ, not in order of time, but by nature and in
thought; and this for a triple reason: First, with reference to the
order of the principles of both. For the principle of the union is the
Person of the Son assuming human nature, Who is said to be sent into
the world, inasmuch as He assumed human nature; but the principle of
habitual grace, which is given with charity, is the Holy Ghost,
Who is said to be sent inasmuch as He dwells in the mind by charity.
Now the mission of the Son is prior, in the order of nature, to the
mission of the Holy Ghost, even as in the order of nature the Holy
Ghost proceeds from the Son, and love from wisdom. Hence the
personal union, according to which the mission of the Son took place,
is prior in the order of nature to habitual grace, according to which
the mission of the Holy Ghost takes place. Secondly, the reason of
this order may be taken from the relation of grace to its cause. For
grace is caused in man by the presence of the Godhead, as light in the
air by the presence of the sun. Hence it is written (Ezech.
43:2): "The glory of the God of Israel came in by the way of
the east . . . and the earth shone with His majesty." But the
presence of God in Christ is by the union of human nature with the
Divine Person. Hence the habitual grace of Christ is understood to
follow this union, as light follows the sun. Thirdly, the reason of
this union can be taken from the end of grace, since it is ordained to
acting rightly, and action belongs to the suppositum and the
individual. Hence action and, in consequence, grace ordaining
thereto, presuppose the hypostasis which operates. Now the hypostasis
did not exist in the human nature before the union, as is clear from
Question 4, Article 2. Therefore the grace of union precedes, in
thought, habitual grace.
Reply to Objection 1: Augustine here means by grace the gratuitous
will of God, bestowing benefits gratis; and hence every man is said
to be made a Christian by the same grace whereby a Man became
Christ, since both take place by the gratuitous will of God without
merits.
Reply to Objection 2: As disposition in the order of generation
precedes the perfection to which it disposes, in such things as are
gradually perfected; so it naturally follows the perfection which one
has already obtained; as heat, which was a disposition to the form of
fire, is an effect flowing from the form of already existing fire.
Now the human nature in Christ is united to the Person of the Word
from the beginning without succession. Hence habitual grace is not
understood to have preceded the union, but to have followed it; as a
natural property. Hence, as Augustine says (Enchiridion xl):
"Grace is in a manner natural to the Man Christ."
Reply to Objection 3: The common precedes the proper, when both
are of the same genus; but when they are of divers genera, there is
nothing to prevent the proper being prior to the common. Now the grace
of union is not in the same genus as habitual grace; but is above all
genera even as the Divine Person Himself. Hence there is nothing to
prevent this proper from being before the common since it does not
result from something being added to the common, but is rather the
principle and source of that which is common.
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