Writing in
defence of infused righteousness, not merely imputed, Catholic apologist
Stephen Wood discussed how there is a foreshadowing of such in the divine presence in the temple and tabernacle during the Old Testament:
The Holy of Holies was the special dwelling
place of the infinite, awesome, all-powerful Yahweh, the covenant God of
Israel. In the inner sanctum, the Creator of the universe would come to dwell
and manifest his presence on earth. It was the distinguishing mark of the
Israelites that the God of heaven would dwell in their midst.
The divine presence indwelling the Holy of
Holies was an anticipation of a greater glory to come in the New Covenant. The
Church corporately is now the special dwelling place of God in a way more
profound than the tabernacle and temple in the Old Testament.
St. Paul wrote to the squabbling Christians
in Corinth, sternly warning them that dividing the Church was a profane act,
one that attempted to destroy the sacred New Covenant temple of God. “Do you
not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If any
one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and
that temple you [plural] are” (1 Cor 3:16-17).
St. Paul also said in 2 Corinthians: “For we
are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will live in them and move
among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people’” (6:16). All
Christians should forever be astounded that the Church is the special dwelling
place of God.
The final aspect of the indwelling presence
of God refers to the individual believer. Those justified are not infused by
just an impersonal something, but by the holy presence of the personal God.
This is a staggering reality.
When a person is justified, the sinful human
heart is cleansed, purified, sanctified, and made righteous, thus making our
hearts fit for the holy God to indwell. “Infusion” related to justification is
when the glorious presence of God himself enters us as we individually become
the temples of the living God. This is why St. Augustine said that the
justification of the ungodly was a work greater than the creation of heaven and
earth.
Every Christian should be conscious of the
greatness of justification every waking moment. Yet St. Paul had to ask the
Corinthian Christians: “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit
within you?” (1 Cor 6:19).
God’s grace in justification doesn’t leave us
interiorly sinners. On the contrary, it touches our lives and transforms us in
utterly profound ways. Divine grace transforms us into a new creation, a new
realty, a new condition, a new temple—the dwelling place for the glorious presence
of the Holy God.
What could be greater than the gift of God
himself in the soul of man as a result of justification? The degree of glory in
the justified could not have been foreseen by the most wise and powerful of the
celestial hosts. The work of God’s grace in justification dramatically exceeds
every category of human and supernatural thought. (Stephen Wood, Grace and Justification: An Evangelical's
Guide to Catholic Beliefs [Greenville, S.C.: Family Life Center
Publications, 2017], 44-46)
Further Reading
Response
to a Recent Attempt to Defend Imputed Righteousness
