While it is true that
justification is through faith, Thomas insists,
The movement of faith
is not perfect unless it is quickened by charity; hence in the justification of
the ungodly, a movement of charity is infused together with the movement of
faith. . . . By natural knowledge a man is not turned to God, according as he
is the object of beatitude and the cause of justification. Hence such knowledge
does not suffice for justification. (ST I-II, Q. A. 4 [2.1147])
Even being sorry for
the sins one cannot remember “cooperates in his justification.” (ST
I-II, Q. A. [2:1148])
Next, in another
definitive passage, Thomas asserts,
There are four things
which are accounted to be necessary for the justification of the ungodly, viz.,
the infusion of grace, the movement of the free-will towards God by faith, the
movement of the free-will towards sin, and the remission of sins. The reason
for this is that, as stated above (A, 1), the justification of the ungodly is a
movement whereby the soul is moved by God from a state of sin to a state of
justice, . . . but the consummation of the movement of the attainment of the
end of the movement is implied in the remission of sins; for in this is the
justification of the ungodly completed. (ST I-II, Q. A. [2:1149])
Thus, justification
consists of both “the infusion of grace and the remission of sins.” (ST
I-II, Q. A. [2:1149]) In fact, in that logical order: infusion of grace is the
basis of remission. “The entire justification of the ungodly consists as to its
origin in the infusion of grace. For it is by grace that free-will is moved and
sin is remitted.” (ST I-II, Q. A. [2:1150]) The four things in
justification happen simultaneously, but there is a logical order: “the first
is the infusion of grace; the second, the free-will’s movement towards God; the
third, the free-will’s movement towards sin; the fourth, the remission of sin.”
Thus, crucially, forgiveness is not the beginning but the goal of the process
of justification. “The reason for this,” he goes on to say, is the order of
movement (according to Aristotelian physics). (ST I-II, Q. A. [2:1151]) (Michael
Horton, Justification, 2 vols. [New Studies in Dogmatics; Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Zondervan, 2018], 1:121-22)
Elsewhere Horton writes that:
The Angelic Doctor
had a robust notion of the gift of righteousness, although he essentially
reduced justification to sanctification. (Ibid., 1:174-75)
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