Whether Grace Is Necessarily Given to Whoever Prepares Himself for
It, or to Whoever Does What He Can?
Objection 1: It would seem that grace is necessarily given to whoever
prepares himself for grace, or to whoever does what he can, because,
on Rom. 5:1, "Being justified . . . by faith, let us have peace,"
etc. the gloss says: "God welcomes whoever flies to Him, otherwise
there would be injustice with Him." But it is impossible for
injustice to be with God. Therefore it is impossible for God not to
welcome whoever flies to Him. Hence he receives grace of necessity.
Obj. 2: Further, Anselm says (De Casu Diaboli. iii) that the reason
why God does not bestow grace on the devil, is that he did not wish,
nor was he prepared, to receive it. But if the cause be removed, the
effect must needs be removed also. Therefore, if anyone is willing to
receive grace it is bestowed on them of necessity.
Obj. 3: Further, good is diffusive of itself, as appears from
Dionysius (Div. Nom. iv). Now the good of grace is better than the
good of nature. Hence, since natural forms necessarily come to
disposed matter, much more does it seem that grace is necessarily
bestowed on whoever prepares himself for grace.
_On the contrary,_ Man is compared to God as clay to the potter,
according to Jer. 18:6: "As clay is in the hand of the potter, so are
you in My hand." But however much the clay is prepared, it does not
necessarily receive its shape from the potter. Hence, however much a
man prepares himself, he does not necessarily receive grace from God.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 2), man's preparation for grace
is from God, as Mover, and from the free-will, as moved. Hence the
preparation may be looked at in two ways: first, as it is from
free-will, and thus there is no necessity that it should obtain
grace, since the gift of grace exceeds every preparation of human
power. But it may be considered, secondly, as it is from God the
Mover, and thus it has a necessity--not indeed of coercion, but of
infallibility--as regards what it is ordained to by God, since God's
intention cannot fail, according to the saying of Augustine in his
book on the _Predestination of the Saints_ (De Dono Persev. xiv) that
"by God's good gifts whoever is liberated, is most certainly
liberated." Hence if God intends, while moving, that the one whose
heart He moves should attain to grace, he will infallibly attain to
it, according to John 6:45: "Every one that hath heard of the Father,
and hath learned, cometh to Me."
Reply Obj. 1: This gloss is speaking of such as fly to God by a
meritorious act of their free-will, already _informed_ with grace;
for if they did not receive grace, it would be against the justice
which He Himself established. Or if it refers to the movement of
free-will before grace, it is speaking in the sense that man's flight
to God is by a Divine motion, which ought not, in justice, to fail.
Reply Obj. 2: The first cause of the defect of grace is on our part;
but the first cause of the bestowal of grace is on God's according to
Osee 13:9: "Destruction is thy own, O Israel; thy help is only in Me."
Reply Obj. 3: Even in natural things, the form does not necessarily
ensue the disposition of the matter, except by the power of the agent
that causes the disposition.
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