Whether Man Is Bound to Believe Anything Explicitly?
Objection 1: It would seem that man is not bound to believe anything
explicitly. For no man is bound to do what is not in his power. Now it
is not in man's power to believe a thing explicitly, for it is written
(Rom. 10:14, 15): "How shall they believe Him, of whom they have not
heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach unless they be sent?" Therefore man is not bound to believe
anything explicitly.
Obj. 2: Further, just as we are directed to God by faith, so are we
by charity. Now man is not bound to keep the precepts of charity, and
it is enough if he be ready to fulfil them: as is evidenced by the
precept of Our Lord (Matt. 5:39): "If one strike thee on one [Vulg.:
'thy right'] cheek, turn to him also the other"; and by others of the
same kind, according to Augustine's exposition (De Serm. Dom. in
Monte xix). Therefore neither is man bound to believe anything
explicitly, and it is enough if he be ready to believe whatever God
proposes to be believed.
Obj. 3: Further, the good of faith consists in obedience, according
to Rom. 1:5: "For obedience to the faith in all nations." Now the
virtue of obedience does not require man to keep certain fixed
precepts, but it is enough that his mind be ready to obey, according
to Ps. 118:60: "I am ready and am not troubled; that I may keep Thy
commandments." Therefore it seems enough for faith, too, that man
should be ready to believe whatever God may propose, without his
believing anything explicitly.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Heb. 11:6): "He that cometh to God,
must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him."
_I answer that,_ The precepts of the Law, which man is bound to
fulfil, concern acts of virtue which are the means of attaining
salvation. Now an act of virtue, as stated above (I-II, Q. 60, A. 5)
depends on the relation of the habit to its object. Again two things
may be considered in the object of any virtue; namely, that which is
the proper and direct object of that virtue, and that which is
accidental and consequent to the object properly so called. Thus it
belongs properly and directly to the object of fortitude, to face the
dangers of death, and to charge at the foe with danger to oneself,
for the sake of the common good: yet that, in a just war, a man be
armed, or strike another with his sword, and so forth, is reduced to
the object of fortitude, but indirectly.
Accordingly, just as a virtuous act is required for the fulfilment of
a precept, so is it necessary that the virtuous act should terminate
in its proper and direct object: but, on the other hand, the
fulfilment of the precept does not require that a virtuous act should
terminate in those things which have an accidental or secondary
relation to the proper and direct object of that virtue, except in
certain places and at certain times. We must, therefore, say that the
direct object of faith is that whereby man is made one of the
Blessed, as stated above (Q. 1, A. 8): while the indirect and
secondary object comprises all things delivered by God to us in Holy
Writ, for instance that Abraham had two sons, that David was the son
of Jesse, and so forth.
Therefore, as regards the primary points or articles of faith, man is
bound to believe them, just as he is bound to have faith; but as to
other points of faith, man is not bound to believe them explicitly,
but only implicitly, or to be ready to believe them, in so far as he
is prepared to believe whatever is contained in the Divine
Scriptures. Then alone is he bound to believe such things explicitly,
when it is clear to him that they are contained in the doctrine of
faith.
Reply Obj. 1: If we understand those things alone to be in a man's
power, which we can do without the help of grace, then we are bound
to do many things which we cannot do without the aid of healing
grace, such as to love God and our neighbor, and likewise to believe
the articles of faith. But with the help of grace we can do this, for
this help "to whomsoever it is given from above it is mercifully
given; and from whom it is withheld it is justly withheld, as a
punishment of a previous, or at least of original, sin," as Augustine
states (De Corr. et Grat. v, vi [*Cf. Ep. cxc; De Praed. Sanct.
viii.]).
Reply Obj. 2: Man is bound to love definitely those lovable things
which are properly and directly the objects of charity, namely, God
and our neighbor. The objection refers to those precepts of charity
which belong, as a consequence, to the objects of charity.
Reply Obj. 3: The virtue of obedience is seated, properly speaking,
in the will; hence promptness of the will subject to authority,
suffices for the act of obedience, because it is the proper and
direct object of obedience. But this or that precept is accidental
or consequent to that proper and direct object.
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