Whether Faith Is One Virtue?
Objection 1: It would seem that faith is not one. For just as faith
is a gift of God according to Eph. 2:8, so also wisdom and knowledge
are numbered among God's gifts according to Isa. 11:2. Now wisdom and
knowledge differ in this, that wisdom is about eternal things, and
knowledge about temporal things, as Augustine states (De Trin. xii,
14, 15). Since, then, faith is about eternal things, and also about
some temporal things, it seems that faith is not one virtue, but
divided into several parts.
Obj. 2: Further, confession is an act of faith, as stated above (Q.
3, A. 1). Now confession of faith is not one and the same for all:
since what we confess as past, the fathers of old confessed as yet
to come, as appears from Isa. 7:14: "Behold a virgin shall conceive."
Therefore faith is not one.
Obj. 3: Further, faith is common to all believers in Christ. But one
accident cannot be in many subjects. Therefore all cannot have one
faith.
_On the contrary,_ The Apostle says (Eph. 4:5): "One Lord, one faith."
_I answer that,_ If we take faith as a habit, we can consider it in
two ways. First on the part of the object, and thus there is one
faith. Because the formal object of faith is the First Truth, by
adhering to which we believe whatever is contained in the faith.
Secondly, on the part of the subject, and thus faith is
differentiated according as it is in various subjects. Now it is
evident that faith, just as any other habit, takes its species from
the formal aspect of its object, but is individualized by its
subject. Hence if we take faith for the habit whereby we believe, it
is one specifically, but differs numerically according to its various
subjects.
If, on the other hand, we take faith for that which is believed,
then, again, there is one faith, since what is believed by all is one
same thing: for though the things believed, which all agree in
believing, be diverse from one another, yet they are all reduced to
one.
Reply Obj. 1: Temporal matters which are proposed to be believed, do
not belong to the object of faith, except in relation to something
eternal, viz. the First Truth, as stated above (Q. 1, A. 1). Hence
there is one faith of things both temporal and eternal. It is
different with wisdom and knowledge, which consider temporal and
eternal matters under their respective aspects.
Reply Obj. 2: This difference of past and future arises, not from
any difference in the thing believed, but from the different
relationships of believers to the one thing believed, as also we
have mentioned above (I-II, Q. 103, A. 4; I-II, Q. 107, A. 1, ad 1).
Reply Obj. 3: This objection considers numerical diversity of faith.
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