3. Faith and Falsity: The Formal Object of Faith

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Question of Falsity in Faith #

• Whether faith can have something false as its object
• The relationship between the formal object (ratio formalis) and what can come under a power, habit, or act
• How divine foreknowledge and eternal knowledge relate to the truth of what is believed
• The distinction between faith itself and human conjecture (conjectura) about circumstances

Formal Object vs. Material Object #

• Formal object (ratio formalis): That under which something is known; for faith, this is the first truth as revealed by God
• Just as color can only be seen through light, and conclusions known through demonstration, faith operates through its formal object
• Nothing can come under faith except insofar as it stands under this formal object

Faith Distinguished from Hope and Charity #

• Faith perfects the understanding; hope and charity perfect the appetitive powers
• Virtues perfecting the understanding exclude falsity completely; virtues perfecting the appetitive powers do not
• Therefore, while hope and charity might appear to have false objects, faith cannot

Divine Foreknowledge and Contingency #

• God’s eternity (defined as totesimo et perfecta possessio vitae interminabilis—the all at once and perfect possession of an endless life) means all moments of time are present to God
• Contingent things (things that could be or not be) are known with certitude by God because they are present to His eternal view
• This gives them “necessity of infallibility” insofar as they come under divine foreknowledge, though they remain contingent in themselves
• This explains how Abraham’s faith in Christ’s future birth was not false even after Christ was born

Key Arguments #

Objections to “Nothing False Under Faith” #

First Objection: Faith is divided against hope and charity, but false objects can come under hope and charity; therefore, false objects can come under faith

• Example: Many hope to obtain eternal life who will not; many love as good those who are not good

Second Objection: Abraham believed Christ would be born, but Christ was already born at the time of Abraham’s faith; therefore, something false can be under faith

• After Christ’s birth, if anyone still believed He would be born in the future, this would be false
• Yet this would supposedly be a matter of faith

Third Objection: Someone might believe the true body of Christ is present under the species of bread, but if the sacrament was not properly consecrated, then the true body is not there—only bread; therefore, something false can be under faith

Thomas’s Resolution #

The Core Principle:

• Nothing can come under a power, habit, or act except through its formal object
• The formal object of faith is the first truth (God as revealed)
• Nothing false can come under the first truth, just as non-being cannot come under being, nor evil under goodness
• Therefore, nothing false can be under faith

Reply to First Objection:

• The true is the good of the understanding; the good is the good of the appetitive power
• Therefore, all virtues perfecting the understanding exclude falsity completely
• This applies not only to faith but also to natural understanding and reasoned understanding
• Virtues perfecting the appetitive power do not exclude falsity completely because one can have a false opinion about what is just or temperate while still acting justly or temperately
• However, neither is something false under hope itself: one hopes to have eternal life through the aid of grace, which is infallible if one perseveres
• Similarly, neither is something false under charity itself: charity involves loving God as He is, which is beyond error

Reply to Second Objection:

• God is considered in itself; for God not to be incarnate is possible in itself
• But insofar as it comes under divine foreknowledge, it has a certain necessity of infallibility
• This is because all moments of time (past, present, future) are present to God in His eternal view
• Therefore, insofar as it comes under faith (as divinely revealed), what is believed cannot be false
• The determination of when Christ would be born is a matter of human conjecture (conjectura), not faith itself
• Conjecture involves a guess; God has not revealed the exact timing of the end of the world, for example, so any specific prediction about this is human guess, not faith

Reply to Third Objection:

• The faith of the believer does not refer to whether this individual priest at the altar is properly consecrating the bread
• Faith is about the truth that when properly consecrated, the true body of Christ is present under the species of bread
• If the sacrament was not properly consecrated, then the conditions for faith’s object are not met
• The believer’s faith is not false; rather, the material object that faith would apply to does not obtain in that instance

Important Definitions #

Formal Object (ratio formalis): That under which something is known or apprehended. For faith, this is the first truth (God) as revealed by God. Nothing can be the object of a power or act except through its formal object.

Divine Foreknowledge (praescientia): God’s knowledge of all things, including contingent future events, by virtue of His eternal view in which all moments of time are present simultaneously.

Necessity of Infallibility: The quality whereby contingent things are infallibly known by God insofar as they come under His eternal knowledge, though they remain contingent in themselves (able to be or not be).

Conjecture (conjectura): A human guess or estimate about circumstances, times, or details not revealed by God. A believer may form false conjectures while faith itself remains true.

Eternity (aeternitas): Defined as totesimo et perfecta possessio vitae interminabilis—the all at once and perfect possession of an endless life. Not an endless time, but a timeless present in which there is no before or after.

Examples & Illustrations #

Abraham’s Faith in Christ #

• Abraham believed Christ would be born
• After Christ’s actual birth, if someone still believed He would be born in the future, the material content would be false
• However, the falsity comes from human conjecture about when Christ would be born, not from faith itself
• Faith is about the truth revealed by God (that Christ would be incarnate); the timing is a matter of human guess

The Eucharist and Proper Consecration #

• Faith is not about whether this particular priest validly performed the consecration
• Faith is about the truth that when properly consecrated, the true body of Christ is present
• If a sacrament was not properly consecrated, then faith does not apply to that particular instance
• The believer reasonably presumes (without suspicion) that the priest performed his office validly

Predicting the End of the World #

• People are always predicting when the world will end (“it’s supposed to be last Saturday”)
• We believe by faith that the world will end (as revealed in the Apocalypse)
• But the exact timing has not been revealed by God
• Therefore, specific predictions about when this will happen are human conjecture, not faith
• The believer’s faith remains true even if his conjecture about the timing proves false

Time and Divine Eternity #

• The present moment of time is like the center of a circle, which is equidistant from every point on the circumference
• All moments of time (past, present, future) are present to God simultaneously in His eternal view
• Just as you could know with certitude whether someone would be sitting or standing a half hour from now if you could see that future moment, God knows all future contingent events with certitude because they are all present to His eternal view
• Unlike us, who live in time and cannot know future contingencies with certainty, God’s knowledge is infallible

Questions Addressed #

Can Faith Have a False Object? #

Resolution: No. The formal object of faith is the first truth (God as revealed by God), which cannot be false. What appears as falsity in faith is actually human conjecture about circumstances, not faith itself. The formal object cannot be false any more than being can come under non-being or evil under goodness.

How Does Divine Foreknowledge Relate to Contingent Future Events? #

Resolution: God knows all contingent future events with infallible certitude because they are all present to His eternal view. They remain contingent in themselves (able to be or not be), but they have “necessity of infallibility” insofar as they come under God’s foreknowledge. This is why what Abraham believed (Christ’s birth) was true, even though it was a future contingent event at the time of his belief.

What is the Difference Between Faith and Hope/Charity? #

Resolution: Faith perfects the understanding and therefore must exclude falsity completely. Hope and charity perfect the appetitive powers, and thus might seem to admit false objects. However, properly understood, neither hope nor charity has anything false under them either. Hope is not about what one can achieve by his own power (which would be false hope or presumption) but about obtaining eternal life through the aid of grace. Charity is about loving God as He is, which is beyond error.