11. Faith and Natural Reason: Necessity and Explicitness

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• Faith vs. Natural Reason: The relationship between truths knowable by natural reason and those requiring faith
• Necessity of Faith for Salvation: Whether faith is required even for truths that can be demonstrated
• Three Reasons for Faith’s Necessity (per Thomas):
  1. Quickness: Natural reason requires extensive preliminary study (logic, geometry, natural philosophy) before arriving at knowledge of God; faith provides this knowledge more quickly
  2. Commonality: Many lack intellectual capacity or leisure for philosophical demonstration; faith makes divine knowledge accessible to all
  3. Certitude: Human reason errs frequently in divine matters; faith provides undoubted knowledge through God’s testimony, who can neither deceive nor be deceived
• Explicit vs. Implicit Faith: Distinction between what must be believed explicitly by all and what can be believed implicitly
• The Per Se and Per Accidens Objects of Faith: The articles of faith (per se) versus scriptural content (per accidens)
• The Ordering of Revelation: Divine revelation comes in order to higher persons first, then through them to lower persons

Key Arguments #

Article 4: Whether Things Knowable by Natural Reason Should Be Believed #

Objection: God’s works contain no superfluity (like a body with superfluous limbs); therefore what can be known by reason need not be believed

Response (Aquinas):

• The investigation of natural reason does not suffice for the human race to know divine things
• Though individuals can eventually prove God’s existence through reason, this is not available to all humanity
• Therefore it is not superfluous that such things be believed by faith
• Key principle: Natural reason’s insufficiency justifies faith not being superfluous

Article 5: Whether Man is Held to Believing Something Explicitly #

Distinction of Objects:

• Per se object of faith: That by which man is made blessed—the articles of faith
• Per accidens object: Things contained in Scripture (e.g., “Abraham had two sons”)

Conclusions:

• Man is held explicitly to believe the articles of faith (recited in the Creed on Sunday)
• Man is held only implicitly or “in preparation of the soul” to believe other scriptural content
• Other things need be explicitly believed only when it becomes clear they pertain to the teaching of faith

Article 6: Whether All Are Equally Held to Explicit Faith #

Principle of Revelation: Divine revelation comes in order—to higher persons first, then through them to lower persons (following Dionysius on the celestial hierarchy)

Distinction of Persons:

• Greater/educated persons: Held to fuller, more explicit knowledge of things to be believed; these are those who have the office of instructing others
• Lesser/simple persons: Not examined about the subtleties of faith except when heresy is suspected; if they fail in simplicity, it is not imputed to them

Important qualification: The simple are not to be examined about subtleties unless heresy has corrupted them. If simple persons fail due to their simplicity (not pertinacity), this should not be imputed to them as sin.

Important Definitions #

• Scientia (scientia): Reasoned-out knowledge acquired through demonstration; knowledge that compels assent by the force of truth itself
• Fides (faith): Firm assent to divine truth while continuing to think about it; assent without complete demonstration
• Credere Deum: To believe God (God as the formal reason why we believe)
• Credere Deo: To believe about God (the content of what is believed)
• Credere in Deum: To believe in God (the will’s aspect; tending toward God as end)
• Per se object: The primary, necessary object of a virtue
• Per accidens object: Secondary object that accidentally relates to the primary object
• Explicit faith: Conscious, articulated belief in specific truths
• Implicit faith: Belief contained within or expressed through broader commitment (as simple persons believe implicitly in the faith of the greater ones)
• Pertinacity (pertinacitas): Stubborn adherence to perverse doctrine

Examples & Illustrations #

The Grocery Bags Example: Berquist uses the everyday example of carrying groceries—a person has two arms but wishes for three to manage the door. This illustrates the principle that nature gives nothing superfluous; we should only add what is necessary. Applied to faith: if natural reason suffices, faith would be superfluous.

The Large Family at Mass: Berquist observes a family with eight to ten children at daily Mass, with older children tending younger ones. He notes one small boy who repeatedly kisses the cross and kneels before the tabernacle, illustrating how faith manifests in reverent action even in the very young.

De Connick’s Personal Testimony: Berquist recounts De Connick’s statement: “I think I can prove that God exists, but I would not be so presumptuous as to say so.” De Connick emphasized that he believes God exists more from what his mother told him than from his study of Thomas—illustrating the practical superiority of faith over philosophical proof for ordinary life.

Sister Aquinas: Berquist notes his first teacher was named Sister Aquinas (Sister St. Joseph) in kindergarten, humorously claiming “Aquinas was my first teacher.”

Notable Quotes #

“For human reason, in divine things is multum deficiens [very much deficient]” — Thomas Aquinas (explaining why faith provides certitude where reason fails)

“It is not superfluous that such things be believed, [for] the investigation of natural reason does not suffice for the human race, for the knowledge of divine things, which can be shown by reason” — Thomas Aquinas (response to Article 4)

“Be imitators of me as I am of Christ” — St. Paul / 1 Corinthians 4:16 (cited regarding how the simple implicitly believe through the greater ones)

“Multis erraverunt—they said contrary things one to another” — Thomas Aquinas, citing the philosophers’ disagreements as evidence that human reason alone errs in divine matters

Questions Addressed #

Q: If natural reason can eventually prove that God exists, why is faith necessary?

A: Natural reason suffices for individuals only after extensive prior study (logic, geometry, natural philosophy). Faith is necessary because: (1) it provides knowledge of God more quickly without requiring years of study; (2) it makes such knowledge common to all persons regardless of intellectual capacity or occupations; (3) it provides certitude through God’s testimony rather than fallible human reasoning.

Q: Must all people believe all things explicitly?

A: No. All must explicitly believe the articles of faith (the Creed), but other scriptural content need only be believed implicitly—as a general readiness to believe whatever is contained in divine Scripture. Things need be explicitly believed only when it becomes clear they pertain to the teaching of faith.

Q: Are simple, uneducated persons held to the same standard of explicit faith as theologians?

A: No. Simple persons are not examined about the subtleties of faith. They implicitly believe through their adherence to the faith of the greater ones who instruct them (bishops, priests, theologians). If they fail in such matters due to simplicity rather than stubbornness (pertinacitas), it is not imputed to them as sin.

Connections to Previous Material #

• Article 3 Foundation: Article 4 builds on Article 3’s conclusion that faith is necessary for salvation; this article clarifies that this necessity extends even to truths demonstrable by reason
• The Three Theological Virtues: Faith is the first virtue; the lecture presumes understanding of how faith, hope, and charity order salvation
• Nature vs. Supernature: The lecture exemplifies the Thomistic principle that grace perfects rather than destroys nature; faith completes what natural reason cannot achieve for most humans

Textual References Within Lecture #

• Thomas’s response cites Romans 10 regarding how faith comes through hearing
• Reference to the Creed recited on Sundays as the explicit articles of faith
• Augustine’s teaching on the Sermon on the Mount (citing Matthew and Luke accounts)
• Hebrews 11:6 on approaching God with faith
• Job 1 (via Gregory the Great’s Moralia) on the “oxen” (higher ones) and “asses” (lower ones) in faith
• Dionysius’s Celestial Hierarchy on the ordering of revelation