II. OF THE GRATUITY OF GRACE
5. The Apostle shows in several places that the Divine Grace is, in every thing, gratuitous, and comes from the mercy of God alone, independent of our natural merits. In one place he says : ” For unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” (Phil, i, 29). Therefore, as St. Augustine reflects (1), it is a gift of God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, not alone to suffer for love of him, but even to believe in him, and, if it is a gift of God, it cannot be given us through our merits. “Utrumque ostendit Dei donum, quia utrumque dixit esse donatum; nec ait, ut plenius, et perfectius credatis, sed ut credatis in eum.” The Apostle writes similarly to the Corinthians, that ” he had obtained mercy of the Lord, to be faithful” (I. Cor. vii, 25). It is not through any merit of ours, therefore, that we are faithful to the Mercy of God. ” Non ait,” says St. Augustine, in the same place already quoted, ” quia fidelis eram; fideli ergo datur quidem, sed datum est etiam, ut esset fidelis.”
6. St. Paul next shows most clearly, that, whenever we receive light from God, or strength to act, it is not by our own merits, but a gratuitous gift from God. ” For who distinguisheth thee,” says the Apostle, ” or what hast thou, that thou hast not received; and if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it” (I. Cor. iv, 7). If Grace was given according to our natural merits, derived solely from the strength of our free will, then there would be something to distinguish a man who works out his salvation from one who does not do so.
(1) St. Aug. l. 2, dc Præd. S.S.. c. 2.
St. Augustine even says, that if God would give us only free will that is, a will, free and indifferent either to good or evil, according as we use it in case the good will would come from ourselves, and not from God, then what came from ourselves would be better than what comes from God : “Nam si nobis libera quædam voluntas ex Deo, quæ adhuc potest esse vel bona, vel mala; bono vero voluntas ex nobis est, melius est id quod a nobis, quam quod ab illo est” (2). But it is not so; for the Apostle tells us, that whatever we have from God is all gratuitously given to us, and, therefore, we should not pride ourselves on it.
7. Finally, the gratuity of Grace is strongly confirmed by St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans (xi, 5, 6) : “Even so then at this present time also, there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace. (The Apostle means, by ” the remnant,” those few Jews who were faithful among the multitude of unbelievers.) And if by Grace, it is not now by works : otherwise Grace is no more Grace.” Now, the Apostle could not express in stronger terms the Catholic truth, that Grace is a gratuitous gift of God, and depends not on the merits of our free will, but on the mere liberality of the Lord.