(Note: the blue horizontal menu bar directly above lists the subsections of "Original Sin in the Bible as Read Today." Beginning with "Acceptance of Evolution by Pope John Paul II," be sure to read each of these subsections before moving on to the next primary section, "New Interpretation of Original Sin.")

Are Nature and Grace Two Independent Hierarchies?

We observed earlier that humans were created in a state of "nature," and that they had to be "elevated" by the "grace of God" into a "state of grace" in order to attain their final goal, namely, union with God through mutual knowledge and love. The classical expression of this opposition between grace and nature was given by St. Thomas Aquinas: "Just as the first perfection of human nature, its rational soul, exceeds the power of corporeal nature, so too the ultimate perfection to which the human person can attain exceeds the power of human nature in its entirety" (Duffy 1993, 153).

Although there are two "orders," that of nature and that of grace, there is nevertheless a very positive correlation between them. Through grace nature attains its own deepest fulfillment. Grace not only divinizes, it also humanizes. Thus, nature and grace are not two hermetically-sealed-off realities. If we say that "grace builds on nature," we mean that grace fulfills nature. It should also be said that, in simplest terms, "grace" can be understood from a double viewpoint, the divine and human. As divine, "grace" is another word for God's influence on humans, elevating and transforming them into intimate friends of God. From the human point of view, "grace" is the transformation of the self that brings about that intimate union with God.

In the sixteenth century, the Council of Trent clarified the church's ideas on grace in a general way, over and above the interpretations of the various Catholic theological schools of thought. Duffy summarizes: "At the core of Tridentine teaching on justification is a hard realism: we truly are made just" (canons 3, 7, 11). Underpinning this realism is the scholastic notion of created grace, the habitus … [thus] "the justice of the justified is properly their own," though, as grace, it is the gift of God (Duffy 1993, 231f).

Words highlighted in green appear in the Glossary.