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Grace Supplements Nature (Catholic) |
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Nature is Fallen / Grace is the Cross Alone (Lutheran) |
| Nature is not fully fallen. | Nature (including reason) is fully fallen. | |
| Image of God is marred but not lost. | Image of God is lost. | |
| “Our hearts are restless ’til they rest in thee.” Augustine. | We are rebels. | |
| Original Sin: Every person has a “bent” (habitus) toward God. | Original Sin: We are “curved in on ourselves.” | |
| After baptism, sin is potential, not actual. We choose to sin or not. | After baptism, it is not possible not to commit real sins. | |
| Through reason you can know God, that is, that he exists, and we are responsible. | God is known only in the cross; everything else is idolatry. |
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| You can know how to live.You have free will to choose the good.
You are to “do the best that is in you.” You an earn merit. You can earn extra merit. |
“All our righteous deeds are filthy rags” (Isa 64:6). Even our best works are riddled with sin. We are always caught by spiritual pride. | |
| Free to use common reason in ethics. | ||
| Church has sanctified reason. | Church has no sanctified reason. | |
| One kingdom led by the church. | Two kingdoms; see our chart. | |
| Where reason fails to discern natural law, the church defines what is truly reasonable, that is, natural law (universal human rights). The Pope is infallible in faith and morals. | Salvation is God’s doing. Civil righteousness, what we do in daily life, politics, etc., is discerned by common reason. Universal human rights are determined by what works. | |
| Grace is quantifiable, divisible. There are several kinds: uncreated grace (the Holy Spirit) and created grace (created form within the soul); condign grace and congruent grace; gratia gratis data and gratia gratum faciens. | Grace is what God does. He takes us out of sin and death. Grace is God acting. |