Lesson 46 –
Adam, Eve, and Original Justice

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, Scripture reveals to us that the first human beings were not created in a neutral state of pure nature. Rather, they were created in grace; that is, from their first existence, they were created as friends of God, made capable by a supernatural gift of grace to know and to love Him.

Course Reading

Summa Theologiae I-II q. 110, aa. 1-2 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Summa Theologiae I-II q. 110, aa. 3-4 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Excerpt from the Summa Theologiae I-II q. 110, a. 4:

[G]race, as it is prior to virtue, has a subject prior to the powers of the soul, so that it is in the essence of the soul. For as man in his intellective powers participates in the Divine knowledge through the virtue of faith, and in his power of will participates in the Divine love through the virtue of charity, so also in the nature of the soul does he participate in the Divine Nature, after the manner of a likeness, through a certain regeneration or re-creation.

Course Listening

The Resurrection of the Body and the New Creation | Fr. Bryan Kromholtz, O.P.

What Is Christian Grace? Aquinas On Grace and Theological Virtues | Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P.