Exploring the Relationship between Grace and Nature

In the modern era, the relationship between grace and nature is a topic of considerable debate. On one side, the Reformers emphasize the total corruption of human nature. On the other, some theologians assert that man’s will is naturally capable of desiring God without grace. However, this overly optimistic view of human nature presents significant difficulties.

Human nature is personal, endowed with both intellect and will (Stevens 69). These faculties enable human beings to know and love, giving them the capacity to seek ultimate truth and enter into divine friendship. Yet, while human nature has this capacity, it lacks the natural ability to actualize it. Man can recognize that there is an ultimate truth, but he cannot attain it by his own powers, leaving him unsatisfied in his natural state. It is in response to this deficiency that God bestows His grace, elevating human nature so that it may fulfill its potential for knowing and loving the divine.

Grace as the Self-Gift of God

Because God is love, the gift of His love is nothing less than the gift of Himself. Grace, therefore, is not merely an external aid or favor, but God’s own self-communication to mankind. He gives Himself freely, offering His very life so that human beings may share in it (Stevens 66). If grace were intrinsic to created nature, then that nature would be divine. But man is not God; therefore, grace cannot be a natural possession. Instead, God creates man with a specific nature and a specific purpose, offering Himself as a gift. Thus, nature and grace remain distinct.

Fr. Karl Rahner posits a conception of man in which nature and grace exist alongside a kind of intermediate state—a "supernatural existential." However, if nature and grace were truly mixed, it would be impossible to meaningfully distinguish one from the other. This raises a conceptual problem: if nature and grace cannot be distinguished, then in what sense do they remain distinct? Man must indeed have a natural capacity to know God, but this does not mean he can attain God by nature alone.

If grace and nature were fused into a third reality, as Rahner suggests, this would constitute a fundamentally different kind of being—one neither purely natural nor purely graced. However, such a synthesis would undermine the distinctiveness of both. If nature and grace are to be meaningful concepts, they must remain distinguishable. Since grace is not an inherent quality of human nature but rather a divine gift, it follows that nature and grace are truly distinct and cannot be conflated into a third kind of existence.

The Neo-Thomist Perspective on Grace and Nature

The Neo-Thomist tradition upholds a definitive distinction between nature and grace. God creates human beings with personal natures, endowed with intellect and will, so that they can respond to Him in knowledge and love (Stevens 69). Grace presupposes nature, elevating it without destroying it. Man naturally desires truth, but he is incapable of reaching the ultimate truth on his own. It is grace that perfects his natural capabilities, enabling him to know and love God.

According to the Thomistic view, human nature is created with the capacity to encounter God in love and knowledge (Stevens 69). Man is capable of receiving the gift of divine life, though this does not guarantee that he will receive it (Stevens 70). His ultimate end is union with God, a good that no created thing can satisfy. Grace builds upon his natural capacity, enabling him to respond to God’s self-gift as a personal being (Stevens 71). His desire for God is ultimately an intellectual longing for the absolute truth—God Himself.

Grace and Deification

It is important to clarify that grace, though it deifies human nature, does not mean that man becomes divine in essence. Instead, grace elevates man to a supernatural participation in the divine life (theosis), as taught in both Eastern and Western traditions. St. Thomas Aquinas affirms that grace perfects and elevates human nature, enabling it to enter into communion with God while remaining distinct from Him (ST I-II, Q. 110, A. 3). As St. Peter writes, "He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). This participation is not by nature but by grace.

Since grace is the self-gift of God, it is mediated through Christ, who is both fully divine and fully human. The Incarnation is the foundation of grace, for Christ unites divinity and humanity in His own person, making it possible for human nature to be elevated. Through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, Christ merited grace for humanity, and He applies this grace to souls through the sacraments, particularly Baptism, the Eucharist, and the other means of sanctification given to the Church.

Grace is not merely an abstract concept but is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in the soul. As St. Paul writes, "The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). The Holy Spirit, the gift of the Father and the Son, is the one who sanctifies, making us capable of divine friendship. Without the Spirit, grace would be impossible, for He is the one who transforms hearts and leads them into the fullness of divine life.

The Necessity of Free Will in Grace

Human nature, by itself, possesses the faculty of willing, but grace enables man to actualize his will toward the good. However, grace does not compel man against his will; were it to do so, he would lose his rational freedom, which is essential to his dignity as a personal being. In fact, to have free will is an essential aspect of personhood. If grace were to force man into relationship against his will, he would cease to be a personal being. He would literally no longer be what he is. Instead, grace invites, strengthens, and perfects, but it does not override the free response that is fundamental to what it means to be human.

St. Augustine expresses this clearly: “God who created you without you will not save you without you.” This affirms that divine grace requires human cooperation. Historical heresies such as Pelagianism (which overemphasizes human effort in salvation) and Jansenism (which denies the universality of grace and limits free will) both fail to uphold the proper harmony between grace and nature.

The Sacraments as the Ordinary Means of Grace

Since grace is God's self-communication, it is fitting that He has established sensible means for its transmission: the sacraments. Baptism regenerates the soul, making it capable of receiving sanctifying grace. The Eucharist nourishes the supernatural life, deepening man's union with God. Confession restores the soul to grace when it has been lost. Through these sacraments, grace is not only given but continually nourished and perfected. The Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ, is the instrument through which Christ chooses to dispense grace to the faithful.

Grace and the Christian Life

The proper understanding of grace and nature has practical implications. Grace does not replace nature but perfects it. This means that natural virtue, education, and human effort are valuable, but they are insufficient for salvation. The moral life is not merely about willpower but about divine transformation. Grace enables man to live virtuously, seek holiness, and ultimately attain eternal life.

Conclusion

Grace and nature, while distinct, are ordered toward each other. Human nature is created with a capacity for God, and grace perfects and elevates nature so that man may reach his supernatural end. This distinction preserves both divine initiative and human freedom, ensuring that salvation is both a gift and a call to personal cooperation with God’s will. Through Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the sacraments, grace transforms human nature without violating it, drawing man into the very life of God Himself.

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Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologiae, Kevin Knight, 2017, www.newadvent.org/summa/.

de Lubac, Henri. Nature and Grace. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1984. Print.

Hardon, John. History and Theology of Grace. Eternal Life, 2020.

Healy, Nicholas. “Henri Delubac on Nature and Grace.” Theology of Grace. St. Joseph’s College, 2022.

Stevens, Gregory. The Life of Grace. Prentice Hall / Pearson Education, 1963. pp. 1-96, 107-110.