CHAPTER VIII
THE FAITH WHICH IS THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH
So far as the second thing is concerned [involved in Matt. 16:16–18], that is, faith, which is touched upon in the words, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God"—it is to be noted that faith is now taken for the act of believing by which we believe, now for the inward state or disposition—habitus[1]—of believing through which we believe, and now for the truth which we believe, as Augustine lays down, de Trinitate, 13 [Nic. Fathers, 3: 166 sqq.].
In the second place, it is to be noted that there is one faith which is the explicit belief of a faithful man and that there is another faith which is implicit faith as the catholic, who has the disposition—habitus—of faith infused or explicitly acquired, believes in the catholic church in common with others and by reason of that common faith believes implicitly whatever single thing is included under holy mother church.[2] Likewise in believing whatsoever Christ wished to be believed
- ↑ In his Super IV. Sent., 452, Huss defines the meaning of the word when he says "fides est habitus vel virtus—provided faith is formed in love."
- ↑ The distinction between implicit and explicit faith, which starts with Augustine, is the distinction between acceptance of doctrines on the ground of obedience to the church and a real assent to them as doctrines. So Thomas Aquinas, who says, in essence, that implicit faith is acceptance of things to be believed as things contained in the Scriptures, and explicit faith is their acceptance with the understanding and heart. Summa, 2: 2, q. 2, 5. Innocent IV, in his Com. on the Decretals, said that it is enough for laymen to believe in God as the God of justice and in all other matters, dogmas, and morals—implicite—that is, to think and say, I believe what the church believes. Innocent went on to say that clerics were under obligation to follow the commands of a pope that were unrighteous. Döllinger, Akad. Vort., 2: 49.
67
