Chapter I — The Fall and Moral Regeneration

Concerning the fall of man and the necessity of his moral regeneration.

The fall of man according to sacred Scripture brought about his separation from God; and this separation brought about his moral downfall and corruption; and these in turn produce forgetfulness of the moral law written on the human heart and the misleading of the conscience, that herald of the divine will.

The human being’s return from delusion required a divine revelation. Sin made the revelation of the divine will necessary, so that the human being might again know the will of God. Before sin, man had no need of a law to make God’s will known to him, because he had the moral law written on his own heart and knew of himself what was to be done and what was to be avoided. But sin, which estranged him from God, darkened his soul’s faculties to such a degree that the mind became unable to recognize clearly what is good and to be done and what is evil and to be shunned; the conscience went astray and took pleasure in sin; and the will became unable to resist the disordered impulses of the passions and desires, yielding instead and giving in to their demands. Or, as it advanced along this road, a gradual forgetfulness of the divine law inscribed in the heart of man made necessary the revelation of the divine law, so that man might recognize the innate moral law and the obligation of keeping and fulfilling this law — and bring back the erring conscience of the human being to the straight path from which it turned aside.[1]

That the moral law is an innate law in man and a condition natural to him is also testified by the divine Apostle Paul, who says: “For when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves.” “ who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness” (Rom. 2:14). From these words of the Apostle Paul it is indeed attested that humanity as a whole has not lost the awareness of the moral law written in their hearts, and that this awareness is confessed through their works as well as through the witness of their conscience; yet these words do not provide assurance concerning the perfect fulfillment of the moral law and the absence of the need for the revelation of the divine law, the education of conscience, and the regeneration of man. On the contrary, the Apostle Paul himself—who knew the law and served as an Apostle of the Gospel—testifies concerning the moral fall of mankind, concerning the power warring within him against his good intentions, and concerning the erring conscience of men. For these reasons, as an Apostle of the Savior of revealed truth, he proclaimed the spiritual and moral renewal of mankind to be absolutely necessary for moral perfection and knowledge of the truth. Thus man after sin needed divine revelation for knowledge of the perfect moral law, for knowledge of the truth, for the correction of his conscience, and for moral restoration and perfection.

On the Moral Regeneration of Man

Q. How was the moral regeneration of the human being accomplished?

The moral regeneration of the human being was accomplished through the divine incarnation of the Son and word of God, our Savior Jesus Christ, our Lord and God.

Q. What do we believe concerning our Savior Jesus Christ?

We ought to believe without hesitation that He is the Messiah proclaimed by the prophets, the only-begotten Son and word of God, the Redeemer of the world sent by the Father (John 1:1, 2, 3, 14; 10:16; 13:44, 46).

Q. In order for the human being to be regenerated, what must he do?

He must believe in the Savior of the world and be born again through water and Spirit. because “unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and birth from above signifies renewal through the Holy Spirit, as the Savior himself interpreted to Nicodemus who questioned him, saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Q. What is revealed through faith and baptism?

It is evident that the salvation of man is brought about on the one hand by the operation of divine grace, and on the other hand by the cooperation of man who receives divine grace with attentiveness.

E. What is moral regeneration?

Moral rebirth is properly a transformation and renewal of the inner man, a turning from evil to good, and a complete harmony of his free will with the divine will, the moral law.

Q. Through what is the salvation of man accomplished?

The salvation of man is accomplished through the Church, because the Savior, after His ascension into heaven, sent the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, and inaugurated the Church He had founded on earth, that it might remain forever and enlighten, sanctify, and save those who believe in Him.

Q. What, then, is the Church?

The Church is the perpetuation of the work of the Savior on earth for the salvation of the human race, in the religious sense of the word. it is the fullness of the divine will; it is the truth prefigured through types and shadows in the legal Church; it is the ark of salvation for the human race, the earthly paradise in which is the throne of the true God; it is the only teacher of truth and interpreter of the sacred Scriptures, and the only true and precise guardian of the sacred tradition, of the divine proclamation, of the written and unwritten volume of the holy Gospel.

Given such a character of the Church, how ought the Church’s teaching to be regarded by the faithful?

As the standard of their religious, moral, and civil life; because the teaching of the Church—that is, the Gospel law that replaced the teaching of the legal Church—is divided, like that one, into three laws: the liturgical or religious law, to which can be referred all things pertaining to worship; the moral law, to which can be referred all things defining the relation of man to God, to neighbor, and to himself; and the civil law, which regulates the relations of the faithful to the state, to rulers, to subjects, and to every society of men. The believer is obliged to observe and fulfill these three laws, as set forth by the teaching of the Church, down to the last stroke, so that he may not work against the Church’s teaching and her religious, moral, and civic principles, but may be found in all things in harmony with her.