Divine Grace in Performing Good Works

Here grace is understood not in the sense of how it meets a person at his very entry into the Church of Christ, regenerates, justifies, and makes him a son of God and heir to Christ’s eternal Kingdom, but in the sense of how, abiding in the Christian, it aids him and helps him in many ways to advance in virtue. In this regard it is the saving power of God acting in a person, through which, on the one hand, inclination to evil is weakened, and on the other, inclination to good is awakened, strengthened, and preserved, so that he is “prepared for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:17). The Apostle speaks of this grace thus: “For it is God Who is at work in” us “both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13). More specifically, this saving action is expressed: 1) in enlightenment of the mind, in which it imprints saving truths and places inspirations toward good works, as the Apostle John teaches: “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things… that anointing teaches you about all things… and as it has taught you, abide in it.” (1 Jn. 2:20, 27); 2) in inclining the human will toward good, communicating to it the strength necessary to gain victory over the flesh, which draws toward evil, as the Apostle Paul says: “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin.” (Rom. 8:2). Such cooperation of grace imparts a higher, Divine character to the Christian’s actions, whereby they become incomparably superior to natural works, just as, for example, bronze mixed with gold is superior to plain bronze.