Dist. 5, Art. 3, Q. 1
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/5/q/bon-sent-IV-d5-a3-q1
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### Article III. *On the power of those who baptize, by comparison with the one who gives that [power].*

As to the third article, inquiry is made concerning the power of those who baptize, by comparison with the one who gives that [power]. And concerning this two questions are asked. First it is asked, what is that power which Christ could have given to ministers but did not give. Secondly it is asked, whether to Christ was given the power of forgiving sins.

### Question I. *What is that power which Christ could have given to ministers but did not give.*

Concerning the first, one proceeds thus.

1. Upon that text of John 1: *This is he who baptizes*, Augustine says that John learned that «Christ could have given to His ministers the power of cleansing from sins, but did not give it»: therefore it seems that that was the power of cooperation.

2. Likewise, that He could have given it, but did not give it, seems [to follow] from the word of Augustine and of the Master: for He did not give this power, «lest a man place his hope in a man»; but on account of no [other] power would a man hope in a man, unless a man were to have the power of forgiving fault and giving grace: therefore it is of that [power] that it is understood.

3. Likewise, this very thing is shown by *reason*, that He could have communicated this, by *a likeness in spiritual things*: for to an Angel of a higher order He gave the power of purging another who is of a lower order: therefore since the order in the ecclesiastical hierarchy is just as in the angelic, it is clear, etc.

4. Likewise, it is shown also by *a likeness in bodily things*: for to bodily things He gave the power of curing from bodily illness: therefore to holy souls He ought to have given the power of curing from spiritual illness.

5. Likewise, this also is proved *from the lesser*: for He could have given to the ministers of the Church the power of casting out demons: therefore much more strongly the seed-bed of them, which is sin.

6. Likewise, *from the lesser* it seems [to follow] in another way: for no creature is nobler than a holy soul; but to grace He gave the power of casting out fault: therefore He could have given it also to the soul.

**On the contrary:** 1. Augustine: «It is greater to justify the ungodly than to create heaven and earth»; but a creature is not capable of the power of creating: therefore neither of the power of justifying or of forgiving sins. *Foundations.*

2. Likewise, every action is through the conjunction of the agent; but God alone can enter into the soul: therefore He alone can purge it.

3. Likewise, the purging from fault is from a superior; but God alone is above free will: therefore God alone can forgive the fault which is in free will.

4. Likewise, to baptize inwardly is to infuse grace, and to infuse grace is to create it; but to create grace belongs to God alone: therefore to baptize inwardly, or to purge from fault, belongs to Him alone.

> **Conclusion.** The power of which Augustine speaks is a power of cooperation of such a kind that a man, not by effecting but by impetrating, obtains grace for the one baptized.

**I respond:** It must be said that concerning baptism six powers can be noted, that we may see which the Lord could have given, and did not give. — The *first* is of authority; this is that by which God, from Himself, not from elsewhere, has the power of inwardly cleansing from fault. — The *second* is of cooperation, that a man, having received the power divinely, might be a cooperator in such an act. — The *third* is of excellence, that according to the more abundant grace existing in the one baptizing he might confer greater grace in the one baptized. — The *fourth* is of invocation, that a man might be able to be baptized in the name of Peter, just as in the name of Christ, or even of the Trinity. — The *fifth* is of institution, that, just as Christ had the power of instituting baptism in water, so another might have [the power of instituting it] in water, or elsewhere. — The *sixth* is of ministry, by which He gives, that through a man both word and element can be outwardly ministered.

The first He neither could give nor gave, the last He could give and did give. Concerning all the intermediate [powers] the Masters say that He could have given them, but did not give them. — For the second and the third He did not give, lest hope be placed in a man; for if one man could heal another spiritually, or by his own merits give more of grace: a man would hope from a man for grace and pardon. The fourth and the fifth He did not give, lest there be as many baptisms as baptizers; for baptism is numbered and named from him in whose name it is done, and from him who instituted it; and therefore, lest there be many baptisms, but one only, He instituted that one only be invoked. — But concerning the power of cooperation there is controversy, because the Master says that He *could have given* it; this, however, is commonly denied.

But because Augustine seems to say this, on this account it must be noted that to cooperate with another is twofold: either by the mode of truly *effecting*, as nature cooperates with God in the production of natural things, and free will [cooperates] with grace in doing a meritorious work; or secondly by the mode of *disposing*, as a man cooperates with God as regards grace, because he disposes himself. In the first mode, whatever the Master may seem to say, God *could not* give it, because the creature was not capable; nor did Augustine understand it in this mode. For as was touched on in the first book, distinction fourteen, and shown by the objections, to give grace belongs to an infinite power and to a power above the human mind, which is immediately upon God. But in the second mode He *could have* given it, that a man according to an interior act might obtain grace for the one baptized, not by effecting the grace, but by impetrating it; just as He gave to a man the power of working miracles, not because he himself effected them, but by a power given him by God, so that as often as he willed he might impetrate. — But this He did not give to a man, namely that he could so much inwardly in healing the soul, as outwardly by the power of miracles He heals bodies. For then recourse would be had to them for the salvation of the soul, as to God. But the Lord, as regards this power, made all equal, that He might teach that the salvation of the soul is to be sought from Himself alone. For all who administer the Sacrament purge equally; and so there is no efficacy in the act of mind of the one baptizing, but only in the administration of the Sacrament. — And by this the solution of the objections is made clear.

3. To that, therefore, which is objected, that an Angel of a higher order purges, etc.; it must be said that this is to be understood as regards *cognition*, and this only *dispositively*. But it is greater to purge the *affective* [power], because it is more conjoined to God; moreover, the habit which reforms the *affective* [power] is a habit more deiform. — Nevertheless Augustine says that God alone is teacher, just as He alone baptizes inwardly. But in this he does not contradict Dionysius; for he does not wish to exclude the disposition of the exterior teacher, which is by the mode of a certain extension; but he wishes that the habit be infused by God alone; nor in this does he exclude the cooperation of the natural light. For there are some things which we can know by the light naturally given; likewise there are some goods to which we can become habituated by the rectitude naturally implanted. And just as for those things which are above

nature, God alone elevates the *cognitive* [power], by infusing a cognitive habit, such as the illustration of prophecy or of faith; so, since grace making-acceptable and charity elevate *above* nature, they are not present there except by infusion. And just as the *cognitive* [power], with God cooperating, can perfect itself by some *natural* habit, such as that of natural cognition, but by some it cannot, such as that of infused [cognition]; so on the part of the *affective* [power] it must be understood as regards *moral* and *infused* habits; and because grace making-acceptable elevates nature above itself, the habit is infused, and therefore is from Him alone who can enter into the soul. — But although both are from God, nevertheless in the habit of *cognition* the teacher prepares [the soul] not only by the exterior word, but also through an interior habit; and so one is a better teacher than another. So God could have done in baptism, but He did not will [to], that to Him alone omnipotence, honor, and glory be attributed.

4. To that which is objected concerning bodily medicine, the response is clear, that it is not alike, because medicines do not *effect* health, but *dispose* [for it] by aiding nature. Nor is it alike either, because bodily things *mutually* act and are acted upon; but the soul does not so flow into the soul; and the ground of this was assigned in the first book.

5. To that which is objected concerning the casting out of demons, it must be said that this is not greater, but lesser, because a demon can be cast out without the bettering and infusion of grace, but fault [cannot]; for a demon can be cast out because it can be constrained by a contrary power.

6. To that which is objected concerning grace, it must be said that grace casts out [fault] by *informing*, not by *effecting*, and because the soul cannot inform [another] soul, therefore neither can it communicate that act; but effectively it is God alone who can give grace.

It is clear, therefore, of what power Augustine understood, namely of the power of cooperation, by which someone is said to cooperate, not because he effects together with Him, but because by some gift given him he does something, which being done God does [it], namely by the mere nod of the mind without the act of the Sacrament. Hence just as blessed Peter is said to have raised the dead and cured the sick, and to have the power of curing and the grace of healings, not because he himself did it, but because God by His nod did it without any visible Sacrament; so someone would be said to purge and purify and to cooperate with God, if a like grace for purging souls were given him; which God did not will, as Augustine says. For this reason also He did not give that one should baptize better than another. — And if the Master understood it thus, he understood well, and the reasons brought against [it] are not against him. Nevertheless he himself in the text expresses much; and therefore in this part he is not to be agreed with in every respect. — And thus the solution of the objections is clear. For terminating this problem, the things written concerning the donation of grace, in the fourteenth distinction of the first book, avail.