Commentary on Catechism of the Catholic Church God Reveals His “Plan of Loving Goodness”

We may know God with certainty on the basis of natural reason. Yet there is other knowledge of God which we cannot know from natural reason, that is of supernatural revelation. In freedom God revealed His plan of loving goodness formed from all eternity in Christ by sending His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. God saw that it is good for Him to reveal Himself and make known the mystery of His will, that men should have access to the Triune God by way of Christ in the Holy Spirit and become sharers in the divine nature.

God desires to communicate His own divine life to men to adopt them as sons in His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This act of revelation communicates grace to man that shall enable them to respond to God, knowing God, and loving God beyond their own natural capacity. Revelation is realized by deeds and words which are related to each other and shed light on each other. God communicates to man in stages which is to culminate in the person and mission of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. St. Irenaeus of Lyons speaks of an image, the Word of God dwelt in man to accustom man to perceive God and to accustom God to dwell in man.

Second Commentary

It is reasonable to say this, as indeed by reason we can demonstrate that for the union between man and God, there is a necessity of a revelation in addition to what man can accept from his own capacities of natural reason. As man is fundamentally finite, his natural reason will never comprehend the fullness of God and there will always be aspects of God unattainable by that natural reason. For example, were the Trinity be a naturally reasonable aspect of God, then God shall give us a supernatural revelation higher than that of the Trinity. Though at this point it seems universal that the Trinity cannot be attained by natural revelation, thus proving the necessity of supernatural revelation.

God is utterly free, in the meaning that His acts are not determined by anything other than Himself. As such, the source of God’s choice to reveal and give Himself to man is God Himself, it is not by the desires of man or by the merits or guilt of man, but by His own Mercy. He does this for the benefit of all men, as reasoned that God created creatures for the benefit of creatures and not for the benefit of God. For God cannot be added to or subtracted from in any way. The fullness of His revelation of His plan of loving goodness is in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, sent in their joint mission.

When we say that it pleases God to do something, we mean this. God’s own pleasure is Himself. He must therefore will Himself the most. As such, whatever He wills to do is a reflection of Himself. Therefore He finds a reflection of Himself in His acts, that is of creation. As such, it pleases God to create man and bring them toward Himself as He finds Himself in that entire act. His necessary will and nature is that man should come to God the Father through God the Son in God the Holy Spirit and thus inherit the divine life or the divine nature. Remember, God is simple.

God Himself cannot be approached by natural humanity. As such, God reveals Himself in order to make man capable of approaching Him by the powers of God. We can infer that the communication of God to man in itself communicates the power of God to man for man to approach God, love God, desire God, and know God beyond their natural powers. Revelation consists in 2 things, words and deeds, related to each other and complimenting each other. God reveals Himself in stages, which culminates in the person and mission of the Word in flesh, the Son of Man, Christ Jesus. According to St. Irenaeus, this gradual revelation is done to accustom God to dwell in man and to accustom man to perceive God.


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