Theological Theses · §2432 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Grace freely given: only a dispute about words

Thesis XLIII. It is also clear from what was said about the distinction of grace into grace freely given and grace that makes pleasing that this is nothing but a dispute about words.

The Reformed contend that no grace is given otherwise than freely, and that every grace is called grace precisely because it is given gratuitously. The doctors of the Roman school accept this. They explain that they call one species of grace grace freely given in a special sense, not because the other species is not freely given too, but because the school found it convenient to call that species by the name of the genus, since it has no name of its own.

Latin

XLIII. Praeterea patet ex dictis circa distinctionem gratiae in gratis datam & gratum facientem, non esse nisi certamen de vocibus. Nam quod Reformati contendunt nullam esse gratiam quae non gratis data sit, & omnem gratiam ideo gratiam appellari quod gratuito sit donata, admittitur a Scholae Romanae Doctoribus, qui monent quandam gratiae speciem singulariter a se dici gratiam gratis datam: non quod altera gratiae species etiam non sit gratis data; sed quia visum est Scholae conveniens speciem istam nomine generis appellare, quod proprio nomine careat.

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