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Why Is Charity The Greatest Of Faith, Hope and Charity?
The foundation of charity is faith pure and undefiled (Pope Pius XI), so why is charity the greatest of faith, hope and charity (1 Cor. 13:13)?
Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos #9, Jan. 6, 1928: “Everyone knows that John himself, the Apostle of love, who seems to reveal in his Gospel the secrets of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and who never ceased to impress on the memories of his followers the new commandment ‘Love one another,’ altogether forbade any intercourse with those who professed a mutilated and corrupt form of Christ’s teaching: ‘If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him: God speed you.’ (II John 10)… The foundation of charity is faith pure and undefiled…”
1 Cor. 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is charity.”
The answer is that charity is what animates or gives life to faith. Hence, it is called the form of faith. A person who possesses faith without charity has an unformed faith (fides informis), while one who possesses faith and charity has a formed faith (fides formata).
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Pt. II-II, Q. 4, A. 3, Reply to Obj. 1: “Charity is called the form of faith, inasmuch as through it the act of faith is perfected and formed.”
Faith without charity (i.e. an unformed faith) is dead, lifeless, and barren. It is not living or moving.
James 2:17: “So faith also, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.”
James 2:20: “Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith without works is barren?”
James 2:26: “For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also faith without works is dead.”
Charity is what unites men to God. Even though charity cannot exist without faith, the possession of charity – since it’s the perfection of faith – necessarily means that one possesses faith (i.e. a faith working through charity, Gal. 5:6) and is united to God. Hence, it is the greatest.
Galatians 5:6- “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through charity.”
Also note that in the Council of Trent’s Decree on Justification, it is taught that catechumens do not have the faith that bestows eternal life until they are baptized, and that when they are baptized they are infused with faith, hope and charity. This is more proof that no one can be saved without the Sacrament of Baptism.
Council of Trent, Decree on Justification, Sess. 6, Chap. 7: “… whence, man, through Jesus Christ, in whom he is ingrafted, receives, in the said justification, together with the remission of sins, all these (gifts) infused at once, faith, hope, and charity. For faith, unless hope and charity be added to it, neither unites man perfectly with Christ, nor makes him a living member of His body. For which reason it is most truly said, that ‘Faith without works is dead and profitless’; and, ‘In Christ Jesus neither circumcision, avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by charity’. This faith, catechumens beg of the Church (according to Apostolic Tradition) before the Sacrament of Baptism, when they beg for the faith which bestows life everlasting, which, without hope and charity, faith cannot bestow: whence also do they immediately hear that word of Christ; If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
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