Led by God in Freedom: Lessons on Prudence and Moral Transformation from Aquinas’s Commentary on Romans

Moral transformation is the process by which a person grows in holiness. The grace of the Holy Spirit enables this growth. This article explores how the notion of ‘prudence of the Spirit’ in Aquinas’s commentary on Romans can help to further elaborate the concept of moral transformation. It does so by first presenting this transformation as a human process. Second, the article presents an in-depth interpretation of Aquinas’s commentary on Romans 8:14: ‘those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God’. Here, special attention will be given to the proper character of the prudence the Holy Spirit forms in believers. The concluding discussion draws lessons from our reading of the commentary and related texts. This reinforces the conviction that grace enables freedom and will help us to find proper metaphors for speaking of the transformative work of the Holy Spirit.


Introduction
The splendor of the saints is the work of God. Along the way those saints toiled, suffered, learned and made life-changing choices. The common denominator for all of these experiences is often 'growth in holiness'. We can also refer to it as moral transformation. The aim of this contribution is to further develop this notion, with the help of Aquinas's commentary on Romans. In this article, we will explore the features of 'prudence of the Spirit'. The commentary itself gives us an insight into the ideas Aquinas formed on the basis of the foundational source of his theology: Scripture. This will help us to further develop our understanding of moral transformation, as distinct from moral conversion. Transformation is the work of the Spirit, who forms a new freedom in us. Our study on prudence of the Spirit will be but one example of what that freedom looks like and how it comes to be.
Our main question is how the commentary on Romans informs the notion of moral transformation. We will first explore this key concept. Second, we will turn to Aquinas's commentary on Romans 8, with particular attention to verse 14: 'for those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God'. A biblical commentary gives us a fresh perspective on Aquinas's teaching on certain subjects, and in a way a more direct access to his teaching activity. There, we will first pay attention to the apparent tension between 'being led' and human freedom, and then we will discuss the opposing notions 'prudence of the Spirit' and 'prudence of the flesh' to explore how the Spirit may guide us on the level of human habits. This will lead to a deeper appreciation of Aquinas's theology of grace in the commentary. Finally, we will offer a reflection on what these findings tell us. The commentary on Romans teaches us that moral transformation is not merely a conversion or reformation of our own virtues but the work of the Holy Spirit in us, who enables our free and virtuous action in new ways.

What is 'Moral Transformation'?
This article explores 'prudence of the Spirit' because this notion may further develop a more pronounced theological theory of moral transformation. But what is this transformation? The term refers to the process by which a person becomes holy, in the sense of coming to resemble the image of God ever more closely. It is helpful to distinguish this from moral conversion. Whereas conversion suggests a moment, and a movement of the will, the term transformation more readily evokes notions of process and a change that affects all levels of one's being. The famous encounter of Saint Francis of Assisi with a leper was a moment of conversion. When we focus on it, we try to understand what happened in that moment and what changed for Francis. But when we inquire how the man became a saint, we think of the upheaval of his values, how he came to love what he once despised, and how he grew in appreciation of the harmony of God's marvelous creation. When Bernard Lonergan explains the depth of the notion of conversion, he too speaks of it as 'a transformation of the subject and his world'. 1 For its evocative quality, let us therefore continue to speak of transformation when we try to understand how people become their best selves and indeed saints. However, the notion of 'transformation' raises questions: what does it describe, that is not properly covered by the term 'conversion'? The present article seeks to provide a beginning of an answer to that question: whereas conversion refers to an event, transformation refers to the process by which the Holy Spirit-often subtly-effects a change in the moral life of the believer. While it is closely related to 'sanctification', the study of moral transformation pays more attention to grace-in-action as opposed to a more theoretical approach.
To explore moral transformation is to attempt to see grace at work. For most, it will be easy to acknowledge the heroism of someone like Sophie Scholl, who was part of a student movement that wrote and distributed pamphlets against the Nazi regime. 2 And while we can acknowledge that God was working through the process that led her to resist the government she once readily obeyed, it is difficult to pinpoint where grace worked and what should be attributed to herself. Of course, we cannot fence off the operation of grace in a person's life as it pertains to all domains of that life. But there are good reasons to pay more attention to this question. To some, it may seem unfair that all good in human life be attributed to grace. It often takes a lot of effort from a person to make the right choices and to grow in virtue. At the end of life, all of that is 'grace' whereas the remaining vice is 'sin' which is, bluntly speaking, their own fault. This may appear as a lack of recognition for the effort that holy people have put into living a good life. Still, we want to avoid the Pelagian trap of thinking that we can somehow impress God or force his hand with our good works. 3 Furthermore, the objection also wrongly assumes that there is no grace in the struggles in our lives. 4 The solution to the apparent tension between grace and free will lies in recognizing that the desire and ability to do good are the first gifts of God. As habitual gifts, in a sense they belong to us but we did not make them. This gives us a more specific angle for our question: how is grace active in the observable human process of moral transformation? This will help us to be attentive to the interplay of the human and the divine. As such, it is an approach that moves beyond the discussion on divisions of grace that, while helpful, are often difficult to translate to concrete examples. 5 In this contribution we look at the questions surrounding moral transformation through the lens of Aquinas's commentary on Rom. 8:14: 'for those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God'. His remarks will give us an eye for how God's grace works in the moral growth of his creature. The verse itself may seem to suggest a certain passivity: the Spirit acts, others are passive and acted upon. Yet they are called 'children of God', a strong affirmation of their dignity and being-in-relation. From Aquinas, we learn what questions we can ask. Rather than asking how we are passive to the grace of God, by reading the commentary we come to the question: what is it that becomes active in us, what new way of living is possible once we have received the Holy Spirit?
Led by the Spirit of God: Aquinas on Romans 8 Aquinas's commentary on Romans merits attention for several reasons. In general, biblical commentaries are a good starting point for the study of a given subject by Aquinas. Such a text 'has the distinct advantage of offering the reader … a glance into Aquinas' classroom. The reader of the commentary is addressed along with the students.' 6 While the reported text of a commentary may often lack the sophistication many readers of Aquinas know and enjoy of the master, it makes visible to us how his theology grows from his reading of sacred Scripture. There are many thorough studies on the theology of grace as we find it in the Summa Theologiae, but very few that explore how Aquinas interprets biblical texts that are key to controversies on grace-such as the letter to the Romans.
As Gilles Emery noted, biblical commentaries 'offer another access to the thought of St. Thomas' and the commentary on Romans in particular because it 'presents a substantial theological doctrine'. 7 A commentary is a reflection of Aquinas's teaching activity, and when we read it we very often find answers to questions about the concepts he uses, that we do not find in the same way in the Summa Theologiae. By reading Romans, Aquinas reflects on what it means to be adopted children of God, and he often cites Romans 8 to illustrate how grace enables 'the free will to act more perfectly in cooperation with the Spirit's motion'. 8 Romans 8:14 is often cited in discussions on the new law and on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 9 According to Emery, Aquinas posits in the commentary that '[i]n the life of grace, the Holy Spirit exercises a role analogous to that of the natural spirit in the natural life of the human being. The Holy Spirit is a principle of divine life who animates today the soul of the saints and who will in the future vivify their bodies.' 10 Let us first turn to the commentary on Romans 8, with particular attention to verse 14, since we see there an idea of grace that allows us to see the apparent harmony between human and divine agency. Central to the commentary is the notion of 'the law of the Spirit', which can refer both to the law which is the Spirit, or the proper effect of the Spirit. 11 This is a way of affirming that there is no dissociation or separation between the Spirit and his gifts. 12 Applied more concretely to moral theology, there is no tension between the law of Christ and the Christian's freedom in the Holy Spirit. 13 Christ gives both the law and the Spirit, and Aquinas affirms both in the commentary on Romans and in the Summa Theologiae that the new law is the Holy Spirit himself, poured out in our hearts. 14 There are two aspects of the commentary that merit our particular attention. First, the way in which Aquinas speaks of the working of the Holy Spirit in the soul of the believer. Second, the notion of the prudence of the Spirit, which we will discuss further in the final section on instinctus. We will discuss the former now, because it will give us a first indication of how Aquinas might help us in developing a better understanding of the notion of moral transformation. Key to this is, in fact, his commentary on Rom. 8:14. Aquinas is interested in two things in particular: how some are led by the Spirit of God, and how those who are led are children of God. With regard to the first, he comments that they are ruled 'as by a leader and director, which the Spirit does in us, inasmuch as he enlightens us inwardly about what we ought to do'. The heart of the spiritual person 'is also moved by the Holy Spirit'. 15 We can say people are 'led' when they are moved by a higher instinct, thus the spiritual person 'is inclined to do something not as though by a movement of his own will chiefly but ex instinctu Spiritus Sancti'. Here, Aquinas is thinking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as the language mirrors that of the discussion of the gifts in the prima secundae. 16 The gifts render one amenable to that instinct and allow one to act accordingly. Aquinas foresees the objection that such an instinct may intrude on free will and addresses it by saying: 'this does not mean that spiritual men do not act through will and free choice, because the Holy Spirit causes the very movement of the will and free choice in them'. 17 There are two important things to take away from this. First, the movement of the Spirit takes place by way of the infusion of a gift, as the use of instinctus implies-since it is the gifts of the Holy Spirit that make one amenable to follow the prompting of the Spirit. Second, the human person freely makes use of this gift, even when the movement of the free will is caused by the Holy Spirit.
Regarding how those who are led by the Spirit are children of God, Aquinas states that the 'spiritual seed proceeding from the Father is the Holy Spirit' and 'through this seed 13 Bernard Lonergan addressed the question of grace and freedom in Grace and Freedom: Operative Grace in the Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, vol. 1 in the series Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000). In this work formal distinctions of grace are the organizing principle, whereas the present article departs from the scriptural commentary and seeks to address the spiritual question 'how does the Spirit transform without overpowering?' 14 Ad Rom. cap. 8 l. 1, #603: 'the new law, which is the Holy Spirit himself or something that the Holy Spirit produces in our hearts'; ST Ia IIae q. 106 a. 1 resp.: 'So before all else the New Law is the very grace of the Holy Spirit, given to those who believe in Christ'. 15 Ad Rom. cap 8 l. 3, #635, cf. #707: 'The other call is internal and is nothing less than an impulse of the mind (mentis instinctus) whereby a man's heart is moved by God to assent to the things of faith or virtue'. Cf. Sup. Io. cap. 5 l. 6, #935: 'An external revelation or an object are not the only things that draw us. There is also an interior impulse (interior instinctus) that incites and moves us to believe'. 16 ST Ia IIae q. 68 a. 1 resp, a. 2 resp., a. 3 resp. 17 Ad Rom. cap. 8 l. 3, #635. some men are born as sons of God'. 18 In his discussion of the children of God, Aquinas delves further into the question of human freedom. The Spirit produces both fear and love in our hearts. He offers an extended reflection on types of fear, noting that any imperfection in it derives 'not from the Holy Spirit but from man's guilt; just as deformed faith, inasmuch as it is faith, is from the Holy Spirit, but not its deformity'. 19 Even when that person does good things out of fear of punishment, he is acting like a slave rather than a child of God. Holy fear, however, caused by perfect love 'fears nothing except separation from God'. 20 It is love though, the amor caritatis, that produces the freedom of the children of God and through this love people work voluntarily for the honor of God. The distinction between fear and love is certainly not unproblematic in light of Jewish-Christian dialogue, as it suggests that the law of Moses is based on fear only, whereas this law is part of the covenant between God and his people. What we can take away from it is that for the children of God, love is what makes them children of God and this love is produced in them by the Holy Spirit.
How does the Holy Spirit help the children of God to face the challenges of this life? This is the subject matter of another part of the commentary on Romans 8, and it complements the previous reflections. Even those who are children of God need the help (auxilium) of the Holy Spirit. The love of God poured out in our hearts causes the right desires. 21 The Spirit 'directs' and 'incites' our heart toward these right desires. 22 Here we come full circle with the earlier part of the commentary, where Aquinas discussed the inner working of the Holy Spirit. When we reflect on the language he uses to describe the work of the Spirit in the soul of the believer, we should note the type of verbs he uses. The Spirit illumines the intellect, inclines the affect to act rightly, he enlightens and teaches inwardly. 23 The commentary on Galatians, which also discusses the operation of the Holy Spirit, employs a similar vocabulary: the Spirit moves, instigates and inclines. 24 This language is important because it carefully avoids any suggestion of force, and leaves free will intact. If we want to use a contemporary expression, we might say that the Holy Spirit nudges us, offering cues and suggestions but we ourselves can act upon them in freedom. This is indeed the concern that drives Aquinas. When commenting on Galatians, on the battle between the Spirit and the flesh, he writes: However, free will is not taken away. For since free will consists in having choice, there is freedom of the will with respect to things subject to choice. But not all that lies in us is fully subject to our choice, but only in a qualified sense. In specific cases we are able to avoid this or that movement of lust or anger, but we cannot avoid all movements of anger or lust in general-and this by reason of the fomes introduced by the first sin. 25

The Prudence of the Spirit
Now that we have discussed the first aspect of our question, how the Holy Spirit leads us, we can consider what this looks like on the level of the habits of the human person. This brings us to a set of concepts that is typical to the commentary on Romans. Aquinas follows the Vulgate in speaking of 'prudence of the Spirit', and he uses that expression only in the commentary. It is opposed to 'prudence of the flesh'. That term is mentioned 19 times in the commentary and 43 times in the secunda pars, out of 65 cases in total according to the Index Thomisticus. It is helpful to explore these types of prudence because if we understand how a person might go from one to the other, we will get a glimpse of what moral transformation looks like in something as concrete as a person's habit.
Aquinas's terminology is occasioned by Romans 8:6: 'for the prudence of the flesh is death, but the prudence of the spirit is life and peace'. Before venturing into the commentary, a word of caution. As we will see, the duality in the letter of Paul is of course reflected in the commentary, which is literally a black-and-white description of two types of prudence. This is Aquinas's interpretation of the letter, but it is not his final word on how he sees prudence in both Christians and non-Christians.
After giving a basic definition of prudence in the commentary, he goes on to say that for the prudence of the flesh 'it is required that a person presuppose as his goal a pleasure of the flesh and that he plan and judge and command what leads to this end. That is why such prudence is death, i.e., the cause of eternal death.' 26 Prudence of the Spirit is 'when someone, presupposing a spiritual good as the goal, plans and judges and commands the things that are suitably ordered to that goal. Hence, such prudence is life, i.e., the cause of grace and glory.' 27 Aquinas elaborates on this distinction and goes on to explain how prudence of the flesh is death indeed, but also that it is alien to believers, that is: to those who have received the grace of God. Prudence of the flesh has no place in their life, because it is hostile to God, does not subject to Him and could not ever be subject to God: For the prudence of the flesh is a form of vice, as is clear from what has been said. But although a person subject to a vice can be freed from it and submit to God, as it says above, having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of justice (Rom 6:18), the vice itself cannot submit to God, since the vice itself is a turning away from God or from God's law; just as something black can become white, but the blackness itself can never become white: an evil tree cannot bear good fruit (Matt 7:18). 28 While prudence of the flesh is literally a dead end, it is possible for one to 'cease to be in the flesh according to the manner described and then they will be pleasing to God'. 29 26 Ad Rom. cap. 8 l. 1, #617. Cf. #621 for its equivocation with 'wisdom of the flesh'. Cf. ST IIa IIae q. 55 a. 1 resp., ad 1. Here, Aquinas distinguishes between 'prudence of the flesh' which makes 'bodily gratification the end of life as a whole' which is a mortal sin, and normal care for the body which is not prudence of the flesh 'for this concern for the flesh is subordinate to the purpose of life'. Those who Paul is speaking to, however, are already pleasing to God because they are not in the flesh, they are not determined by the vices of the flesh. That is, if the Holy Spirit dwells in them by virtue of their baptism and they have not lost it through a later sin. 30 Hence, because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit it is possible to no longer be marked by the vice categorized as prudence of the flesh and to instead have a prudence that is oriented to the proper end. Elsewhere in the commentary, Aquinas addresses the nature of the indwelling of the Spirit that forms this prudence: 'just as the natural spirit makes the life of nature, so the divine Spirit makes the life of grace: it is the Spirit that gives life'. 31 Here again, language is the key to grasping the meaning of what Aquinas conveys. The similarities in language between the discussions of instinctus and prudence of the Spirit suggest that the concepts are related. 32 Prudence of the Spirit is that prudence which takes it counsel from the most wise ruler of them all, the Holy Spirit. When Aquinas speaks of being moved by the Spirit of God, he refers to it as being illuminated interiorly. Referring to the law of the Spirit he says that 'the Holy Spirit dwelling in the mind not only teaches what is to be done by instructing the intellect but also inclines the affection to act aright'. 33 This is essentially a definition of the virtue of prudence: the knowledge of the good that is to be done and the desire to do it.
Our interpretation of Romans 8 will also be helped by a closer look at the Summa Theologiae. This shows the framework that Aquinas may have had in mind when writing the commentary, and it also shows how some ideas from the Summa are best interpreted. In his discussion of the eternal law, we get a more complete picture of how Aquinas understands the working of the Holy Spirit and human weakness. He asks if all human affairs are subject to the eternal law. It may seem that they are not since some are led by the Spirit of God and are then not under the eternal law. And those who are ruled by the flesh also seem to fall beyond the scope of that law. 34 In his response, Aquinas explains how all creatures are subject to the eternal law because they have a notion of it and have a 'natural bent to what is consonant' with it. Both participations in the eternal law are imperfect, and in the wicked are 'somewhat corrupt'. Aquinas explains: 'their natural instinct for virtue is spoilt by vice and their natural knowledge of what is right is darkened by the passions and habits of sin'. The good, however, possess the eternal law more fully because 'above the natural bent to good there is added the interior moving power of grace and the virtues, and above the natural knowledge of what is right there is added knowledge by faith and wisdom'. 35 In his response to the first objection, Aquinas goes back and forth about the agency of the just. One way to understand that they who are led by the Spirit are not under the law is because they, through charity, fulfill the law of their own free will. lives? Aquinas notes that speaking of the transformative power of the Holy Spirit means that we have to consider the interplay between our free human development and the Spirit's transformative action. In this process, the Spirit does not replace or infringe upon our freedom but enables it.
How then is the virtue of prudence transformed? Essentially, it is not. Prudence of the flesh is a vice, and just as blackness cannot become white so a vice cannot become a virtue. In Paul's letter to the Romans, and therefore also in the commentary, there is a strong dichotomy between prudence of the flesh and prudence of the spirit. The latter can simply not be in sinners. 44 In the Summa Theologiae, the distinction is more nuanced, as Aquinas gives a threefold division of false and true prudence, and prudence simpliciter. In this sense the Summa does not have the black-and-white binary distinction of the commentary on Romans. Given the negative portrayal of prudence of the flesh in the Summa, it seems most plausible to identify it as the 'false prudence' of the Summa. 45 The commentary on Romans works with the Pauline distinction between two types of prudence: one that is given and sustained by the Holy Spirit even where it concerns 'earthly' affairs, and the other relies exclusively on human efforts and that cannot see beyond the things of this world. We cannot understate the significance of this difference. It means that 'transformation' should not be understood as a simple development or alteration of our previously acquired dispositions, but the obtainment of an entirely new kind of agency. 'Prudence of the Spirit' is an expression that teaches us that this agency is both a virtue we possess, and a gift we have been given. Even when 'prudence of the flesh' need not refer exclusively to carnal sin-it can also refer to simply being in this flesh -Aquinas emphasizes that the way of the flesh is not one that leads to eternal life. The new law both commands and gives something entirely different: the prudence that has an orientation to the spiritual life and its concerns. Having received the Holy Spirit, a person desires a truly good life and is able to choose those things that are conducive to it. To go from one type of prudence to the next is not some adaptation of a previously acquired disposition, since 'the vice itself cannot submit to God'. Those who do submit to God cease to be in the flesh. 46 They are able to do so because of the movement, or instinctus, of the Holy Spirit.
We noted a certain subtlety in Aquinas's description of the operation of the Holy Spirit. And in this subtlety, we also find the key to speaking about moral transformation and human freedom. The working of the Spirit is often gentle. Perhaps this is why Servais Pinckaers likened the spiritual instinct to 'the plant's instinct, which directs it toward the sun'. Likewise, the spiritual instinct 'guides our choices, suggests initiatives, guards us from dangers, and helps us to surmount errors'. 47  conviction that this gift transforms human agency. By way of the divine indwelling the source of morality 'belongs to us since it flows from our inner self and it allows us to be and to act in truth and goodness; at the same time, this source does not belong to us, because it flows as a continuous gift from God, who grants us the greatest gift, the Holy Spirit'. 48 Turning to another esteemed scholar, Bernard Lonergan, we can appreciate how profoundly changed a person is by that gift from God: 'What hitherto was unnoticed becomes vivid and present. What had been of no concern becomes a matter of high import. So great a change in one's apprehensions and one's values accompanies no less a change in oneself, in one's relations to other persons, and in one's relations to God'. 49 And we can appreciate the newness of that outlook by rereading Jan Walgrave's reflections on instinctus, where he describes it as the beginning of free will rather than an intrusion on it. God governs creation but he also invites his creature into a life of freedom.
The life of the will must begin and cannot get itself started. Hence the necessity of the instinct of a governing God. So faith is the beginning of a new life that we cannot develop from our own natural life. Therefore, the movement of faith must begin through the instinct of an inviting God. Just as the instinct of the governing God establishes human freedom in us and enables it, so the instinct of the inviting God establishes the freedom of the children of God in us and with it the possibility to develop ourselves in this new domain of life. 50 Building on these authors, we can explore a few analogies to better appreciate the transformation wrought by the Spirit. The sun does not force the flower out of the earth but draws it upwards with its light and warmth. In a similar vein, the Spirit does not force us to choose the good but he plants the seed of desire for that good and we then grow toward it. Or: a good parent does not force a toddler to eat with a fork. But the child sees the parents eat, and desires to be able to do the same. The parent gives the proper instrument, a fork, and offers encouragement. At first it will be a mess, but the child will soon delight in sharing more fully in the table fellowship. In both analogies there is both a very clear orientation and a guiding principle. And growth comes about naturally, beautifully and without force. There will be failure: the flower suffers from a storm or is trampled upon, the child drops the fork or does not quite get it in its own mouth. And this is also what sin is: an action not achieving a proper end, a person not finding their orientation. But just as we do not blame the flower's fate on the sun, or the toddler's clumsiness on the parent, so we cannot blame sin on God. In that sense we must correct the question from the beginning, on how God takes credit for the good and holds us accountable for sin. It is not about fair or unfair, but about a more profound understanding of freedom-in-relation or freedom-to-an-end. It is deeply meaningful that Aquinas believes the new law is the grace of the Holy Spirit, and this reality probably requires more refined analogies. God  subjects and then blames them for not following them. Rather, He offers the heart an impulse to the good. To speak fruitfully about the help of the Spirit and free will, we must refrain from seeing God's will in competition with our own will. What God wills is our good; our good is in that which God wills for us. 51 If we wish to appreciate the beauty and complexity of moral transformation, we will need to understand how Pinckaers's liberté de qualité, or 'freedom for excellence', develops, that is: how the character of a person is formed. Aquinas speaks of this change in terms of intellectual instruction and inclination of the affect. So, a person will both think and desire differently. Where we see that a person begins to want what God wants, grace is at work. Applied to prudence, we see transformation where, to paraphrase Lonergan, there are drastic shifts in the things that a person considers important and unimportant. 52 There, too, grace is at work.
There are a number of ways to study moral transformation, and they can complement each other. In this contribution we took a theological approach, looking at the parameters we might expect for the operation of grace. In a biographical approach, we would study the narratives of the lives of saints or other moral heroes. 53 This will help us to further develop a notion of moral transformation, and to see how grace transforms all aspects of a person's existence. While this change will be profound and forceful, it will not be a violent disruption. It is a chance to indeed see grace at work. This approach will be informed by the theological understanding, and it will further form it. A biblical approach will do either or both of these: it can explore fundamental concepts relating to moral transformation or flesh out relevant narratives. The theological, biographical and biblical approach to studying moral transformation will in turn be helpful to a pastoral accompaniment of moral transformation. Pastors, spiritual directors and chaplains who appreciate the delicacy of the work of the Holy Spirit will be more likely to reflect this in their ministry. They will also understand that prayer is a key ingredient, because it is God who accomplishes the moral change necessary to flourish. 54 In the end, it is the Spirit who leads to freedom and effects the transformation of the children of God.