Chapter 2 (133)
146 | THE SENTENCES, BOOK 3
we say: "We saw him filled with grace and truth,' let us refer grace to knowledge and truth to wisdom,"'* because knowledge and wisdom were fully in Christ,'° and we have knowledge and wisdom from him, who is
God and man.
Chapter 2 (133) 1. IN WHAT WISDOM DIFFERS FROM UNDERSTANDING. After showing the difference between knowledge and wisdom, let us see what distinguishes wisdom from understanding.—These two differ in this: that wisdom properly is of eternal things because it extends to contemplating eternal truth; understanding, on the other hand, is not only of eternal things, but also of invisible and spiritual things which have arisen in time. For through it is considered the highest nature (that is, the divine nature), which made all other natures, and those spiritual and invisible natures, which are after the highest one (such as angels and all the favourable dispositions of a good soul), are perceived. In this then lies the difference: that by wisdom the Creator alone is contemplated, but by understanding both the Creator and some creature. Also, by the understanding we grasp only intelligible things, but by wisdom we not only grasp the higher things, but also find pleasure in what is known.
2. HOW KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, AND WISDOM DIFFER. And so a
distinction can be made in this way among those three, namely knowledge, understanding, and wisdom: knowledge is effective for the right administration of temporal things and for good relations among the wicked; understanding for enquiry about the Creator and invisible creatures; but wisdom for the contemplation of, and delectation in, the eternal truth alone.
Chapter 3 (134)
1. THAT THE UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE OF WHICH WE SPEAK
HERE ARE NOT THE ONES WHICH MAN HAS NATURALLY. And it is to be noted that the understanding and knowledge which are called gifts of the Holy Spirit are other than the understanding and knowledge which are naturally in man's soul. For the former are virtues which are infused through grace in the souls of the faithful so that they may live righteously by them; but man has the latter naturally by the benefit of creation, and yet from God. Through those virtues which are called gifts of the Holy
Spirit, those natural ones are reformed and assisted, just as, for example, = In. \, 14:
Augustine, De Trinitate, bk 13 c19 n24.
'SSee above, dist. 14 cl nn3-5.