Part IV (Tertia Pars) Part 23 (1/2)

FIRST ARTICLE [III, Q. 13, Art. 1]

Whether the Soul of Christ Had Omnipotence?

Objection 1: It would seem that the soul of Christ had omnipotence.

For Ambrose [*Gloss, Ord.] says on Luke 1:32: ”The power which the Son of G.o.d had naturally, the Man was about to receive in time.” Now this would seem to regard the soul princ.i.p.ally, since it is the chief part of man. Hence since the Son of G.o.d had omnipotence from all eternity, it would seem that the soul of Christ received omnipotence in time.

Obj. 2: Further, as the power of G.o.d is infinite, so is His knowledge. But the soul of Christ in a manner had the knowledge of all that G.o.d knows, as was said above (Q. 10, A. 2). Therefore He had all power; and thus He was omnipotent.

Obj. 3: Further, the soul of Christ has all knowledge. Now knowledge is either practical or speculative. Therefore He has a practical knowledge of what He knows, i.e. He knew how to do what He knows; and thus it seems that He can do all things.

_On the contrary,_ What is proper to G.o.d cannot belong to any creature. But it is proper to G.o.d to be omnipotent, according to Ex.

15:2, 3: ”He is my G.o.d and I will glorify Him,” and further on, ”Almighty is His name.” Therefore the soul of Christ, as being a creature, has not omnipotence.

_I answer that,_ As was said above (Q. 2, A. 1; Q. 10, A. 1) in the mystery of the Incarnation the union in person so took place that there still remained the distinction of natures, each nature still retaining what belonged to it. Now the active principle of a thing follows its form, which is the principle of action. But the form is either the very nature of the thing, as in simple things; or is the const.i.tuent of the nature of the thing; as in such as are composed of matter and form.

And it is in this way that omnipotence flows, so to say, from the Divine Nature. For since the Divine Nature is the very uncirc.u.mscribed Being of G.o.d, as is plain from Dionysius (Div. Nom.

v), it has an active power over everything that can have the nature of being; and this is to have omnipotence; just as every other thing has an active power over such things as the perfection of its nature extends to; as what is hot gives heat. Therefore since the soul of Christ is a part of human nature, it cannot possibly have omnipotence.

Reply Obj. 1: By union with the Person, the Man receives omnipotence in time, which the Son of G.o.d had from eternity; the result of which union is that as the Man is said to be G.o.d, so is He said to be omnipotent; not that the omnipotence of the Man is distinct (as neither is His G.o.dhead) from that of the Son of G.o.d, but because there is one Person of G.o.d and man.

Reply Obj. 2: According to some, knowledge and active power are not in the same ratio; for an active power flows from the very nature of the thing, inasmuch as action is considered to come forth from the agent; but knowledge is not always possessed by the very essence or form of the knower, since it may be had by a.s.similation of the knower to the thing known by the aid of received species. But this reason seems not to suffice, because even as we may understand by a likeness obtained from another, so also may we act by a form obtained from another, as water or iron heats, by heat borrowed from fire. Hence there would be no reason why the soul of Christ, as it can know all things by the similitudes of all things impressed upon it by G.o.d, cannot do these things by the same similitudes.

It has, therefore, to be further considered that what is received in the lower nature from the higher is possessed in an inferior manner; for heat is not received by water in the perfection and strength it had in fire. Therefore, since the soul of Christ is of an inferior nature to the Divine Nature, the similitudes of things are not received in the soul of Christ in the perfection and strength they had in the Divine Nature. And hence it is that the knowledge of Christ's soul is inferior to Divine knowledge as regards the manner of knowing, for G.o.d knows (things) more perfectly than the soul of Christ; and also as regards the number of things known, since the soul of Christ does not know all that G.o.d can do, and these G.o.d knows by the knowledge of simple intelligence; although it knows all things present, past, and future, which G.o.d knows by the knowledge of vision. So, too, the similitudes of things infused into Christ's soul do not equal the Divine power in acting, i.e. so as to do all that G.o.d can do, or to do in the same manner as G.o.d does, Who acts with an infinite might whereof the creature is not capable. Now there is no thing, to know which in some way an infinite power is needed, although a certain kind of knowledge belongs to an infinite power; yet there are things which can be done only by an infinite power, as creation and the like, as is plain from what has been said in the First Part (Q. 45). Hence Christ's soul which, being a creature, is finite in might, can know, indeed, all things, but not in every way; yet it cannot do all things, which pertains to the nature of omnipotence; and, amongst other things, it is clear it cannot create itself.

Reply Obj. 3: Christ's soul has practical and speculative knowledge; yet it is not necessary that it should have practical knowledge of those things of which it has speculative knowledge. Because for speculative knowledge a mere conformity or a.s.similation of the knower to the thing known suffices; whereas for practical knowledge it is required that the forms of the things in the intellect should be operative. Now to have a form and to impress this form upon something else is more than merely to have the form; as to be lightsome and to enlighten is more than merely to be lightsome. Hence the soul of Christ has a speculative knowledge of creation (for it knows the mode of G.o.d's creation), but it has no practical knowledge of this mode, since it has no knowledge operative of creation.

_______________________

SECOND ARTICLE [III, Q. 13, Art. 2]

Whether the Soul of Christ Had Omnipotence with Regard to the Trans.m.u.tation of Creatures?

Objection 1: It would seem that the soul of Christ had omnipotence with regard to the trans.m.u.tation of creatures. For He Himself says (Matt. 28:18): ”All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Now by the words ”heaven and earth” are meant all creatures, as is plain from Gen. 1:1: ”In the beginning G.o.d created heaven and earth.”

Therefore it seems that the soul of Christ had omnipotence with regard to the trans.m.u.tation of creatures.

Obj. 2: Further, the soul of Christ is the most perfect of all creatures. But every creature can be moved by another creature; for Augustine says (De Trin. iii, 4) that ”even as the denser and lower bodies are ruled in a fixed way by the subtler and stronger bodies; so are all bodies by the spirit of life, and the irrational spirit of life by the rational spirit of life, and the truant and sinful rational spirit of life by the rational, loyal, and righteous spirit of life.” But the soul of Christ moves even the highest spirits, enlightening them, as Dionysius says (Coel. Hier. vii). Therefore it seems that the soul of Christ has omnipotence with regard to the trans.m.u.tation of creatures.

Obj. 3: Further, Christ's soul had in its highest degree the ”grace of miracles” or works of might. But every trans.m.u.tation of the creature can belong to the grace of miracles; since even the heavenly bodies were miraculously changed from their course, as Dionysius proves (Ep. ad Polycarp). Therefore Christ's soul had omnipotence with regard to the trans.m.u.tation of creatures.

_On the contrary,_ To trans.m.u.te creatures belongs to Him Who preserves them. Now this belongs to G.o.d alone, according to Heb. 1:3: ”Upholding all things by the word of His power.” Therefore G.o.d alone has omnipotence with regard to the trans.m.u.tation of creatures.

Therefore this does not belong to Christ's soul.

_I answer that,_ Two distinctions are here needed. Of these the first is with respect to the trans.m.u.tation of creatures, which is three-fold. The first is natural, being brought about by the proper agent naturally; the second is miraculous, being brought about by a supernatural agent above the wonted order and course of nature, as to raise the dead; the third is inasmuch as every creature may be brought to nothing.

The second distinction has to do with Christ's soul, which may be looked at in two ways: first in its proper nature and with its power of nature or of grace; secondly, as it is the instrument of the Word of G.o.d, personally united to Him. Therefore if we speak of the soul of Christ in its proper nature and with its power of nature or of grace, it had power to cause those effects proper to a soul (e.g. to rule the body and direct human acts, and also, by the fulness of grace and knowledge to enlighten all rational creatures falling short of its perfection), in a manner befitting a rational creature. But if we speak of the soul of Christ as it is the instrument of the Word united to Him, it had an instrumental power to effect all the miraculous trans.m.u.tations ordainable to the end of the Incarnation, which is ”to re-establish all things that are in heaven and on earth”

[*Eph. 1:10]. But the trans.m.u.tation of creatures, inasmuch as they may be brought to nothing, corresponds to their creation, whereby they were brought from nothing. And hence even as G.o.d alone can create, so, too, He alone can bring creatures to nothing, and He alone upholds them in being, lest they fall back to nothing. And thus it must be said that the soul of Christ had not omnipotence with regard to the trans.m.u.tation of creatures.

Reply Obj. 1: As Jerome says (on the text quoted): ”Power is given Him,” i.e. to Christ as man, ”Who a little while before was crucified, buried in the tomb, and afterwards rose again.” But power is said to have been given Him, by reason of the union whereby it was brought about that a Man was omnipotent, as was said above (A. 1, ad 1). And although this was made known to the angels before the Resurrection, yet after the Resurrection it was made known to all men, as Remigius says (cf. Catena Aurea). Now, ”things are said to happen when they are made known” [*Hugh of St. Victor: Qq. in Ep. ad Philip.]. Hence after the Resurrection our Lord says ”that all power is given” to Him ”in heaven and on earth.”

Reply Obj. 2: Although every creature is trans.m.u.table by some other creature, except, indeed, the highest angel, and even it can be enlightened by Christ's soul; yet not every trans.m.u.tation that can be made in a creature can be made by a creature; since some trans.m.u.tations can be made by G.o.d alone. Yet all trans.m.u.tations that can be made in creatures can be made by the soul of Christ, as the instrument of the Word, but not in its proper nature and power, since some of these trans.m.u.tations pertain to the soul neither in the order of nature nor in the order of grace.

Reply Obj. 3: As was said in the Second Part (Q. 178, A. 1, ad 1), the grace of mighty works or miracles is given to the soul of a saint, so that these miracles are wrought not by his own, but by Divine power. Now this grace was bestowed on Christ's soul most excellently, i.e. not only that He might work miracles, but also that He might communicate this grace to others. Hence it is written (Matt.