Part IV (Tertia Pars) Part 56 (2/2)

Therefore Christ did not merit in the first instant of His conception.

_On the contrary,_ Augustine [*Paterius, Expos. Vet. et Nov. Test.

super Ex. 40] says: ”Increase of merit was absolutely impossible to the soul of Christ.” But increase of merit would have been possible had He not merited in the first instant of His conception. Therefore Christ merited in the first instant of His conception.

_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1), Christ was sanctified by grace in the first instant of His conception. Now, sanctification is twofold: that of adults who are sanctified in consideration of their own act; and that of infants who are sanctified in consideration of, not their own act of faith, but that of their parents or of the Church. The former sanctification is more perfect than the latter: just as act is more perfect than habit; and ”that which is by itself, than that which is by another” [*Aristotle, _Phys._ viii]. Since, therefore, the sanctification of Christ was most perfect, because He was so sanctified that He might sanctify others; consequently He was sanctified by reason of His own movement of the free-will towards G.o.d. Which movement, indeed, of the free-will is meritorious.

Consequently, Christ did merit in the first instant of His conception.

Reply Obj. 1: Free-will does not bear the same relation to good as to evil: for to good it is related of itself, and naturally; whereas to evil it is related as to a defect, and beside nature. Now, as the Philosopher says (De Coelo ii, text. 18): ”That which is beside nature is subsequent to that which is according to nature; because that which is beside nature is an exception to nature.” Therefore the free-will of a creature can be moved to good meritoriously in the first instant of its creation, but not to evil sinfully; provided, however, its nature be unimpaired.

Reply Obj. 2: That which man has at the first moment of his creation, in the ordinary course of nature, is natural to him; but nothing hinders a creature from receiving from G.o.d a gift of grace at the very beginning of its creation. In this way did Christ's soul in the first instant of its creation receive grace by which it could merit.

And for this reason is that grace, by way of a certain likeness, said to be natural to this Man, as explained by Augustine (Enchiridion xl).

Reply Obj. 3: Nothing prevents the same thing belonging to someone from several causes. And thus it is that Christ was able by subsequent actions and sufferings to merit the glory of immortality, which He also merited in the first instant of His conception: not, indeed, so that it became thereby more due to Him than before, but so that it was due to Him from more causes than before.

_______________________

FOURTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 34, Art. 4]

Whether Christ Was a Perfect Comprehensor in the First Instant of His Conception?

Objection 1: It would seem that Christ was not a perfect comprehensor in the first instant of His conception. For merit precedes reward, as fault precedes punishment. But Christ merited in the first instant of His conception, as stated above (A. 3). Since, therefore, the state of comprehension is the princ.i.p.al reward, it seems that Christ was not a comprehensor in the first instant of His conception.

Obj. 2: Further, our Lord said (Luke 24:26): ”Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?” But glory belongs to the state of comprehension. Therefore Christ was not in the state of comprehension in the first instant of His conception, when as yet He had not suffered.

Obj. 3: Further, what befits neither man nor angel seems proper to G.o.d; and therefore is not becoming to Christ as man. But to be always in the state of beat.i.tude befits neither man nor angel: for if they had been created in beat.i.tude, they would not have sinned afterwards.

Therefore Christ, as man, was not in the state of beat.i.tude in the first instant of His conception.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Ps. 64:5): ”Blessed is he whom Thou hast chosen, and taken to Thee”; which words, according to the gloss, refer to Christ's human nature, which ”was taken by the Word of G.o.d unto the unity of Person.” But human nature was taken by the Word of G.o.d in the first instant of His conception. Therefore, in the first instant of His conception, Christ, as man, was in the state of beat.i.tude; which is to be a comprehensor.

_I answer that,_ As appears from what was said above (A. 3), it was unbecoming that in His conception Christ should receive merely habitual grace without the act. Now, He received grace ”not by measure” (John 3:34), as stated above (Q. 7, A. 11). But the grace of the ”wayfarer,” being short of that of the ”comprehensor,” is in less measure than that of the comprehensor. Wherefore it is manifest that in the first instant of His conception Christ received not only as much grace as comprehensors have, but also greater than that which they all have. And because that grace was not without its act, it follows that He was a comprehensor in act, seeing G.o.d in His Essence more clearly than other creatures.

Reply Obj. 1: As stated above (Q. 19, A. 3), Christ did not merit the glory of the soul, in respect of which He is said to have been a comprehensor, but the glory of the body, to which He came through His Pa.s.sion.

Wherefore the reply to the Second Objection is clear.

Reply Obj. 3: Since Christ was both G.o.d and man, He had, even in His humanity, something more than other creatures--namely, that He was in the state of beat.i.tude from the very beginning.

_______________________

QUESTION 35

OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY (In Eight Articles)

After considering Christ's conception, we must treat of His nativity.

First, as to the nativity itself; secondly, as to His manifestation after birth.

Concerning the first there are eight points of inquiry:

(1) Whether nativity regards the nature or the person?

<script>