Part IV (Tertia Pars) Part 73 (1/2)
Reply Obj. 1: This was the argument of the Gentiles. Wherefore Augustine says (Ep. ad Volusian. cx.x.xvii): ”No suitable wonders, say they, show forth the presence of so great majesty, for the ghostly cleansing” whereby He cast out demons, ”the cure of the sick, the raising of the dead to life, if other miracles be taken into account, are small things before G.o.d.” To this Augustine answers thus: ”We own that the prophets did as much ... But even Moses himself and the other prophets made Christ the Lord the object of their prophecy, and gave Him great glory ... He, therefore, chose to do similar things to avoid the inconsistency of failing to do what He had done through others. Yet still He was bound to do something which no other had done: to be born of a virgin, to rise from the dead, and to ascend into heaven. If anyone deem this a slight thing for G.o.d to do, I know not what more he can expect. Having become man, ought He to have made another world, that we might believe Him to be Him by whom the world was made? But in this world neither a greater world could be made nor one equal to it: and if He had made a lesser world in comparison with this, that too would have been deemed a small thing.”
As to the miracles worked by others, Christ did greater still. Hence on John 15:24: ”If I had not done in [Douay: 'among'] them the works that no other men hath done,” etc., Augustine says: ”None of the works of Christ seem to be greater than the raising of the dead: which thing we know the ancient prophets also did ... Yet Christ did some works 'which no other man hath done.' But we are told in answer that others did works which He did not, and which none other did ... But to heal with so great a power so many defects and ailments and grievances of mortal men, this we read concerning none soever of the men of old. To say nothing of those, each of whom by His bidding, as they came in His way, He made whole ... Mark saith (6:56): 'Whithersoever He entered, into towns or into villages or into cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch but the hem of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole.' These things none other did in them; for when He saith 'In them,' it is not to be understood to mean 'Among them,'
or 'In their presence,' but wholly 'In them,' because He healed them ... Therefore whatever works He did in them are works that none ever did; since if ever any other man did any one of them, by His doing he did it; whereas these works He did, not by their doing, but by Himself.”
Reply Obj. 2: Augustine explains this pa.s.sage of John as follows (Tract. lxxi): ”What are these 'greater works' which believers in Him would do? That, as they pa.s.sed by, their very shadow healed the sick?
For it is greater that a shadow should heal than the hem of a garment ... When, however, He said these words, it was the deeds and works of His words that He spoke of: for when He said ... 'The Father who abideth in Me, He doth the works,' what works did He mean, then, but the words He was speaking? ... and the fruits of those same words was the faith of those (who believed): but when the disciples preached the Gospel, not some few like those, but the very nations believed ... (Tract. lxxii). Did not that rich man go away from His presence sorrowful? ... and yet afterwards, what one individual, having heard from Him, did not, that many did when He spake by the mouth of His disciples ... Behold, He did greater works when spoken of by men believing than when speaking to men hearing. But there is yet this difficulty: that He did these 'greater works' by the apostles: whereas He saith as meaning not only them: ... 'He that believeth in Me' ... Listen! ... 'He that believeth in Me, the works that I do, he also shall do': first, 'I do,' then 'he also shall do,' because I do that he may do. What works--but that from unG.o.dly he should be made righteous? ... Which thing Christ worketh in him, truly, but not without him. Yes, I may affirm this to be altogether greater than to create” [*The words 'to create' are not in the text of St. Augustine] ”heaven and earth ... for 'heaven and earth shall pa.s.s away'; but the salvation and justification of the predestinate shall remain ... But also in the heavens ... the angels are the works of Christ: and does that man do greater works than these, who co-operates with Christ in the work of his justification? ... let him, who can, judge whether it be greater to create a righteous being than to justify an unG.o.dly one. Certainly if both are works of equal power, the latter is a work of greater mercy.”
”But there is no need for us to understand all the works of Christ, where He saith 'Greater than these shall he do.' For by 'these' He meant, perhaps, those which He was doing at that hour: now at that time He was speaking words of faith: ... and certainly it is less to preach words of righteousness, which thing He did without us, than to justify the unG.o.dly, which thing He so doth in us that we also do it ourselves.”
Reply Obj. 3: When some particular work is proper to some agent, then that particular work is a sufficient proof of the whole power of that agent: thus, since the act of reasoning is proper to man, the mere fact that someone reasons about any particular proposition proves him to be a man. In like manner, since it is proper to G.o.d to work miracles by His own power, any single miracle worked by Christ by His own power is a sufficient proof that He is G.o.d.
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QUESTION 44
OF (CHRIST'S) MIRACLES CONSIDERED SPECIFICALLY (In Four Articles)
We have now to consider each kind of miracle:
(1) The miracles which He worked in spiritual substances;
(2) The miracles which He worked in heavenly bodies;
(3) The miracles which He worked in man;
(4) The miracles which He worked in irrational creatures.
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FIRST ARTICLE [III, Q. 44, Art. 1]
Whether Those Miracles Were Fitting Which Christ Worked in Spiritual Substances?
Objection 1: It would seem that those miracles were unfitting which Christ worked in spiritual substances. For among spiritual substances the holy angels are above the demons; for, as Augustine says (De Trin. iii): ”The treacherous and sinful rational spirit of life is ruled by the rational, pious, and just spirit of life.” But we read of no miracles worked by Christ in the good angels. Therefore neither should He have worked miracles in the demons.
Obj. 2: Further, Christ's miracles were ordained to make known His G.o.dhead. But Christ's G.o.dhead was not to be made known to the demons: since this would have hindered the mystery of His Pa.s.sion, according to 1 Cor. 2:8: ”If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.” Therefore He should not have worked miracles in the demons.
Obj. 3: Further, Christ's miracles were ordained to the glory of G.o.d: hence it is written (Matt. 9:8) that ”the mult.i.tudes seeing” that the man sick of the palsy had been healed by Christ, ”feared, and glorified G.o.d that gave such power to men.” But the demons have no part in glorifying G.o.d; since ”praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner” (Ecclus. 15:9). For which reason also ”He suffered them not to speak” (Mk. 1:34; Luke 4:41) those things which reflected glory on Him. Therefore it seems that it was unfitting for Him to work miracles in the demons.
Obj. 4: Further, Christ's miracles are ordained to the salvation of mankind. But sometimes the casting out of demons from men was detrimental to man, in some cases to the body: thus it is related (Mk. 9:24, 25) that a demon at Christ's command, ”crying out and greatly tearing” the man, ”went out of him; and he became as dead, so that many said: He is dead”; sometimes also to things: as when He sent the demons, at their own request, into the swine, which they cast headlong into the sea; wherefore the inhabitants of those parts ”besought Him that He would depart from their coasts” (Matt.
8:31-34). Therefore it seems unfitting that He should have worked such like miracles.
_On the contrary,_ this was foretold (Zech. 13:2), where it is written: ”I will take away ... the unclean spirit out of the earth.”
_I answer that,_ The miracles worked by Christ were arguments for the faith which He taught. Now, by the power of His G.o.dhead He was to rescue those who would believe in Him, from the power of the demons; according to John 12:31: ”Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” Consequently it was fitting that, among other miracles, He should also deliver those who were obsessed by demons.
Reply Obj. 1: Just as men were to be delivered by Christ from the power of the demons, so by Him were they to be brought to the companions.h.i.+p of the angels, according to Col. 1:20: ”Making peace through the blood of His cross, both as to the things on earth and the things that are in heaven.” Therefore it was not fitting to show forth to men other miracles as regards the angels, except by angels appearing to men: as happened in His Nativity, His Resurrection, and His Ascension.
Reply Obj. 2: As Augustine says (De Civ. Dei ix): ”Christ was known to the demons just as much as He willed; and He willed just as far as there was need. But He was known to them, not as to the holy angels, by that which is eternal life, but by certain temporal effects of His power.” First, when they saw that Christ was hungry after fasting they deemed Him not to be the Son of G.o.d. Hence, on Luke 4:3, ”If Thou be the Son of G.o.d,” etc., Ambrose says: ”What means this way of addressing Him? save that, though He knew that the Son of G.o.d was to come, yet he did not think that He had come in the weakness of the flesh?” But afterwards, when he saw Him work miracles, he had a sort of conjectural suspicion that He was the Son of G.o.d. Hence on Mk.
1:24, ”I know who Thou art, the Holy one of G.o.d,” Chrysostom [*Victor of Antioch. Cf. Catena Aurea] says that ”he had no certain or firm knowledge of G.o.d's coming.” Yet he knew that He was ”the Christ promised in the Law,” wherefore it is said (Luke 4:41) that ”they knew that He was Christ.” But it was rather from suspicion than from certainty that they confessed Him to be the Son of G.o.d. Hence Bede says on Luke 4:41: ”The demons confess the Son of G.o.d, and, as stated farther on, 'they knew that He was Christ.' For when the devil saw Him weakened by His fast, He knew Him to be a real man: but when He failed to overcome Him by temptation, He doubted lest He should be the Son of G.o.d. And now from the power of His miracles He either knew, or rather suspected that He was the Son of G.o.d. His reason therefore for persuading the Jews to crucify Him was not that he deemed Him not to be Christ or the Son of G.o.d, but because he did not foresee that he would be the loser by His death. For the Apostle says of this mystery” (1 Cor. 2:7, 8), ”which is hidden from the beginning, that 'none of the princes of this world knew it,' for if they had known it they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.”
Reply Obj. 3: The miracles which Christ worked in expelling demons were for the benefit, not of the demons, but of men, that they might glorify Him. Wherefore He forbade them to speak in His praise. First, to give us an example. For, as Athanasius says, ”He restrained his speech, although he was confessing the truth; to teach us not to care about such things, although it may seem that what is said is true.
For it is wrong to seek to learn from the devil when we have the Divine Scripture”: Besides, it is dangerous, since the demons frequently mix falsehood with truth. Or, as Chrysostom [*Cyril of Alexandria, Comment. in Luc.] says: ”It was not meet for them to usurp the prerogative of the apostolic office. Nor was it fitting that the mystery of Christ should be proclaimed by a corrupt tongue”
because ”praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner” [*Cf.