Part IV (Tertia Pars) Part 83 (1/2)
Obj. 2: Further, he is said to redeem who pays the price of redemption. But G.o.d the Father gave His Son in redemption for our sins, as is written (Ps. 110:9): ”The Lord hath sent redemption to His people,” upon which the gloss adds, ”that is, Christ, who gives redemption to captives.” Therefore not only Christ, but the Father also, redeemed us.
Obj. 3: Further, not only Christ's Pa.s.sion, but also that of other saints conduced to our salvation, according to Col. 1:24: ”I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh for His body, which is the Church.” Therefore the t.i.tle of Redeemer belongs not only to Christ, but also to the other saints.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Gal. 3:13): ”Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us.” But only Christ was made a curse for us. Therefore only Christ ought to be called our Redeemer.
_I answer that,_ For someone to redeem, two things are required--namely, the act of paying and the price paid. For if in redeeming something a man pays a price which is not his own, but another's, he is not said to be the chief redeemer, but rather the other is, whose price it is. Now Christ's blood or His bodily life, which ”is in the blood,” is the price of our redemption (Lev. 17:11, 14), and that life He paid. Hence both of these belong immediately to Christ as man; but to the Trinity as to the first and remote cause, to whom Christ's life belonged as to its first author, and from whom Christ received the inspiration of suffering for us. Consequently it is proper to Christ as man to be the Redeemer immediately; although the redemption may be ascribed to the whole Trinity as its first cause.
Reply Obj. 1: A gloss explains the text thus: ”Thou, O Lord G.o.d of Truth, hast redeemed me in Christ, crying out, 'Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.'” And so redemption belongs immediately to the Man-Christ, but princ.i.p.ally to G.o.d.
Reply Obj. 2: The Man-Christ paid the price of our redemption immediately, but at the command of the Father as the original author.
Reply Obj. 3: The sufferings of the saints are beneficial to the Church, as by way, not of redemption, but of example and exhortation, according to 2 Cor. 1:6: ”Whether we be in tribulation, it is for your exhortation and salvation.”
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SIXTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 48, Art. 6]
Whether Christ's Pa.s.sion Brought About Our Salvation Efficiently?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ's Pa.s.sion did not bring about our salvation efficiently. For the efficient cause of our salvation is the greatness of the Divine power, according to Isa. 59:1: ”Behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save.” But ”Christ was crucified through weakness,” as it is written (2 Cor.
13:4). Therefore, Christ's Pa.s.sion did not bring about our salvation efficiently.
Obj. 2: Further, no corporeal agency acts efficiently except by contact: hence even Christ cleansed the leper by touching him ”in order to show that His flesh had saving power,” as Chrysostom [*Theophylact, Enarr. in Luc.] says. But Christ's Pa.s.sion could not touch all mankind. Therefore it could not efficiently bring about the salvation of all men.
Obj. 3: Further, it does not seem to be consistent for the same agent to operate by way of merit and by way of efficiency, since he who merits awaits the result from someone else. But it was by way of merit that Christ's Pa.s.sion accomplished our salvation. Therefore it was not by way of efficiency.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (1 Cor. 1:18) that ”the word of the cross to them that are saved ... is the power of G.o.d.” But G.o.d's power brings about our salvation efficiently. Therefore Christ's Pa.s.sion on the cross accomplished our salvation efficiently.
_I answer that,_ There is a twofold efficient agency--namely, the princ.i.p.al and the instrumental. Now the princ.i.p.al efficient cause of man's salvation is G.o.d. But since Christ's humanity is the ”instrument of the G.o.dhead,” as stated above (Q. 43, A. 2), therefore all Christ's actions and sufferings operate instrumentally in virtue of His G.o.dhead for the salvation of men. Consequently, then, Christ's Pa.s.sion accomplishes man's salvation efficiently.
Reply Obj. 1: Christ's Pa.s.sion in relation to His flesh is consistent with the infirmity which He took upon Himself, but in relation to the G.o.dhead it draws infinite might from It, according to 1 Cor. 1:25: ”The weakness of G.o.d is stronger than men”; because Christ's weakness, inasmuch as He is G.o.d, has a might exceeding all human power.
Reply Obj. 2: Christ's Pa.s.sion, although corporeal, has yet a spiritual effect from the G.o.dhead united: and therefore it secures its efficacy by spiritual contact--namely, by faith and the sacraments of faith, as the Apostle says (Rom. 3:25): ”Whom G.o.d hath proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood.”
Reply Obj. 3: Christ's Pa.s.sion, according as it is compared with His G.o.dhead, operates in an efficient manner: but in so far as it is compared with the will of Christ's soul it acts in a meritorious manner: considered as being within Christ's very flesh, it acts by way of satisfaction, inasmuch as we are liberated by it from the debt of punishment; while inasmuch as we are freed from the servitude of guilt, it acts by way of redemption: but in so far as we are reconciled with G.o.d it acts by way of sacrifice, as shall be shown farther on (Q. 49).
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QUESTION 49
OF THE EFFECTS OF CHRIST'S Pa.s.sION (In Six Articles)
We have now to consider what are the effects of Christ's Pa.s.sion, concerning which there are six points of inquiry:
(1) Whether we were freed from sin by Christ's Pa.s.sion?
(2) Whether we were thereby delivered from the power of the devil?
(3) Whether we were freed thereby from our debt of punishment?
(4) Whether we were thereby reconciled with G.o.d?
(5) Whether heaven's gate was opened to us thereby?