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PART IV - ON THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD

CHAPTER 1 - ON THE REASON WHY THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD WAS NECESSARY, OR FITTING

AFTER SPEAKING of the Trinity of God, the creation of the world, and the corruption of sin, we must consider briefly the incarnation of the Word; for through this Word Made Flesh was wrought the salvation and restoration of mankind. Nor was this because God could not have saved and freed the human race in some other way; but because no other way would have been so fitting and so adapted, alike to the Redeemer, the redeemed, and the nature of redemption itself.^clxix

2. This should be understood as follows. The creative Principle of all things could not have been, and could not fittingly be conceived as being, any other than God. Now, the restoration of the universe is no lesser task than that of bringing it into existence; for to exist fittingly is no less important than simply to exist.^clxx131 It was entirely right, then, that the restorative Principle of all things should be the supreme God. In this way, just as God had created all things through the Word Not Made, even so He restored all things through the Word Made Flesh.¹³²

Again, God does all things with complete power, wisdom, and goodness or benevolence. It was fitting, then, that He so restore all things as to display His power, wisdom, and benevolence. What greater act of power than to combine within a single Person two extremely distant natures?^clxxi What more suitable act of wisdom than to bring the universe to full perfection by uniting the First and the last: the Word of God, origin of all things, and the human creature, last to be made?^clxxii What greater act of benevolence than for the Master to redeem the slave by taking the nature of a slave?¹³³ This is, in truth, a deed of such unfathomable goodness that no greater proof of mercy, care, and love can be conceived.

Assuredly, then, this was the most fitting way for God the Restorer to reveal His power, wisdom, and benevolence.

3. When man sinned, he went astray, rejecting the most mighty, wise, and benevolent Principle. As a result, he fell headlong into weakness, ignorance, and malice. From having been spiritual, he became carnal, animal, and sensual. He could no longer imitate divine power, behold divine light, or love divine goodness. The most perfect way for man to be raised out of this misery was for the first Principle to come down to man's level, offering Himself to him as an accessible object of knowledge, love, and imitation.¹³⁴ Man, carnal, animal, and sensual, could not know, love, or imitate anything that was not both proportionate and similar to himself. So, in order to raise man out of this state, the Word was made flesh;¹³⁵ that He might be known and loved and imitated by man who was flesh, and that man, so knowing and loving and imitating God, might be healed of the disease of sin.^clxxiii

4. Finally, man could not be completely healed unless he recovered purity of soul, the friendship of God, and his proper excellence whereby he had been subject to none but God. Since such a thing could not be brought about except by God in the nature of a slave,¹³⁶ it was fitting that the Word be made flesh.

Man could not have recovered EXCELLENCE through any Restorer other than God. Had it been a mere creature,¹³⁷ man would have been subject to this mere creature, and thus could not have recovered the state of excellence.

Nor could man have recovered the FRIENDSHIP OF GOD except through a fitting Mediator, who could touch God with one hand and man with the other, who would be the likeness and the friend of both: God in His divinity, and man in His humanity.

Nor, again, could man have recovered PURITY OF SOUL if his sin had not been blotted out, which divine justice could not fittingly bring about except after condign atonement had been made. And because God alone COULD provide atonement for the whole of mankind, and man alone MUST provide it, for man had sinned: therefore the best of ways was that mankind be restored by the God-man, born of Adam's race.

Now, since man could not have recovered excellence except through the most excellent Restorer, nor friendship except through the most friendly Mediator, nor purity of soul except through the most superabundant Satisfier; and the most excellent Restorer could be none but God, the most friendly Mediator, none but a man, and the most superabundant Satisfier, none but Him who was both God and man: therefore, it was absolutely the most fitting thing for our restoration that the Word become incarnate. For as the human race came into being through the Word Not Made, and as it sinned because it failed to heed the Word Inspired, so it would rise from sin through the Word Made Flesh.

CHAPTER 2 - ON THE INCARNATION AS REGARDS THE UNION OF NATURES

1. Concerning the incarnate Word, there are three points to consider: the union of natures, the fullness of gifts, and the endurance of sufferings for the redemption of man.

In order to clarify the mystery of the incarnation, we must consider the union of natures under three subheads: what was done; how it was done; and when it was done.

2.  In regard to what was done in the incarnation, Christian faith obliges us to hold the following. The incarnation was brought about by the Trinity, through whom the Godhead assumed flesh, and a union was accomplished between Godhead and flesh in such a way that the assuming was not only of the material flesh, but also of the rational spirit in its three functions, vegetative, sensitive, and intellective; and that the union occurred through oneness, not of nature, but of person; not of a human person, but of a divine; not of the assumed, but of the Assuming; not of any [divine] Person indifferently, but of the Word alone, in whom the oneness is so absolute that whatever may be said of the Son of God may be said also of the Son of Man, and vice versa: excepting, however, such matters as designate the union itself or imply some contradiction.

3.  This should be understood as follows. The incarnation is the work of the first Principle seen not only in His creative power but also in His restorative power as the Healer, the Atoner, and the Reconciler. In so far as it means something performed, the incarnation is the work of the first Principle, the Doer by His omnipotence of all that is done. Now substance, power, and operation are absolutely one in the three Persons. That is why the work of the incarnation must necessarily proceed from the whole Trinity.

4. The incarnation derives from the first Principle as it expresses the RESTORATIVE POWER OF GOD THE HEALER.

The whole human race had fallen into sin, and was vitiated not only in spirit but also in flesh. Hence, the whole composite had to be assumed so that the whole might be cured. Now, the flesh, the part of our being more evident to us, is the part more distant from God. In order to use the more expressive term, to indicate a greater humiliation and a deeper condescension, we call this work, not "in-animation," but "in-carnation."

5. Again, the incarnation derives from the first Principle as it expresses the RESTORATIVE POWER OF GOD THE ATONER. Atonement can be offered only by a person both obliged to atone and able to do so; and none but man is obliged, and none but God is able. Both natures, then, the divine and the human, must concur in this atonement. Divine nature, however, could not so concur with another nature as to become part of a third that would arise from this concurrence; nor could divine nature change into some other; nor could another nature change into the divine: for divine nature is utterly perfect, simple, and immutable. Hence, divinity and humanity can be joined, not in a union of nature or of accident, but in one that is personal and hypo-static. Now, divine nature cannot subsist in any subject other than its own hypostasis. The union, then, cannot occur in the hypostasis or person of man, but only in that of God. By this union, therefore, the first Principle, in one of His hypostases, became the supposit of human nature. Hence, there is here but one Person, and one personal unity, that is, of the Person who assumed humanity.

6. Finally, the incarnation derives from the first Principle as it expresses the RESTORATIVE POWER OF GOD THE RECONCILER.

Such a reconciler is a mediator, and as mediation is proper to the Son of God, so is incarnation also. For it pertains to a mediator to be the channel between man and God for the restoration of man to the knowledge, the likeness, and the sonship of God. But there could be no more fitting mediator than the Person who both is produced and Himself produces, the intermediate One of the Three Persons; nor could there be a more fitting restorer of man to the knowledge of God than the Word through whom the Father reveals Himself, the Word able to be combined with flesh, even as a word with the voice.^clxxiv Nor again could there be a more fitting restorer of man to the likeness of God than He who is the Image of the Father. Nor, finally, could there be a more fitting restorer of man to adopted sonship than He who is the Son by nature. Most fittingly, then, did He become the Son of Man who was the very Son of God.^clxxv

7. In the incarnation, the Son of God and the Son of Man are the same identical Person, since "whenever two things are identical to a third, they are identical to each other."^clxxvi Thus any predicate of one applies to both, unless it is a term that betokens incompatibility, such as those which express the very union of one nature with the other - for instance, to unite, to be made flesh, to assume, to be assumed; or those which express a negation as regards one nature of something pertaining to the other nature - for instance, to begin to be, to be created, and so forth. In these cases, for the reason here explained, there is an exception to the given rule.

CHAPTER 3 - ON HOW THE INCARNATION CAME ABOUT^clxxvii

1. Concerning how the incarnation came about, the following must be held. When the angel announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary the mystery of the incarnation to be accomplished within her, she believed it, desired it, and consented to it: whereupon she was sanctified and made fruitful by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. Through His power, "virginal was her conceiving of the Son of God, virginal her birth-giving, and virginal her state after deliverance."^clxxviii She conceived not only a body, but a body with a soul, a body united to the Word and free from the stain of sin, a body all-holy and immaculate. That is why she is called the Mother of God, and is yet also the most sweet Virgin Mary.

2. This should be understood as follows. The incarnation is the work of the first Principle, whose restorative power is utterly congruous, universal, and complete: for by the law of His essence, His divine wisdom acts congruously, His divine generosity universally, and His divine power perfectly.

3. The incarnation is the work of the first Principle in that He uses the most CONGRUOUS means of restoration. The means are congruous when the medicine specifically corresponds to the disease, the restoration to the fall, and the remedy to the injury. The human race had fallen through the suggestion of the devil, through the consent of a deceived woman, and through a begetting become lustful that handed down original sin to the offspring. Conversely, and most fittingly, there was here a good angel persuading to what was good, a Virgin believing him and consenting to the proposed good, and the love of the Holy Spirit making her both holy and fruitful for a virginal conception. Thus, "evils were healed by their opposites."^clxxix

As it was a woman deceived by Satan and carnally known and corrupted by her husband's lust who handed down sin, sickness, and death to all, so it was a woman instructed by an angel and made holy and fruitful by the Holy Spirit who gave birth without taint of soul or body to an Offspring, the Giver of grace, health, and life to all who come to Him.

4. Again, the incarnation is the work of the first Principle in that He uses the most UNIVERSAL means of restoration, for through the Word made flesh the fall of both men and angels¹³⁸ is repaired:^139clxxx that is, the fall of the dwellers of heaven and earth. And the fall of man is repaired in both sexes. Hence, if the cure was to be universal, it was wholly becoming that angel, woman, and man should concur in the mystery of the incarnation: the angel as the herald, the Virgin as the conceiver, and the Man as the conceived Offspring. The angel Gabriel was the herald of the eternal Father, the immaculate Virgin was the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the conceived Offspring was the very Person of the Word. The representatives of all three hierarchies-divine, angelic, and human - concurred in this way in the universal restoration, suggesting not only the Trinity of God, but also the universality of the boon, and the generosity of the supreme Restorer. Now, generosity is appropriated to the Holy Spirit, and so is the sanctification of the Virgin in whose womb the Word was conceived. Therefore, although the incarnation is the work of the whole Trinity, by appropriation we say that the Virgin conceived of the Holy Spirit.^clxxxi

5. Finally, the incarnation is the work of the first Principle in that He uses the most COMPLETE means of restoration. Hence, the conception must be complete as regards the Offspring, the manner of conceiving, and the power that effected it.

First, there must be completeness in the Offspring. Hence, at the very instant of conception, the seed was not only individuated but also organized, shaped, and vivified by the soul, and deified through union with the Godhead. Thus, the Virgin truly conceived the Son of God, because the flesh was united to the Divinity through the rational soul¹⁴⁰ that rendered the flesh susceptible of such union.^clxxxii

Next, there must be completeness in the manner of conceiving. Of the four possible ways of producing man, three had already been followed: first, out of neither man nor woman, as with Adam; then, out of man but not woman, as with Eve; third, out of both man and woman, as with all those born of concupiscence. For the completion of the universe, a fourth way must be introduced: out of woman without the seed of man, through the power of the supreme Maker.^clxxxiii

Again, there must be completeness in the power itself. Hence, in the production of the Son of God, three powers concurred: the natural, the infused, and the uncreated. The natural power furnished the material element; the infused power set it apart by cleansing it; the uncreated power brought about instantly what a created power can achieve only gradually.¹⁴¹

Thus, the Blessed Virgin became a Mother in the most complete sense, for, without man, she conceived the Son of God through the action of the Holy Spirit. Because the love of the Holy Spirit burned so intensely in her soul, the power of the Holy Spirit wrought marvels in her flesh, by means of grace prompting, assisting, and elevating her nature as required for this wondrous conception.

CHAPTER 4 - ON THE INCARNATION AS REGARDS THE FULLNESS OF TIME

1. Concerning the time of the incarnation, the following must be held. While God could have become man at any time from the very beginning, He chose not to do so before the ages of the law of nature and of prefiguration had ended; that is, the ages of the patriarchs and prophets, to whom and through whom the incarnation had been promised. Then only did He deign to become flesh, in the consummation and fullness of time, as the apostle says: But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, that He might redeem those who were under the Law.^142clxxxiv

2. This should be understood as follows. The incarnation is the work of the first Principle acting as the Restorer. Necessarily and fittingly, then, it would come about in a manner consonant with free will, with the sublimity of the remedy, and with the final completion of the universe; for, in acting, the Artificer most wise takes all of these into account.

FREE WILL requires that there be no compulsion. God was to restore mankind in such a way that those who willed to find the Saviour would be saved, while those who refused to seek Him would not. Now, no one calls a physician unless he knows he is sick; no one employs a teacher unless he knows he is ignorant; no one seeks a helper unless he knows he needs help. Because fallen man yet retained pride of intellect and power, God first established the age of the law of nature to convince him of his ignorance. And because man, convinced of his ignorance, still gloried in his power (as in the saying, "Here is the one who can do, but where is the one who should command?"),¹⁴³ God added a law teaching moral precepts and multiplying ritual practices. Thereby man, made aware at last of both his duty and his weakness, was led to implore divine mercy and grace: and these were given to us by the coming of Christ. That is why the laws of nature and of Scripture had to precede the incarnation of the Word.^clxxxv

3.  Again, such a SUBLIME REMEDY must be accepted with the strongest faith and cherished with the most ardent love, as a deep and life-giving mystery. It was most fitting, then, that before the coming of Christ the prophets should appear with their manifold proofs, both explicit in words and implicit in figures. By these numerous and powerful testimonies, what had been hidden became clear and unshakable to belief. Repeated promises and intense longing also were to precede the coming of Christ. As the promised Blessing, He would be expected; as the Expected, He would be long awaited; as the Long Awaited, He would be more intensely desired; as the Desired of the Ages, He would be loved more fervently, received more thankfully, and heeded with greater care.

4.  Finally, the perfection and COMPLETION OF THE UNIVERSE require in all things an order of time and place. Since development must proceed from the imperfect to the perfect, and not conversely, the incarnation - the most perfect of all God's works - was to occur in the last age. As the first man, the crowning glory of the whole material world, had been made last, that is, on the sixth day for the completion of that world, so also the Second Man, the Completer of the whole world redeemed - in whom the first Principle is joined to the last, "God, to dust"^clxxxvi - was to be born in the sixth and last age: the age meet for the exercise of wisdom and the curbing of concupiscence and the passage from turmoil to peace. These blessings belong to the sixth age of the world's course because of the incarnation in that age of the Son of God.

5. Christ came in the time of the law of grace; as a fulfillment of the promised mercy; and at the beginning of the sixth age. Each of these circumstances indicates plenitude: the law of grace fulfills the law of nature; the giving of what was promised fulfills the promise; and the sixth age - the number six being the number symbolical of perfection-is in itself a sign of completeness. That is why the coming of the Son of God marks the fullness of time: not because time ends with His coming, but because the hidden prophecies of all ages have been fulfilled. Had Christ come at the beginning of time, He would have come too soon; and had His coming been delayed until the very end, He would have come too late. It belonged to Him as the true Saviour to provide the healing-time between the time of sickness and the time of judgment; as the true Mediator,¹⁴⁴ to come midway, some of His elect preceding and others following Him; as the true Leader, to come at a time when it was still possible for man to press on toward . . . the prize¹⁴⁵ - that is, in the last age, when the end had not yet come, but the final judgment was close at hand: so that moved by fear of the judgment and urged on by hope of the reward and inspired by perfect example, we may follow our Leader vigorously and wholeheartedly from virtue to virtue¹⁴⁶ until we attain the prize of everlasting happiness.

CHAPTER 5 - ON THE FULLNESS OF THE GRACE OF CHRIST CONSIDERED IN THE GIFTS OF HIS WILL

1.  After examining the union of natures within the incarnate Word, we shall go on to consider the fullness of His spiritual gifts. First, we shall speak of the fullness of grace in His will; then, of the fullness of wisdom in His intellect; lastly, of the fullness of merit in His actions, that is, in the work He performed.

2.  Concerning the fullness of grace in Christ's will, the following must be held. From the instant of His conception, Christ wholly possessed all graces: the grace of the particular Person, the grace of headship, and the grace of union. By reason of the GRACE OF THE PARTICULAR PERSON,^clxxxvii He was immune to any actual or possible sin, for neither did He sin nor could He have sinned.^clxxxviii By reason of the GRACE OF UNION, He merited not only the beatitude of glory, but also the adoration of latria, that is, the reverential worship due to God alone.^clxxxix By reason of the GRACE OF HEADSHIP, He prompts and enlightens all those who turn to Him either in simple faith, or through the sacraments of faith;¹⁴⁷ that is, all the just, whether they lived before or after His coming. Those who went before Him, and those who followed, kept crying out, saying,¹⁴⁸ - "Hosanna to the Son of David!"¹⁴⁹

3.  This should be understood as follows. Since restoration is the work of the first Principle, flowing from generosity and leading back to Him through conformation, it must be wrought through a gift and through a likening. Now grace, as it flows generously from God, also makes man like unto Him. Because, therefore, it is through grace that the restoring Principle brings about restoration, and because any perfection exists more fully and completely in its fountainhead or origin than elsewhere, our restoring Principle, Christ the Lord, must have possessed the fullness of all grace. Because, moreover, this restoring Principle, in the act of restoration, proceeds not only as the Source, but also as the Means and as the End - as the End, in providing satisfaction; as the Means, in effecting reconciliation; and as the Source, in exercising superabundant influence - there was in Christ of necessity the fullness of grace alike in being the atoning End, the reconciling Means, and the Source of superabundant influence. Now, since what is capable of supplying full atonement must be pleasing to God and therefore free from all sin; and since this can come about only as a gift of divine grace conferred upon an individual man: of necessity, we must posit the presence in Christ of a grace sanctifying and strengthening Him: that grace which we call GRACE OF THE PARTICULAR PERSON.

4. Again, because no being could be a means of reconciliation had he not possessed both natures, the higher and the lower, the adorable and the adoring, the only way this could be done was through a union supremely imparting dignity and grace. Thus, we must posit in Christ a grace above all grace, a grace worthy of all worship. This is what we call the GRACE OF UNION, whereby Christ the Man is, over all things, God blessed forever¹⁵⁰, and is to be adored.

5. Finally, in order to have an effective influence, a being must possess fullness, original and fontal: a fullness not merely sufficient but superabundant. Hence, the Word made flesh was necessarily full of grace and of truth,¹⁵¹ so that of His fullness all the just might receive, as all members receive the impulse of motion and feeling from the head. That is why we call this the GRACE OF HEADSHIP. For as the head has in itself the fullness of the senses, and is coordinated with the other members of the body, presiding over them and giving them the benefit of direction, so also Christ, possessing grace in superabundance and being like unto us in nature, yet holy and just above all others, confers upon those who turn to Him the spiritual benefit of grace, through which love and knowledge are given to spiritual beings.

6. The way to Christ is either through faith, or through the sacrament of faith,¹⁵² Yet, faith in Christ is the same in all believers, past, present, and future; and thus Christ's influencing power affects all men - those who are gone no less than those living now, or yet to come into being: alike those believing in Christ and those reborn in Him; those bound to Christ by faith, and those who, through an in-pouring of grace, become His members and temples of the Holy Spirit,¹⁵³ and thus sons of God the Father, joined to one another by the unbreakable bond of love. This bond is not destroyed by the passing of time any more than by distance in space: the just of all times and places constitute the one mystical body of Christ in that they receive both perception and motion from the one Head that influences them, through the fontal, radical, and original fullness of all grace that dwells in Christ the Fountainhead.

CHAPTER 6 - ON THE FULLNESS OF WISDOM IN THE INTELLECT OF CHRIST^cxc

1. Concerning the fullness of wisdom in the intellect of Christ, the following must be held. Christ our Lord, the incarnate Word, not only knew all things, but knew them in every possible way. As God, Christ knew eternally; as a sensitive being, He knew sensorially; as a rational and spiritual being, He knew intellectually, this latter knowledge being threefold: of nature, of grace, and of glory. Thus He was endowed with wisdom both as God and as man, as possessing the beatific vision and as living on earth, as enlightened by grace and as gifted by nature,¹⁵⁴ Christ, then, knew in five distinct ways. One, by His divinity, He knew actually and comprehensively all things, actual and possible, finite and infinite. Two, by glory, He knew actually and comprehensively all things actual and finite; but the infinite He did not know, except perhaps through a knowledge that was virtual or excessive.¹⁵⁵ Three, by grace, He knew everything related to the salvation of mankind. Four, by integrity of nature, as it was in Adam, He knew everything related to the structure of the universe. Five, by sensible experience, He knew all that falls under the senses. It is by this last mode that He is said to have learned obedience from the things that He suffered.¹⁵⁶

2. This should be understood as follows. The Principle of our restoration restores us as much through provident wisdom as through bounteous grace. What was created according to an order of wisdom cannot be restored without the light and order of that same wisdom. Hence, as Christ was necessarily immune from all sin, so He was free from all ignorance, and thus completely filled with the clarity and all-embracing radiance of divine wisdom itself. Wherefore He enjoyed perfect knowledge according to both natures in their proper cognitive powers, and according to every mode of existence of beings.

3. Since beings have existence in eternal Art, in the human mind, and in their own concrete reality, Christ accordingly possessed this threefold knowledge. Now, in art, things are known in two different ways: by the artificer, and by the one who sees the work. In the mind, also, besides acquisition which, because of its imperfection, is not characteristic of Christ, things exist and may be known in two different ways: by innate and by infused dispositions. That is why the fullness of wisdom in Christ, God and man, requires a knowledge that is fivefold, as indicated above: in eternal Art, a twofold knowledge, through His divine nature and through the vision of glory; in His created intellect, a twofold knowledge, through innate science due to nature, as had by Adam and the angels, and through infused science due to grace, as had by the saints of God enlightened by the Holy Spirit; finally, in terms of the concrete reality of things, knowledge through sense-perception, memory, and intelligence which, in us, makes known some things not known before,^cxci whereas in Christ it made known in one way things already known in another.

4.  Because God's substance, power, and action are immeasurable, Christ has in the first way, THROUGH HIS DIVINE NATURE, an actual knowledge of all the countless possibles: for in some ineffable manner, the supremely Infinite sees all the countless possibles as actual.

5.  But because even the loftiest creature is limited in its substance, power, and action, and the human mind, though it does not rest except in infinite Good, cannot naturally comprehend that Good - since, to use the term "comprehension" in its full meaning, the infinite cannot be comprehended by the finite: it follows that, in the second way, THROUGH THE VISION OF GLORY, the intellect of Christ grasps everything within the reach of finite nature beatified by the infinite Good to which it is supremely united. Hence, the intellect of Christ knows the finite by actually comprehending it; but the infinite it does not know, except perhaps through a knowledge that is virtual and also excessive.¹⁵⁷ For neither in the act of knowing nor in any other act can the created mind be equated with the Word.

6.  Now, grace concerns primarily the work of restoration. Wherefore, in the third way, THROUGH PERFECT GRACE, Christ knew¹⁵⁸ everything that had to do with our redemption; and He knew it far better and more completely than any prophet or angel could.

7.  Furthermore, man IN THE STATE OF NATURAL INTEGRITY was designed to be higher than any other [material] creature, and to know that every other [material] creature was intended for his service. This appears clearly in the creation of the first man. Wherefore in the fourth way Christ understood, much more fully than Adam did, everything that had to do with the organization of the universe.

8.  Finally, sense perception is limited to objects actually present.^cxcii Through SENSE KNOWLEDGE, therefore, Christ perceived things, not simultaneously, but successively, as much as needed for the work of man's salvation.

CHAPTER 7 - ON THE PERFECTION OF MERIT IN THE ACTIONS OF CHRIST

1. In regard to Christ's plenitude of merit, the following must be held. In Christ our Lord, merit was perfect and complete [for seven reasons]. One, the Person who acquired merit was not only Man but also God. Two, the time for His acquiring merit ran from the instant of conception to the instant of death. Three, the means for acquiring merit were the perfect disposition of charity and the perfect practice of virtue in praying, acting, and suffering. Four, the benefit of this merit went not only to Christ Himself but also to us, indeed to all the just. Five, the result for us of this merit was not only glory but also grace and pardon; and not only glory of the soul but also glory of the flesh¹⁵⁹ and the opening of the gates of heaven. Six, the result for Christ of this merit was not glorification of soul which He already possessed, but the glorification of His body, the hastening of His resurrection, the honor of His name, and the exaltation of His judicial power. Seven, the manner in which He merited. There are three ways in which a man may be said to merit: by acquiring a claim he did not have before; by increasing his right to what is his due; by acquiring a further claim to what he already has by right. Christ merited in all three ways in our behalf, but for Himself, He merited only in the third way. All this He did through the fullness of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which established Him in beatitude, and at the same time in the state of meriting, so that all our merits are based on His.^cxciii

2.  This should be understood as follows. Christ our Lord, the Principle of our restoration, necessarily possessed the FULLNESS OF GRACE and wisdom which are for us the source of upright and holy living. Necessarily, then, He also possessed the fullness and perfection of all merit in every way such plenitude was possible. From the instant of His conception, Christ possessed in full the grace of union by which He was God. He enjoyed from this instant both the vision of glory and the use of free will. Hence, His merit was perfect both because of the high dignity of His Person and because His acquisition of merit began so soon.

3.  Again, Christ possessed in fullness the grace of the particular Person which established Him firmly in charity and in the perfection of all the virtues, both as habits and as acts. Hence, His merit was necessarily complete through the very means by which it was gained: fundamental charity and the acts of a manifold virtue.

4.  Furthermore, He possessed completely the grace of headship, through which He acted with fullest power upon His members. Hence, He acquired full merit, not only for Himself but also for us. As, in His divinity, He poured into us all the spiritual goods we possess, so, in His assumed humanity, He merited for us both the graces of the present life and the beatitude of the life to come.

5.  Finally, the fullness of such great gifts necessarily implied in the soul of Christ a SUPREME AND PERFECT BEATITUDE, even though, providentially, for our sake, He lived in the state of pilgrimage. Hence, the merit He acquired for Himself was perfect. He did not merit the glory and beatitude which had been concreated with His soul and existed in Him naturally before any meritorious act: He merited only those things which could not coexist with the state of pilgrimage, that is, the glory of the body along with its exaltation to a high dignity.

6. His merit was perfect also because of the MODE OF MERITING. From the very instant of His conception, He was established in full perfection. He instantly merited all that He was to merit for Himself. He thus acquired a further title to what was already due to Him for a different reason. He could not grow in holiness because He was utterly holy from the very beginning. Hence it would not be possible for Him to earn FOR HIMSELF some reward to which He had no previous right, or to increase the right He would have had to it. These things, however, He did FOR US Who,¹⁶⁰ through His merit, are justified by grace, advance in righteousness, and are crowned with eternal glory.

7. The merit of Christ, then, is the root of all our merits, both those which offset penalties, and those which gain for us eternal life. For we are not worthy to be absolved from an offense against the supreme Good, nor do we deserve to be rewarded with the immensity of the eternal Reward which is God Himself, except through the merit of the God-Man, of whom we can and should say: Lord,... it is You who have accomplished all we have done¹⁶¹. And He indeed is the Lord of whom the prophet speaks: I say to the Lord, "My Lord are You. Apart from You I have no good."^cxciv162

CHAPTER 8 - ON THE STATE OF THE SUFFERING CHRIST^cxcv

1.  We have seen so far the union of natures and the fullness of gifts in the incarnate Word. Let us now consider His suffering. In this regard, we shall examine the condition of the Sufferer, the nature of the suffering, and its issue.

2.  As regards the condition of the Sufferer, the following must be held. Christ assumed not only the nature of man, but also the defects of that nature, for He assumed such penalties of the body as hunger, thirst, and fatigue, and such penalties of the soul as sorrow, anguish, and fear. He did not, however, assume all the penalties of body and soul, for He was unaffected by physical disease of any kind, by ignorance, or by the body's war upon the spirit. Nor did He assume unqualifiedly those penalties to which He did consent: for He accepted the necessity of suffering, but no pain was to touch Him against either His divine or His rational will, although the passion did violence to his sensorial and carnal will, as appears from His prayer: "Not as I will, but as Thou wiliest."¹⁶³

3. This should be understood as follows. The restoring Principle, in His work of reconciliation, was to act as a Mediator. He needed, therefore, to be in harmony with both the estranged parties, as regards not only their natures but also their circumstances. Now, God is in the state of perfect righteousness, beatitude, impassibility, and immortality, while fallen man is in the state of sin, wretchedness, and liability to pain and death. For man to be led back to God, the Mediator between God and men¹⁶⁴ had to share with God the state of righteousness and beatitude, and with man the state of passibility and mortality. "Transiently mortal, but permanently in the state of beatitude,"^cxcvi Christ could lead man out of his wretchedness into beatific life; just as, conversely, the angel of evil, being immortal but living in the state of wretchedness and malice, became the means of leading man, by suggestion, into sin and misery. Since it belonged to Christ the Mediator to enjoy innocence and the bliss of fruition while being liable to death and suffering, He must have been at one and the same time a pilgrim and a possessor,¹⁶⁵ Something of both states existed in Him: wherefore we say that He assumed the sinlessness of the state of innocence, the mortality of the state of fallen nature, and the perfect blessedness of the state of glory.^cxcvii

4.  Again: since the damaging penalties, which are ignorance, weakness, malice, and concupiscence^cxcviii - four of the punishments incurred by original sin - are incompatible with perfect innocence, Christ could not be subject to them, nor did He in fact assume them. Other penalties, however, which give occasion for the practice of perfect virtue and testify to a humanity that is true, not feigned - penalties such as hunger and thirst in the absence of nourishment, sorrow and fear in the face of opposition - are characteristic of men in common; hence it was fitting for Christ to be subject to them, and He did in fact assume them.

5.  Finally, no innocent person is morally obliged to suffer against his will, since this would contradict the order of divine justice; also, no mortal being wishes for death and suffering by natural impulse, for it is his nature to flee death. Christ, then, could assume these penalties only in a qualified manner: He was not to suffer against His rational will, since He not only lived in the state of beatitude and of union with the omnipotent Godhead through which He could repel any evil, but He also possessed perfect innocence which, according to the order of natural justice, cannot be obligated to suffer. Yet He was to suffer against His instinctive will: that is, against the sensible impulse and desire of His flesh. He expressed in His prayer - a rational act - the will of the flesh through which He shrank from suffering, when He said: "Let this cup pass away from Me";¹⁶⁶ but He conformed His rational will to the will of His Father, thus placing reason above instinct, when He said: "Not My will but Thine he done."¹⁶⁷ One will was not opposed to the other, for "in His divine will, He wished what was just; in His rational will, He consented to justice; and in His natural instinct, while averse to pain, yet He did not contest justice. Each will acted in its field, tending toward its proper object: divine will to justice, rational will to obedience, and sensible will to nature."^cxcix And so there was in Christ no conflict or struggle, but peaceful order and orderly peace.

CHAPTER 9 - ON THE NATURE OF CHRIST'S SUFFERING

1. Now, concerning the nature of Christ's suffering, the following must be held. Christ suffered a passion most comprehensive, most bitter, and most shameful;^cc a passion deadly yet life-giving. I repeat that, even though He could not suffer in His divine nature, He suffered in His human nature a passion most comprehensive, for not only every part of His body was affected, but every power of His soul as well. He suffered a passion most bitter, for besides enduring the anguish of His wounds, He endured the added anguish of grieving for our sins. He suffered a passion most shameful, alike because crucifixion was a punishment set aside for the worst criminals, and because He was placed in the company of evildoers, that is, robbers: He was counted among the wicked¹⁶⁸. He also suffered a passion that was deadly,^cci for it separated body and soul, although both remained united with the Godhead. Accursed indeed is he who says that the Son of God ever relinquished the nature He had assumed.^ccii

2. This should be understood as follows. As the restoring Principle created man in orderly fashion, so must He also restore him in orderly fashion. He must restore him in such a way as to respect not only the freedom of the will, but also the honor of God and the harmonious functioning of the universe.^cciii

First, the work of restoration must RESPECT FREEDOM OF THE WILL. Christ, therefore, restored man through His all-efficacious example. An example is all-efficacious when it both invites to the summit of virtue and shows the way thither. Now, nothing could show man the way to virtue more clearly than the example of a death endured for the sake of divine justice and obedience: a death, moreover, not of the ordinary sort but agonizing in the extreme. Nothing could move man to virtue more strongly than the benignity with which the most high Son of God laid down His life for us¹⁶⁹ who were not only undeserving, but actually full of guilt. This benignity appears all the greater in that the sufferings He endured for us, indeed, willed to endure, were so cruel and humiliating. For how could God, who has not spared even His own Son hut has delivered Him for us all... fail to grant us also all things with Him?¹⁷⁰ We are invited, then, to love Him, and loving Him, to follow His example.

3.  Again, the work of restoration must RESPECT THE HONOR OF GOD. Christ, therefore, brought it about by offering to the Father a fully satisfactory obedience. "Satisfaction means the repayment of the honor due to God."^cciv Now, the honor taken away from God through pride and disobedience in a matter in which man was obligated could be restored in no better way than through humiliation and obedience in a matter in which man was not bound in the least. Jesus Christ, as God, was equal to the Father through His divine nature; as man, He was innocent, and hence utterly undeserving of death. When, therefore, He emptied Himself,... becoming obedient to death,¹⁷¹ He paid back to God through a fully satisfactory obedience that which He Himself had not stolen, and offered for God's perfect appeasement a supremely pleasing sacrifice.

4.  Finally, the work of restoration must RESPECT THE HARMONIOUS FUNCTIONING OF THE UNIVERSE. Wherefore it was achieved by means wholly consonant to that end, for it is most fitting that evils should be healed through their opposites. Man had sinned, aspiring to be as wise as God, desiring to enjoy the forbidden tree; hence, he who had risen in presumption was brought down to the level of lust; and through his sin, the whole of mankind was infected, forfeiting immortality and incurring inevitable death. To heal man by the appropriate remedy, God-made-man willed to be humiliated and to suffer on a tree. As an antidote to universal infection, He willed to suffer a passion most comprehensive; as an antidote to lust, a passion most bitter; as an antidote to pride, a passion most ignominious: as an antidote to death incurred but not willed, He chose to suffer a death not deserved but freely willed.

5.  So thorough was the corruption within us that it not only affected our body and soul in a general way but penetrated to every part of the body and every power of the soul. Christ, therefore, suffered in every part of His body and in every power of His soul, even in the loftier part, reason. While this power, as a spiritual principle united with things above, supremely enjoyed the presence of God, as a principle of nature attached to things below, it supremely suffered: for Christ was both pilgrim and possessor.

6.  Again, lust had powerfully infected us in body and soul, giving rise to sins of both flesh and spirit. Christ, therefore, suffered not only the cruelest physical pain, but also the bitterest mental torment. As His body was in a state of perfect health, and His senses thus to the highest degree alive, as His soul burned with perfect love for God and supreme concern for His neighbor, His anguish in both body and soul was immeasurable.

7.  Furthermore, the disease of swollen pride arises some times from within, because of presumption, sometimes from without, because of vanity and the praise of others. To cure all pride, Christ endured both kinds of debasement: within Himself, as suffering, and from the companions with whom He had to suffer.

8. Finally, since Christ's divine nature was beyond the reach of pain, all this affected only His humanity; therefore, when He died, though His soul left His body, the oneness of His Person remained, and neither body nor soul was separated from the Godhead. Since it is the union of body and soul that makes a living man, it follows that, during those three days, Christ was not a man, although both body and soul were united with the Word.^ccv But because death in Christ's human nature could not bring death to the Person who never ceases to live, death itself perished in life. Through the death of Christ, death is swallowed up in victory;¹⁷² the prince of death has been vanquished.

Thus man has been freed from death and from the cause of death by the most efficacious means: the merit of the death of Christ.

CHAPTER 10 - ON THE ISSUE OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST

1. Concerning now the issue of the passion of Christ and its fruit, the following must be held with undoubting faith. After the passion, the soul of Christ descended into the nether world or limbo, for the liberation, not of all, but of those who had died as members of Christ through living faith or through the sacraments of faith,¹⁷³ Then, on the third day, He rose from the dead, assuming the same body He had quickened before, but a body no longer in the same state: for what had been subject to pain and death had risen impassible and immortal, to live forever. Forty days later, Christ ascended into heaven where, exalted above all creatures, He is enthroned at the right hand of the Father. These words are not to be understood as having a reference to place, which would not apply to God the Father: they refer, rather, to the summit of all good, meaning that Christ is established in the choicest riches of the Father.^ccvi Finally, after ten more days, Christ sent down upon the apostles the Holy Spirit, as promised: by Him the Church was gathered out of all nations and set to function in accordance with the diverse offices and graces given to it.

2.  This should be understood as follows. As Christ the uncreated Word had formed all things in perfection, so Christ the incarnate Word must have reformed all things in the same perfection. As the utterly perfect Principle could not allow an imperfect work to leave His hands, so the Principle of man's redemption must have made the remedy fully perfect. And if it was perfect, it must have been utterly sufficient and efficacious.

3.  The means used for man's redemption was UTTERLY SUFFICIENT, for it embraced heaven, earth, and the nether world. Through Christ, the souls in the lower regions were recovered, those on earth restored, and the heavenly ranks replenished. The first deed was achieved through mercy, the second through grace, and the third through glory. After the passion, the soul of Christ descended into hell in order to release the souls detained there;¹⁷⁴ then He rose from the dead in order to restore life to those dead in sin;¹⁷⁵ He ascended into heaven and led captivity captive¹⁷⁶ in order to fill the ranks of the heavenly Jerusalem; finally, He sent the Holy Spirit in order to establish Jerusalem on earth. All these acts were necessary conditions and prerequisites of the full restoration of mankind.

4. The remedy was UTTERLY EFFICACIOUS in those who preceded the coming of Christ and those who followed it, those who served Him in the past and those who serve Him now, those who became His members and those who are so now: and such are those who cleave to Him through faith, hope, and love. The remedy, therefore, had to act first upon those who had faith in Christ, hoped out of faith, and loved out of hope. Hence it was fitting that Christ should descend into hell at once to set them free. And so the gates of heaven were opened through the atoning passion of Christ who, by making satisfaction, removed the sword, and, by commuting the divine sentence, led His members out of hell.^ccvii177

5. In addition, this remedy must be particularly efficacious for those who were to be born after the coming of Christ; by attracting them to faith, hope, and love, it was finally to lead them into heavenly glory.

His purpose, then, was to establish in us the FAITH whereby we believe that Christ is true man and true God; whereby we also believe that He has willed to redeem us through His death, and is able to lead us back to life through His resurrection. It was to this end that He willed to rise to an immortal life only after a proper lapse of time - that is, thirty-six hours - thus proving that His death was real. If this period had been shortened and He had risen sooner, it might have been believed that He had not died at all, but had merely feigned death; if it had been longer, and He had continued to lie in death, He might have seemed powerless, and unable to lead others back to life. That is why He rose again the third day¹⁷⁸.

6.  Next, that He might excite us to HOPE, He rose to that heavenly glory to which we also aspire. Since hope, however, is born only of faith in future immortality, He did not ascend at once, but allowed forty days to elapse during which, through many signs and proofs, He demonstrated the truth of His resurrection; for it was that by which the soul would be strengthened in faith and lifted up to the hope of heavenly glory.

7.  Lastly, that He might inflame us with LOVE, He sent down the fire of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And since no one is filled with this fire who does not ask, seek, and knock with the importunate insistence of desire, He did so, not immediately after His ascension, but ten days later.¹⁷⁹ During this interval the disciples, through fasting, prayers, and groanings, prepared themselves for the reception of the Spirit.

Thus, even as Christ had chosen the right time to suffer,^ccviii so also He appointed the right time to rise from the dead, to ascend into heaven, and to send the Holy Spirit. The times were right both for establishing the three virtues mentioned above, and because of the many mysteries implied in the choice of such times.

8. The Holy Spirit, who is love and is possessed through love, is the origin of all charismata. When He came down, the fullness of these flowed out for the final perfecting of the mystical body of Christ. And because in a perfect body there must be a diversity of members, each member having its own function and office, and each office having its own

charisma, it comes about that to one through the Spirit is given the utterance of wisdom;¹⁸⁰ and to another the utterance of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; to another the gift of healing, in the one Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another the distinguishing of spirits; to another various kinds of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But all these things are the work of one and the same Spirit, who allots to everyone according as He will: following in this His most generous providence and most provident generosity.

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