Whether the Son of God Assumed a Human Mind or Intellect?
Objection 1: It would seem that the Son of God did not assume a human
mind or intellect. For where a thing is present, its image is not
required. But man is made to God's image, as regards his mind, as
Augustine says (De Trin. xiv, 3, 6). Hence, since in Christ there was
the presence of the Divine Word itself, there was no need of a human
mind.
Obj. 2: Further, the greater light dims the lesser. But the Word of
God, Who is "the light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into
this world," as is written John 1:9, is compared to the mind as the
greater light to the lesser; since our mind is a light, being as it
were a lamp enkindled by the First Light (Prov. 20:27): "The spirit
of a man is the lamp of the Lord." Therefore in Christ Who is the
Word of God, there is no need of a human mind.
Obj. 3: Further, the assumption of human nature by the Word of God is
called His Incarnation. But the intellect or human mind is nothing
carnal, either in its substance or in its act, for it is not the act
of a body, as is proved _De Anima_ iii, 6. Hence it would seem that
the Son of God did not assume a human mind.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine [*Fulgentius] says (De Fide ad Petrum
xiv): "Firmly hold and nowise doubt that Christ the Son of God has
true flesh and a rational soul of the same kind as ours, since of His
flesh He says (Luke 24:39): 'Handle, and see; for a spirit hath not
flesh and bones, as you see Me to have.' And He proves that He has a
soul, saying (John 17): 'I lay down My soul [Douay: 'life'] that I
may take it again.' And He proves that He has an intellect, saying
(Matt. 11:29): 'Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart.'
And God says of Him by the prophet (Isa. 52:13): 'Behold my servant
shall understand.'"
_I answer that,_ As Augustine says (De Haeres. 49, 50), "the
Apollinarists thought differently from the Catholic Church concerning
the soul of Christ, saying with the Arians, that Christ took flesh
alone, without a soul; and on being overcome on this point by the
Gospel witness, they went on to say that the mind was wanting to
Christ's soul, but that the Word supplied its place." But this
position is refuted by the same arguments as the preceding. First,
because it runs counter to the Gospel story, which relates how He
marveled (as is plain from Matt. 8:10). Now marveling cannot be
without reason, since it implies the collation of effect and cause,
i.e. inasmuch as when we see an effect and are ignorant of its cause,
we seek to know it, as is said _Metaph._ i, 2. Secondly, it is
inconsistent with the purpose of the Incarnation, which is the
justification of man from sin. For the human soul is not capable of
sin nor of justifying grace except through the mind. Hence it was
especially necessary for the mind to be assumed. Hence Damascene says
(De Fide Orth. iii, 6) that "the Word of God assumed a body and an
intellectual and rational soul," and adds afterwards: "The whole was
united to the whole, that He might bestow salvation on me wholly; for
what was not assumed is not curable." Thirdly, it is against the
truth of the Incarnation. For since the body is proportioned to the
soul as matter to its proper form, it is not truly human flesh if it
is not perfected by human, i.e. a rational soul. And hence if Christ
had had a soul without a mind, He would not have had true human
flesh, but irrational flesh, since our soul differs from an animal
soul by the mind alone. Hence Augustine says (Qq. lxxxiii, qu. 80)
that from this error it would have followed that the Son of God "took
an animal with the form of a human body," which, again, is against
the Divine truth, which cannot suffer any fictitious untruth.
Reply Obj. 1: Where a thing is by its presence, its image is not
required to supply the place of the thing, as where the emperor is
the soldiers do not pay homage to his image. Yet the image of a thing
is required together with its presence, that it may be perfected by
the presence of the thing, just as the image in the wax is perfected
by the impression of the seal, and as the image of man is reflected
in the mirror by his presence. Hence in order to perfect the human
mind it was necessary that the Word should unite it to Himself.
Reply Obj. 2: The greater light dims the lesser light of another
luminous body; but it does not dim, rather it perfects the light of
the body illuminated--at the presence of the sun the light of the
stars is put out, but the light of the air is perfected. Now the
intellect or mind of man is, as it were, a light lit up by the light
of the Divine Word; and hence by the presence of the Word the mind of
man is perfected rather than overshadowed.
Reply Obj. 3: Although the intellective power is not the act of a
body, nevertheless the essence of the human soul, which is the form
of the body, requires that it should be more noble, in order that it
may have the power of understanding; and hence it is necessary that a
better disposed body should correspond to it.
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