Whether in Christ There Were Virtues?
Objection 1: It would seem that in Christ there were no virtues. For
Christ had the plenitude of grace. Now grace is sufficient for every
good act, according to 2 Cor. 12:9: "My grace is sufficient for
thee." Therefore there were no virtues in Christ.
Obj. 2: Further, according to the Philosopher (Ethic. vii, 1), virtue
is contrasted with a "certain heroic or godlike habit" which is
attributed to godlike men. But this belongs chiefly to Christ.
Therefore Christ had not virtues, but something higher than virtue.
Obj. 3: Further, as was said above (I-II, Q. 65, AA. 1, 2), all the
virtues are bound together. But it was not becoming for Christ to
have all the virtues, as is clear in the case of liberality and
magnificence, for these have to do with riches, which Christ spurned,
according to Matt. 8:20: "The Son of man hath not where to lay His
head." Temperance and continence also regard wicked desires, from
which Christ was free. Therefore Christ had not the virtues.
_On the contrary,_ on Ps. 1:2, "But His will is in the law of the
Lord," a gloss says: "This refers to Christ, Who is full of all
good." But a good quality of the mind is a virtue. Therefore Christ
was full of all virtue.
_I answer that,_ As was said above (I-II, Q. 110, AA. 3, 4), as grace
regards the essence of the soul, so does virtue regard its power.
Hence it is necessary that as the powers of the soul flow from its
essence, so do the virtues flow from grace. Now the more perfect a
principle is, the more it impresses its effects. Hence, since the
grace of Christ was most perfect, there flowed from it, in
consequence, the virtues which perfect the several powers of the soul
for all the soul's acts; and thus Christ had all the virtues.
Reply Obj. 1: Grace suffices a man for all whereby he is ordained to
beatitude; nevertheless, it effects some of these by itself--as to
make him pleasing to God, and the like; and some others through the
medium of the virtues which proceed from grace.
Reply Obj. 2: A heroic or godlike habit only differs from
virtue commonly so called by a more perfect mode, inasmuch as one is
disposed to good in a higher way than is common to all. Hence it is
not hereby proved that Christ had not the virtues, but that He had
them most perfectly beyond the common mode. In this sense Plotinus
gave to a certain sublime degree of virtue the name of "virtue of the
purified soul" (cf. I-II, Q. 61, A. 5).
Reply Obj. 3: Liberality and magnificence are praiseworthy in
regard to riches, inasmuch as anyone does not esteem wealth to the
extent of wishing to retain it, so as to forego what ought to be done.
But he esteems them least who wholly despises them, and casts them
aside for love of perfection. And hence by altogether contemning all
riches, Christ showed the highest kind of liberality and magnificence;
although He also performed the act of liberality, as far as it became
Him, by causing to be distributed to the poor what was given to
Himself. Hence, when our Lord said to Judas (John 13:21), "That which
thou dost do quickly," the disciples understood our Lord to have
ordered him to give something to the poor. But Christ had no evil
desires whatever, as will be shown (Q. 15, AA. 1, 2); yet He was
not thereby prevented from having temperance, which is the more
perfect in man, as he is without evil desires. Hence, according to the
Philosopher (Ethic. vii, 9), the temperate man differs from the
continent in this--that the temperate has not the evil desires which
the continent suffers. Hence, taking continence in this sense, as the
Philosopher takes it, Christ, from the very fact that He had all
virtue, had not continence, since it is not a virtue, but something
less than virtue.
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