Whether in Christ There Was the Fulness of Grace?
Objection 1: It would seem that in Christ there was not the fulness
of grace. For the virtues flow from grace, as was said above (I-II,
Q. 110, A. 4). But in Christ there were not all the virtues; for
there was neither faith nor hope in Him, as was shown above (AA. 3,
4). Therefore in Christ there was not the fulness of grace.
Obj. 2: Further, as is plain from what was said above (I-II, Q. 111,
A. 2), grace is divided into operating and cooperating. Now operating
grace signifies that whereby the ungodly is justified, which has no
place in Christ, Who never lay under any sin. Therefore in Christ
there was not the fulness of grace.
Obj. 3: Further, it is written (James 1:17): "Every best gift and
every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of
lights." But what comes thus is possessed partially, and not fully.
Therefore no creature, not even the soul of Christ, can have the
fulness of the gifts of grace.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (John 1:14): "We saw Him [Vulg.:
'His glory'] full of grace and truth."
_I answer that,_ To have fully is to have wholly and perfectly. Now
totality and perfection can be taken in two ways: First as regards
their _intensive_ quantity; for instance, I may say that some man has
whiteness fully, because he has as much of it as can naturally be in
him; secondly, _as regards power_; for instance, if anyone be said to
have life fully, inasmuch as he has it in all the effects or works of
life; and thus man has life fully, but senseless animals or plants
have not. Now in both these ways Christ has the fulness of grace.
First, since He has grace in its highest degree, in the most perfect
way it can be had. And this appears, first, from the nearness of
Christ's soul to the cause of grace. For it was said above (A. 1)
that the nearer a recipient is to the inflowing cause, the more it
receives. And hence the soul of Christ, which is more closely united
to God than all other rational creatures, receives the greatest
outpouring of His grace. Secondly, in His relation to the effect. For
the soul of Christ so received grace, that, in a manner, it is poured
out from it upon others. And hence it behooved Him to have the
greatest grace; as fire which is the cause of heat in other hot
things, is of all things the hottest.
Likewise, as regards the _virtue_ of grace, He had grace fully, since
He had it for all the operations and effects of grace; and this,
because grace was bestowed on Him, as upon a universal principle in
the genus of such as have grace. Now the virtue of the first
principle of a genus universally extends itself to all the effects of
that genus; thus the force of the sun, which is the universal cause
of generation, as Dionysius says (Div. Nom. i), extends to all things
that come under generation. Hence the second fulness of grace is seen
in Christ inasmuch as His grace extends to all the effects of grace,
which are the virtues, gifts, and the like.
Reply Obj. 1: Faith and hope signify effects of grace with certain
defects on the part of the recipient of grace, inasmuch as faith is
of the unseen, and hope of what is not yet possessed. Hence it was
not necessary that in Christ, Who is the author of grace, there
should be any defects such as faith and hope imply; but whatever
perfection is in faith and hope was in Christ most perfectly; as in
fire there are not all the modes of heat which are defective by the
subject's defect, but whatever belongs to the perfection of heat.
Reply Obj. 2: It pertains essentially to operating grace to justify;
but that it makes the ungodly to be just is accidental to it on the
part of the subject, in which sin is found. Therefore the soul of
Christ was justified by operating grace, inasmuch as it was rendered
just and holy by it from the beginning of His conception; not that it
was until then sinful, or even not just.
Reply Obj. 3: The fulness of grace is attributed to the soul of
Christ according to the capacity of the creature and not by
comparison with the infinite fulness of the Divine goodness.
_______________________