Whether the Soul of Christ Had Omnipotence with Regard to the
Transmutation of Creatures?
Objection 1: It would seem that the soul of Christ had omnipotence
with regard to the transmutation of creatures. For He Himself says
(Matt. 28:18): "All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth." Now
by the words "heaven and earth" are meant all creatures, as is plain
from Gen. 1:1: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth."
Therefore it seems that the soul of Christ had omnipotence with
regard to the transmutation of creatures.
Obj. 2: Further, the soul of Christ is the most perfect of all
creatures. But every creature can be moved by another creature; for
Augustine says (De Trin. iii, 4) that "even as the denser and lower
bodies are ruled in a fixed way by the subtler and stronger bodies;
so are all bodies by the spirit of life, and the irrational spirit of
life by the rational spirit of life, and the truant and sinful
rational spirit of life by the rational, loyal, and righteous spirit
of life." But the soul of Christ moves even the highest spirits,
enlightening them, as Dionysius says (Coel. Hier. vii). Therefore it
seems that the soul of Christ has omnipotence with regard to the
transmutation of creatures.
Obj. 3: Further, Christ's soul had in its highest degree the "grace
of miracles" or works of might. But every transmutation of the
creature can belong to the grace of miracles; since even the heavenly
bodies were miraculously changed from their course, as Dionysius
proves (Ep. ad Polycarp). Therefore Christ's soul had omnipotence
with regard to the transmutation of creatures.
_On the contrary,_ To transmute creatures belongs to Him Who
preserves them. Now this belongs to God alone, according to Heb. 1:3:
"Upholding all things by the word of His power." Therefore God alone
has omnipotence with regard to the transmutation of creatures.
Therefore this does not belong to Christ's soul.
_I answer that,_ Two distinctions are here needed. Of these the first
is with respect to the transmutation of creatures, which is
three-fold. The first is natural, being brought about by the proper
agent naturally; the second is miraculous, being brought about by a
supernatural agent above the wonted order and course of nature, as to
raise the dead; the third is inasmuch as every creature may be
brought to nothing.
The second distinction has to do with Christ's soul, which may be
looked at in two ways: first in its proper nature and with its power
of nature or of grace; secondly, as it is the instrument of the Word
of God, personally united to Him. Therefore if we speak of the soul
of Christ in its proper nature and with its power of nature or of
grace, it had power to cause those effects proper to a soul (e.g. to
rule the body and direct human acts, and also, by the fulness of
grace and knowledge to enlighten all rational creatures falling short
of its perfection), in a manner befitting a rational creature. But if
we speak of the soul of Christ as it is the instrument of the Word
united to Him, it had an instrumental power to effect all the
miraculous transmutations ordainable to the end of the Incarnation,
which is "to re-establish all things that are in heaven and on earth"
[*Eph. 1:10]. But the transmutation of creatures, inasmuch as they
may be brought to nothing, corresponds to their creation, whereby
they were brought from nothing. And hence even as God alone can
create, so, too, He alone can bring creatures to nothing, and He
alone upholds them in being, lest they fall back to nothing. And thus
it must be said that the soul of Christ had not omnipotence with
regard to the transmutation of creatures.
Reply Obj. 1: As Jerome says (on the text quoted): "Power is given
Him," i.e. to Christ as man, "Who a little while before was
crucified, buried in the tomb, and afterwards rose again." But power
is said to have been given Him, by reason of the union whereby it was
brought about that a Man was omnipotent, as was said above (A. 1, ad
1). And although this was made known to the angels before the
Resurrection, yet after the Resurrection it was made known to all
men, as Remigius says (cf. Catena Aurea). Now, "things are said to
happen when they are made known" [*Hugh of St. Victor: Qq. in Ep. ad
Philip.]. Hence after the Resurrection our Lord says "that all power
is given" to Him "in heaven and on earth."
Reply Obj. 2: Although every creature is transmutable by some other
creature, except, indeed, the highest angel, and even it can be
enlightened by Christ's soul; yet not every transmutation that can be
made in a creature can be made by a creature; since some
transmutations can be made by God alone. Yet all transmutations that
can be made in creatures can be made by the soul of Christ, as the
instrument of the Word, but not in its proper nature and power, since
some of these transmutations pertain to the soul neither in the order
of nature nor in the order of grace.
Reply Obj. 3: As was said in the Second Part (Q. 178, A. 1, ad 1),
the grace of mighty works or miracles is given to the soul of a
saint, so that these miracles are wrought not by his own, but by
Divine power. Now this grace was bestowed on Christ's soul most
excellently, i.e. not only that He might work miracles, but also that
He might communicate this grace to others. Hence it is written (Matt.
10:1) that, "having called His twelve disciples together, He gave
them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all
manner of diseases, and all manner of infirmities."
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