Whether Christ Was of Necessity Subject to These Defects?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ was not of necessity subject
to these defects. For it is written (Isa. 53:7): "He was offered
because it was His own will"; and the prophet is speaking of the
offering of the Passion. But will is opposed to necessity. Therefore
Christ was not of necessity subject to bodily defects.
Obj. 2: Further, Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iii, 20): "Nothing
obligatory is seen in Christ: all is voluntary." Now what is
voluntary is not necessary. Therefore these defects were not of
necessity in Christ.
Obj. 3: Further, necessity is induced by something more powerful. But
no creature is more powerful than the soul of Christ, to which it
pertained to preserve its own body. Therefore these defects were not
of necessity in Christ.
_On the contrary,_ The Apostle says (Rom. 8:3) that "God" sent "His
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh." Now it is a condition of
sinful flesh to be under the necessity of dying, and suffering other
like passions. Therefore the necessity of suffering these defects was
in Christ's flesh.
_I answer that,_ Necessity is twofold. One is a necessity of
_constraint,_ brought about by an external agent; and this necessity
is contrary to both nature and will, since these flow from an
internal principle. The other is _natural_ necessity, resulting from
the natural principles--either the form (as it is necessary for fire
to heat), or the matter (as it is necessary for a body composed of
contraries to be dissolved). Hence, with this necessity, which
results from the matter, Christ's body was subject to the necessity
of death and other like defects, since, as was said (A. 1, ad 2), "it
was by the consent of the Divine will that the flesh was allowed to
do and suffer what belonged to it." And this necessity results from
the principles of human nature, as was said above in this article.
But if we speak of necessity of constraint, as repugnant to the
bodily nature, thus again was Christ's body in its own natural
condition subject to necessity in regard to the nail that pierced and
the scourge that struck. Yet inasmuch as such necessity is repugnant
to the will, it is clear that in Christ these defects were not of
necessity as regards either the Divine will, or the human will of
Christ considered absolutely, as following the deliberation of
reason; but only as regards the natural movement of the will,
inasmuch as it naturally shrinks from death and bodily hurt.
Reply Obj. 1: Christ is said to be "offered because it was His own
will," i.e. Divine will and deliberate human will; although death was
contrary to the natural movement of His human will, as Damascene says
(De Fide Orth. iii, 23, 24).
Reply Obj. 2: This is plain from what has been said.
Reply Obj. 3: Nothing was more powerful than Christ's soul,
absolutely; yet there was nothing to hinder a thing being more
powerful in regard to this or that effect, as a nail for piercing.
And this I say, in so far as Christ's soul is considered in its own
proper nature and power.
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