Whether There Is Only One Being in Christ?
Objection 1: It would seem that in Christ there is not merely one
being, but two. For Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iii, 13) that
whatever follows the nature is doubled in Christ. But being follows
the nature, for being is from the form. Hence in Christ there are two
beings.
Obj. 2: Further, the being of the Son of God is the Divine Nature
itself, and is eternal: whereas the being of the Man Christ is not
the Divine Nature, but is a temporal being. Therefore there is not
only one being in Christ.
Obj. 3: Further, in the Trinity, although there are three Persons,
yet on account of the unity of nature there is only one being. But in
Christ there are two natures, though there is one Person. Therefore
in Christ there is not only one being.
Obj. 4: Further, in Christ the soul gives some being to the body,
since it is its form. But it does not give the Divine being, since
this is uncreated. Therefore in Christ there is another being besides
the Divine being; and thus in Christ there is not only one being.
_On the contrary,_ Everything is said to be a being, inasmuch as it
is one, for one and being are convertible. Therefore, if there were
two beings in Christ, and not one only, Christ would be two, and not
one.
_I answer that,_ Because in Christ there are two natures and one
hypostasis, it follows that things belonging to the nature in Christ
must be two; and that those belonging to the hypostasis in Christ
must be only one. Now being pertains both to the nature and to the
hypostasis; to the hypostasis as to that which has being--and to the
nature as to that whereby it has being. For nature is taken after the
manner of a form, which is said to be a being because something is by
it; as by whiteness a thing is white, and by manhood a thing is man.
Now it must be borne in mind that if there is a form or nature which
does not pertain to the personal being of the subsisting hypostasis,
this being is not said to belong to the person simply, but
relatively; as to be white is the being of Socrates, not as he is
Socrates, but inasmuch as he is white. And there is no reason why
this being should not be multiplied in one hypostasis or person; for
the being whereby Socrates is white is distinct from the being
whereby he is a musician. But the being which belongs to the very
hypostasis or person in itself cannot possibly be multiplied in one
hypostasis or person, since it is impossible that there should not be
one being for one thing.
If, therefore, the human nature accrued to the Son of God, not
hypostatically or personally, but accidentally, as some maintained,
it would be necessary to assert two beings in Christ--one, inasmuch
as He is God--the other, inasmuch as He is Man; even as in Socrates
we place one being inasmuch as he is white, and another inasmuch as
he is a man, since "being white" does not pertain to the personal
being of Socrates. But being possessed of a head, being corporeal,
being animated--all these pertain to the one person of Socrates, and
hence there arises from these only the one being of Socrates. And if
it so happened that after the person of Socrates was constituted
there accrued to him hands or feet or eyes, as happened to him who
was born blind, no new being would be thereby added to Socrates, but
only a relation to these, i.e. inasmuch as he would be said to be,
not only with reference to what he had previously, but also with
reference to what accrued to him afterwards. And thus, since the
human nature is united to the Son of God, hypostatically or
personally as was said above (Q. 2, AA. 5, 6), and not accidentally,
it follows that by the human nature there accrued to Him no new
personal being, but only a new relation of the pre-existing personal
being to the human nature, in such a way that the Person is said to
subsist not merely in the Divine, but also in the human nature.
Reply Obj. 1: Being is consequent upon nature, not as upon that which
has being, but as upon that whereby a thing is: whereas it is
consequent upon person or hypostasis, as upon that which has being.
Hence it has unity from the unity of hypostasis, rather than duality
from the duality of the nature.
Reply Obj. 2: The eternal being of the Son of God, which is the
Divine Nature, becomes the being of man, inasmuch as the human nature
is assumed by the Son of God to unity of Person.
Reply Obj. 3: As was said in the First Part (Q. 50, A. 2, ad 3; Q.
75, A. 5, ad 4), since the Divine Person is the same as the Nature,
there is no distinction in the Divine Persons between the being of
the Person and the being of the Nature, and, consequently, the three
Persons have only one being. But they would have a triple being if
the being of the Person were distinct in them from the being of the
Nature.
Reply Obj. 4: In Christ the soul gives being to the body, inasmuch as
it makes it actually animated, which is to give it the complement of
its nature and species. But if we consider the body perfected by the
soul, without the hypostasis having both--this whole, composed of
soul and body, as signified by the word "humanity," does not signify
_what is,_ but _whereby it is._ Hence being belongs to the subsisting
person, inasmuch as it has a relation to such a nature, and of this
relation the soul is the cause, inasmuch as it perfects human nature
by informing the body.
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