Whether the Human Will of Christ Was Altogether Conformed to the
Divine Will in the Thing Willed?
Objection 1: It would seem that the human will in Christ did not will
anything except what God willed. For it is written (Ps. 39:9) in the
person of Christ: "That I should do Thy will: O my God, I have
desired it." Now he who desires to do another's will, wills what the
other wills. Hence it seems that Christ's human will willed nothing
but what was willed by His Divine will.
Obj. 2: Further, Christ's soul had most perfect charity, which,
indeed, surpasses the comprehension of all our knowledge, according
to Eph. 3:19, "the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all
knowledge." Now charity makes men will what God wills; hence the
Philosopher says (Ethic. ix, 4) that one mark of friendship is "to
will and choose the same." Therefore the human will in Christ willed
nothing else than was willed by His Divine will.
Obj. 3: Further, Christ was a true comprehensor. But the Saints who
are comprehensors in heaven will only what God wills, otherwise they
would not be happy, because they would not obtain whatever they will,
for "blessed is he who has what he wills, and wills nothing amiss,"
as Augustine says (De Trin. xiii, 5). Hence in His human will Christ
wills nothing else than does the Divine will.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (Contra Maxim. ii, 20): "When
Christ says 'Not what I will, but what Thou wilt' He shows Himself to
have willed something else than did His Father; and this could only
have been by His human heart, since He did not transfigure our
weakness into His Divine but into His human will."
_I answer that,_ As was said (AA. 2, 3), in Christ according to His
human nature there is a twofold will, viz. the will of sensuality,
which is called will by participation, and the rational will, whether
considered after the manner of nature, or after the manner of reason.
Now it was said above (Q. 13, A. 3, ad 1; Q. 14, A. 1, ad 2) that by
a certain dispensation the Son of God before His Passion "allowed His
flesh to do and suffer what belonged to it." And in like manner He
allowed all the powers of His soul to do what belonged to them. Now
it is clear that the will of sensuality naturally shrinks from
sensible pains and bodily hurt. In like manner, the will as nature
turns from what is against nature and what is evil in itself, as
death and the like; yet the will as reason may at time choose these
things in relation to an end, as in a mere man the sensuality and the
will absolutely considered shrink from burning, which, nevertheless,
the will as reason may choose for the sake of health. Now it was the
will of God that Christ should undergo pain, suffering, and death,
not that these of themselves were willed by God, but for the sake of
man's salvation. Hence it is plain that in His will of sensuality and
in His rational will considered as nature, Christ could will what God
did not; but in His will as reason He always willed the same as God,
which appears from what He says (Matt. 26:39): "Not as I will, but as
Thou wilt." For He willed in His reason that the Divine will should
be fulfilled although He said that He willed something else by
another will.
Reply Obj. 1: By His rational will Christ willed the Divine will to
be fulfilled; but not by His will of sensuality, the movement of
which does not extend to the will of God--nor by His will considered
as nature which regards things absolutely considered and not in
relation to the Divine will.
Reply Obj. 2: The conformity of the human will to the Divine regards
the will of reason: according to which the wills even of friends
agree, inasmuch as reason considers something willed in its relation
to the will of a friend.
Reply Obj. 3: Christ was at once comprehensor and wayfarer, inasmuch
as He was enjoying God in His mind and had a passible body. Hence
things repugnant to His natural will and to His sensitive appetite
could happen to Him in His passible flesh.
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