Whether Christ's Body Was in Adam and the Other Patriarchs, As to
Something Signate?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ's body was in Adam and the
patriarchs as to something signate. For Augustine says (Gen. ad lit.
x) that the flesh of Christ was in Adam and Abraham "by way of a
bodily substance." But bodily substance is something signate.
Therefore Christ's flesh was in Adam, Abraham, and the other
patriarchs, according to something signate.
Obj. 2: Further, it is said (Rom. 1:3) that Christ "was made . . . of
the seed of David according to the flesh." But the seed of David was
something signate in him. Therefore Christ was in David, according to
something signate, and for the same reason in the other patriarchs.
Obj. 3: Further, the human race is Christ's kindred, inasmuch as He
took flesh therefrom. But if that flesh were not something signate in
Adam, the human race, which is descended from Adam, would seem to
have no kindred with Christ: but rather with those other things from
which the matter of His flesh was taken. Therefore it seems that
Christ's flesh was in Adam and the other patriarchs according to
something signate.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. x) that in whatever
way Christ was in Adam and Abraham, other men were there also; but
not conversely. But other men were not in Adam and Abraham by way of
some signate matter, but only according to origin, as stated in the
First Part (Q. 119, A. 1, A. 2, ad 4). Therefore neither was Christ
in Adam and Abraham according to something signate; and, for the same
reason, neither was He in the other patriarchs.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 5, ad 1), the matter of Christ's
body was not the flesh and bones of the Blessed Virgin, nor anything
that was actually a part of her body, but her blood which was her
flesh potentially. Now, whatever was in the Blessed Virgin, as
received from her parents, was actually a part of her body.
Consequently that which the Blessed Virgin received from her parents
was not the matter of Christ's body. Therefore we must say that
Christ's body was not in Adam and the other patriarchs according to
something signate, in the sense that some part of Adam's or of anyone
else's body could be singled out and designated as the very matter
from which Christ's body was to be formed: but it was there according
to origin, just as was the flesh of other men. For Christ's body is
related to Adam and the other patriarchs through the medium of His
Mother's body. Consequently Christ's body was in the patriarchs, in
no other way than was His Mother's body, which was not in the
patriarchs according to signate matter: as neither were the bodies of
other men, as stated in the First Part (Q. 119, A. 1, A. 2, ad 4).
Reply Obj. 1: The expression "Christ was in Adam according to bodily
substance," does not mean that Christ's body was a bodily substance
in Adam: but that the bodily substance of Christ's body, i.e. the
matter which He took from the Virgin, was in Adam as in its active
principle, but not as in its material principle: in other words, by
the generative power of Adam and his descendants down to the Blessed
Virgin, this matter was prepared for Christ's conception. But this
matter was not fashioned into Christ's body by the seminal power
derived from Adam. Therefore Christ is said to have been in Adam by
way of origin, according to bodily substance: but not according to
seminal virtue.
Reply Obj. 2: Although Christ's body was not in Adam and the other
patriarchs, according to seminal virtue, yet the Blessed Virgin's
body was thus in them, through her being conceived from the seed of a
man. For this reason, through the medium of the Blessed Virgin,
Christ is said to be of the seed of David, according to the flesh, by
way of origin.
Reply Obj. 3: Christ and the human race are kindred, through the
likeness of species. Now, specific likeness results not from remote
but from proximate matter, and from the active principle which begets
its like in species. Thus, then, the kinship of Christ and the human
race is sufficiently preserved by His body being formed from the
Virgin's blood, derived in its origin from Adam and the other
patriarchs. Nor is this kinship affected by the matter whence this
blood is taken, as neither is it in the generation of other men, as
stated in the First Part (Q. 119, A. 2, ad 3).
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