Whether Christ Was Sanctified in the First Instant of His Conception?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ was not sanctified in the
first instant of His conception. For it is written (1 Cor. 15:46):
"That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural:
afterwards that which is spiritual." But sanctification by grace is
something spiritual. Therefore Christ received the grace of
sanctification, not at the very beginning of His conception, but
after a space of time.
Obj. 2: Further, sanctification seems to be a cleansing from sin:
according to 1 Cor. 6:1: "And such some of you were," namely,
sinners, "but you are washed, but you are sanctified." But sin was
never in Christ. Therefore it was not becoming that He should be
sanctified by grace.
Obj. 3: Further, as by the Word of God "all things were made," so
from the Word incarnate all men who are made holy receive holiness,
according to Heb. 2:11: "Both he that sanctifieth and they who are
sanctified are all of one." But "the Word of God, by whom all things
were made, was not Himself made"; as Augustine says (De Trin. i).
Therefore Christ, by whom all are made holy, was not Himself made
holy.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Luke 1:35): "The Holy which shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God"; and (John 10:36):
"Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 7, AA. 9, 10, 12), the abundance
of grace sanctifying Christ's soul flows from the very union of the
Word, according to John 1:14: "We saw His glory . . . as it were of
the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." For it has
been shown above (Q. 33, AA. 2, 3) that in the first instant of
conception, Christ's body was both animated and assumed by the Word
of God. Consequently, in the first instant of His conception, Christ
had the fulness of grace sanctifying His body and His soul.
Reply Obj. 1: The order set down by the Apostle in this passage
refers to those who by advancing attain to the spiritual state. But
the mystery of the Incarnation is considered as a condescension of
the fulness of the Godhead into human nature rather than as the
promotion of human nature, already existing, as it were, to the
Godhead. Therefore in the man Christ there was perfection of
spiritual life from the very beginning.
Reply Obj. 2: To be sanctified is to be made holy. Now something is
made not only from its contrary, but also from that which is opposite
to it, either by negation or by privation: thus white is made either
from black or from not-white. We indeed from being sinners are made
holy: so that our sanctification is a cleansing from sin. Whereas
Christ, as man, was made holy, because He was not always thus
sanctified by grace: yet He was not made holy from being a sinner,
because He never sinned; but He was made holy from not-holy as man,
not indeed by privation, as though He were at some time a man and not
holy; but by negation--that is, when He was not man He had not human
sanctity. Therefore at the same time He was made man and a holy man.
For this reason the angel said (Luke 1:35): "The Holy which shall be
born of thee." Which words Gregory expounds as follows (Moral.
xviii): "In order to show the distinction between His holiness and
ours, it is declared that He shall be born holy. For we, though we
are made holy, yet are not born holy, because by the mere condition
of a corruptible nature we are tied . . . But He alone is truly born
holy who . . . was not conceived by the combining of carnal union."
Reply Obj. 3: The Father creates things through the Son, and the
whole Trinity sanctifies men through the Man Christ, but not in the
same way. For the Word of God has the same power and operation as God
the Father: hence the Father does not work through the Son as an
instrument, which is both mover and moved. Whereas the humanity of
Christ is as the instrument of the Godhead, as stated above (Q. 7, A.
1, ad 3; Q. 8, A. 1, ad 1). Therefore Christ's humanity is both
sanctified and sanctifier.
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