Whether It Was Fitting That Christ Should Be Transfigured?
Objection 1: It would seem that it was not fitting that Christ should
be transfigured. For it is not fitting for a true body to be changed
into various shapes (_figuras_), but only for an imaginary body. Now
Christ's body was not imaginary, but real, as stated above (Q. 5, A.
1). Therefore it seems that it should not have been transfigured.
Obj. 2: Further, figure is in the fourth species of quality, whereas
clarity is in the third, since it is a sensible quality. Therefore
Christ's assuming clarity should not be called a transfiguration.
Obj. 3: Further, a glorified body has four gifts, as we shall state
farther on (Suppl., Q. 82), viz. impassibility, agility, subtlety,
and clarity. Therefore His transfiguration should not have consisted
in an assumption of clarity rather than of the other gifts.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Matt. 17:2) that Jesus "was
transfigured" in the presence of three of His disciples.
_I answer that,_ Our Lord, after foretelling His Passion to His
disciples, had exhorted them to follow the path of His sufferings
(Matt. 16:21, 24). Now in order that anyone go straight along a road,
he must have some knowledge of the end: thus an archer will not shoot
the arrow straight unless he first see the target. Hence Thomas said
(John 14:5): "Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we
know the way?" Above all is this necessary when hard and rough is the
road, heavy the going, but delightful the end. Now by His Passion
Christ achieved glory, not only of His soul, not only of His soul,
which He had from the first moment of His conception, but also of His
body; according to Luke (24:26): "Christ ought [Vulg.: 'ought not
Christ'] to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His
glory (?)." To which glory He brings those who follow the footsteps
of His Passion, according to Acts 14:21: "Through many tribulations
we must enter into the kingdom of God." Therefore it was fitting that
He should show His disciples the glory of His clarity (which is to be
transfigured), to which He will configure those who are His;
according to Phil. 3:21: "(Who) will reform the body of our lowness
configured [Douay: 'made like'] to the body of His glory." Hence Bede
says on Mk. 8:39: "By His loving foresight He allowed them to taste
for a short time the contemplation of eternal joy, so that they might
bear persecution bravely."
Reply Obj. 1: As Jerome says on Matt. 17:2: "Let no one suppose that
Christ," through being said to be transfigured, "laid aside His
natural shape and countenance, or substituted an imaginary or aerial
body for His real body. The Evangelist describes the manner of His
transfiguration when he says: 'His face did shine as the sun, and His
garments became white as snow.' Brightness of face and whiteness of
garments argue not a change of substance, but a putting on of glory."
Reply Obj. 2: Figure is seen in the outline of a body, for it is
"that which is enclosed by one or more boundaries" [*Euclid, bk i,
def. xiv]. Therefore whatever has to do with the outline of a body
seems to pertain to the figure. Now the clarity, just as the color,
of a non-transparent body is seen on its surface, and consequently
the assumption of clarity is called transfiguration.
Reply Obj. 3: Of those four gifts, clarity alone is a quality
of the very person in himself; whereas the other three are not
perceptible, save in some action or movement, or in some passion.
Christ, then, did show in Himself certain indications of those three
gifts--of agility, for instance, when He walked on the waves of the
sea; of subtlety, when He came forth from the closed womb of the
Virgin; of impassibility, when He escaped unhurt from the hands of the
Jews who wished to hurl Him down or to stone Him. And yet He is not
said, on account of this, to be transfigured, but only on account of
clarity, which pertains to the aspect of His Person.
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