Whether There Was Any Other Possible Way of Human Deliverance Besides
the Passion of Christ?
Objection 1: It would seem that there was no other possible way of
human deliverance besides Christ's Passion. For our Lord says (John
12:24): "Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling
into the ground dieth, itself remaineth alone; but if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit." Upon this St. Augustine (Tract. li)
observes that "Christ called Himself the seed." Consequently, unless
He suffered death, He would not otherwise have produced the fruit of
our redemption.
Obj. 2: Further, our Lord addresses the Father (Matt. 26:42): "My
Father, if this chalice may not pass away but I must drink it, Thy
will be done." But He spoke there of the chalice of the Passion.
Therefore Christ's Passion could not pass away; hence Hilary says
(Comm. 31 in Matth.): "Therefore the chalice cannot pass except He
drink of it, because we cannot be restored except through His
Passion."
Obj. 3: Further, God's justice required that Christ should satisfy by
the Passion in order that man might be delivered from sin. But Christ
cannot let His justice pass; for it is written (2 Tim. 2:13): "If we
believe not, He continueth faithful, He cannot deny Himself." But He
would deny Himself were He to deny His justice, since He is justice
itself. It seems impossible, then, for man to be delivered otherwise
than by Christ's Passion.
Obj. 4: Further, there can be no falsehood underlying faith. But the
Fathers of old believed that Christ would suffer. Consequently, it
seems that it had to be that Christ should suffer.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Trin. xiii): "We assert that
the way whereby God deigned to deliver us by the man Jesus Christ,
who is mediator between God and man, is both good and befitting the
Divine dignity; but let us also show that other possible means were
not lacking on God's part, to whose power all things are equally
subordinate."
_I answer that,_ A thing may be said to be possible or impossible in
two ways: first of all, simply and absolutely; or secondly, from
supposition. Therefore, speaking simply and absolutely, it was
possible for God to deliver mankind otherwise than by the Passion of
Christ, because "no word shall be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37).
Yet it was impossible if some supposition be made. For since it is
impossible for God's foreknowledge to be deceived and His will or
ordinance to be frustrated, then, supposing God's foreknowledge and
ordinance regarding Christ's Passion, it was not possible at the same
time for Christ not to suffer, and for mankind to be delivered
otherwise than by Christ's Passion. And the same holds good of all
things foreknown and preordained by God, as was laid down in the
First Part (Q. 14, A. 13).
Reply Obj. 1: Our Lord is speaking there presupposing God's
foreknowledge and predetermination, according to which it was
resolved that the fruit of man's salvation should not follow unless
Christ suffered.
Reply Obj. 2: In the same way we must understand what is here
objected to in the second instance: "If this chalice may not pass
away but I must drink of it"--that is to say, because Thou hast so
ordained it--hence He adds: "Thy will be done."
Reply Obj. 3: Even this justice depends on the Divine will, requiring
satisfaction for sin from the human race. But if He had willed to
free man from sin without any satisfaction, He would not have acted
against justice. For a judge, while preserving justice, cannot pardon
fault without penalty, if he must visit fault committed against
another--for instance, against another man, or against the State, or
any Prince in higher authority. But God has no one higher than
Himself, for He is the sovereign and common good of the whole
universe. Consequently, if He forgive sin, which has the formality of
fault in that it is committed against Himself, He wrongs no one: just
as anyone else, overlooking a personal trespass, without
satisfaction, acts mercifully and not unjustly. And so David
exclaimed when he sought mercy: "To Thee only have I sinned" (Ps.
50:6), as if to say: "Thou canst pardon me without injustice."
Reply Obj. 4: Human faith, and even the Divine Scriptures upon which
faith is based, are both based on the Divine foreknowledge and
ordinance. And the same reason holds good of that necessity which
comes of supposition, and of the necessity which arises of the Divine
foreknowledge and will.
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