Whether Christ Suffered in His Whole Soul?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ did not suffer in His whole
soul. For the soul suffers indirectly when the body suffers, inasmuch
as it is the "act of the body." But the soul is not, as to its every
part, the "act of the body"; because the intellect is the act of no
body, as is said _De Anima_ iii. Therefore it seems that Christ did
not suffer in His whole soul.
Obj. 2: Further, every power of the soul is passive in regard to its
proper object. But the higher part of reason has for its object the
eternal types, "to the consideration and consultation of which it
directs itself," as Augustine says (De Trin. xii). But Christ could
suffer no hurt from the eternal types, since they are nowise opposed
to Him. Therefore it seems that He did not suffer in His whole soul.
Obj. 3: Further, a sensitive passion is said to be complete when it
comes into contact with the reason. But there was none such in
Christ, but only "pro-passions"; as Jerome remarks on Matt. 26:37.
Hence Dionysius says in a letter to John the Evangelist that "He
endured only mentally the sufferings inflicted upon Him."
Consequently it does not seem that Christ suffered in His whole soul.
Obj. 4: Further, suffering causes pain: but there is no pain in the
speculative intellect, because, as the Philosopher says (Topic. i),
"there is no sadness in opposition to the pleasure which comes of
consideration." Therefore it seems that Christ did not suffer in His
whole soul.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Ps. 87:4) on behalf of Christ: "My
soul is filled with evils": upon which the gloss adds: "Not with
vices, but with woes, whereby the soul suffers with the flesh; or
with evils, viz. of a perishing people, by compassionating them." But
His soul would not have been filled with these evils except He had
suffered in His whole soul. Therefore Christ suffered in His entire
soul.
_I answer that,_ A whole is so termed with respect to its parts. But
the parts of a soul are its faculties. So, then, the whole soul is
said to suffer in so far as it is afflicted as to its essence, or as
to all its faculties. But it must be borne in mind that a faculty of
the soul can suffer in two ways: first of all, by its own passion;
and this comes of its being afflicted by its proper object; thus,
sight may suffer from superabundance of the visible object. In
another way a faculty suffers by a passion in the subject on which it
is based; as sight suffers when the sense of touch in the eye is
affected, upon which the sense of sight rests, as, for instance, when
the eye is pricked, or is disaffected by heat.
So, then, we say that if the soul be considered with respect to its
essence, it is evident that Christ's whole soul suffered. For the
soul's whole essence is allied with the body, so that it is entire in
the whole body and in its every part. Consequently, when the body
suffered and was disposed to separate from the soul, the entire soul
suffered. But if we consider the whole soul according to its
faculties, speaking thus of the proper passions of the faculties, He
suffered indeed as to all His lower powers; because in all the soul's
lower powers, whose operations are but temporal, there was something
to be found which was a source of woe to Christ, as is evident from
what was said above (A. 6). But Christ's higher reason did not suffer
thereby on the part of its object, which is God, who was the cause,
not of grief, but rather of delight and joy, to the soul of Christ.
Nevertheless, all the powers of Christ's soul did suffer according as
any faculty is said to be affected as regards its subject, because
all the faculties of Christ's soul were rooted in its essence, to
which suffering extended when the body, whose act it is, suffered.
Reply Obj. 1: Although the intellect as a faculty is not the act of
the body, still the soul's essence is the act of the body, and in it
the intellective faculty is rooted, as was shown in the First Part,
Q. 77, AA. 6, 8.
Reply Obj. 2: This argument proceeds from passion on the part of the
proper object, according to which Christ's higher reason did not
suffer.
Reply Obj. 3: Grief is then said to be a true passion, by which the
soul is troubled, when the passion in the sensitive part causes
reason to deflect from the rectitude of its act, so that it then
follows the passion, and has no longer free-will with regard to it.
In this way passion of the sensitive part did not extend to reason in
Christ, but merely subjectively, as was stated above.
Reply Obj. 4: The speculative intellect can have no pain or sadness
on the part of its object, which is truth considered absolutely, and
which is its perfection: nevertheless, both grief and its cause can
reach it in the way mentioned above.
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