Whether by His Passion Christ Merited to Be Exalted?
Objection 1: It seems that Christ did not merit to be exalted on
account of His Passion. For eminence of rank belongs to God alone,
just as knowledge of truth, according to Ps. 112:4: "The Lord is high
above all nations, and His glory above the heavens." But Christ as
man had the knowledge of all truth, not on account of any preceding
merit, but from the very union of God and man, according to John
1:14: "We saw His glory . . . as it were of the only-Begotten of the
Father, full of grace and of truth." Therefore neither had He
exaltation from the merit of the Passion but from the union alone.
Obj. 2: Further, Christ merited for Himself from the first instant of
His conception, as stated above (Q. 34, A. 3). But His love was no
greater during the Passion than before. Therefore, since charity is
the principle of merit, it seems that He did not merit exaltation
from the Passion more than before.
Obj. 3: Further, the glory of the body comes from the glory of the
soul, as Augustine says (Ep. ad Dioscor.). But by His Passion Christ
did not merit exaltation as to the glory of His soul, because His
soul was beatified from the first instant of His conception.
Therefore neither did He merit exaltation, as to the glory of His
body, from the Passion.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Phil. 2:8): "He became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross; for which cause God also
exalted Him."
_I answer that,_ Merit implies a certain equality of justice: hence
the Apostle says (Rom. 4:4): "Now to him that worketh, the reward is
reckoned according to debt." But when anyone by reason of his unjust
will ascribes to himself something beyond his due, it is only just
that he be deprived of something else which is his due; thus, "when a
man steals a sheep he shall pay back four" (Ex. 22:1). And he is said
to deserve it, inasmuch as his unjust will is chastised thereby. So
likewise when any man through his just will has stripped himself of
what he ought to have, he deserves that something further be granted
to him as the reward of his just will. And hence it is written (Luke
14:11): "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Now in His Passion Christ humbled Himself beneath His dignity in four
respects. In the first place as to His Passion and death, to which He
was not bound; secondly, as to the place, since His body was laid in
a sepulchre and His soul in hell; thirdly, as to the shame and
mockeries He endured; fourthly, as to His being delivered up to man's
power, as He Himself said to Pilate (John 19:11): "Thou shouldst not
have any power against Me, unless it were given thee from above."
And, consequently, He merited a four-fold exaltation from His
Passion. First of all, as to His glorious Resurrection: hence it is
written (Ps. 138:1): "Thou hast known my sitting down"--that is, the
lowliness of My Passion--"and My rising up." Secondly, as to His
ascension into heaven: hence it is written (Eph. 4:9): "Now that He
ascended, what is it, but because He also descended first into the
lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that
ascended above all the heavens." Thirdly, as to the sitting on the
right hand of the Father and the showing forth of His Godhead,
according to Isa. 52:13: "He shall be exalted and extolled, and shall
be exceeding high: as many have been astonished at him, so shall His
visage be inglorious among men." Moreover (Phil. 2:8) it is written:
"He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death
of the cross: for which cause also God hath exalted Him, and hath
given Him a name which is above all names"--that is to say, so that
He shall be hailed as God by all; and all shall pay Him homage as
God. And this is expressed in what follows: "That in the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth,
and under the earth." Fourthly, as to His judiciary power: for it is
written (Job 36:17): "Thy cause hath been judged as that of the
wicked cause and judgment Thou shalt recover."
Reply Obj. 1: The source of meriting comes of the soul, while the
body is the instrument of the meritorious work. And consequently the
perfection of Christ's soul, which was the source of meriting, ought
not to be acquired in Him by merit, like the perfection of the body,
which was the subject of suffering, and was thereby the instrument of
His merit.
Reply Obj. 2: Christ by His previous merits did merit exaltation on
behalf of His soul, whose will was animated with charity and the
other virtues; but in the Passion He merited His exaltation by way of
recompense even on behalf of His body: since it is only just that the
body, which from charity was subjected to the Passion, should receive
recompense in glory.
Reply Obj. 3: It was owing to a special dispensation in Christ that
before the Passion the glory of His soul did not shine out in His
body, in order that He might procure His bodily glory with greater
honor, when He had merited it by His Passion. But it was not
beseeming for the glory of His soul to be postponed, since the soul
was united immediately with the Word; hence it was beseeming that its
glory should be filled by the Word Himself. But the body was united
with the Word through the soul.
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