Whether Christ Was a Man During the Three Days of His Death?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ was a man during the three
days of His death, because Augustine says (De Trin. iii): "Such was
the assuming [of nature] as to make God to be man, and man to be
God." But this assuming [of nature] did not cease at Christ's death.
Therefore it seems that He did not cease to be a man in consequence
of death.
Obj. 2: Further, the Philosopher says (Ethic. ix) that "each man is
his intellect"; consequently, when we address the soul of Peter after
his death we say: "Saint Peter, pray for us." But the Son of God
after death was not separated from His intellectual soul. Therefore,
during those three days the Son of God was a man.
Obj. 3: Further, every priest is a man. But during those three days
of death Christ was a priest: otherwise what is said in Ps. 109:4
would not be true: "Thou art a priest for ever." Therefore Christ was
a man during those three days.
_On the contrary,_ When the higher [species] is removed, so is the
lower. But the living or animated being is a higher species than
animal and man, because an animal is a sensible animated substance.
Now during those three days of death Christ's body was not living or
animated. Therefore He was not a man.
_I answer that,_ It is an article of faith that Christ was truly
dead: hence it is an error against faith to assert anything whereby
the truth of Christ's death is destroyed. Accordingly it is said in
the Synodal epistle of Cyril [*Act. Conc. Ephes. P. I, cap. xxvi]:
"If any man does not acknowledge that the Word of God suffered in the
flesh, and was crucified in the flesh and tasted death in the flesh,
let him be anathema." Now it belongs to the truth of the death of man
or animal that by death the subject ceases to be man or animal;
because the death of the man or animal results from the separation of
the soul, which is the formal complement of the man or animal.
Consequently, to say that Christ was a man during the three days of
His death simply and without qualification, is erroneous. Yet it can
be said that He was "a dead man" during those three days.
However, some writers have contended that Christ was a man during
those three days, uttering words which are indeed erroneous, yet
without intent of error in faith: as Hugh of Saint Victor, who (De
Sacram. ii) contended that Christ, during the three days that
followed His death, was a man, because he held that the soul is a
man: but this is false, as was shown in the First Part (I, Q. 75, A.
4). Likewise the Master of the Sentences (iii, D, 22) held Christ to
be a man during the three days of His death for quite another reason.
For he believed the union of soul and flesh not to be essential to a
man, and that for anything to be a man it suffices if it have a soul
and body, whether united or separated: and that this is likewise
false is clear both from what has been said in the First Part (I, Q.
75, A. 4), and from what has been said above regarding the mode of
union (Q. 2, A. 5).
Reply Obj. 1: The Word of God assumed a united soul and body: and the
result of this assumption was that God is man, and man is God. But
this assumption did not cease by the separation of the Word from the
soul or from the flesh; yet the union of soul and flesh ceased.
Reply Obj. 2: Man is said to be his own intellect, not because the
intellect is the entire man, but because the intellect is the chief
part of man, in which man's whole disposition lies virtually; just as
the ruler of the city may be called the whole city, since its entire
disposal is vested in him.
Reply Obj. 3: That a man is competent to be a priest is by reason of
the soul, which is the subject of the character of order: hence a man
does not lose his priestly order by death, and much less does Christ,
who is the fount of the entire priesthood.
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