Whether Christ Was in the Tomb Only One Day and Two Nights?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ was not in the tomb during
only one day and two nights; because He said (Matt. 12:40): "As Jonas
was in the whale's belly three days and three nights: so shall the
Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights."
But He was in the heart of the earth while He was in the grave.
Therefore He was not in the tomb for only one day and two nights.
Obj. 2: Gregory says in a Paschal Homily (Hom. xxi): "As Samson
carried off the gates of Gaza during the night, even so Christ rose
in the night, taking away the gates of hell." But after rising He was
not in the tomb. Therefore He was not two whole nights in the grave.
Obj. 3: Further, light prevailed over darkness by Christ's death. But
night belongs to darkness, and day to light. Therefore it was more
fitting for Christ's body to be in the tomb for two days and a night,
rather than conversely.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Trin. iv): "There were
thirty-six hours from the evening of His burial to the dawn of the
resurrection, that is, a whole night with a whole day, and a whole
night."
_I answer that,_ The very time during which Christ remained in the
tomb shows forth the effect of His death. For it was said above (Q.
50, A. 6) that by Christ's death we were delivered from a twofold
death, namely, from the death of the soul and of the body: and this
is signified by the two nights during which He remained in the tomb.
But since His death did not come of sin, but was endured from
charity, it has not the semblance of night, but of day: consequently
it is denoted by the whole day during which Christ was in the
sepulchre. And so it was fitting for Christ to be in the sepulchre
during one day and two nights.
Reply Obj. 1: Augustine says (De Consens. Evang. iii): "Some men,
ignorant of Scriptural language, wished to compute as night those
three hours, from the sixth to the ninth hour, during which the sun
was darkened, and as day those other three hours during which it was
restored to the earth, that is, from the ninth hour until its
setting: for the coming night of the Sabbath follows, and if this be
reckoned with its day, there will be already two nights and two days.
Now after the Sabbath there follows the night of the first day of the
Sabbath, that is, of the dawning Sunday, on which the Lord rose. Even
so, the reckoning of the three days and three nights will not stand.
It remains then to find the solution in the customary usage of speech
of the Scriptures, whereby the whole is understood from the part": so
that we are able to take a day and a night as one natural day. And so
the first day is computed from its ending, during which Christ died
and was buried on the Friday; while the second day is an entire day
with twenty-four hours of night and day; while the night following
belongs to the third day. "For as the primitive days were computed
from light to night on account of man's future fall, so these days
are computed from the darkness to the daylight on account of man's
restoration" (De Trin. iv).
Reply Obj. 2: As Augustine says (De Trin. iv; cf. De Consens. Evang.
iii), Christ rose with the dawn, when light appears in part, and
still some part of the darkness of the night remains. Hence it is
said of the women that "when it was yet dark" they came "to the
sepulchre" (John 20:1). Therefore, in consequence of this darkness,
Gregory says (Hom. xxi) that Christ rose in the middle of the night,
not that night is divided into two equal parts, but during the night
itself: for the expression "early" can be taken as partly night and
partly day, from its fittingness with both.
Reply Obj. 3: The light prevailed so far in Christ's death (which is
denoted by the one day) that it dispelled the darkness of the two
nights, that is, of our twofold death, as stated above.
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