Whether the Whole Christ Was in Hell?
Objection 1: It would seem that the whole Christ was not in hell. For
Christ's body is one of His parts. But His body was not in hell.
Therefore, the whole Christ was not in hell.
Obj. 2: Further, nothing can be termed whole when its parts are
severed. But the soul and body, which are the parts of human nature,
were separated at His death, as stated above (Q. 50, AA. 3, 4), and
it was after death that He descended into hell. Therefore the whole
(Christ) could not be in hell.
Obj. 3: Further, the whole of a thing is said to be in a place when
no part of it is outside such place. But there were parts of Christ
outside hell; for instance, His body was in the grave, and His
Godhead everywhere. Therefore the whole Christ was not in hell.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Symbolo iii): "The whole Son is
with the Father, the whole Son in heaven, on earth, in the Virgin's
womb, on the Cross, in hell, in paradise, into which He brought the
robber."
_I answer that,_ It is evident from what was said in the First Part
(Q. 31, A. 2, ad 4), the masculine gender is referred to the
hypostasis or person, while the neuter belongs to the nature. Now in
the death of Christ, although the soul was separated from the body,
yet neither was separated from the Person of the Son of God, as
stated above (Q. 50, A. 2). Consequently, it must be affirmed that
during the three days of Christ's death the whole Christ was in the
tomb, because the whole Person was there through the body united with
Him, and likewise He was entirely in hell, because the whole Person
of Christ was there by reason of the soul united with Him, and the
whole Christ was then everywhere by reason of the Divine Nature.
Reply Obj. 1: The body which was then in the grave is not a part of
the uncreated Person, but of the assumed nature. Consequently, the
fact of Christ's body not being in hell does not prevent the whole
Christ from being there: but proves that not everything appertaining
to human nature was there.
Reply Obj. 2: The whole human nature is made up of the united soul
and body; not so the Divine Person. Consequently when death severed
the union of the soul with the body, the whole Christ remained, but
His whole human nature did not remain.
Reply Obj. 3: Christ's Person is whole in each single place, but not
wholly, because it is not circumscribed by any place: indeed, all
places put together could not comprise His immensity; rather is it
His immensity that embraces all things. But it happens in those
things which are in a place corporeally and circumscriptively, that
if a whole be in some place, then no part of it is outside that
place. But this is not the case with God. Hence Augustine says (De
Symbolo iii): "It is not according to times or places that we say
that the whole Christ is everywhere, as if He were at one time whole
in one place, at another time whole in another: but as being whole
always and everywhere."
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