Whether It Was Fitting for Christ to Rise Again on the Third Day?
Objection 1: It would seem unfitting that Christ should have risen
again on the third day. For the members ought to be in conformity
with their head. But we who are His members do not rise from death on
the third day, since our rising is put off until the end of the
world. Therefore, it seems that Christ, who is our head, should not
have risen on the third day, but that His Resurrection ought to have
been deferred until the end of the world.
Obj. 2: Further, Peter said (Acts 2:24) that "it was impossible for
Christ to be held fast by hell" and death. Therefore it seems that
Christ's rising ought not to have been deferred until the third day,
but that He ought to have risen at once on the same day; especially
since the gloss quoted above (A. 1) says that "there is no profit in
the shedding of Christ's blood, if He did not rise at once."
Obj. 3: The day seems to start with the rising of the sun, the
presence of which causes the day. But Christ rose before sunrise: for
it is related (John 20:1) that "Mary Magdalen cometh early, when it
was yet dark, unto the sepulchre": but Christ was already risen, for
it goes on to say: "And she saw the stone taken away from the
sepulchre." Therefore Christ did not rise on the third day.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Matt. 20:19): "They shall deliver
Him to the Gentiles to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified, and
the third day He shall rise again."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1) Christ's Resurrection was
necessary for the instruction of our faith. But our faith regards
Christ's Godhead and humanity, for it is not enough to believe the
one without the other, as is evident from what has been said (Q. 36,
A. 4; cf. II-II, Q. 2, AA. 7, 8). Consequently, in order that our
faith in the truth of His Godhead might be confirmed it was necessary
that He should rise speedily, and that His Resurrection should not be
deferred until the end of the world. But to confirm our faith
regarding the truth of His humanity and death, it was needful that
there should be some interval between His death and rising. For if He
had risen directly after death, it might seem that His death was not
genuine and consequently neither would His Resurrection be true. But
to establish the truth of Christ's death, it was enough for His
rising to be deferred until the third day, for within that time some
signs of life always appear in one who appears to be dead whereas he
is alive.
Furthermore, by His rising on the third day, the perfection of the
number "three" is commended, which is "the number of everything," as
having "beginning, middle, and end," as is said in De Coelo i. Again
in the mystical sense we are taught that Christ by "His one death"
(i.e. of the body) which was light, by reason of His righteousness,
"destroyed our two deaths" (i.e. of soul and body), which are as
darkness on account of sin; consequently, He remained in death for
one day and two nights, as Augustine observes (De Trin. iv).
And thereby is also signified that a third epoch began with the
Resurrection: for the first was before the Law; the second under the
Law; and the third under grace. Moreover the third state of the
saints began with the Resurrection of Christ: for, the first was
under figures of the Law; the second under the truth of faith; while
the third will be in the eternity of glory, which Christ inaugurated
by rising again.
Reply Obj. 1: The head and members are likened in nature, but not in
power; because the power of the head is more excellent than that of
the members. Accordingly, to show forth the excellence of Christ's
power, it was fitting that He should rise on the third day, while the
resurrection of the rest is put off until the end of the world.
Reply Obj. 2: Detention implies a certain compulsion. But Christ was
not held fast by any necessity of death, but was "free among the
dead": and therefore He abode a while in death, not as one held fast,
but of His own will, just so long as He deemed necessary for the
instruction of our faith. And a task is said to be done "at once"
which is performed within a short space of time.
Reply Obj. 3: As stated above (Q. 51, A. 4, ad 1, 2), Christ rose
early when the day was beginning to dawn, to denote that by His
Resurrection He brought us to the light of glory; just as He died
when the day was drawing to its close, and nearing to darkness, in
order to signify that by His death He would destroy the darkness of
sin and its punishment. Nevertheless He is said to have risen on the
third day, taking day as a natural day which contains twenty-four
hours. And as Augustine says (De Trin. iv): "The night until the
dawn, when the Lord's Resurrection was proclaimed, belongs to the
third day. Because God, who made the light to shine forth from
darkness, in order that by the grace of the New Testament and
partaking of Christ's rising we might hear this--'once ye were
darkness, but now light in the Lord'--insinuates in a measure to us
that day draws its origin from night: for, as the first days are
computed from light to darkness on account of man's coming fall, so
these days are reckoned from darkness to light owing to man's
restoration." And so it is evident that even if He had risen at
midnight, He could be said to have risen on the third day, taking it
as a natural day. But now that He rose early, it can be affirmed that
He rose on the third day, even taking the artificial day which is
caused by the sun's presence, because the sun had already begun to
brighten the sky. Hence it is written (Mk. 16:2) that "the women come
to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen"; which is not contrary to
John's statement "when it was yet dark," as Augustine says (De Cons.
Evang. iii), "because, as the day advances the more the light rises,
the more are the remaining shadows dispelled." But when Mark says
"'the sun being now risen,' it is not to be taken as if the sun were
already apparent over the horizon, but as coming presently into those
parts."
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