Whether Christ's Body Ought to Have Risen with Its Scars?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ's body ought not to have risen
with its scars. For it is written (1 Cor. 15:52): "The dead shall
rise incorrupt." But scars and wounds imply corruption and defect.
Therefore it was not fitting for Christ, the author of the
resurrection, to rise again with scars.
Obj. 2: Further, Christ's body rose entire, as stated above (A. 3).
But open scars are opposed to bodily integrity, since they interfere
with the continuity of the tissue. It does not therefore seem fitting
for the open wounds to remain in Christ's body; although the traces
of the wounds might remain, which would satisfy the beholder; thus it
was that Thomas believed, to whom it was said: "Because thou hast
seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed" (John 20:29).
Obj. 3: Further, Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iv) that "some things
are truly said of Christ after the Resurrection, which He did not
have from nature but from special dispensation, such as the scars, in
order to make it sure that it was the body which had suffered that
rose again." Now when the cause ceases, the effect ceases. Therefore
it seems that when the disciples were assured of the Resurrection, He
bore the scars no longer. But it ill became the unchangeableness of
His glory that He should assume anything which was not to remain in
Him for ever. Consequently, it seems that He ought not at His
Resurrection to have resumed a body with scars.
_On the contrary,_ Our Lord said to Thomas (John 20:27): "Put in thy
finger hither, and see My hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put
it into My side, and be not faithless but believing."
_I answer that,_ It was fitting for Christ's soul at His Resurrection
to resume the body with its scars. In the first place, for Christ's
own glory. For Bede says on Luke 24:40 that He kept His scars not
from inability to heal them, "but to wear them as an everlasting
trophy of His victory." Hence Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xxii):
"Perhaps in that kingdom we shall see on the bodies of the Martyrs
the traces of the wounds which they bore for Christ's name: because
it will not be a deformity, but a dignity in them; and a certain kind
of beauty will shine in them, in the body, though not of the body."
Secondly, to confirm the hearts of the disciples as to "the faith in
His Resurrection" (Bede, on Luke 24:40). Thirdly, "that when He
pleads for us with the Father, He may always show the manner of death
He endured for us" (Bede, on Luke 24:40). Fourthly, "that He may
convince those redeemed in His blood, how mercifully they have been
helped, as He exposes before them the traces of the same death"
(Bede, on Luke 24:40). Lastly, "that in the Judgment-day He may
upbraid them with their just condemnation" (Bede, on Luke 24:40).
Hence, as Augustine says (De Symb. ii): "Christ knew why He kept the
scars in His body. For, as He showed them to Thomas who would not
believe except he handled and saw them, so will He show His wounds to
His enemies, so that He who is the Truth may convict them, saying:
'Behold the man whom you crucified; see the wounds you inflicted;
recognize the side you pierced, since it was opened by you and for
you, yet you would not enter.'"
Reply Obj. 1: The scars that remained in Christ's body belong neither
to corruption nor defect, but to the greater increase of glory,
inasmuch as they are the trophies of His power; and a special
comeliness will appear in the places scarred by the wounds.
Reply Obj. 2: Although those openings of the wounds break the
continuity of the tissue, still the greater beauty of glory
compensates for all this, so that the body is not less entire, but
more perfected. Thomas, however, not only saw, but handled the
wounds, because as Pope Leo [*Cf. Append. Opp. August., Serm. clxii]
says: "It sufficed for his personal faith for him to have seen what
he saw; but it was on our behalf that he touched what he beheld."
Reply Obj. 3: Christ willed the scars of His wounds to remain on His
body, not only to confirm the faith of His disciples, but for other
reasons also. From these it seems that those scars will always remain
on His body; because, as Augustine says (Ad Consent., De Resurr.
Carn.): "I believe our Lord's body to be in heaven, such as it was
when He ascended into heaven." And Gregory (Moral. xiv) says that "if
aught could be changed in Christ's body after His Resurrection,
contrary to Paul's truthful teaching, then the Lord after His
Resurrection returned to death; and what fool would dare to say this,
save he that denies the true resurrection of the flesh?" Accordingly,
it is evident that the scars which Christ showed on His body after
His Resurrection, have never since been removed from His body.
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