Whether Christ Ascended by His Own Power?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ did not ascend by His own
power, because it is written (Mk. 16:19) that "the Lord Jesus, after
He had spoken to them, was taken up to heaven"; and (Acts 1:9) that,
"while they looked on, He was raised up, and a cloud received Him out
of their sight." But what is taken up, and lifted up, appears to be
moved by another. Consequently, it was not by His own power, but by
another's that Christ was taken up into heaven.
Obj. 2: Further, Christ's was an earthly body, like to ours. But it
is contrary to the nature of an earthly body to be borne upwards.
Moreover, what is moved contrary to its nature is nowise moved by its
own power. Therefore Christ did not ascend to heaven by His own power.
Obj. 3: Further, Christ's own power is Divine. But this motion does
not seem to have been Divine, because, whereas the Divine power is
infinite, such motion would be instantaneous; consequently, He would
not have been uplifted to heaven "while" the disciples "looked on,"
as is stated in Acts 1:9. Therefore, it seems that Christ did not
ascend to heaven by His own power.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Isa. 63:1): "This beautiful one in
his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength." Also Gregory
says in a Homily on the Ascension (xxix): "It is to be noted that we
read of Elias having ascended in a chariot, that it might be shown
that one who was mere man needed another's help. But we do not read
of our Saviour being lifted up either in a chariot or by angels,
because He who had made all things was taken up above all things by
His own power."
_I answer that,_ There is a twofold nature in Christ, to wit, the
Divine and the human. Hence His own power can be accepted according
to both. Likewise a twofold power can be accepted regarding His human
nature: one is natural, flowing from the principles of nature; and it
is quite evident that Christ did not ascend into heaven by such power
as this. The other is the power of glory, which is in Christ's human
nature; and it was according to this that He ascended to heaven.
Now there are some who endeavor to assign the cause of this power to
the nature of the fifth essence. This, as they say, is light, which
they make out to be of the composition of the human body, and by
which they contend that contrary elements are reconciled; so that in
the state of this mortality, elemental nature is predominant in human
bodies: so that, according to the nature of this predominating
element the human body is borne downwards by its own power: but in
the condition of glory the heavenly nature will predominate, by whose
tendency and power Christ's body and the bodies of the saints are
lifted up to heaven. But we have already treated of this opinion in
the First Part (Q. 76, A. 7), and shall deal with it more fully in
treating of the general resurrection (Suppl., Q. 84, A. 1).
Setting this opinion aside, others assign as the cause of this power
the glorified soul itself, from whose overflow the body will be
glorified, as Augustine writes to Dioscorus (Ep. cxviii). For the
glorified body will be so submissive to the glorified soul, that, as
Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xxii), "wheresoever the spirit listeth,
thither the body will be on the instant; nor will the spirit desire
anything unbecoming to the soul or the body." Now it is befitting the
glorified and immortal body for it to be in a heavenly place, as
stated above (A. 1). Consequently, Christ's body ascended into heaven
by the power of His soul willing it. But as the body is made glorious
by participation with the soul, even so, as Augustine says (Tract.
xxiii in Joan.), "the soul is beatified by participating in God."
Consequently, the Divine power is the first source of the ascent into
heaven. Therefore Christ ascended into heaven by His own power, first
of all by His Divine power, and secondly by the power of His
glorified soul moving His body at will.
Reply Obj. 1: As Christ is said to have risen by His own power,
though He was raised to life by the power of the Father, since the
Father's power is the same as the Son's; so also Christ ascended into
heaven by His own power, and yet was raised up and taken up to heaven
by the Father.
Reply Obj. 2: This argument proves that Christ did not ascend into
heaven by His own power, i.e. that which is natural to human nature:
yet He did ascend by His own power, i.e. His Divine power, as well as
by His own power, i.e. the power of His beatified soul. And although
to mount upwards is contrary to the nature of a human body in its
present condition, in which the body is not entirely dominated by the
soul, still it will not be unnatural or forced in a glorified body,
whose entire nature is utterly under the control of the spirit.
Reply Obj. 3: Although the Divine power be infinite, and operate
infinitely, so far as the worker is concerned, still the effect
thereof is received in things according to their capacity, and as God
disposes. Now a body is incapable of being moved locally in an
instant, because it must be commensurate with space, according to the
division of which time is reckoned, as is proved in Physics vi.
Consequently, it is not necessary for a body moved by God to be moved
instantaneously, but with such speed as God disposes.
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