Introductory Remarks [ch. 29]
In Christ, there is only one real Sonship, His eternal sonship from the Father; the other sonship in regards to the
Blessed Mother is only a logical one (and temporal) since it is a relation predicated of God in time. (Illa q.35, a.5)
"r As to the question of the Redemption and how it was carried out, redemption by a divine Person who became
Incarnate is hypothetically necessary supposing that God freely willed to exact adequate reparation for an infinite
offense; hence “man sold himself into slaverv but could not buy himself out of it.”
• Satisfaction is the primary and fundamental concept in the dogma of the redemption, which therefore includes the
concepts of merit and sacrifice.
• Liberation and restoration are consequent effects of the satisfaction paid by the Redemption.
• St. Thomas defines satisfaction thus: “/Eproperly atonesfor an offense who offers something which the offended loves equally or
more than he detested the offense.” (cf. Illa q.48, a.2)
• Since infusion of grace and remission of sin pertain to God who justifies, in the order of nature infusion of
grace precedes freeing from sin; on the part of manjustified, being freed from sin precedes infhsion of grace
(since the freedom from sin makes the soul compatible with sanctifying grace).
• Christ satisfied for the sins of the whole world and this satisfaction is of infinite value and superabundant.
• Aquinas admits that the aspects of the Redemption (i.e. expiation, satisfaction, and reparation) are all
subordinated to the mystery of divine love which is the motive par excellence of the Redemption, (cf. Illa q.l,
a.2; q.46, a.l; q.48, a.2)
• Divine good is self-diffùsive in creation first, then in raising man to the supernatural order, and finally in
God’s free decree to restore fallen human nature by the work of the Incarnation.

r

Testimony of Sacred Scripture and Tradition [ch. 30]
Christ only manifested His divine Sonship so far as man was able to assimilate the doctrine; He manifests at the
beginning of His preaching that He is the Savior but does not assert how the salvific act will be carried out.
• St. Matt 20:28/St. Mk 10:45: “To give His lifefor a ransom for many” established the doctrine of the sacrificial death of
Christ as having origin in the Gospels, and not merely a Pauline idea, which refutes the opinion of the Modernists
and liberal Protestants.
• The institution of the Holy Eucharist furthermore enunciates the mystery of the Redemption as both sacrifice and
satisfaction.
"r Johannine testimony fhrther enunciates that the redemptive act is result of Christ’s exceeding love for God and for
souls to be saved.
'"r Acts of the Apostles fhrther demonstrates Christ’s sacrifice as the fount of salvation and in accord with God’s eternal
decree.
> St. Paul expounds on the concept of propitiatory sacrifice, especially in Hebrews.
The Eatin and Greek fathers hold that Christ accomplished our redemption by way of sacrifice, which He offered to
God on the Cross, as priest and Victim, with true atonement paid to God with universal and superabundant
satisfaction (cf. Christ the Savior, pp. 543-5).
• The Fathers are unanimous in attributing this redemption not only to Christ’s example but also His merits,
satisfaction, and sacrifice on the Cross.
• By the end of the third century, it was resolved conclusively that the price of liberation must be paid to God (not
Satan) since sin is committed strictly agarnst God; enslavement to the powers of hell was a punishment inflicted
by God and a consequence of sin.
>

On the Passion of Christ (Illa q.46) [ch. 31]
r

Overview of Aquinas’ points:

1. Redemption accomplished by the Incarnation was not strictly necessary but fitting, especially as
the greatest manifestation of God’s love for man. (cf. Illa q.l, aa.1,2)
2. Christ caused man’s salvation in five ways:
a. by meriting for man
b. by satisfying for man

>

>

>

>

>

c. by offering Himself as sacrifice
c. by liberating man
d. by being the efficient cause
3. Christ’s redemption is of infinite value in virtue of the hypostatic union.
A. 1. Whether it was necessary for Christ to suffer for the Redemption ofMan?
• Christ’s Passion was not absolutely necessary nor was He compelled to suffer.
• Presupposing the end, it was necessary for Christ to suffer because:
1. He freed man by His Passion.
2. Christ’s humiliations merited His exaltation.
3. Scripture had to be fulfilled.
• ad 3: Greater act of mercy by God to pardon by way of Redeemer than without, given who God
is and the nature of sin.
A. 2. Whether there was any other way of man's deliverance beside Christ’s Passion?
• Simpliciter, it was possible for God to deliver man otherwise than by Christ’s Passion, or by
contenting Himself with imperfect satisfaction.
• Secundum quid, given God’s foreknowledge and preordination of the Passion, man’s liberation
from sin was not possible in any other way (or else God would contradict Himself).
A.3. Whether there irav any more suitable way of man’s deliverance than by Christ’s Passion?
• Christ’s Passion was most suitable for five reasons:
1. Greatest example of God’s love for man.
2. Most sublime example of virtues of obedience, humility, and justice by which we tend
towards divine things.
3. The degree of grace and glory merited for man.
4. Man is all the more bound to refrain from sin.
5. Devil conquered (although victory not immediately apparent) and death vanquished.
A.4. Whether Christ ought to have suffered on the Cross?
• Most fitting that Christ suffered upon the Cross for six reasons:
1. Demonstrates that no kind of death ought to be feared by the upright man.
2. Sin came by way of a tree, so by another tree life is restored, (cf. Crux Fidelis)
3. As Christ was suspended between Heaven and earth, it was a manifestation of
resurrection of the body and ascent into Heaven.
4. Christ’s outstretched hands signify the universality of the Redemption
5. The Cross is the chair from which the Master teaches most definitively.
6. Many Old Testament figures and types point towards the Cross (e.g. Isaac, prophecies of
Isaiah, Messianic Psalms).
• Christ’s holocaust possessed spiritual fire of charity, by which He took upon the penalty of
man’s sin.
• By enduring the Cross, Christ’s humility made reparation for man’s pride.
A. 5. Whether Christ endured all sufferings?
• Christ did not endure all sufferings specifically, because many of them are mutually exclusive
(e.g. burning and drowning).
• Generically, He endured all human sufferings because:
1. He endured suffering inflicted by the Jews, Gentiles, priests, servants, mob, friends, and
acquaintances.
2. He suffered from friends who abandoned Him, in His reputation and honor, in His soul
from sadness and weariness, in His body from wounds and scourging.

St. John Chrysostom further states that it was not becoming for Christ to suffer
sickness as it was not appropriate for Him who heals infirmities in the manner Christ
did to also suffer from the selfsame infirmities, (cf. Illa q.46, a.3, ad 2.)
4. Christ suffered in all His bodily senses and members most acutely.
• Although one of the least of Christ’s sufferings was sufficient to redeem (on account of the
Person suffering), Christ’s desire to offer Himself as a most perfect holocaust included the
endurance of all suffering generically.
> A. 6. Whether the pain of Christ’s Passion was greater than all other pains?
• Christ’s pains are of the greatest kind for four reasons:
1. From the causes of pain.
2. From the keen susceptibility of His body and interior faculties of His soul to pain and
sadness because of the perfections resulting from the hypostatic union.
3. Christ did not let the contemplative joy of the Beatific Vision mitigate His sufferings (cf.
Christ the Savior, ch. 35).
4. Christ embraced the amount of pain proportionate to the magnitude of the fruit which
resulted therefrom.
• Christ accepted the greatest sadness in absolute quantity, but not exceeding the rule of reason.
• The Redemption was carried out by the power of God and in the interest of justice served for an
infinite offense.
> A. 7. Whether Christ suffered in His whole soul?
• Christ suffered in His whole soul; as the essence of the soul is applied to every part of the body,
so as the entire body suffered, so did Christ’s soul.
• Grief in the sensitive part of Christ’s soul did not extend to reason so as to deflect it from the
rectitude of the act (thus this manifests Christ’s perfect fortitude).
> A.8. Whether Christ’s entire soul enjoyed blessedfruition during the Passion?
• Higher part of Christ’s soul enjoyed fruition while Christ was suffering; although Christ’s
sadness and joy were not about the same object and not contraries strictly, the union of the
sadness and joy was miraculous (cf. De veritate q.26, aa. 9-10; also see notes on ch. 35 for more
detailed explanation).

•

On the Efficient Cause of Christ’s Passion (Illa q.47) [ch. 32]
> A. 1. Whether Christ was slain by another or by Himself?
• Christ is not the direct cause of His death, for He did not kill Himself but His persecutors did.
• Christ was the indirect cause of His Passion and death (accidental cause in the physical sense,
not moral cause); Christ was not bound to resist His persecutors, but could expose Himself to
death for the greater good of the redemption of man.
> A. 2. Whether Christ died out of obedience?
• Christ gave Himself up to suffering out of obedience:
1. Fitting to divine justice to repair an act of disobedience with one of obedience.
2. So that the Passion and death were a result of obedience.
3. So that Christ would be victorious over death and the disobedience of the devil.
• Christ fulfilled all justice and was obedient out of love for His Father who commanded Him.
> A.3. Whether the Father delivered up Christ to the Passion?
• God the Father delivered up Christ to the Passion in three ways:
1. God eternally preordained Christ’s Passion for the redemption of man from sin.
2. Inasmuch as God inspired Christ with the will to suffer.

•

•

3. By not protecting Christ against His persecutors during the Passion.
The divine will does not make out acts necessary, because God wills them to be accomplished
freely, and therefore it does not compromise but actualize human freedom (concept of secondary
causality, as God ordains certain effects to be accomplished by specific causes). (Cf. la q. 19, a.8)
God’s severity is shown by Christ’s sufferings, clearly demonstrating that sin will not be
remitted without penalty.

> A.4. Whether it was fittingfor Christ to suffer at the hand of the Gentiles?
• It was appropriate for Christ to suffer at the hands of the Gentiles because the effects of Christ’s
Passion were prefigured in what He suffered.
• Many Jews would be baptized on the account of the efficaciousness of Christ’s sufferings,
and because of their preaching many Gentiles too would be converted.
• Christ prayed for His persecutors and suffered for both Jews and Gentiles so that His petition
would benefit both.
> A.5. Whether Christ’spersecutors knew who He was?
• There seems to be a difficulty in Holy Writ in consideration of whether Christ’s persecutors
knew who He was; some texts seem to contradict each other.
• Aquinas solves the problem by making a distinction between the elders and the common
folk; the elders, who were more versed in the prophets, understood Christ to be the Messiah
as demonstrated by His deeds, whereas the common folk did not.
• The most blameworthy ones for the Crucifixion are those who saw manifest signs of the
Godhead yet perverted them out of hatred or envy of Christ and caused others to lose faith in
Him; this is the supreme case of affected (vincible) ignorance.
• The pagan Romans who performed the actual Crucifixion, were less blameworthy than the
Jews, but still procured guilt in that they knowingly crucified a man found to be innocent.
'r A.6. Whether the sin of those who crucified Christ was most grievous?
• There are three considerations as to whether those who crucified Christ sinned most grievously:
1. The rulers of the Jews knew who Christ was or else suffered from affected (vincible)
ignorance which did not excuse them from sin , but rather aggravated it.
2. The Jews of the common class sinned grievously in respect to the kind of sin, but the
crime was lessened on account of invincible ignorance.
3. The sin of the Gentiles was much more excusable as they possessed no knowledge of the
Law.
• Our Lord’s pardon: “They know not what they do” refers to the common people and Gentiles,
not to the Jewish rulers.
• Judas sinned more grievously than the Jews who were responsible for Christ’s Crucifixion
because of the enormous gifts he had been granted in virtue of being an Apostle; he exceeded the
malice of the Jews, possessed the greatest ingratitude, coupled with the baseness of the act of
betrayal.

On the Efficiency of Christ’s Passion (Illa q.48) [ch. 33]
> A. 1. Whether Christ’s Passion brought about our salvation by way of merit?
• Christ’s Passion caused our salvation by merit, satisfaction, sacrifice, redemption, and was the
efficient cause; the higher and more universal the cause, the more it includes several modes of
causality.
• Trent is clear that by Christ’s Passion out of exceeding charity merited justification for man. (cf.

Denz. 799, 820).
Christ’s sufferings are meritorious not inasmuch as it was suffering, but inasmuch as Christ bore
it willingly.
• Grace was given to Christ both as an individual and head of the Church.; thus His works are
referred to Himself (thus meriting His own exaltation) and to His members (salvation).
• The holy fathers before Christ while living were delivered from original as well as actual sin
and the penalty of
actual sin through
their faith in the
coming Messiah;
however, they were
not delivered from the
penalty of original sin
until Christ’s death
and Resurrection,
(cf. Illa q.19, a.4;
q.52, a.5).
• Original sin spread by person first affecting the nature then by nature affecting the person;
Christ repaired first what regards the person (admission to Heaven of the just) and then to
nature (glorified body after the Last Day).
• Christ merited for man sanctifying grace, the infused virtues, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and all
actual graces connected therewith, along with eternal life and final resurrection, (cf. Illa q.24,
a.4)
• Christ’s Passion is a universal cause (which contains subordinate causes) and produces an
effect only if the fruits are applied by cooperation of grace (efficacious grace in the sufficient
grace).
> A. 2. Whether Christ ’ Passion brought about man’s salvation by way of atonement?
• Christ truly and strictly satisfied for man.
• An offense is properly atoned for when something is offered that the offended loves equally
or more than the detestation of the offense; Christ’s sufferings out of love and obedience
gave God more than was needed to compensate for the offense of the whole human race:
1. Due to His exceeding charity.
2. On the account of the dignity of His life.
3. On the account of the extent of His Passion.
• Christ’s love in the order of good transcends the enormity of all the malice of sin and the
magnitude of the offense.
• The head (Christ) and the members are as one mystic person; therefore Christ’s satisfaction
belongs to all the faithful as being His members.
• The dignity of Christ’s flesh cannot be estimated by the nature of flesh alone, but by the
Person assuming it (the Logos), thus making it of infinite worth.
• An act of Christ’s theandric love pleased God more than all sin and thus one such act
without pain, sacrifice, or suffering would have sufficed for the redemption of man
• However, such an act accompanied with pain and suffering was fitting to human nature
as man acknowledges the generosity of love only if it be manifested by a generous
acceptance of suffering (sacrifice a real manifestation or proof of true love).
• ad 6: It is not repugnant to the infinite mercy of God to exact so great an atonement for sin;

•

God’s infinite mercy does not exclude His justice (as commonly thought today).
• Although God could have pardoned the offense out of mercy, or not pardoned it at all, He
united it with justice and the Incarnation is thus the greatest manifestation of His mercy.
ad 8: Just as a judge, who for the common good must extract satisfaction from anyone who has
done harm or betrayed a nation, so God as Supreme Judge must proclaim the right of the
Supreme Good to be loved above all things.
• The Father and Christ the Savior are united in the same love of supreme Goodness and
diffusion of the salvation of souls; Christ’s sufferings are thus not inhuman because of His
voluntary choice to suffer.
ad 11: Regarding Col 1:24: "Ifill up those things which are wanting in the sufferings of Christ."
• This does not mean that there was anything lacking in the price paid for redemption
(impossible); the quote points to the application of the Redemption which is only affected by
good works.
• Notions once again of primary and secondary causality: the first cause does not nullify the
effect of the second cause but endows it with the dignity of causality.
• Thus Christ’s satisfactions (first cause) do not nullify our satisfactions but attributes validity
to them. (cf. la q.21, a.4)
Infinite value of Christ’s satisfaction
• Satisfaction refers to the reparation that must be made for the injustice done to another’s
right.
• The meritorious and satisfactory value of acts are determined from the object or principle
whereby they are elicited, and from the dignity of the agent; the greater this dignity, the
greater the value of the operation.
• Christ’s operations, because of the infinite dignity of the Person from whom they
proceed, possess an infinite degree of merit and satisfaction:
1. Actions are attributed to the supposit; moral immanent acts (because these pertain
to the will) come from the person.
2. Person is related to actions by way of a moral form (thus intrinsic to the person);
hence the more intimately a thing offered to God belongs to the person, the more
precious it is.
3. God looks on the Person of His Son offering Himself on the Cross; thus Christ’s
operations are morally and intrinsically of infinite value because these acts are
theandric.
4. The greater the dignity of the person who honors and satisfies, the greater the
dignity of the conferring honor and satisfactory work.
5. Note as well that the oblation of the Blessed Mother was objectively of infinite
value, because she offered an infinitely worthy object (Word Incarnate); her
oblation was not personally of infinite value because she is a creature.
6. The divine Person of the Son always exerted a moral influence on all of Christ’s
meritorious and satisfactory acts, and there never was any diminution of fervor in
Christ’s acts of charity.
• There was equality of personal value in all of Christ’s works, but inequality in
objective value (e.g. Passion objectively higher because of direct relation to
the end of Christ’s mission than one of His miracles); all works were
meritorious and satisfactory.
• Christ’s oblation was a continuous act (moral continuity of diverse physical acts),

constituting whole price of man’s redemption:
• In light of this, our acts of satisfaction towards reconciling the human race with
God are superfluous.
• However, as far as the application of this reconciliation, Christ is the cause of us
to satisfy, as it belongs to the perfection of the first cause to give dignity of
causality to subordinate causes.
• Infinite value of Christ’s satisfaction is manifest in an act of reparation that is morally
infinite in value.
• Conditions required for strict satisfaction in justice:
1. made to another: Christ merited not as God but as man; satisfaction is made to another by
reason of the nature because the distinction between the natures is the foundation for the
rights and correlative duties, (cf. Illa q.20, a.2)
2. from the debtor's own means to which the creditor is not entitled on some other grounds:
The satisfaction is rendered from what belongs to the divine Person in the human nature;
Christ’s work belonged to Him inasmuch as He is free.
3. The creditor must be under obligation to accept the satisfaction: The Father was not
absolutely bound to accept Christ’s satisfaction, but He was insofar as He ordained the
Redemption to be carried out in the manner it was.
r A. 3. Whether Christ’s Passion operated by way of sacrifice?
• It is of faith that Christ is a priest and that He offered Himself on the altar of the Cross, a
sacrifice in the true and strict sense
• A sacrifice properly so called is something done for that honor which is properly due to
God, in order to appease Him; the sacrifice of the Cross was rendered out of most
sublime charity as it was a voluntary expiation offered by Christ.
• Sacrifice essentially consists in the offering of a sensible thing by a priest made to God by
means of a real, or in some way, change of the thing offered in testimony of God’s
supreme dominion and our subjection to Him. (cf. Ilallae q. 85)
• Christ, who is a priest as a man, cannot be more united with God for He is God;
nor with the Victim, for He offers Himself; nor with men, who are His members,
(cf. St. Augustine, De Trinitate IV, 14)
• ad2'. The Cross signifies Christ’s immense love for man, and also the necessity for us to mortify
the flesh and refrain from sin if we wish to enjoy the merits of the Cross.
• ad 3: The very slaying of Christ does not have to be renewed sacramentally in the Sacrifice of
the Mass; but in the Mass “the Victim is one and the same, the same now offering by the
ministry of priests, who then offered Himself on the Cross.” (Denz. 940)
• The Resurrection and the Ascension strictly do not add anything to the redemptive value of
the Cross, bu serve as a visible manifestation of the Father’s acceptance of it.
P A. 4 Whether Christ's Passion brought about man’s salvation by way of redemption?
• Man held captive on account of sin in two ways:
1. By the bondage of sin itself.
2. By the payment of which man was held fast by God’s justice (debt of punishment).
• Christ’s Passion was a superabundant satisfaction both for sin and the debt of punishement,
liberating man from both types of bondage. (Council of Trent; cf. Denz. 799)
• ad Γ. Man ceased to belong to God through sin in virtue of his lack of charity which makes union
with God impossible; however, man never ceased to be subject to God’s power.

ad3: Man’s sin offended God which resulted in man’s subjection to Satan (inflicted punishment
by God); Christ repaired the offense committed against God, paying the price to God by which
man was freed from the devil’s bondage.
x A. 5 Whether it is proper to Christ to be the Redeemer ?
• For someone to redeem, two things are necessary: the act ofpaying and the price paid.
• Each of these belong to immediately to Christ as man (paying man’s redemption by His
Blood), but also to the whole Trinity, as to the First Cause to Whom Christ’s life
belonged and from Whom He received inspiration to suffer for man.
• Redemption belongs immediately to the man Christ but principally to God.
• ad 3, in regard to the merits of the saints'. It is only Christ who frees us from guilt and eternal
punishment condignly, the merits of the saints free us from temporal punishment congruously.
• Sufferings of the saints differ from Christ’s in three ways:
1. Christ’s sufferings absolutely redeem the Church; the suffering of the saints do so by
way of superfluity.
2. Christ’s sufferings redeem man absolutely, liberating man from guilt and punishment;
sufferings of the saints redeem us relatively from a certain punishment, i.e. the
temporal punishment due to actual sin.
3. Christ’s Passion is of benefit to the Church by way of redemption; the sufferings of
the saints ate satisfactory on my behalf only, if by means of the authoritative power of
the keys, they are applied to me.
• The Blessed Virgin cooperated in the acquisition of graces from the Cross; the saints do not
cooperate in the acquisition, but the application.
• The Blessed Virgin congruously merited the acquisition of grace (Mater Salvatoris,
Mediatrix) while the saints congruously merit the application; Christ had a condign right
to both, Mary a congruous right to the effect.
> A.6. Whether Christ’s Passion brought about man’s salvation efficiently?
• Christ’s humanity is the instrument of His Godhead with which it is united; Christ’s actions and
sufferings operate instrumentally in virtue of His Godhead for the salvation of man.
• ad 3, in summation of the qualities of Christ’s Passion:
1. Efficient = when considered from His Godhead.
5. Meritorious = when considered with the will of His soul.
6. Satisfactory = when considered in His flesh, freeing us from punishment.
7. Redemptive = when considered that it frees man from servitude of guilt.
8. Sacrificial = when considered that it reconciles man with God.
•

The Effects of Christ’s Passion and the Universality of the Redemption (Illa q.49) [ch. 34]
> A. 1. Whether we were deliveredfrom sin through Christ’s Passion?
• Christ’s Passion is the universal and sufficient cause for the production of its effects; however, in
order for Christ’s Passion to actually produce its effects, it must be applied to us by means of the
Sacraments and good works.
• The sufficiency of the Passion regards all past, present, and future sins, but the fruits of the
Passion must be applied by means of the Sacraments or at least the implicit living of the Faith.
> A.2. Whether man was deliveredfrom the devil’s power through Christ’s Passion?
• If any man fails to make use of the remedies provided on account of Christ’s Passion, it detracts
nothing from the efficacy of His Passion (e.g. the efficacy of medicine is not lost if the patient
neglects to take it; it simply remains in potency).

> A.3. Whether man was freedfrom the punishment of sin through Christ’s Passion?
• Original sin having been taken away, man is freed from the punishment due to it.
• ad 2'. No punishment is imposed upon a man at his baptism, since He is fully delivered by
Christ’s satisfaction which, at that moment, remits all punishment of original sin and all actual
sin committed to that point.
> A.4. Whether we were reconciled to God through Christ’s Passion?
• Christ’s Passion removes the obstacle of enmity between man and God, which re-orients the soul
to be disposed to receive sanctifying grace.
• God is placated by a change effected in man, not Him; He is only really interested in things that
are like Him.
r A. 5. Whether Christ opened to us the gate ofHeaven by His Passion?
• Living faith suffices in the Old Testament for the cleansing of the individual, but could not
remove the barrier resulting from original sin applied to the whole human race (hence the just
were detained in limbo or hell after their death, awaiting Christ’s coming).
• Elias and Enoch are believed to be in the earthly paradise until the coming of the Antichrist.
> A.6 Whether in His Passion Christ merited to be exalted?
• Christ merited to be exalted in His humanity as regards to His Resurrection (glorified body),
Ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and His judiciary power (cf. Illa qq. 53, 54, 57,
58)
> The Universality of the Redemption
1. Christ diedfor all men.
• Rom 5:18 puts no limit on Christ’s merits extending to all men: “Therefore by the offense
of one man, unto all men to condemnation, so also by the justice of one, unto all men
justification of life?"
• Trent: Although Christ died for all, all do not receive the benefit of His death, but those
only unto who, the merit of His Passion is communicated. (Denz. 795)
• Council of Quierzy: “Just as there neither is, was, nor will be any man whose nature was
not assumed by Christ, so neither is, was, nor will be a man for whom Christ did not
suffer, although not all are redeemed by the mystery ofHis Passion. ” (Denz. 319)
9. Christ’s redemption includes all sins.
• Christ truly satisfied for all sins, original and actual. ( Trent, cf. Denz. 794)
• Christ freed man not only from guilt but also from eternal and temporal punishment; we
are de facto freed from punishment only if Christ’s satisfactions are applied to us by the
Sacraments and living Faith, (cf. Illa q.49, a.l)
• Christ’s satisfaction is not applied to adults without their cooperation.
10. Christ’s redemption includes all good things lost by sin.
• Christ sufficiently merited for all men habitual grace, that is, actual graces that prepare
for or follow justification.
• Although grace is received in the soul by Baptism, the passible body is retained so that
the person may suffer with Christ therein (spiritual training); Christ merited that these
defects {reliquiae peccati) should not gain mastery over us.
• God offers efficacious grace to man in sufficient grace as the fruit is contained in the
flower; when the sufficient grace is resisted, the efficacious grace is not conferred.

The Sublime Mystery of the Redemption insofar as it is a Mystery of Love [ch. 35]

> Difficulties arise when considering why Christ suffered so much when the least act of theandric love on
His part sufficed for the salvation of all men; three reasons present themselves.
I. On the part of man.
• It was fitting for Christ to suffer in so many ways and to the utmost, so that He might
give us the supreme example of His love; the proof of love is shown in act.
• Man knows thereby how much God loves him and is thereby stirred to love God in
return, and herein lies the perfection of human salvation. (Illa q.46, a.3)
• Christ’s Passion displayed subordinated virtues in their highest degrees which are
requisite as well for man’s salvation
• Christ's Passion gave us an example ofpracticing virtues that are at such extremes from
one another that they appear to be contraries, and yet are intimately and perfectly united
in most perfect sanctity, such as supreme fortitude andperfect meekness.
• Christ’s Passion vividly manifests the gravity of sin inasmuch as reparation is made for
sin of pride by great humiliations, sins against purity by intense sufferings, sins
pertaining to the concupiscence of the eyes by such want and deprivation, and sins of
disobedience by obedience to even death on a Cross.
• Christ’s Passion makes abundantly clear the value of the supernatural life of grace and
the eternal life, which is only obtained by self-denial.
• Fitting that God overthrew the devil with the same kind of instrument the devil used to
tempt man; Christ’s humble and obedient death on the Cross subverted the tree the devil
used to capture man: as man deserved death, so a Man by death should vanquish dying.
• Sinful men as well need this greatest proof of love for their conversion.
II. M s regards Christ the Savior.
• In regard to the Person carrying out the Redemption, it was appropriate for Christ to
suffer many ways and to the highest degree, so that He may most perfectly accomplish
His mission as Savior of the whole human race. (cf. Illa q.47, a.2)
• The fire of Christ’s holocaust consisted of the spiritual fire of charity by which He
willfully suffered. (Illa q.46, a.4, ad 1)
• Christ as priest could not offer any victim more worthy than Himself; Christ’s moral and
physical sufferings accomplished more and saved more than by His preaching, and he
preaches best from the Cross.
• It was further appropriate for Christ to accomplish His mission in a most perfect manner
(that is, by heroic sacrifice motivated by supreme love of God and salvation of souls).
• From this, Christ merited the exaltation of His name: “For this God highly exalted
Him.” (Phil 2:6-11); better to possess an object of merit by merit than without it.
12. As regards God the Father.
• It was fitting that the Father should deliver up His Son to the greatest of suffering, so that
Christ by this sorrowful way might attain to the greatest of all glory: victory over sin, the
devil, and death.
• EXAMPLE: A general in time of war must sacrifice several of his best soldiers
for the safety of the land and to secure victory; if the general appoints his own son
to lead these soldiers, if the son understands his calling and father’s intent, he
thanks his father and perfectly fulfills his military calling by being able to lead
such a glorious battle to victory.
• The fulfillment of a command is a proof of love for the person who commands; further,

although the Father’s command is dour, it results from the supreme love of the Father for
the Son.
• It is clear how the mutual love between the Father and the Son is manifested (that
is, the Holy Ghost) and thus the Redemption as a work of the entire Trinity is
made manifest.
• Common objection that the Father’s delivering up of the Son was an act of cruelty.
• This is not the case as Christ was inspired by the Father with the will and desire to
suffer for man.
• Moreover, God’s severity is shown for He would not remit sin without penalty,
and His goodness and mercy is evident, as no penalty suffered by any man except
Christ could render sufficient satisfaction.
• Motives for the Father’s decree, in respect to the glory the Father willedfor the Son.
1. The greatest degree of glory is acquired in accepting with great love the most
profound humiliations; although the Son on account of His divinity had the right
to greatest glory, it was fitting for Him to obtain this greatest glory on grounds of
supreme merit.
2. The greatest victory over sin whereby charity is lost was deservedly obtained by
that supreme act of charity whereby Christ heroically suffered and died for man.
3. The greatest victory over the demon of pride and disobedience was deservedly
obtained by humble obedience to death in the worst mode (gravity of sin
demonstrated with an infinite Victim dying in the worst manner possible).
4. The greatest victory over death, the result of sin, is obtained by the Resurrection;
but the Resurrection presupposes death, and death accepted through love for the
victory over sin which is the cause of death (cf. Illa q.46, a.3).
• Christ’s obedience unto death befitted the victory whereby He triumphed
over death and its author. (Illa q.47, a.2)
• The victory of the Cross over the devil and sin far surpasses the victory
over death on the Last Day, since the latter is only possible in virtue of
Christ’s victory first.
> On the union in Christ the Savior of the greatest suffering and the Beatific Vision.
1. Plentitude of Christ’s charity is the cause of His ardent desire for the sacrifice of the Cross.
• When God immediately entrusts anyone with a very special mission of divine character,
he demands proportionate sanctity in His legate.
• Given the nature of the Redemption and the Person through Whom it was
accomplished, this truth is verified best in Christ.
• Christ received in intensity and in extent absolute plentitude of habitual grace and
charity, and therefore in accordance with this fullness of charity He ardently
desired from the beginning of His earthly life most perfectly to accomplish His
mission by the sacrifice on the Cross, willed by God for man’s salvation (cf. Illa
q.7, aa. 9-13; St. Jn 12:33ff).
• This fullness of grace disposed Christ so that He most perfectly desired and efficaciously
willed to accomplish His mission of Redeemer and Victim by offering Himself as a
perfect holocaust.
2. Christ endured all kinds of sufferings generically, but not specifically, as some are mutually
exclusive (like burning and drowning), and this in three ways:
• On the part of men, for He suffered from all classes and all kinds, even from His

Apostles.
• On the part of those things whereby man can suffer, for He suffered both in body and
soul (e.g. hunger, blasphemy, contumely).
• He suffered in all the members ofHis body, no explanation required.
3. Christ’s Passion was the greatest of all pains in the present life. (Illa q.46, a.6)
• From the quasi-efficient causes ofpain'. The Crucifixion affected Christ’s whole body,
and the first sins of man being of infinite offense affected His interior soul.
• From the susceptibility of the sufferer'. Christ’s body was endowed with a perfect
constitution since it was fashioned miraculously; His senses were most acute and His soul
apprehended most vehemently the causes of sadness.
• Because of the lack of any formal mitigation ofpain: Christ permitted each one of His
powers to exercise its proper function by not lessening the pain from some higher
consideration, but in no way did this militate against the use of reason as this would
reduce the efficacy of the salvific act.
• From the end in view: The pain and sorrow were accepted voluntarily to the end of man’s
deliverance from sin; and consequently Christ embraced the amount of pain proportionate
to the magnitude of the fruit which resulted therefrom.
• Furthermore, Christ knew best the quasi-infinite gravity of grave sin which denies
God His dignity of being the Last End of man; Christ grieved on account of this
due to the fullness of His love for the Father.
4. Christ always retained His supreme happiness even while hanging on the Cross (Illa q. 46, aa.78)• What is in potentiality is reduced to act by what is already in act; appropriate that Christ,
as the Supreme Teacher and in those things pertaining to eternal life, should already in
this life possess the immediate vision of God (eternal life) to which He was to lead men.
• Christ’s most sublime act of teaching is from the Cross, so it befitted Him to possess the
Beatific Vision even there; at no time was the Vision interrupted.
• Nor was joy separated from the Vision on the Cross, as it is impossible for the will to
have supreme good presented to it and not find joy and complete satisfaction in it. (cf.
lallae q.5, a.4; q.10, a.2)
5. The intimate union prevailing between supreme peace and supreme sadness in Christ.
• Peace is the tranquillity’ of order of all the affections subordinated to the love of God, the
union of the powers of the soul subject to God loved above all things.
• This union of peace and suffering belongs to the very mystery of the Redemption.
• Common Calvinist misconception that the words of Christ on the Cross “A7y God,
My God, why hast Thou abandoned Me?” indicated Christ’s loss of the Vision (or
even a sign of despair by which Christ had to go to hell for three days).
• This is completely incorrect, as the words point to a quotation of the
Messianic psalm (21:5ff) made by Christ on the Cross.
• Careful reading of the psalm finds no trace of desperation, but an
expression of great grief on the part of Christ suffering for the sins of man.
• Further, these words cannot be separated from Christ’s final two
utterances from the Cross: “Zi is consummated" points to the completion of
the holocaust; "l ather, into Thy hands” points to words of consecration in
sacrifice on the Cross. Neither are words of a despairing person, (cf. Illa

•

•

q.47, a.3)
St. Thomas explains the mystery as such: Christ grieved for all sins of men at one time;
He grieved in His lower faculties which were subject to His higher reason whereby God’s
infinite dignity is known Who is offended by sin; simultaneously, Christ’s higher
faculties did not grieve over the divine permission of sin but rather rejoiced in the victory
of God’s mercy and justice.
• Sorrow and joy must be considered in two ways to understand this:
1. As being passions of the sensitive appetite, they cannot exist together as
these are contraries, either on the part of the object or on part of movement
(joy expands the heart; sorrow contracts it).
2. As simple acts of the will by which something is pleasing or displeasing,
they can exist simultaneously provided they arise from different objects or
the same object in different respects.
• EXAMPLE: If we see a good man suffer, we rejoice in his goodness but grieve at
his suffering.
• Thus considered in the second way, Christ was able to suffer amidst beatific joy:
The Passion was grievedfor and rejoiced in under different aspects'.
• Thus Christ grieved for His Passion in that it was contrary to His nature
and the effect of the crime of those who killed Him; but He rejoiced in it
inasmuch as it was according to God’s good pleasure, conducive to His
glory, and the salvation of men (in accordance with the eternal truths
present to His higher reason because of the Beatific Vision).
Christ voluntarily and miraculously prevented the overflow of glory from the higher part
of the soul to the lower, in order to abandon Himself more completely to the suffering as
a voluntary Victim (essence of the mystery itself; Aquinas’ explanation only goes so far).

Christ’s Threefold Victory [ch. 36]
1. Christ’s victory over sin
• Original sin spread first by the person (Adam) infecting the nature, and afterward by the tainted
nature affecting the person (posterity of Adam).
• Christ repairs the damage in reverse order, repairing what first regards the person (by baptism of
water/desire) and afterward simultaneously what regards all men (resurrection and glorified
body.
• Christ removes the penalty of original sin but the penalties of present life pertain to nature
(deprived of original justice), which will be removed at the resurrection on the Last Day (thus the
Christian can suffer with Christ and be glorified with Him).
2. Christ’s victory over the devil
• The devil no longer controls the wills of men who are freed from sin (that is, possessing
dominion over them); he still is able to tempt insofar as God permits, but does not reign over
them.
• By humility, obedience, and His Passion, Christ overcame the pride of the demons.
3. Christ’s victory over death
• Christ gained victory over death first by His Resurrection and will manifestly claim it on
Judgment Day.
• If Christ did not rise again, then our faith in Him which is the root of justification is false and
does not cleanse us from sin (cf. 1 Cor 15:17).

•
•

Further, if dead cannot rise again, then neither sin is destroyed, nor death overcome, nor the
curse taken away.
Christ by the merit of His Passion repaired the defects of nature visited upon Him because of the
sin of man; it was impossible for Christ to be detained by the bonds of death, for then death
would have conquered the Conqueror.

On the Death of Christ (Illa q.50) [ch. 37]
> A. 1 Whether it was fitting that Christ should die?
• It was fitting for Christ to die for five reasons:
1. To satisfy for man’s sin.
2. To show He possessed a true human nature and was not a phantom.
3. That by dying He might take away fear of death from us.
4. Provides an example of dying spiritually to sin.
5. By His Resurrection, His power over death is displayed and it instills in us the hope of
rising again.
> A.2. Whether the Godhead was separatedfrom the flesh when Christ died?
• The divine nature remained hypostatically united with Christ’s body after death; thus the Son
was buried when Christ’s body was.
> A.3. Whether in Christ's death there was a severance between His Godhead and His soul?
• Although at Christ’s death the soul was separated from the body, the divine nature continued to
remain hypostatically united with the soul (or else the union would have been destroyed).
• The soul is united with the Son more intimately and primarily than the body; thus it is said of the
Son of God that His soul descended into hell.
> A. 4. Whether Christ was a man during the three days ofHis death?
• It is erroneous to assert Christ to be a man during the three days He was dead, since the soul
separated from the body
• The assumption of the human nature by the Person of the Word did not cease from the soul or
flesh, although the union of the soul and flesh did.
> A. 5. Whether Christ's body was the same identically, living or dead?
• Christ’s body was absolutely and identically the same in virtue of the supposit (on account of the
hypostatic union).
• In another sense, Christ’s body was not totally the same, living or dead, because life that was lost
belongs to the essence of a living body.
> A.6 Whether Christ's death conduced any way to man's salvation?
• Christ’s dead flesh remained the instrument of His divine nature with which it was united, and
thus it could be the efficient cause of our salvation

On Christ’s Burial (Illa q.51) [ch.37]
> A. 1. Whether it was fittingfor Christ to be buried?
• Appropriate for Christ to be buried because it proves the truth of His death and by rising from the
grave it gives us hope of rising through His Resurrection.
> A.2. Whether Christ was buried in a becoming manner ?
• Christ was buried in fitting manner in four ways in order to counter the calumnies of the Jews.
1. Buried in another’s tomb = Christ the exemplar of poverty.
2. Buried in a new tomb = Avoids accusation that someone else rose.

3. Tomb made out of hewn rock = Avoids accusation that disciples dug up the body.
4. Rock rolled in front = Rock could only be removed with the help of many hands.
> A.3 Whether Christ’s body corrupted in the tomb?
• Christ’s body remained incorrupt in order to manifest the divine power and so that nobody would
believe His death to be out of weakness of nature or somehow involuntary.
> A.4 Whether Christ was in the tomb for only one day and two nights?
• Christ’s body was appropriately buried one day and two nights (three days by way of the
synedoche, taking each of the three parts for a whole) to prove that Christ truly was dead and to
manifest the truth of His Resurrection.
On Christ’s Descent into Hell (Illa q.52) [ch.37]
> A. 1. Whether it was fitting for Christ to descend into hell?
• Christ’s soul really and substantially descended into hell and not merely effectively (here “hell”
denotes the place where the just were detained but could not as yet gain entrance into Heaven).
• His soul continues to operate as an instrument of divine nature and illuminated the place.
• Three reasons demonstrate appropriateness of Christ’s descent:
1. That Christ may deliver us from the necessity of permanent death.
2. Satan was overthrown by Christ’s Passion, and thus Christ delivered up the captives
detained in hell.
3. As Christ manifested His power on earth, so He manifests it in hell by visiting and
illuminating it.
> A. 2. Whether Christ went down into the hell of the lost?
• Christ did not descend into the hell of the lost because it was both not a fitting place for Him and
because He descended there to liberate and console those detained there, which does not occur in
the hell of the lost.
> A. 3. Whether the whole Christ was in hell?
• According to the testimonies of St. Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, and Tertullian the Catholic,
Christ’s soul remained in hell (in the limbo of the just) until the moment of His Resurrection
when it was reunited with His body.
> A. 5. Whether Christ’s descent into hell delivered the holy Fathers from thence?
• Christ delivered the souls of the just in hell from the penalty of original sin, which prevented
them from entering into the life of glory.
• Christ’s descent into hell was the cause of exceeding joy to those souls already purified.
> A. 6. Whether Christ delivered any of the damnedfrom hell?
• Christ did not deliver any of the damned by His descent into hell; His descent operated in virtue
of His Passion and thus only those found to be united to His Passion by faith actuated by charity
were liberated.
> A. 8. Whether Christ’s descent into hell delivered souls from purgatory?
• Christ’s descent into hell did not release all the souls in purgatory, but only those sufficiently
cleansed for entrance into Heaven; yet to those souls not about to be immediately liberated, they
were consoled and rejoiced in the glory they would receive.
• Further, those living at the time of Christ’s death who merited by faith in His Passion would still
have to undergo purgatory if they were not sufficiently disposed for entrance into Heaven (hence
Christ’s descent into hell was not satisfactory).
On Christ’s Resurrection (Illa q.53) [ch. 38]

> A. 1. Whether it was necessary for Christ to rise again?
• It is of the deposit of Faith that Christ rose again by His own power, that it was a true
resurrection of His body, that the soul was reunited with the same body, and afterward He truly
ate although he did not have to.
• It was necessary for Christ to rise again for five reasons:
1. For the commendation of divine justice to which it belongs to exalt the humble (cf. St. Lk
24:26).
2. Instructs man’s faith, confirming belief in Christ’s divinity (cf. 1 Cor 15:12).
3. Increases our hope in the resurrection of our own body (ibid).
4. To set in order the lives of the faithful, so that we may also walk in the newness of life.
5. To complete the work of salvation as promised by Christ; it was ordained by God that
only after the Resurrection would the Holy Ghost be given (St. Lk 24:27).
> A.2. Whether it was fittingfor Christ to rise again on the third day?
• It was appropriate for Christ to rise again on the third day and not to delay His Resurrection until
the end of time in order to confirm belief in the truth of His humanity and death (of which a
small delay sufficed).
> A. 3. Whether Christ was the first to rise from the dead?
• Nobody rose from the dead or ascended into Heaven in the manner that Christ did before Christ
Himself accomplished it.
• Those whose life was restored by Christ’s miracles (e.g. Lazarus, the widow’s son, the daughter
of Jairus) were resurrected only by Christ’s power, and this being done imperfectly.
• Those restored by Christ were rescued from actual death but not from the necessity and
possibility of dying.
• Further, the three figures Christ restored represent three degrees of spiritual death from
which only our Lord’s saving grace can restore (Lazarus being the worst degree of the
three).
> A. 4. Whether Christ was the cause ofHis own Resurrection?
• Christ, in virtue of His divine nature (and Person) was the principal efficient cause of His
Resurrection and His soul and body were instruments of His divine nature.
• Christ’s Passion was the meritorious cause of His Resurrection.

On the character of Christ’s body after the Resurrection (Illa q.54) [ch. 38]
> A. 1. Whether Christ had a true body after His Resurrection?
• Christ had to rise again with the same body, or else the Resurrection would not have been true.
A. 2. Whether Christ’s body rose glorified?
• The body rose entire since it was the same nature after His Resurrection as it was before,
although glorified.
A.3. Whether Christ’s body rose again entire?
• Upon the Resurrection, Christ’s soul communicated its glory to the reunited body, thus it rose
entire.
> A.4. Whether Christ’s body ought to have risen with its scars?
• It was fitting for Christ to rise again with his scars for three reasons:
1. As permanent marks of victory, to convince the Apostles that it was the same crucified
body which rose.
2. That He may continually show His Father what manner of death He endured for man
when He pleads for us.

3. To manifest the scars to all who are judged as a motive for love and gratitude for the just,
and as reproof and shame for the damned.
On the Manifestation of the Resurrection (Illa q.55) [ch. 38]
r- A. 1 Whether Christ’s Resurrection ought to have been manifested to all?
• Christ manifested His Resurrection to some who were witnesses as to make His Resurrection
known.
• Christ appeared first to the holy women because their love for our Lord was more persistent than
that of the disciples.
• Probable opinion that Christ appeared first to the Blessed Mother (St. Albert the Great, St.
Bonaventure);
although some may
object that this is not
in line with Scripture,
the solution is that
Holy Writ first
records our Lord
appearing to
Magdalen, though she
may not be
numerically the first.
'r- K.2. Whether it was fittingfor the disciples to see Christ rise again?
• Christ’s Resurrection was not witnessed by men in that it superceded man’s knowledge.
• It is in accord with the divinely established order that such things be proclaimed or revealed
through the medium of angels; Christ’s Ascension was witnessed by men to a certain point and
then was hidden from their sight.
'r- A.3. Whether Christ ought to have lived constantly with His disciples after His Resurrection?
• Appropriate for Christ not to live with His disciples continually in order to manifest His glory in
virtue of the Resurrection and to avoid seeming as if He rose to the same life as before.
• Chrysostom comments that Christ’s command to Magdalene not to touch Him points to His
different manner of existing.
AA. 5,6. On the proofs of Christ's Resurrection.
• Christ sufficiently proved the truth of His Resurrection:
1. The account on the road to Emmaeus.
2. The angel’s announcement of the Resurrection.
3. As appearing bodily to the Apostles and by talking, eating, and allowing them to probe
His scars.
4. By His miracles, e.g. passage through closed doors, the catch of the fish, His Ascension
into Heaven.
• Common objection that angels have appeared in human form and spoke, but were not truly
human; this is easily answered in that these angels did not assert themselves to be truly men and
they neither worked miracles to prove this.
On the Causality of Christ’s Resurrection (Illa q.56) [ch.38]
r- AA 1,2. Christ's Resurrection as the cause of the resurrection of our bodies and souls.
• Christ’s Resurrection is the exemplar and efficient instrumental cause of the resurrection of our

bodies and souls.
• Christ’s humanity, according to which Christ rose, is the instrument of the divinity united
with it to raise our bodies and sanctify our souls.
• The efficacy of Christ’s Resurrection reaches the soul in virtue of the Godhead personally
united with Christ’s Resurrected body (act of divine power in virtual contact with
everything existing).

On Christ’s Ascension (Illa q.57) [ch.38]
> A. 1. Whether it was fittingfor Christ to ascend into Heaven?
• Appropriate for Christ to ascend into Heaven after the Resurrection because His body was
incorruptible and Heaven is the place of incorruption.
• Further, the Ascension better manifested Christ’s victory over death and increased man’s
faith in things unseen and strengthened hope to reach Heaven.
• Christ’s stay on earth for forty days proves most efficaciously (by His acts and words) the
truth of His Resurrection.
> A.2. Whether Christ's Ascension belonged to Him in His divine nature?
• Christ ascended into Heaven as man but by the power of His divine nature.
> A.3. Whether Christ ascended by His own power ?
• Christ ascended by His own power in two ways:
1. By His divine power in virtue of His divinity.
2. By the power of His glorified soul moving His body at will.
> A. 5. Whether Christ’s body ascended above every spiritual creature?
• Christ’s body ascended above every spiritual creature on account of the dignity of the hypostatic
union.
> A. 6. Whether Christ’s Ascension is the cause of man’s salvation?
• Christ’s Ascension is the cause of our salvation in two ways:
1. Increases and advances the theological virtues by which Christ is revered.
2. On Christ’s part, His Ascension prepared the way for us as our Head. (cf. Jn 14:2)
Christ the King, Judge, and Head of the Blessed [ch. 39]
Christ as King (cf Illa q.58)
• Christ’s claim to kingship rests on three titles (cf. Pius XI, Quas Primas, Denz. 2193ff).
1. The hypostatic union: Christ as man transcends all creatures in virtue of His humanity
being joined to the divine nature, which thus makes all His acts theandric and of infinite
value.
2. His claim to plentitude ofgrace: Christ possesses this by natural right (since He is God)
and because he excels all creatures in His humanity and is head of the Church.
3. On account that He redeemed us: All Christ’s acts ate theandric, thus meritorious,
satisfactory, and of infinite value; He purchased man at a great price making us His
members.
• Significance of Christ at the Father’s right hand.
• Christ’s place at the Father’s right hand signifies His share in the glory of the Godhead
with the Father, possessing beatitude and judiciary power, both which are unchangeable
and royal (cf. Illa q.58, a.2).
• This place properly belongs to Christ in three ways:
1. Because He is the Son of God, eternally Begotten with identical nature to the

Father.
2. Because of the grace of the hypostactic union, Christ as man (in virtue of the
supposit) is the Son of God.
3. Christ in His human nature possessed habitual grace in its highest degree and thus
He possesses over all creatures royal and judiciary power.
• The word rex comes from regere, meaning to rule, direct, or govern.
• According to Aquinas, to govern the world is to bring things of the world to their proper
end, but his can be taken in either a spiritual or temporal sense.
1. Christ as God rules as Lord and King of all, both spiritually and temporally.
2. Christ as man is the spiritual King of all men, societies, and angels.
• In this regard, Christ is king by legislative jurisdiction, coercion, and
administration, possessing this right over all members and all civil affairs.
• Further, all civil governments must accept Christian revelation and legislate
accordingly, otherwise this leads to the grave error of laicism.
• Laicism is the result of the rejection of Christ’s universal kingdom, leading to
the gradual loss of distinction between the true andfalse religions, and then to
the abolition of all religion (even natural religion), thus establishing the reign
of impiety and immorality. (Pius XI, Quas Primas, Denz. 2197)
4. Christ did not exercise His power as temporal king over the whole world during
His earthly mission.
• Christ’s kingdom is primarily of a spiritual nature and concerns spiritual
things; although all things are under His power, given Him by the Father,
Christ entirely refrained from the exercise of His temporal authority.
• In virtue of His kingship, Christ necessarily possesses legislative, judicial, and executive powers.
1. legislative: The Gospels clearly show Christ making laws and promising reward for those
who keep His commandments (cf. St. Jn 14:15, 15:10).
2. judicial·. Having received this power from the Father, this power includes the right to
reward and punish: “All judgement the Father has given to t he Son.” (St. Jn 5:22)
3. executive', no one is exempt from obeying Christ’s commands (notions of both eternal
and divine law and what flows therefrom; cf. lallae q.90ff).
> Christ as Judge (cf. Illa, q.59)
• Judiciary power befits Christ for three reasons:
1. In virtue of the hypostatic union.
2. On account of His fullness of grace and dignity of headship.
3. Because of His infinite merits (all His acts, because of His divine nature, are theandric
and infinite).
• This judiciary power is appropriate to Christ’s two natures as regard all human affairs.
• Christ’s judgement primarily consists of each man’s particular judgement, and also the general
judgement, showing Christ to be judge over each individual as well as all rational creation.
• Christ exerts judiciary power over angels in accordance with His divine nature, for He did not
possess a human nature at the time of their judgement, which was effected by the Word of God.
• Aquinas notes that the angels are subject also to Christ’s judiciary power in His humanity for
two reasons:
1. In virtue of the hypostatic union.
2. Christ’s human nature was exalted above the angels because of the lowliness of His
Passion.

> Christ as Head of the Blessed
• Christ is Head of the Blessed for four reasons:
1. He is equal to the Father in His divinity, and in His humanity He excels all other
creatures in possession of divinely good things.
2. Christ as God preserves the existence of the blessed and their consummation in grace; as
man He rules and illumine them, giving them joy (Apoc 21:23).
3. Christ as man adores the Father, thanking Him, and offering Him His whole mystical
body; on this account, He intercedes for wayfarers until the end of the world.
4. Christ is adored by the blessed and receives their thanks inasmuch as He is the Savior of
all.

+
Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam.
Sit nomen Domini benedictum in saecula. Arnen.

TRACTUS DE REDEMPTIONE

A compiled outline based on the second part of the Christological treatise
Christ the Savior by Rev. R. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
in accordance with the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas
IIIa, qq. 46-59

+
Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi?
A. D. 2001