2. In talking about the humanity of Christ we must not rely on
our reason alone rather we look in the eyes of faith so that we may
see the truth clearly. On the other hand, we cannot separate the
reason and faith for they must go hand in hand. As St. Augustine
says, faith seeks understanding. Moreover, scripture presents to us
the evidences to prove the humanity of Christ. This will be our
guide to have an idea on the life of Christ. In addition, the truth
by which our early fathers of the church passed on to us will be
part of this topic. The error of the teaching of some early
Christians will The Humanity of Christ
3. The Incarnation 1. Fitness of the Incarnation 2. The Union
of the Word and Flesh 3. The Person Assuming Human Nature 4. The
Nature Assumed 5. Elements of the Nature Assumed 6. Order of the
Elements Assumed 7. The Grace of Christ as a Man 8. The Grace of
Christ as Head of the Church 9. Knowledge in Christ 10. The
Beatific Knowledge in Christ 11. Christs Infused Knowledge 12. The
Power of Christs Human Soul 13. Consequences of the Hypostatic
Union 14. The Oneness of the Being of Christ 15. The Unity of Will
in Christ 16. The Unity of Operation in Christ 17. The Subjection
of Christ to God the Father 18. The Prayer of Christ 19. The
Priesthood of Christ 20. The Adoption of Christ 21. The
Predestination of Christ 22. The Adoration of Christ 23. Christ as
Mediator
4. 1. Fitness of the Incarnation The Incarnation was necessary
for mans salvation. It was not absolutely necessary, for God is
almighty, and he could have restored fallen man in other ways. But
it was relatively necessary in relation to the need of bringing
redemption to man in the most noble, effective, and admirable
way.
5. 2. The Union of the Word and the Flesh Mans essence,
physically considered, is body and soul; mans nature is the human
essence as capable of living, walking, talking, thinking, willing.
Now, Gods nature and essence are in all respects one and the same
reality; this is because of Gods perfect simplicity. And human
nature is a complete nature in its kind.
6. 3. The Person Assuming Human Nature It is most fitting that
the Divine Son became man to redeem us, rather than the Father or
the Holy Ghost. For the Son is the Word in whom is the exemplar of
every creature. Now, as a craftsman restores his broken handiwork
according to the original model or exemplar, so it is suitable that
the restoration of Gods broken human handiwork should be
accomplished through and by the Son. Again, to make men the
adoptive sons of God, it was
7. 4. The Nature Assumed The Son of God assumed the nature of
man, but not the person of a man. In Christ the human nature is
hypostatically united to the divine Nature in the one Person of God
the Son. Therefore, Christ is (by the human nature assumed), truly
human, but he is not a human person. He is a divine Person. And
that Person is the Second Person of the
8. 5. Elements of the Nature Assumed The human body of Christ
is a true human body, not merely an apparent body. The Son of God
assumed true human nature, and to this nature a real body belongs.
If the body of Christ were merely an apparent body, there would
have been something fictitious in the work of redemption. For if
Christ had not a real body, he could not really
9. 6. Order of the Elements Assumed The Son of God assumed
human nature entire, and therefore assumed its parts. He did not
assume part after part until the whole was made up; he did not
assume human nature through the medium of parts, but he assumed the
parts through the medium of the whole.
10. 7. The Grace of Christ as a Man From the beginning of
Christs human existence, he was in full possession and enjoyment of
God, and this is the object of hope. Hence, there was neither need
nor possibility of the theological virtue of hope in Christ as man.
Of course, our Lord can look forward humanly to the future events
of his human life: his Resurrection, for instance, and his
11. 8. The Grace of Christ as Head of the Church The grace of
Christ as Head of the Church, called capital grace, is in reality
the same sanctifying or habitual grace which is in him as a human
individual (that is, personal grace), and which constitutes that
fullness of grace of which we have all received.
12. 9. Knowledge in Christ As man, he has all the human
perfections, including a human mind with its human or created
knowledge. Even though he has perfect knowledge to begin with, he
also, during his earthly life, learned things in a human way.
13. 10. The Beatific Knowledge in Christ Christ as man knows
all things in the divine Word, for Christ is the divine Word as
well as true and creatural man. The human mind of Christ does not
itself know all things possible; here again we should have a case
of finite encompassing infinite. But the human mind of Christ does
know, in the Word, all that is actually said or thought or done by
anyone at any time, past,
14. 11. Christs Infused Knowledge The infused knowledge
possessed by Christ as man is more excellent than the knowledge
possessed by the angels, and this, both in extent, and in the
perfection of pure certitude. For the spiritual enlightenment of
Christs human soul is more excellent, by reason of the hypostatic
union, than that which is shed upon any other creature,
15. 12. Christs Acquired Knowledge There is acquired knowledge
in Christ as man. It is perfect knowledge in its kind; that is,
Christ knows by his acquired knowledge whatever can be humanly
known through the service of the intellect. Christs human acquired
knowledge is acquired and possessed as a perfection of his perfect
human nature, not as a
16. 13. Deficiencies in the Body of Christ Christ could suffer
in his body such things as hunger, thirst, pain, death. These
hardships or defects are in themselves punishments for the sin
which Christ had not. But it is suitable that he who came as man to
atone for human sin should take on the nonstaining punishments
consequent in man upon the original sin. By assuming human nature
with these bodily deficiencies, our Lord proved his true humanity,
and gave to
17. 14. Consequences of the Hypostatic Union To say God was
made man is strictly true. But this does not mean that God was
created, or made simply. It means that human nature, which is a
creature, was assumed to the eternal God. To say that God was made
man is not to suggest that the changeless God was changed, but that
human nature was changed inasmuch as it now subsists in a divine
Person without constituting a
18. 15. The Oneness of the Being of Christ Since oneness and
being are really the same, the being of Christ is one. Human nature
is not merely adjoined to the divine Nature of the Son of God, but
is united to it hypostatically. Nothing new comes to the divine
Person by this union, no newness or otherness of being; what occurs
is a relation according to which the eternal Person of the Son now
subsists in two natures. And thus the being of Christ is one
being.
19. 16. The Unity of Will in Christ Christ had a perfect human
nature, and hence he had a human will. Therefore, there are two
wills in Christ, the human will and the divine will. Our Lord
himself contrasts these two wills when he prays: Father, if thou
wilt, remove this chalice from me; nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. Now, as God, Christ has the divine will undividedly
with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Hence, in the prayer quoted, he
speaks of my will as his human
20. 17. The Unity of Operation in Christ In Christ, the perfect
man, the distinctively human operations prevailed, so that no
sensitive movement took place without his will; even natural bodily
(vegetal) operations belonged in some sense to his will, for, it
was Christs will that his flesh should do and suffer what belonged
to it. Hence, there was perfect unity in the operations
21. 18. The Subjection of Christ to God the Father Christ is
God the Son, equal with the Father and one with him in essence and
nature. But Christ is also man, and as man is subject to the
Father. He says: As the Father hath given me commandment, so do I.
And we also read that Christ humbled himself in obedience to the
Father, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of
22. 19. The Prayer of Christ A prayer, as petition, is asking
God to fulfill ones wish or will. Now, the human will of Christ is
finite, and hence not capable, without divine power, of carrying
out or achieving all that it wishes. Therefore, it is fitting that
Christ as man should pray. It is becoming that Christ should pray
thus, for so he acknowledges the truth that God is the author of
his human nature. Besides, he gives us a valuable example of
making
23. 20. The Priesthood of Christ It is fitting that Christ be a
priest. The office of a priest is to bestow sacred things on the
people; to offer the prayers of the people to God; to make, in some
manner, satisfaction for the peoples sins. Our Lord exercised this
priestly office; hence, he was and is a priest. And fittingly so;
the priestly ministry belongs essentially to what Christ came to
do, as St. Paul says: Having therefore a
24. 21. The Predestination of Christ The predestinated sonship
of Christ as man is the exemplar of our predestinated sonship by
adoption. And, indeed, the predestinated sonship of Christ as man
is the cause of our predestinated sonship by adoption. For
scripture says that God hath predestinated us into the adoption of
children through Jesus Christ.
25. 22. Christ as Mediator As man, Christ stands between God
and sinful human beings. He unites men to God by graces and gifts.
He offers to God prayers and satisfaction for mankind. Hence, it is
as man that Christ is mediator: The man Christ Jesus.
26. If there is any one thing of which modern Christians have
been certain it is that Jesus was a true man, bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh, in all points tempted as we are. We need only
read the Gospels to attest to the fact of Jesus' genuine humanity.
There is not a limitation that humanity shares that Jesus did not
fall heir. Like the rest of us, he got hungry. When at the well of
Samaria he asked the women who was drawing water for a drink. When
he grew tired, he needed rest and sleep. He learned obedience, in
the way we must learn it. When his disciples were unfaithful it was
very cutting to his heart. The blindness of the city he longed to
save moved him to tears. In the garden he experienced the normal
agony of any individual in the same situation. On the Cross, he
added to all physical tortures the final agony of feeling
God-forsaken.
27. Again we may notice that Jesus was by no means omniscient.
His knowledge was essentially limited by human conditions. We may
notice the human character of our Lord's moral and religious life.
His religious experience was in the human realm. Certainly he had a
human faith in God. Jesus overcame his temptations not by reliance
on some inherent divine dimension, but by the constancy of his
will. So we are moved to the conclusion, on the basis of peremptory
evidence, that Jesus shared fully our human life.
