31. Christ as Head of the Church: Nature and Scope

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Christ as Head: Three Aspects #

Christ is compared to the head of a natural body according to three aspects:

• Order (being first among members)
• Perfection (possessing all senses and faculties)
• Power (governing and moving the members)

These apply spiritually to Christ: his proximity to God gives him priority in grace; his fullness of grace provides perfection; his power to pour grace into the Church provides governance.

Christ’s Headship of Bodies and Souls #

Main Question: Is Christ the head of men as he guards their bodies?

Objections:

• The body is not capable of receiving spiritual grace and motion
• According to bodies we hold in common with brute animals; if Christ were head of bodies, he would be head of brutes (inconvenient conclusion)
• Christ drew his body from other men, yet the head should be first among members

Resolution: The human body has natural order to the rational soul, which is its substantial form. The soul is the form of the body and the mover of the body; therefore the body serves the soul as an instrument. Christ’s humanity, joined to the Word through the soul, flows into men as regards:

• Chiefly: The soul
• Secondarily: The body (through two modes)
  • Members of the body become instruments of justice to the soul existing through Christ (Romans 6:13)
  • The life of glory is derived from soul to body (Romans 8:11)

Response to Objections:

• Spiritual grace does not arrive at the body first and chiefly, but in second place and as an instrument
• Brute animals’ bodies have no relation to a rational soul as human bodies do; therefore no similarity
• Though Christ drew the matter of his body from other men, the immortal life of the body all men draw from Christ (1 Corinthians 15: “as in Adam all die, so in Christ all are vivified”)

Christ’s Headship of All Men: The Problem of Time #

Main Question: Is Christ the head of all men, including the unfaithful and Old Testament saints?

Key Problem: The natural head and all its members exist together. But the Church’s members span from the beginning to the end of the world—they do not all exist at the same time.

Critical Distinction: Between the mystical body and the natural body:

• Natural body: members are all simultaneous (simul together)
• Mystical body: members are not all together either in being of nature or being of grace
  • Different times: from beginning of world to its end
  • Different states: some lack grace now who will have it; others already have it

Members in Potency vs. in Act: Members of the mystical body are taken not only as they are in act but also as they are in potency (ability/potentiality). Some potencies:

• Will never be reduced to act (those predestined to be outside the Church)
• Will sometime be reduced to act (the predestined)

Five Grades of Headship:

1. In glory (those united to Christ through vision of God face to face)
2. In charity (those united through charity—living faithful and souls in purgatory)
3. In faith (those united through faith but without charity)
4. In potency to be reduced to act (those who will be reduced through predestination)
5. In potency never to be reduced to act (those living in the world not predestined; cease to be members upon death)

General Principle: Taking the whole time of the world generally, Christ is the head of all men according to diverse grades.

Response to Objections:

• Unfaithful are not members in act but in ability (potency), founded in two things:
  • Chiefly: The virtue of Christ, which is sufficient for salvation of the whole human race
  • Secondarily: Free will (liberum arbitrium)
• The glorious church without stain or wrinkle is the ultimate end/goal, not the present state—this is the state of the fatherland, not the state of the way (viatoris/patriae)
• Old Testament fathers served legal sacraments as shadows of future things and were oriented toward Christ through faith and charity, thus pertain to the same body, the Church

Christ’s Headship of Angels #

Main Question: Can Christ, as man, be head of the angels?

Objections:

• Head and members must be of one nature; Christ as man is not of the same nature as angels
• The Church is a congregation of the faithful; angels do not have faith (they see God directly)
• The Word made flesh vivifies souls and bodies, but angels have neither

Response: There is a difference between natural body and mystical body. In a mystical body, all members are ordered to one end: the glory of divine enjoyment. Both men and angels are so ordered; therefore both belong to the Church’s mystical body.

Conformity: Men and angels conform in intellectual nature (both are intellectual creatures with will), though not in bodily nature.

Christ’s Headship of Angels: Based on him being closer to God and more perfectly partaking of divine influence than any creature. From the eminence of Christ’s grace, influence flows not only to men but also to angels.

Scripture Support: Colossians 2:10 (Christ head of every principality and power), Ephesians 1:20 (constituted above every prince and power), Matthew 4:11 (angels ministered to him).

Response to Objections:

• The influence of Christ on all beings is chiefly with regard to their soul/spirit, not body; men and angels conform in intellectual nature (genus), though not species
• The Church in the state of the fatherland is a congregation not of believers but of those comprehending God; Christ is head of both believers and comprehensors
• Christ’s humanity, by reason of its joining to the divine nature, is able to cause something not only in spirits of men but also in spirits of angels; his humanity serves as instrument of divinity

Key Arguments #

For Christ’s Headship as Both Intrinsic and Extrinsic #

• Intrinsically: Through the flowing in of grace (interior)
• Extrinsically: Through governing and authority (exterior)
• Both modes pertain to Christ, though only interior flowing pertains to him in a unique way

For the Mystical Body Spanning Time #

• Just as a natural head must direct all members that belong to its body, so Christ directs all members of his mystical body across all time
• Potency (ability) is founded in Christ’s sufficient virtue plus free will
• Old Testament saints possessed the same charity and faith toward Christ as New Testament faithful

For Christ’s Headship of Angels #

• All intellectual creatures (men and angels) are ordered to the same ultimate end (divine enjoyment)
• Christ’s proximity to God and perfection in grace make him capable of being head of all intellectual creatures
• The mystical body necessarily includes all creatures ordered to the same end

Important Definitions #

Mystical Body (Corpus Mysticum) #

The Church understood as one body with Christ as head, composed of all the faithful (and potentially all men and angels) ordered to union with God. Unlike a natural body, its members exist across time rather than simultaneously.

Potency (Potentia) and Act (Actus) #

• Potency: The ability or capacity to be or become something
• Act: The realization or actualization of that capacity
• Members of the mystical body include those in potency who have not yet been reduced to act

Substantial Form (Forma Substantialis) #

The soul as the substantial form of the body—that which makes a body alive and human. The soul is both the form (making the body be what it is) and the mover (moving the body as an instrument).

State of the Way (Status Viae) vs. State of the Fatherland (Status Patriae) #

• Status Viae: The present condition of souls in this life, in which sin and imperfection remain possible
• Status Patriae: The ultimate state after final judgment, in which the Church appears glorious without stain or wrinkle

Secundum Quid vs. Simpliciter #

• Secundum quid: In a qualified way; with qualification
• Simpliciter: Simply; without qualification; absolutely Used to distinguish partial or conditional membership/union from full membership/union.

Examples & Illustrations #

The Natural Body and Head #

The head guides the body through sensory perception (order), possesses all senses and faculties (perfection), and moves all members through the brain and nerves (power). These three aspects transfer analogously to Christ’s spiritual headship.

The Teacher’s Knowledge #

Berquist illustrates that the knowledge perfecting the teacher’s mind is the same in essence as the knowledge by which he teaches others, though these differ in notion (one perfects the mind; the other is the source of teaching). Similarly, Christ’s personal grace and his grace as head are identical in essence but differ in notion.

Fire and Heat #

Thomas uses fire and heat to show that the same reality (heat) can be understood both as perfecting the fire itself and as the means by which fire heats other things. The acts are diverse (perfecting vs. heating), but the habit/quality is one.

The Picture and the Person #

When you see a picture of someone, you move from the picture (image) to the person (thing pictured). Similarly, Old Testament saints, observing legal sacraments as images/shadows, were moved toward Christ through the same movement by which we are also moved toward Christ.

Notable Quotes #

“The humanity of Christ has the power of flowing in, insofar as it is joined to the word of God, to which the body is united through the soul.”

“Taking generally, according to the whole time of the world, Christ is the head of all men, but according to diverse grades.”

“The members of the mystical body are not only taken according as they are in act, but also as they are in ability.”

“It is the same in essence, the personal grace for which the soul of Christ was justified, and his grace according as he is the head of the church, justifying others, but it differs only according to notion.”

“The unfaithful, although in act they are not of the church, are nevertheless in ability, which ability is founded in two things: first and chiefly in the virtue of Christ, which is sufficient for the salvation of the whole of the human race.”

Questions Addressed #

Is Christ Head of Men as He Guards Their Bodies? #

Resolution: Yes. The body naturally ordered to the rational soul receives life and properties from the soul. Christ’s humanity, joined to the Word through the soul, flows into men as regards the soul chiefly and the body secondarily. Bodies are not made equal to brute animals’ bodies because human bodies have relation to a rational soul.

Is Christ the Head of All Men Across Time? #

Resolution: Yes, taking the whole time of the world generally, Christ is the head of all men according to diverse grades of membership (in act and in potency). Even the unfaithful are members in potency because Christ’s virtue is sufficient for the salvation of the whole human race, though this requires the cooperation of free will.

Is Christ the Head of Angels? #

Resolution: Yes. Though angels and men do not conform in bodily nature, they conform in intellectual nature (both being intelligent creatures with will). The mystical body includes both men and angels ordered to the same end (divine enjoyment), and Christ’s eminence in grace makes him capable of being head of all intellectual creatures.

Are Personal Grace and Grace as Head the Same? #

Resolution: They are the same in essence but differ in notion. The same grace that perfects Christ’s soul is the source from which grace flows to others. The diversity of acts (sanctification of one’s own soul vs. justification of others) does not diversify the habit when one act is the reason and cause of the other.

Philosophical Principles Employed #

Being in Act and Acting #

“Each thing acts insofar as it is a being in act. It is necessary that it be the same in act by which something is in act and by which it acts. Just as the same is the heat by which fire is hot and by which it heats.”

However, not every act suffices for acting upon another—the agent must be more outstanding (eminentior) than the patient (as Augustine and Aristotle teach). Christ’s eminence in grace is what enables his grace to be the source of grace for all.

Natural Order and Form #

The human body has a natural order to the rational soul as its form. Through this ordering, the body receives life and properties suitable to human nature. This principle allows Christ’s influence to extend to bodies through the soul.