41. Christ's Omnipotence and Bodily Defects

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Christ’s Omnipotence (Question 13) #

Article 1: General Omnipotence #

• Omnipotence properly belongs to God alone, not to creatures
• The soul of Christ, being a creature with limited nature, cannot possess omnipotence simply
• Omnipotence means power over all things that have the notion of being
• Knowledge of all things is possible through infused knowledge; power over all things is not possible for a creature

Article 2: Omnipotence Regarding Changes of Creatures #

Thomas makes a three-fold distinction of changes:

1. Natural changes - proceeding from a creature’s own agent according to the order of nature
2. Miraculous changes - proceeding from a supernatural agent above the customary order of nature (e.g., raising the dead)
3. Changes according to reduction to nothing - the reduction of creatures from being to non-being

Two-fold consideration of Christ’s soul:

1. According to its own nature and power (natural or gratuitous) - suitable effects: governing the body, disposing human acts, enlightening rational creatures through fullness of grace and knowledge
2. As instrument of the Word united to it - instrumental power over all miraculous changes orderable to the Incarnation

Key principle: Only God can create or reduce creatures to nothing; therefore, the soul of Christ cannot do this.

Article 3: Omnipotence Regarding His Own Body #

Two considerations:

1. According to its own nature and power - The soul cannot change its body from its natural disposition, because the soul has a determined ratio (proportional relationship) to its own body
2. As instrument of the Word - All dispositions of the body are subject to divine power working through the soul

Limitations on imagination’s power: While strong imagination naturally affects bodily changes that have natural order to imagination (heat, cold, locomotion, fear), it cannot change things without natural order to imagination (e.g., the shape of hands or feet).

Article 4: Omnipotence Regarding Execution of His Will #

Two ways Christ willed things:

1. To be fulfilled by himself - Whatever he willed to do by himself, he was able to do
2. By divine power - Some things (miracles, his resurrection) required divine power as instrument

Key resolution: Christ’s human will was ordered to his divine will. His commands that were not obeyed (e.g., to keep silence about miracles) expressed his human will seeking not personal glory but providing example to his servants.

Christ’s Bodily Defects (Question 14) #

Why Christ Assumed Bodily Defects #

Three reasons:

1. Satisfaction for sin - Defects like death, hunger, thirst are punishments of sin; Christ assumed these to satisfy for human sin
2. Instruction in faith - Without bodily defects, Christ would not appear truly human; his wounds confirmed faith (Thomas’s recognition of the risen Christ)
3. Example of patience - Christ’s endurance provides example for believers to imitate

The Role of Soul’s Perfection #

• The soul’s perfection in grace, knowledge, and charity was necessary for satisfaction to be efficacious
• Satisfaction requires both matter (bodily defects) and form (charity and will to satisfy)

Natural Necessity of Defects #

• Natural necessity (from mortal flesh) - Christ’s body was necessarily subject to death and defects
• Necessity of force - Neither divine will nor deliberate human will was coerced
• Christ’s natural will recoiled from death (“not my will, but thine”), but his deliberate will consented to the Father’s will

Key Arguments #

On Christ’s General Omnipotence #

• Objection: Christ said “all power is given to me” (Matthew 28:18); therefore he has omnipotence
• Response: This power is given through the hypostatic union; it refers to instrumental power as united to the Word, made manifest after the Resurrection, not to the soul’s own power
• Principle: Active power follows upon nature; the soul’s nature is limited and creaturely

On Creatures’ Changes #

• Objection: The soul of Christ is more perfect than any creature; each creature can be moved by some other creature; therefore Christ’s soul should have omnipotence regarding creatures
• Response: Although every creature is changeable by another creature, not every change that can come about concerning creatures can come about from a creature. Some changes belong to God alone.

On Omnipotence Regarding His Body #

• Objection: Damascene says all things were voluntary for Christ (hunger, thirst, fear, death); from this God is said to be omnipotent because everything he wants he does
• Response: The will of Damascene should be understood regarding the divine will of Christ. Additionally, to original justice belonged not the power to change the body in any form whatsoever, but to conserve it without harm—which power Christ could have assumed if he wished.

On Execution of His Will #

• Objection: “He entered a house and wished no one to know, but was not able to” (Mark 7:24); also he commanded some things that were not done (Matthew 9)
• Response: These expressions of will concerned human will not seeking glory, providing example to followers. His divine will always accomplished what it willed.

On Bodily Defects #

• Objection: Perfect soul should result in perfect body; defects seem to impede knowledge of Christ’s humanity
• Response: Defects are necessary for satisfaction and instruction; they don’t impede but promote the Incarnation’s purpose. Christ’s soul’s perfection could coexist with bodily defects because he deliberately chose to permit suffering.

Important Definitions #

Omnipotence (Omnipotentia) #

Power over all things that have the notion of being; properly belongs to God alone. Creatures possess limited power according to their nature.

Instrumental Power (Potentia Instrumentalis) #

Power exercised not from one’s own nature but as an instrument of a superior agent. Christ’s soul possessed instrumental power as united to the Word for performing miracles.

Natural Necessity (Necessitas Naturalis) #

Necessity that follows from the principles of nature (matter and form). Distinct from necessity of force (coercion from external agent).

Satisfaction (Satisfactio) #

In theology, making amends for sin by undergoing the punishment due to sin. Requires both matter (the punishment) and form (the will and charity of the one satisfying).

Hypostatic Union (Unio Hypostatica) #

The union of divine and human natures in the single person of Christ the Word. Allows attribution of divine properties to the man Christ and human properties to the Word.

Ratio (Proportion/Proportional Relationship) #

The determined relationship between the soul and its body according to nature—the soul’s nature has a specific proportional relation to the body it informs.

Examples & Illustrations #

On Imagination’s Power Over Body #

• Man on a stick: A person can walk on a stick when it’s on the ground but falls off if elevated, due to imagination’s fear response
• Poet and imagination: Homer represented as blind because he didn’t witness the Trojan War but imagined it; Shakespeare says “the lunatic, the lover, and the poet are of imagination all compact”
• Welsh mountain legend: Those who sleep on a certain Welsh mountain wake in one of three conditions—blind, mad, or as poets—all involving imagination’s dominance
• Novelist’s imagination: The novelist is “strictly speaking mad” when writing, showing imagination’s power to affect perception

On Christ’s Commands Not Obeyed #

• Healing with injunction to silence: Christ healed blind men and commanded them to keep silent about it (Matthew 9), yet they spread his fame throughout the land
• Similar pattern: This happened several times in the Gospel
• The lesson: Gregory says Christ commanded silence to give example to his servants that they should hide their own powers; nevertheless the works were made known for others’ benefit

On Christ’s Resurrection #

• The question arises whether the soul “grabbed” the body and took it to itself again, or whether the body took on the soul, or both—resolved by noting both were instruments of divinity, and both the soul and body rose through divine power (sometimes Scripture says he rose, sometimes he was raised)

Questions Addressed #

Does the soul of Christ have omnipotence? #

No, not according to its own nature. According to its own nature and power, it has power only for effects suitable to a soul (governing the body, disposing human acts, enlightening rational creatures). As instrument of the Word, it has instrumental power over miraculous changes.

Can the soul of Christ do all things? #

According to its own power: only what is suitable to a human soul. As instrument of divinity: all things ordered to the Incarnation. It cannot create or reduce creatures to nothing.

Can the soul of Christ control its own body? #

According to its own nature: only what naturally follows from the soul-body union. As instrument of divinity: complete control of bodily disposition.

Did Christ always accomplish his will? #

Whatever he willed to do by himself, he could do. Some things (miracles, resurrection) required divine power. His prayers to the Father and his apparent failure to accomplish some commands reflect the proper ordering of human will to divine will.

Why did Christ assume bodily defects? #

For three reasons: (1) satisfaction for human sin, (2) instruction in faith that he was truly human, (3) example of patience for believers.

Was Christ necessarily subject to bodily defects? #

Natural necessity: Yes, from his mortal flesh. Necessity of force: No, neither divine will nor deliberate human will was coerced. His natural will recoiled from death, but his deliberate will consented to the Father’s will.