128. Christ's Resurrection as Cause of Our Resurrection

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• Christ’s Resurrection as Primary Cause: Whether Christ’s resurrection is the first cause of all subsequent resurrections
• Primary vs. Secondary Causation: God’s divine justice as primary cause; Christ’s resurrection as secondary/instrumental cause
• Types of Causality: Efficient causation through divine power; exemplary causation as a model; distinction from meritorious causation
• Resurrection of Bodies vs. Souls: How Christ’s resurrection affects bodily resurrection (universal) versus spiritual resurrection (for the justified)
• Divine Power and Temporal Distance: How Christ’s resurrection can be an efficient cause across time and space

Key Arguments #

Arguments Against Christ’s Resurrection Being a Cause #

• If Christ’s resurrection were a sufficient cause, all the dead should have risen immediately when He rose
• Divine justice appears sufficient for resurrection without requiring Christ’s resurrection
• An efficient cause requires bodily or spiritual contact, which Christ’s resurrection cannot have across distances of time and place
• Sinners and the faithless also rise, yet lack the faith and charity that would constitute spiritual contact
• Christ cannot be a meritorious cause since He is no longer viator (on the way) but comprehensor (at the end)

Thomas’s Resolution: The Primary-Secondary Cause Distinction #

• Christ’s resurrection is the first in the genus of resurrection and therefore must be the cause of all subsequent resurrections
• Christ is the primitia dormientium (firstfruits of those sleeping) per 1 Corinthians 15:20-21
• Divine justice is the primary cause; Christ’s resurrection is the secondary/instrumental cause
• God decreed to liberate us through Christ’s resurrection, making it instrumental by divine choice rather than necessity
• The divine power operates through Christ’s humanity, which is closest to the Word, then extends to all others

Types of Causality in Christ’s Resurrection #

• Efficient Cause: Through the divine power united to Christ’s humanity; this power extends to all places and times via virtual contact
• Exemplary Cause: Christ’s resurrection is the model (exemplar) that the justified are conformed to; necessary not for God but for those being resurrected
• NOT Meritorious: Merit belongs only to the viator (one still on the way); Christ’s death is meritorious, not His resurrection

Important Definitions #

• Viator/Comprehensor: Viator = one still on the way to the end; comprehensor = one who has reached the end. Only the viator can merit.
• Primary Cause: God’s divine justice, which has ultimate power and necessity
• Secondary/Instrumental Cause: Christ’s resurrection, dependent on God’s decree but genuinely causal
• Exemplary Causation (causa exemplaris): The model or pattern that lesser things imitate; distinguished from intrinsic form
• Virtual Contact: The power of divinity extending to all places and times, sufficient for efficient causation without bodily proximity
• Efficient Cause (causa efficiens): That which brings about an effect through its power

Examples & Illustrations #

The Knife Analogy #

If one decides to use a knife to kill someone, the knife becomes an instrumental cause of death—not necessarily, but because the agent has chosen to use it that way. Similarly, God could have liberated us another way, but having decreed to do so through Christ’s resurrection, it becomes the instrumental cause.

The Fire and Air Analogy #

Fire first heats the nearer air, which then heats distant bodies. Similarly, God first enlightens substances close to Him, through whom He enlightens more remote ones. Christ’s humanity, being closest to the Word, receives immortal life first, then works resurrection in others through that divine power.

Augustine on Bodies and Souls #

Augustine says bodies rise through human dispensation but souls rise through God’s substance. Thomas clarifies: souls rise through partaking (participatione) of God, not through any creature. Just as bodies become glorious through partaking of Christ’s glorified body.

Key Questions & Resolutions #

Q1: Is Christ’s Resurrection a Cause of Our Resurrection? #

Answer: Yes. Christ is the first in the genus of resurrection and therefore must be the cause of all others in that genus (applying Aristotle’s principle from Metaphysics II).

Q2: Why Don’t All the Dead Rise Immediately? #

Answer: God’s divine will operates according to His decree. We must first be conformed to Christ’s suffering and death in this mortal life before partaking in the likeness of His resurrection.

Q3: What Kind of Cause Is It? #

Answer: Primarily an efficient cause through divine power (not requiring spatial contact, but virtual contact); also an exemplary cause for the good. It is NOT a meritorious cause.

Q4: Does Christ’s Resurrection Cause the Resurrection of Souls? #

Answer: Yes, through the power of His divinity united to His humanity. It is an efficient cause of both souls and bodies, but an exemplary cause properly only of the good.

Q5: Why Do All Bodies Rise But Not All Souls? #

Answer: Christ judges all, so all bodies rise for punishment or reward. But only the good are conformed to Christ’s sonship in their souls, so spiritual resurrection properly extends only to them.

Notable Theological Points #

• The division of Christ’s work into three goods: descent to hell (good of the soul), resurrection (good of the body), ascension (exterior good of proper place)
• Passion is meritorious; resurrection is not, since merit belongs to the viator state
• Justification involves both remission of guilt (effected by passion/death) and newness of life (effected by resurrection)
• The resurrection extends exemplarily only to the good who are conformed to Christ’s clarity; it extends efficiently to all for judgment