131. The Session of Christ at the Right of the Father

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• The Session (Sessio) of Christ: Christ’s sitting at the right hand of God the Father, understood as signifying both eternal beatitude and judicial power
• Metaphorical vs. Literal Interpretation: Right and left are not bodily positions but expressions of divine glory, honor, and power
• The Sitting Distinguished from Standing: Sitting signifies judicial authority; standing signifies aiding or fighting (Gregory)
• Meanings of “Right of the Father”: The glory and honor of God’s divinity (Damascene); dwelling in God’s beatitude (Augustine); royal and judicial power
• Christ’s Divine and Human Natures: Whether the session belongs to Christ as God, as man, or according to both natures
• The Uniqueness of Christ’s Position: Whether other creatures (angels, saints) share in the session or possess something analogous

Key Arguments #

First Article: Whether Christ Should Sit at the Right of the Father #

Objections:

• Right and left are bodily positions, but God is spirit and incorporeal
• If Christ sits at God’s right, God would sit at Christ’s left, which is unfitting
• Stephen saw Christ standing (not sitting) at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56)

Thomas’s Resolution:

• “Sitting” (sessio) signifies two distinct things:
  1. Rest or quiet in beatitude (Luke 24: “sit here in the city”)
  2. Royal or judicial power (Proverbs 20: “the king who sits in the seat of judgment”)
• The “right of the Father” is not a place but rather the glory and honor of God’s divinity
• Damascene: We do not place the right of the Father in local space, since God cannot be circumscribed. The right of the Father is the glory and honor of his divinity
• Augustine: “Sitting” means “dwelling” in the Father’s beatitude and power
• Standing vs. Sitting (Gregory): Standing signifies one fighting or aiding; sitting signifies one judging. Stephen saw Christ standing to aid him in martyrdom, while Christ will be seen sitting when he comes to judge

Resolution of Objections:

• The preposition “at” (Latin: ad) in relation to the right of the Father designates approach and distinction, not bodily position
• In divine beatitude, everything is “on the right”—there is no left because there is no misery in God’s eternal rest
• Right and left are correlative terms requiring mutual reference; one cannot have right without left in spatial terms, but in divine perfection this correlation is transcended

Second Article: Whether the Session Belongs to Christ According to His Divine Nature #

Objections:

• The right of the Father is identified as the glory of divinity, yet Christ’s assumption into heaven was according to his humanity, not divinity
• If Christ as God sits at the right, then the Holy Spirit should also, but Scripture does not affirm this
• The three divine persons are equal in nature and dignity; if one sits at the right, all should

Thomas’s Resolution:

• The preposition ad (“at”) implies only a personal distinction (distinctio personalis), not a distinction of nature or dignity
• Christ, according as he is the Son of God, sits at the right of the Father because he has the same divine nature and shares in the glory, beatitude, and judicial power essentially
• This is appropriated to the Son (though common to all three persons) because equality (aequalitas) is appropriated to the Son in Trinitarian theology
• Damascene: “We call the right of the Father the glory and honor of his divinity, in which the Son of God existed before the ages as being God and consubstantial to the Father”

Key Distinction:

• Appropriation (appropriatio): What is common to all three divine persons is attributed to one person to help us understand something distinctive about that person
• To the Son is appropriated equality because the Son perfectly manifests the Father’s nature

Third Article: Whether the Session Belongs to Christ According to His Human Nature #

Objections:

• The right of the Father is the glory of divinity, which does not belong to human nature
• Sitting at the right excludes subjection, but Christ as man is subject to the Father (1 Corinthians 15)
• To be equal to God does not pertain to Christ as man (John 14: “the Father is greater than I”)

Thomas’s Resolution:

• The “right of the Father” admits of three interpretations:
  1. The glory of God’s divinity (Damascene)
  2. God’s eternal beatitude (Augustine)
  3. Judicial and royal power (Augustine)
• The preposition ad can designate three distinct types of relationship:
  1. Agreement in nature with distinction in person: Christ as God sits at the right because he shares the Father’s nature (equality)
  2. Distinction of nature with unity of person (the grace of union): Christ as man sits at the right through the hypostatic union, whereby the human nature is assumed by the divine person
  3. Habitual grace exceeding all creatures: Christ’s human nature possesses an exceptional abundance of grace, making it more blessed than all other creatures
• The term secundum quod (“according to which”) is crucial:
  • When it designates the condition of nature: Christ as God sits at the right in equality; Christ as man sits at the right in possessing the greater goods of God above all creatures
  • When it designates the unity of the suppositum (person): Christ as man sits at the right in honor, receiving the same veneration as the divine person to which his human nature is united
• Damascene (cited): “In which [glory], the Son of God, existing before ages as God and consubstantial to the Father, sits with him in his flesh”
• Critical Point: The human nature does not have the glory of divinity by the condition of nature, but it has it by reason of the person (ratione personae) to whom it is united

Examples:

• The honor given to the human nature of Christ in the Eucharist is given not to the nature as a creature in itself, but to the divine person united to that nature

Fourth Article: Whether the Session Is Private to Christ #

Objections:

• Ephesians 2:6 states God “made us to sit in heavenly things in Christ Jesus”
• Augustine teaches that sitting at the right means dwelling in God’s beatitude, which many saints enjoy
• Revelation 3:21 promises the victor: “I will give him to sit with me on my throne… just as I have conquered and sit with my Father in his throne”
• Matthew 20:23 implies sitting at the right or left is “prepared for those to whom it has been prepared by my Father”

Thomas’s Resolution:

• Sitting at the right of the Father is private to Christ alone in two respects:
  1. According to his divine nature: Christ possesses equality with the Father
  2. According to his human nature: Christ possesses an excellent dominion of divine goods above all other creatures
• Both of these pertain to Christ alone; therefore no other creature—neither angel nor human—sits at the right of the Father in the same manner

Resolution of Specific Objections:

• Ephesians 2:6: Because Christ is our head (caput), what is given to Christ is also in him. We are revivified in Christ, though in ourselves we are not yet revivified but awaiting the resurrection (Romans 8)
• Augustine’s Statement: Sitting at the right signifies not merely beatitude but beatitude with lordly power (potentia dominalis) and natural dominion (imperium), which belongs to Christ alone. Nevertheless, every saint in beatitude can be said to be constituted “to the right of God” (Matthew 25: “Put the sheep on the right”)
• Revelation 3:21: Others sit on the throne of Christ (not the Father’s throne), receiving from him a participation in judicial power. The conquerors share in Christ’s throne, not the Father’s right
• Matthew 20:23: The Lord responds to the sons of Zebedee not by denying them a place of honor, but by condescending to their request. They asked to sit at the right or left of Christ, not of the Father. The Lord reserves to the Father what is prepared; but there are degrees of honor and proximity even among the blessed

Important Definitions #

• Sessio (Session): The sitting of Christ at the right hand of God, signifying both his eternal participation in divine beatitude and his possession of judicial and royal power
• Dexter (Right): Not a literal direction but a metaphorical expression for glory, honor, beatitude, and power
• Secundum quod (“according to which”): A Latin phrase designating either (a) the condition of nature or (b) the unity of the suppositum (person)—critical for understanding how Christ can sit at the right according to both his divine and human natures
• Ratio personae (“by reason of the person”): The principle by which the human nature of Christ participates in divine attributes not by its own nature but through its hypostatic union
• Appropriatio (Appropriation): The attribution to one divine person of what is common to all three, in order to illuminate something distinctive about that person
• Distinctio personalis (Personal distinction): The distinction between the divine persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) as opposed to a distinction of nature or dignity
• Imperium (Dominion or Lordly power): Royal and judicial authority

Examples & Illustrations #

• Standing vs. Sitting: St. Stephen saw Christ standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56) because Christ was present to aid and strengthen him in his martyrdom. Christ will be seen sitting when he exercises judgment at the end of time (Mark 16)
• The Right-Hand Man: Just as a king’s “right-hand man” is his chief advisor and does not imply the king is inferior for being on the left, Christ sitting at the Father’s right does not imply subordination but rather shared power and dominion
• Ecclesiastical Proximity and Honor: Thomas suggests that the greatest honor belongs to the Blessed Virgin Mary, followed by the apostles, particularly Peter (head of the Church) and John (the beloved disciple). Joseph is honored with prominence (rank of an apostle or near it). This hierarchy of honor reflects their proximity to Christ
• Relational Understanding of Right and Left: Right and left are correlative; one cannot exist without the other in spatial terms. In divine beatitude, however, this correlation is transcended: “everything is on the right” because there is no misery or left in God’s eternal rest

Notable Quotes #

“In the name of sitting, we can understand two things, to wit, rest or quiet… and also the royal or judicial power.” — Thomas Aquinas

“The right of the Father we call the glory and honor of his divinity.” — Damascene (cited by Thomas)

“Understand the right and the right, that power which that man took or received from God, who will come to judge, who before came to be judged.” — Augustine (cited by Thomas)

“To sit is of one judging, but to stand of one fighting or one who’s aiding.” — Gregory (cited by Thomas)

“If we take this in a fleshy way or bodily way, that Christ sits at the right of the Father, he would be to the left, right? But there, that is an eternal beatitude, everything is on the right.” — Berquist, expounding Augustine

“In which [glory], the Son of God, existing before ages as God and consubstantial to the Father, sits with him in his flesh.” — Damascene (cited by Thomas Aquinas)

Questions Addressed #

1. Is the session a bodily or spatial position? No; it is a metaphorical expression for beatitude and judicial power. Damascene emphasizes that God cannot be circumscribed or have a location.
2. How do right and left apply to an incorporeal God? Right and left, as correlative terms requiring mutual reference, are transcended in divine beatitude where “everything is on the right” because there is no misery.
3. Does the session belong to Christ’s divine nature? Yes; as the Son, Christ shares the Father’s nature and therefore participates essentially in the glory, beatitude, and power signified by sitting at the right.
4. Does the session belong to Christ’s human nature? Yes; but in a different way—through the grace of union uniting his human nature to the divine person, and through the exceptional abundance of habitual grace making his humanity more blessed than all other creatures.
5. How can Christ be both subject to the Father and sit at his right? When “according to which” designates the condition of nature, Christ as man is subject; but as man sitting at the right, he possesses excellence of beatitude and judicial power above all creatures, not equality.
6. Is the session unique to Christ? Yes; sitting at the right of the Father belongs to Christ alone. However, other saints may sit on Christ’s throne (receiving judicial power from him), and all the blessed may be said to dwell in God’s beatitude at his “right.”
7. What about the promise in Revelation 3:21 that conquerors will sit on Christ’s throne? This refers to sitting on Christ’s throne (receiving a share of his judicial power), not on the Father’s throne. There is an important distinction between the throne of the Father and the throne of Christ.
8. Why does Matthew 20:23 say the Father has “prepared” places at the right and left? The Lord responds to the sons of Zebedee not by denying future glory, but by indicating that such positions belong to the Father’s authority. The disciples sought proximity to Christ, not to the Father, revealing a misunderstanding of the highest honor.