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Friday's with Aquinas: Did Christ Rise Himself From the Grave?
by C Michael PattonOctober 31st, 2008
6 Comments
Question 52, Article 4
Whether Christ was the cause of His own Resurrection?
Objection 1. It seems that Christ was not the cause of His own Resurrection. For whoever is raised up by another is not the cause of his own rising. But Christ was raised up by another, according to Acts 2:24: “Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell”: and Romans 8:11: “He that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, shall quicken also your mortal bodies.” Therefore Christ is not the cause of His own Resurrection.
Objection 2. Further, no one is said to merit, or ask from another, that of which he is himself the cause. But Christ by His Passion merited the Resurrection, as Augustine says (Tract. civ in Joan.): “The lowliness of the Passion is the meritorious cause of the glory of the Resurrection.” Moreover He asked the Father that He might be raised up again, according to Psalm 40:11: “But thou, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again.” Therefore He was not the cause of His rising again.
Objection 3. Further, as Damascene proves (De Fide Orth. iv), it is not the soul that rises again, but the body, which is stricken by death. But the body could not unite the soul with itself, since the soul is nobler. Therefore what rose in Christ could not be the cause of His Resurrection.
On the contrary, Our Lord says (John 10:18): “No one taketh My soul from Me, but I lay it down, and I take it up again.” But to rise is nothing else than to take the soul up again. Consequently, it appears that Christ rose again of His own power.
I answer that, As stated above (50, 2,3) in consequence of death Christ’s Godhead was not separated from His soul, nor from His flesh. Consequently, both the soul and the flesh of the dead Christ can be considered in two respects: first, in respect of His Godhead; secondly, in respect of His created nature. Therefore, according to the virtue of the Godhead united to it, the body took back again the soul which it had laid aside, and the soul took back again the body which it had abandoned: and thus Christ rose by His own power. And this is precisely what is written (2 Corinthians 13:4): “For although He was crucified through” our “weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God.” But if we consider the body and soul of the dead Christ according to the power of created nature, they could not thus be reunited, but it was necessary for Christ to be raised up by God.
Reply to Objection 1. The Divine power is the same thing as the operation of the Father and the Son; accordingly these two things are mutually consequent, that Christ was raised up by the Divine power of the Father, and by His own power.
Reply to Objection 2. Christ by praying besought and merited His Resurrection, as man and not as God.
Reply to Objection 3. According to its created nature Christ’s body is not more powerful than His soul; yet according to its Divine power it is more powerful. Again the soul by reason of the Godhead united to it is more powerful than the body in respect of its created nature. Consequently, it was by the Divine power that the body and soul mutually resumed each other, but not by the power of their created nature.
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6 Comments
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I don’t know. I would suggest it was the Father thru the Spirit who raised him. I am not certain that John 10 contradicts this. Authority to lay down one’s life and take it up is not the same as the power that does so.
Shouldn’t it be “raise himself?”
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I am not saying Aquinas nor this article would disagree, but just noting that Romans 8:11 also suggests that the Holy Spirit was involved in the resurrection of Christ -
‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.’
Thus, we have a beautiful work of the Trinity in the greatest work of salvation history!
You’re awesome, God!
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Scott, if you read Romans 8:9-11 you will find that The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead, which dwells in the saints, is none other than the Spirit of Christ or Christ.
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Carol, vs. 9 also refers to the Spirit of God. I believe the Spirit referenced here is the Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of the Godhead and the theme of chapter 8.
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Yes, I would say this is a reference to the Holy Spirit, which is also at times referred to as the Spirit of God (the Father) and the Spirit of Christ. So, we could say the Trinity was at work together in the resurrection of the Son. I think it beautiful!
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I really enjoyed this article/question. Even more, I had pondered on the Soul of God, the uncreated Soul, of God: the I AM. When I think about this, I am overwhelmed by the question or thought. Was there ONE I AM? Of course. Was there a created Soul “Human” in Jesus? I think so, yet, HE continually declared Himself to be the I AM, and perhaps the question of a human soul is beyond us really.
Yet, when I had read about some of these things online, it overwhelms the mind. I think about Jesus’ Baptism and how the Holy Spirit came upon Him. Yet, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and begotten of the Father. Then, Jesus says at the Last Supper, Unless I go away, the Holy Spirit can’t come. And James 2:26 says that a spirit cannot live in a dead body. So, when Jesus was dying on the cross, what did He actually mean when He said, Why have You forsaken me?
Was this His I AM Soul or—and the Holy Spirit?
And of course in John 4, Jesus referring to the Father said that God is Spirit. In a radical sense, is the Holy Spirit ANOTHER Spirit, per radical views? And I read, someone had said an interesting thing that stuck with me…that when today we may in visions see Jesus, are we in fact looking at Jesus or the Holy Spirit, for when we see the Holy Spirit, we are looking at the Father (I Am), the Holy Spirit, the Human Spirit of Jesus, and the manifestation of the Spirit that is carried out by the Soul. In this thing I read, it said that the Soul needed either the Spirit or Body to manifest itself.
While I saw one flaw in all this, and that pertained to the resurrection of Jesus John 2:19-21 (and of course Gal 1:1), I still found that some of this was enriching to my mind for much of it makes sense to me in light of Scripture, regarding the Soul, Spirit, and Body, whether of God or People.
Perhaps some of our ponderings are in the perplexities of God entering a (temporary) created world versus the spiritual realm where He lives as well.
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