CHAPTER XXXVIII: CHRIST'S RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION
St. Thomas has discussed at length Christ's resurrection, the quality, manifestation, and causality of His resurrection, as also His ascension.[2281] The more important things will be recapitulated.[2282]
Question 53: Christ's Resurrection
It is of faith that Christ rose again from the dead on the third day, as declared in the Gospel, the Epistles of the apostles, and in the Apostles' Creed.[2283] In fact, it was declared that He rose again by His own power;[2284] that it was a true resurrection of the body,[2285] that the soul was reunited to the body,[2286] and that He afterward truly did eat, though He did not have to.[2287]
First Article: Whether It Was Necessary For Christ To Rise Again
Christ's resurrection was not absolutely necessary, but it was necessary if we take into consideration the divine plan, the prophecies, the merits of Christ, and our benefit.
St. Thomas gives five reasons for asserting this necessity, all of which have their foundation in Sacred Scripture.
The resurrection was necessary:
1) For the commendation of divine justice, to which it belongs to exalt the humble. For Christ by His charity and obedience humbled Himself even to death on the cross; hence it behooved Him to be exalted by God to a glorious resurrection.[2288]
2) For our instruction in the faith; because by Christ's resurrection our belief in His divinity is confirmed.[2289]
3) For the raising of our hope, because in seeing Christ, who is our head, rise again, we hope that we, too, shall rise again.[2290]
4) To set in order the lives of the faithful, so that we also may walk in newness of life.[2291]
5) To complete the work of our salvation, because Christ was thus glorified in rising again, so that He might advance us to good things.[2292] For it was so ordained by God, that only after the resurrection would the Holy Spirit be given, or the apostles be sent to preach.[2293]
Second Article: It Was Fitting For Christ To Rise Again The Third Day
To confirm our belief in the truth of Christ's divinity, it was necessary for Him to rise soon, and that His resurrection be not delayed until the end of the world. But to confirm our belief in the truth of His humanity and death it was necessary that there be some delay between His death and resurrection. That the truth of His death be made manifest, however, it sufficed that His resurrection be deferred until the third day.
The third day, on which Christ rose again, was the first of the week, which is our Sunday; it was daybreak or about dawn. In other words, the night following the Sabbath, "when it began to dawn toward the first day of the week."[2294]
Third Article:
Christ was the first to rise again, His resurrection being perfect, in that He never died again. Some rose again before Him, resurrection was imperfect, for they were rescued from actual death, but not from the necessity and possibility of dying. Thus, like Lazarus, they returned to life, merely to die again.
St. Thomas says: "There are two opinions regarding those who rose with Christ. Some hold that they rose to life so as to die no more.... But Augustine seems to think that they rose to die again... and his reasons seem to be more cogent,"[2295] The common opinion of the faithful is that nobody ascended bodily into heaven before Christ and the Blessed Virgin.
But some saints rose again with Christ though the Scripture does not give their names. It is very probable, according to the more common opinion, that these referred in a special manner to Christ, and were His more illustrious types, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Melchisedech, and such as these, as also some of those who died later on, such as Zacharias, John the Baptist, Simeon, and others of this kind.
Fourth Article:
Christ according to His divine nature was the principal efficient cause of His resurrection, but His soul and body were instruments of His divine nature, and "they mutually took back each other."[2296] Moreover, Christ by His passion was the meritorious cause of His resurrection.[2297]
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Question 54:
First Article:
Christ rose again with the same true body, otherwise His resurrection would not have been true; for that is said to rise again, which has fallen.[2298]
Second Article:
Christ's body rose again entire, because it was of the same nature after His resurrection as it was before death, although glorified. Christ also took again all His blood, morally speaking, all that is necessary for the integrity of the body.
Third Article:
Christ arose with a glorified body; for, the mystery of the redemption being completed by Christ's passion and death, in the resurrection His soul at once communicated its glory to its reunited body.[2299]
Fourth Article:
It was most fitting for Christ to rise again with scars,[2300] as permanent marks of His victory, so as to convince His disciples that the same crucified body rose again; that when He pleads for us with the Father, He may always show what manner of death He endured for us; that on the Judgment Day, He may manifest these scars to all that are to be judged, to the just, indeed, as a motive for their love and gratitude, but to the reprobates for their reproof and shame.
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Question 55
First Article:
Christ ought not to have immediately manifested Himself to all after His resurrection, but to some, who were as witnesses to make known His resurrection to others. For such things as concern future glory are beyond the common knowledge of mankind. Hence St. Thomas says: "Christ appeared first to the women... because the women, whose love for our Lord was more persistent, so much so that when even the disciples withdrew from the sepulcher they did not depart, were the first to see Him rising in glory."[2301] And again he says: "A woman is not to be allowed to teach publicly in church; but she may be permitted to give familiar instruction to some privately."[2302] Therefore, as St. Ambrose says: "A woman is sent to them who are of her household, but not to the people to bear witness to the Resurrection."[2303] It is a pious and probable opinion that Christ first appeared to the Blessed Virgin His Mother; the affection of the Son for His most loving mother is the reason for this assertion. Such is the teaching of Abbot Rupert, St. Albert the Great, St. Bonaventure, and several more recent commentators.[2304]
Second Article:
Christ's actual resurrection should not have been seen by His disciples, because the divinely established order is that those things above men's knowledge be revealed to them by angels, or at least it is the accustomed way for these to be proclaimed by angels.
Second objection of St. Thomas. "In order to have certainty of faith, the disciples saw Christ ascend into heaven.[2305] Therefore it seems for the same reason that Christ ought to have been seen to rise again by the disciples."
Reply to second objection. "Christ's ascension as to its term, wherefrom, was not above men's common knowledge, but only as to its term whereunto.... Thus the disciples did not see how Christ raised from the earth was received into heaven."[2306]
Third Article:
Christ ought not to have lived continually with His disciples after His resurrection because, for the manifestation of the glory of Him who rose, this was not befitting, lest it might seem He rose to the same life as before. "But it is unknown, " says St. Thomas, "in what places He was bodily present in the meantime, since Scripture is silent and His dominion is in every place."[2307]
St. Thomas observes[2308] that there were apparitions not mentioned in the Gospels; for St. Paul records the appearance to five hundred brethren at once,[2309] afterward to James,[2310] and yet these are not mentioned by the Evangelists.
Hence several authors think that between the times of the ten apparitions recorded in the Gospels, it is very probable that Christ was for some time with His most beloved Mother.
What is the meaning of these words of Christ to Magdalen: "Do not touch Me, for I am not yet ascended to My Father"?[2311] St. Thomas gives the following explanation: "If you say that Christ wished to be touched by the disciples, but not by the women, this cannot be; for it is said of Magdalen and the other women that they came up and took hold of His feet, and adored Him."[2312] But St. John Chrysostom is of the opinion that Christ first said to Magdalen, "Do not touch Me, " as if to say: "Do not think that I am still mortal and living with you the same way as before."[2313]
Fourth Article:
Christ appeared in His own shape to some who were well disposed to believe; but in another shape to those who already seemed to be getting tepid in their faith. Such is the view of St. Gregory the Great.[2314]
Fifth And Sixth Articles
Christ by various testimonies and signs sufficiently proved the truth of His resurrection. The first testimony is given by Christ to the disciples on their way to Emmaus, as recorded in the Gospel.[2315] The second testimony is when the angels[2316] announced the Resurrection to the women. The third is when He appeared bodily present to the eyes of His disciples, in His own shape, conversing with them, eating, drinking with them, allowing them to touch Him, and showing them His scars.[2317] The fourth is where He asserted that it is He Himself confirming this assertion by miracles, by passing through closed doors,[2318] on the occasion of the catch of the vast number of fishes,[2319] and when He ascended into heaven.[2320]
The objection is raised that even the angels appeared in human form and spoke, and yet they were not truly human.
St. Thomas replies to this objection by saying that the angels who appeared in human form did not assert that they were truly men, and they did not work miracles in confirmation of this assertion. Hence all the above-mentioned arguments and signs "taken collectively perfectly manifest Christ's resurrection, especially owing to the testimonies of the Scriptures, the saying of the angels, and even Christ's own assertion supported by miracles."[2321]
Moreover, in the treatise on revelation, it is shown apologetically that the testimony of the apostles invincibly proves the truth of Christ's resurrection. This argument is ably set forth by Billuart in his treatise on Christ's resurrection.
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Question 56
Christ's resurrection is the exemplar and efficient instrumental cause of the resurrection of our bodies and souls.[2322] It is called an efficient instrumental cause, not inasmuch as it is an act that is immediately transient, but inasmuch as the humanity, according to which Christ rose, is the instrument of the divinity united with it to raise our bodies and sanctify our souls. St. Thomas says: "Christ's resurrection is the efficient cause of ours, through the divine power whose office it is to quicken the dead; and this power by its presence is in touch with all places and times; and such virtual contact suffices for its efficiency." Its contact is not quantitative, but virtual or dynamic.[2323]
Question 57: Christ's Ascension
It is of faith that Christ ascended into heaven, as stated in the Apostles' Creed;[2324] that He ascended body and soul;[2325] that He sits at the right hand of the Father,[2326] according to the natural mode of existing;[2327] that His kingdom is eternal;[2328] and that He will judge the living and the dead,[2329] coming in His body.[2330]
The principal passages from Sacred Scripture in testimony of the Ascension are: "And the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God";[2331] "And it came to pass whilst He blessed them, He departed from them and was carried up to heaven";[2332] "And when He had said these things, while they looked on, He was raised up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they were beholding Him going up to heaven, behold two men stood by them in white garments, who also said: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you have seen Him going into heaven. ' "[2333]
St. Thomas, having presupposed faith in Christ's ascension, in this question makes several inquiries about the fittingness, manner, and effects of Christ's ascension.
First Article:
It was fitting for Christ to ascend into heaven because after the resurrection Christ's body was incorruptible, and heaven is a place of incorruption. Moreover, this was a better way of manifesting Christ's victory over death. Finally, it befitted Christ to ascend, since this increased our faith, which is of things unseen; it advanced us in hope, because thus Christ, our head, gave us hope of reaching heaven, for He said: "I go to prepare a place for you."[2334] This mystery also increases love in us, for St. Paul says: "Seek the things that are above. where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God."[2335]
Christ fittingly ascended into heaven forty days after His resurrection,[2336] so as to prove more efficaciously the truth of the Resurrection; and also as the Scripture says: "For forty days appearing to them, and speaking of the kingdom of God,"[2337] in order to instruct them in those matters that pertain to the faith.
Second Article:
Christ ascended into heaven as man, but by the power of the divine nature.
Third Article:
Christ ascended into heaven by His own power, first of all by His divine power, and secondly by the power of His glorified soul moving His body at will, "inasmuch as His glorified body was endowed with the gift of agility."[2338] Although Christ did ascend into heaven by His own power, yet "He was raised up and taken up into heaven by the Father, since the Father's power is the same as the Son's."[2339]
Fourth Article:
"Christ ascended above all the heavens,"[2340] and this was most fitting because of His dignity. Hence St. Paul says: "For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, ... and made higher than the heavens."[2341] "God's seat is said to be in heaven, not as though heaven contained Him, but rather because it is contained by Him."[2342]
Fifth Article:
Christ's body ascended above every spiritual creature on account of the dignity of the hypostatic union, for St. Paul says: "He set Him above all principality and power, and virtue, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this world, but also in that which is to come."[2343]
Sixth Article:
Christ's ascension is the cause of our salvation. (1) On our part, because by it faith which is of things unseen, is increased, there is an advancement in hope, an enkindling of charity, and greater reverence for Christ is thereby fostered. (2) On His part, for by thus ascending into heaven He prepared the way for us, as our Head.[2344] In sign whereof He took to heaven the souls of the saints delivered from hell, as the Scripture says: "Ascending on high He led captivity captive."[2345] So also Christ "entered into heaven to make intercession for us,"[2346] and "that He might fill all things."[2347]
Reply to first objection. Christ's ascension is the cause of our salvation, by way not of merit, but of efficiency, as His resurrection was.
Reply to third objection. "Christ... from some special dispensation sometimes comes down in body to earth, either in order to show Himself to the whole world, as at the judgment; or else to show Himself particularly to some individual, as to St. Paul.[2348] And lest any man may think that Christ was not bodily present, but in some way, when this occurred the contrary is shown from what the Apostle says to confirm faith in the Resurrection: "Last of all He was seen also by Me, as by one born out of due time. ' "[2349]
This vision would not prove, of course, the truth of the Resurrection, unless he had seen Christ's true body.
St. Thomas does not here discuss the mission of the Holy Ghost, because He had already spoken about this mystery at the end of the treatise on the Trinity,[2350] concerning the mission of the divine persons.
It suffices to note that the effects produced in the apostles by the mission of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost were a great increase of sanctifying grace and charity, to confirm them in grace, a proportionate increase of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, and the twelve fruits resulting from these gifts,[2351] and the gratiae gratis datae enumerated by St. Paul.[2352] Thus the gift of tongues was bestowed upon each of the apostles so that they might speak in the languages of the various nations, and also they sometimes spoke in one language so that the people of various nations understood them. Thus it is said: "They began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak";[2353] "They shall speak with new tongues";[2354] "I thank my God I speak with all your tongues."[2355]
The virtual catholicity of the Church was in this way manifested, which had to become increasingly an actual fact by the preaching of the gospel throughout the world.
Footnotes
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