Christ the Saviour - First Article: Christ's Testimony Of Himself And Primarily Of His Messianic Dignity

Christ the Saviour - First Article: Christ’s Testimony Of Himself And Primarily Of His Messianic Dignity

CH 1: THE MYSTERY AND FACT OF THE INCARNATION

Preliminary Remarks

Before we come to explain the article of St. Thomas, we must set forth what positive theology teaches on the fundamentals of this treatise. Speculative theology, of course, begins with the articles of faith as defined by the Church, and concerning these its method of procedure is twofold. In the first place it gives a philosophical analysis of the terminology employed in these articles of faith. Thus it shows the fittingness of the mysteries, the possibility of which can neither be proved nor disproved. As the Vatican Council says: “Reason enlightened by faith, when it seeks earnestly, piously, and calmly, attains by a gift from God some, and that a very fruitful, understanding of mysteries; partly from the analogy of those things which it naturally knows, partly from the relations which the mysteries bear to one another and to the last end of man.”[12] In the second place, speculative theology deduces from the principles of faith conclusions that are virtually contained in the principles. In this way a body of theological doctrine is established in which there is due subordination of notions and truths, some of these being simply revealed, whereas others are simply deduced from revealed principles. These latter truths do not properly belong to the faith, but to theology as a science. So does St. Thomas proceed, presupposing in the first article of this third part of his Summa the dogma of the divinity of Christ as solemnly defined by the Church. The positive theology of St. Thomas is found especially in his commentaries on the Gospels and on the Epistles of St. Paul. It is necessary, however, to begin with a chapter on positive theology, in order to show that the definitions of the Church express what is already contained more or less explicitly in the deposit of revelation, namely, in Sacred Scripture and tradition. On this point it must be carefully noted, as regards the method, that positive theology, being a part of sacred theology, differs from mere history, inasmuch as per se or essentially it presupposes infused faith concerning divine revelation, as contained in Sacred Scripture and tradition, and faithfully and infallibly preserved and explained by the Church. Thus positive theology differs from the history of dogmas, for this latter views them solely according to the rational exigencies of the historical method. Positive theology, under the positive and intrinsic direction of the faith, makes use of history, just as speculative theology makes use of philosophy, but in each case as a subsidiary science. This means that positive theology, in studying the documents of Scripture and tradition, presupposes not only rational criticism and exegesis, as Father Zapletal ably points out,[13] but also Christian criticism and exegesis, which acknowledges the dogma of inspiration. It presupposes, too, Catholic interpretation of Scripture and tradition, which admits not only the dogma of inspiration, but also the authority of the Church in determining the true sense of Sacred Scripture and tradition, as also the authority of the Fathers and the analogy of faith, as Leo XIII explains in his encyclical Providentissimus Deus. In this encyclical he writes: “In the other passages, the analogy of faith should be followed, and Catholic doctrine, as authoritatively proposed by the Church, should be held as the supreme law… Hence it is apparent that all interpretation is foolish and false which either makes the sacred writers disagree with one another, or is opposed to the doctrine of the Church.”[14] In accordance with the analogy of faith, an obscure text in Sacred Scripture is to be explained by other texts that are clearer or more explicit. This method appears to be most reasonable, since even in human affairs, if we wish to put a correct interpretation on the historical documents of any nation or family, their traditions must be considered, for these are always a living quasi-commentary of these documents, so that an interpretation of these documents which results in their being contradictory to the living tradition of the people should be rejected as false. Thus not only rational but also Christian and Catholic exegesis must admit the canon of the books of Sacred Scripture, together with the text, which have been approved by the Church, and also the documents of tradition preserved in her archives. Thus Catholic exegesis considers the books of Scripture not only as historical works written by certain authors, such as the Gospel written by St. Matthew, or that by St. Mark, but it also considers them as divine books that have God as their author, the preservation of which pertains to the Church; and it reads these books not only by the light of natural reason but also by the supernatural light of infused faith. Catholic exegesis, of course, makes use of the natural branches of knowledge, languages, for instance, but it subordinates these to a higher light and to the principles of faith. Hence the Vatican Council, in recalling the decree of the Council of Trent, says: “In matters of faith and morals… that is to be held as the true sense of Holy Scripture, which our holy Mother the Church has held and holds.”[15] Finally, as Father Zapletal remarks,[16] the sacred authors sometimes did not fully understand the meaning which the Holy Spirit intended to convey by the words, that is, they did not always completely grasp the literal and objective sense of the words, as can be concluded from what St. Peter says about the prophets.[17] In fact, St. Thomas says: “Sometimes he who is prompted to write something does not understand the meaning the Holy Spirit intends to convey by what he writes, as is evident in the case of Caiphas, who said: ‘It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people.’ Then it is a case more of prophetic instinct than of prophecy.”[18]

This observation may prove useful in connection with the question of the divinity of Christ as literally expressed in the Synoptic Gospels. Having completed these preliminary remarks, let us pass on to consider the testimony of Christ Himself as contained in the Gospels. First Article: Christ’s Testimony Of Himself And Primarily Of His Messianic Dignity State Of The Question.

In our days what claims first attention is the opinion that Modernists and a number of liberal Protestants have about Christ. What they think is known from the propositions condemned in the decree Lamentabili.[19] Some of these read: “The divinity of Jesus Christ is not proved from the Gospels, but it is a dogma deduced by the Christian conscience from the notion of the Messias” (prop. 27). “In all the Gospel texts the expression ‘Son of God’ is equivalent merely to the name ‘Messias’; it does not at all, however, signify that Christ is the true and natural Son of God” (prop. 30). “The doctrine of the sacrificial death of Christ is not evangelical, but originated with St. Paul” (prop. 38). A number of rationalists, such as Renan, B. Weiss, H. Wendt, Harnack, recognize some divine sonship in Christ that is superior to His Messiahship, but they deny that Jesus, in virtue of this sonship, was truly God.[20] Among conservative Protestants, however, several, such as F. Godet in Switzerland, Stevens and Sanday in England, defended in recent times the divinity of Christ, not only from the Fourth Gospel and the Epistles of St. Paul, but even from the Synoptic Gospels.[21]

Let us first briefly review what the Gospels say about the Messiahship of Christ; a fuller account will be given afterward of His divinity as recorded in the New Testament. It has already been shown in apologetics by the historical method, that is by considering the Gospels as historical narratives, though not in this connection, as being inspired, that Christ very plainly affirmed Himself to be the Messias announced by the prophets. A few rationalists, such as Wellhausen, deny that Christ said He was the Messias; but very many rationalists, such as Harnack and O. Holzmann, acknowledge that Jesus affirmed His Messiahship, and Loisy admits that Jesus, not at the beginning of His public life but toward its end, taught that He was the Messias.[22] The Gospel texts in which the Messiahship is affirmed are quoted in all works on apologetics.[23] The principal texts are given below.

From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus testified that He was the ambassador of God, and later on much more explicitly He asserted that He was the Messias and the Savior. This He affirmed both publicly and privately.

Publicly (1) He declared His mission as teacher and Messias, when the Evangelist says of Him: “He began preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God. And saying: The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe the Gospel.”[24] In choosing His apostles, He said: “Come ye after Me and I will make you to be fishers of men.”[25] “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity among the people.”[26] In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus perfects the Mosaic law in His own name, asserting many times: “It was said to them of old… But I say to you.”[27] At the end of this Sermon, we read: “For He was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes and Pharisees.”[28]

2. Jesus replied to the scribes and Pharisees that He is the “Lord of the sabbath,“[29] “greater than Jonas and Solomon,“[30] greater than David.[31] 3) Likewise, in the synagogue at Nazareth, after Jesus had read the words of Isaias concerning the future Messias: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Wherefore He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the contrite of heart,” we read farther on that “He began to say to them: This day is fulfilled this Scripture in your ears.”[32] When the people did not believe, and said: “Is not this the Son of Joseph?” Jesus replied: “Amen I say to you that no prophet is accepted in his own country.”[33] 4) Jesus declared His Messiahship even in plain words, after He cured the paralytic in a certain house at Capharnaum, on the Sabbath. The Jews accused Him of blasphemy, and He replied: “But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, then He said to the man sick of the palsy: Arise, take up thy bed and go into thy house. And he arose and went into his house.”[34] Christ claimed for Himself all rights pertaining to the Messiahship, such as the power of doing what His Father does, raising the dead to life, judging all men, and bringing those faithful to Him to eternal life.[35] Privately. Jesus preferred to make known His Messiahship when speaking more intimately to His apostles. 1) In the beginning, after John the Baptist had given his testimony, and Jesus had spoken to others for the first time, Andrew says to his brother: “We have found the Messias.”[36] Philip and Nathanael had similar experiences.[37] 2) Jesus said to His twelve apostles: “And going, preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead… He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.”[38] “He that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me.”[39] 3) To the disciples of John the Baptist asking: “Art Thou He that art to come, or look we for another?” Jesus replied: “Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them.”[40] This text, however, is manifestly the fulfillment of the prophecy by Isaias, which the Jews understood as referring to the Messias.[41] 4) The first time that Jesus came to Jerusalem, He conversed with Nicodemus, one of the rulers of the Jews, and declared to him: “No man hath ascended into heaven, but He that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven… For God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.”[42] It is most evident from this answer that Jesus teaches His Messiahship, in fact, His divine sonship. 5) Jesus spoke similarly to the Samaritan woman, who says to Him: “I know that the Messias cometh (who is called Christ) ”; Jesus says to her: “I am He who am speaking with thee.”[43] After the Samaritans had heard Jesus, they said: “We ourselves have heard Him, and know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”[44] All the preceding testimony, however, belongs to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry; but toward the end of His life He speaks more explicitly not only to His apostles but also to the people. The Last Year Of His Life 1) As Jesus was approaching the city of Caesarea Philippi, He asks a question, and receives from Peter this answer: “Thou art Christ the Son of the living God.”[45] These words at least signify that Jesus is truly the Messias, and they are approved by Christ as being inspired by His heavenly Father. 2) On the festival day of the Jews, Jesus says to them: “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.”[46] The next day Jesus says to the Jews: “I am the light of the world… I give testimony of Myself… and the Father that sent Me giveth testimony of Me.”[47] 3) On the occasion of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as the crowd was shouting: “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord… Hosannah in the highest,“[48] Jesus said to the Pharisees: “If these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.”[49] 4) During the Passion, Jesus affirms before the Sanhedrim that He is the Christ, the Son of God. Thus at least He declared His Messiahship.[50]
3. After the Resurrection, Jesus said to the disciples on their way to Emmaus: “Ought not Christ to have suffered all these things, and so to enter into His glory?”[51] Similarly, Jesus said to the eleven apostles: “As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you.”[52] Conclusion . All this testimony, as Harnack[53] acknowledges against Wellhausen, is so interconnected with the entire Gospel narrative. that without it there would be almost nothing left that is historical in the life of Jesus, and His death could by no means be explained. There was also no time for a gradual idealization of Jesus’ life, for the apostles already from the day of Pentecost taught that Jesus is the Messias and the Author of life.[54] It must be noted that, theologically speaking, it is hard to determine in the Gospel texts when the expression of complete Messianic dignity ceases, and that of the divine sonship of Christ begins. The reason is that Jesus is called the Messias, or Christ, because He is the anointed of God. But the principal source of His anointing comes from the grace of union, by which His humanity is personally united to the Word, and by which He is therefore the Son of God. Hence, among the prophets and apostles, those who were more illuminated concerning the sublimity of the Messianic dignity already had a confused knowledge of the dignity of divine sonship.