tionem filiationis; unde quamvis secundum humanam naturam sit creatus et iustificatus, non tamen debet dici Filius Dei neque ratione creationis neque ratione iustificationis, sed solum ratione generationis aeternae, secundum quam est Filius solius Patris. Et ideo nullo modo debet dici Christus Filius Spiritus S. nec etiam totius Trinitatis."

"36

The weakest point of the theory is the corollary, expressly admitted by Suarez, that Christ, as man, would have to be called " the natural Son of the Trinity." This preposterous idea is opposed to the teaching of St. Augustine, and especially to that of St. Fulgentius, who says: "Proinde non solum Iesum Christum filium Trinitatis omnino non dicimus, sed etiam sic confitemur Iesum Christum solius Dei Patris Filium, ut eum nullatenus separemus. Magnae quippe impietatis est, alium putare Christum, alium Iesum Christum, quum unus sit utique Dei et hominis Filius Iesus Christus, Filius scil. solius Patris, non totius utique Trinitatis." 88 In vain do Suarez and Vasquez urge that if the Father or the Holy Ghost would become incarnate, either would thereby become Son of God, i. e., Son of the entire Trinity. "Such a man," retorts De Lugo, "would not be an adoptive son, because he would not be a stranger, nor a natural son, because not produced by natural generation." In virtue of the Communication of Idioms the incarnate Father would yet be none other than the Father, and the Holy Ghost none other than the Holy Ghost, though in His human nature each would appear as Son of Man.” 39

36 S. Theol., 3a, qu. 32, art. 3.

37 Enchir., c. 38 sqq.

38 Fragm. c. Fabian., c. 32.

38

39 De Lugo, De Myst. Incarn., disp. 31, sect. 3.

READINGS: De Lugo, De Mysterio Incarnationis, disp. 31, sect. 1 sqq.— Enhuber, Dissert. de Haeresi Adoptianorum (Migne, P. L., CI).-J. Bach, Dogmengeschichte des Mittelalters, Vol. I, pp. 102 sqq., Wien 1873.-* Hefele, Konziliengeschichte, 2nd ed., Vol. III, pp. 630 sqq., Freiburg 1877.— J. A. Ketterer, Karl der Grosse und die Kirche, München 1898.-K. Giannoni, Paulinus II., Patriarch von Aquileja, Wien 1896.-E. H. Limborgh, Alcuinus als Bestrijder van het Adoptianisme, Groningen 1901.— Alzog-Pabisch-Byrne, Manual of Universal Church History, Vol. II, pp. 174 sqq., Cincinnati 1899.-T. Gilmartin, Manual of Church History, Vol. I, 3rd ed., Dublin 1909.- Wilhelm-Scannell, A Manual of Catholic Theology, Vol. II, 2nd ed., pp. 126 sqq., London 1901.— H. K. Mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. I, Part II, pp. 439 sqq., London 1902.

SECTION 2

THE ATTRIBUTES OF CHRIST ACCORDING TO HIS

HUMANITY

In consequence of the Hypostatic Union, Jesus Christ was more than an ordinary man. The divine element in Him, not as an inherent form (forma inhaerens) but per modum effectus, overflowed into His sacred humanity and conferred upon it an altogether unique dignity. (1) His will was distinguished by extraordinary ethical perfection or holiness; (2) His intellect commanded an unusual wealth of human knowledge; (3) His entire manhood with all its essential and integral constituents was and is worthy of divine adoration.

ARTICLE I

THE ETHICAL PERFECTION OF CHRIST'S HUMAN WILL, OR

HIS HOLINESS

All that we have said in a previous treatise1 of the ethical goodness or sanctity of God, applies to Christ in so far as He is God. In the present Article we are concerned only with the human holiness of our Lord, that

1 God: His Knowability, Essence, and Attributes, St. Louis 1911,

pp. 251 sqq.

is to say, the holiness of His created soul, or, more specifically, of one particular faculty of that soul, namely, His will. The formality of holiness, i. e., the character wherein exactly it consists, is "exemption from sin combined with rectitude of moral conduct." 2 Bearing this definition in mind, we proceed to prove the holiness of Christ's humanity in a systematic series of theses, in which we shall bring out (1) the negative element of holiness, i. e., sinlessness, and (2) its positive element, i. e., moral purity.

Thesis I Christ, as man, was exempt from original sin and concupiscence.

This thesis is of faith in both its parts.

Proof. Christ's freedom from original sin is defined in the Decretum pro Iacobitis of Pope Eugene IV (1439): "Qui sine peccato conceptus, natus et mortuus humani generis hostem peccata nostra delendo solus suâ morte prostravit.” 3

Freedom from original sin implies freedom from all the evil consequences thereof, especially from concupiscence (fomes peccati). “Si quis defendit Theodorum impiissimum Mopsuestenum, qui dixit, alium esse Deum Verbum et alium Christum a passionibus animae et concupiscentiis carnis molestias patientem, talis anathema sit," says the Fifth General Council of Constantinople.1

2 Ibid.

3 Cfr. Denzinger-Bannwart, Enchiridion, n. 711.

4 Held A. D. 553. Cfr. Denzinger-Bannwart, Enchiridion, n. 224.

a) That Christ was actually and by right free from original sin appears from all those Scriptural texts which in general terms aver His sinlessness and impeccability, or specially emphasize the fact that He appeared in the flesh for the purpose of expiating the inherited guilt which weighed upon the human race. Had He been tainted by original sin, He would not have been the "lamb unspotted and undefiled,' nor would He have been able to take away "the sin of the world," for the sin of the world is original sin, and it is impossible to assume that He who was destined to take away original sin was tainted by it Himself. For this reason St. Paul, who repeatedly ascribes to the Godman genuine “flesh,” (i. e., a human nature), never calls this flesh "sinful." Cfr. Rom. VIII, 3: "God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and of sin, hath condemned sin in the flesh." In drawing a parallel between Adam, the first man, who was "of the earth, earthly,' "8 and Christ, the second Adam, who was "from heaven, heavenly," Apostle virtually excludes original sin from the Godman; else the parallel would be absolutely meaningless.

5 1 Pet. I, 19: ἀμνὸς ἄμωμος καὶ ἄσπιλος. Cfr. Wilhelm-Scannell, Manual, Vol. II, pp. 132 sq.

6 John I, 29: τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου.

"9 the

7 1 Cor. XV, 47. On this parallel see F. Prat, La Théologie de Saint Paul, Vol. II, pp. 261 sqq.

8 ἄνθρωπος ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός.

9 ἄνθρωπος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ.