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Having considered the nature that was assumed, we pass on to n treat
of what pertains to the perfection of Christ's human nature, namely,
His grace, knowledge, and power; then we shall discuss His
passibility together with His sensitive nature. The thirteenth
question is concerned with Christ's human will, namely, with those
things that pertain to the conformity of the two wills in Christ.
There are two questions on Christ's grace, namely: (1)
Christ's grace as an individual man (q. 7); (2) Christ's
grace as the head of the Church (q. 8).
Theologians generally distinguish between two graces in Christ:
(1) the grace of union, that is, His personal being that is
gratuitously given by God to His human nature; (2) His habitual
grace, as an individual man and as head of the Church.
In the seventh question St. Thomas, in discussing Christ's
habitual grace as an individual man, includes the whole organism of the
supernatural life in Christ's most holy soul, namely, the grace that
is called "the grace of the virtues and of the gifts"; in that the
virtues and the gifts belong properly to this grace. He also treats of
the graces gratis datae and of the plenitude of Christ's grace. Some
might object to the order followed in these questions, and say that the
present problem, just as the question concerning the union of wills in
Christ, ought to be relegated to the latter part of this treatise,
when the consequences of the union are discussed.
The answer must be, in all probability, that the proper place to
discuss the things co-assumed on the part of the human nature is here;
whereas, on the contrary, from the sixteenth to the twenty-sixth
questions inclusive, those things consequent to the union of the two
natures are discussed, namely, Christ's unity as regards being,
will, and operation, as also His relation to the Father, and to
us, for example, that Christ must be worshiped as God.[800]
Hence the proper place to discuss the things co-assumed is here, this
being the truly logical order, after the consideration of the nature
that was assumed.
Hence, after consideration of the nature that was assumed, the truly
logical order is to discuss the things that were co-assumed, from the
seventh question to the fifteenth question.
There are three parts to this seventh question.
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First part. It discusses habitual grace, the virtues and gifts in
Christ (a. 1-6).
Second part. It treats of the graces freely bestowed upon Christ by
His heavenly Father.
Third part. It is concerned with the plenitude of Christ's grace
(a. 9-13).
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All these articles pertain to Christ's sanctity. But after the time
of St. Thomas, Christ's sanctity was discussed more in detail by
way of a preliminary question, which is usually inserted here by way of
a preliminary by the Thomists. The precise purport of this question
is to settle the doubt whether the substantial grace of union sanctifies
formally or merely radically Christ's human nature.
This question must be examined here since it serves as an introduction
to the articles of the seventh question, enabling us to understand them
better, for the substantial grace and uncreated grace of union is, so
to speak, the radical cause of habitual grace, or the grace of the
virtues and gifts in Christ.
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