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State of the question. We are concerned with the Church, though the
title of the article does not as yet determine whether we are concerned
only with the Church militant, or also with the Church triumphant,
for this will be determined farther on. We are also concerned with
Christ as man.
The difficulties are these: (1) The head imparts sense and motion
to the members, and it seems, as St. Augustine says, that Christ
as man does not give the Holy Spirit, and hence He does not impart
spiritual sense and motion to those men who are the faithful of His
Church. (2) Furthermore, the head of man receives an inflow of
blood from the heart, for just as it could not live without receiving
this influx of blood from the heart, and its re-oxygenation in the
lungs, so the head of man is dependent on the heart, the lungs, and
also on other organs; whereas, on the contrary, Christ does not
depend either formally or efficiently, or finally on the faithful, but
they depend on Him. Thus this article is most appropriate for the
discernment of the dissimilarities and similarities in this analogy.
Reply. Christ as man is head of the Church. The expression "as
man" must not be understood absolutely in its reduplicative sense, as
if it meant solely by reason of Christ's human nature, but it must be
taken in its special sense, namely, as man subsisting by the divine
personality, which will be more clearly explained farther on.
Scriptural proof. The following text is especially cogent:
"God... raising Him up from the dead, and setting Him on His
right hand in the heavenly places... hath made Him head over all the
Church."[1012] It is manifest, however, that St. Paul is
here speaking of Christ as man, for he says that He was raised from
the dead.
St. Paul has developed this doctrine at considerable length in his
epistles, from which he proceeds to establish four conclusions.
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1) Christ is the head of the regenerated human race raised to the
supernatural and fallen from it. St. Paul says: "For if by the
offense of one many died, much more the grace of God, and the gift,
by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto
many.... For if by the offense of one many died, much more the
grace of God, and the gift, by the grace of one man, Jesus
Christ, hath abounded unto many.... For if by one man's offense
death reigned through one, much more they who receive abundance of
grace, and of the gift and of justice, shall reign in life through
one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one, unto all
men to condemnation, so also by the justice of one unto all men to
justification of life."[1013]
For God permits evil only for a greater good, and He permitted
Adam's sin only for the greater good of the redemptive Incarnation,
as we showed above, when discussing the motive of the
Incarnation.[1014]
St. Paul likewise says: "For as in one body we have many members,
but all the members have not the same office, so we being many, are
one body in Christ, and everyone members one of
another."[1015]
2) St. Paul teaches that the influx of Christ as head over all
men, even the angels as His ministers, presupposes the great
pre-eminence of Christ. Most striking is the following text: "You
are filled in Him[Christ], who is the head of all principality and
power."[1016]
3) St. Paul says that this influx of Christ as head makes itself
felt on various persons throughout the course of the centuries. Thus
he writes: "The whole body... groweth unto the increase of
God."[1017]
4) St. Paul insists on the unity of this mystical body, both as
regards the head, source of this influence, and as regards the end of
this unity. In many texts he speaks of our common participation in the
blood of Christ.[1018]
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This doctrine of Christ's headship is de fide, not only as contained
in Scripture and the ordinary teaching authority of the Church, but
it is also the teaching of the Council of Trent, which says: "For
whereas Jesus Christ Himself continually infuses His virtue into the
said justified, as the head into the members and the vine into the
branches, and this virtue always precedes and accompanies and follows
their good works, which without it could not in any wise be pleasing
and meritorious before God...."[1019] The Council likewise
says: "If anyone denies that Christ whole and entire, the fountain
and author of all graces, is received under the one species of bread,
because, as some falsely assert, He is not received, according to
the institution of Christ Himself, under both species; let him be
anathema."[1020]
In the body of the article, St. Thomas gives three reasons why
Christ is fittingly called the head of the Church, according to a
metaphorical analogy in which there is similarity of proportionality and
also dissimilarity.
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1) Argument from order. The head is the first part of man, that
is, the superior part. But Christ as man, on account of His
nearness to God, by grace is higher than all, for St. Paul says:
"For whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be made conformable
to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many
brethren."[1021]
2) Argument from perfection. In the head flourish all the senses,
both interior and exterior. But Christ has the fullness of all
graces, for the Evangelist says: "We saw Him full of grace and
truth."[1022]
3) Argument from power. From the head proceeds the motion and
direction of the members, by reason of the sensitive and motive power
that resides in the head. But Christ has the power of bestowing grace
on all members of the Church, for the Evangelist says: "Of His
fullness we have all received."[1023]
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Reply to first objection. Christ as God is the principal physical
cause of grace, and as man He is the meritorious or moral cause of
grace for us, and furthermore its physical instrumental or efficient
cause, on which more must be said farther on.[1024]
Therefore this analogy of proportionality is extremely appropriate,
though it is not analogy of proper proportionality, because, according
to the strict meaning of head, it designates the higher part of the
animal; but the metaphor is appropriate because of the above-mentioned
similarities. There are also dissimilarities, as in all analogies,
especially in those that are metaphorical.
Reply to second objection. "A natural head depends on the other
members or organs, from which it receives nourishment; but the father
of a family is subject to the civil governor, and Christ as man is
subject to God, so that there is no reason why God cannot be the head
of Christ."
In a general reply to the third objection it may be observed that the
natural head is dependent on other members and organs for its nutrition
and life, and it is therefore a member. Contrariwise, the moral head
of the Church, Christ, is in no way dependent on the members and the
body for His spiritual life. Thus Christ cannot be called a member
of the Church; although St. Thomas in other passages conceded that
Christ can be called, though not in the strict sense of the term, a
member of the Church, since He is united with the Church as His
mystical body, and receives an influx from God as the principal head
of the whole Church.[1025]
Third objection. Why cannot Christ be called the heart of the
Church, since the metaphor would be even more fitting, because the
heart influences the head and other members?
Reply to third objection. The head has a manifest pre-eminence over
the other members; but the heart has a certain hidden influence. And
hence the Holy Ghost is likened to the heart, since He invisibly
quickens and unites the Church; but Christ is likened to the head in
His visible nature in which man is set over man.
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