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State of the question. It seems that He is mediator inasmuch as He
is both God and man. Moreover, He is mediator inasmuch as He
reconciled us to God by taking away sin, but this He did as God.
Reply. Nevertheless Christ as man is mediator.
Authoritative proof. St. Augustine expressly says: "Christ, as
man, is mediator."[1671] So, likewise, we said that
Christ, as man, is a priest, for as priest He prayed, merited,
and satisfied for us.[1672] But these acts belong to Christ,
as man, for they imply the subordination of His human will to the
divine will.
Theological proof. There are two things to be considered in a
mediator, namely, that such a person acts as a man, and unites
others. But neither of these applies to Christ as God, but only as
man. Therefore it applies to Christ as man to be mediator.
The major is self-evident.
Proof of minor.
a) It is the nature of a mean to be distant from each extreme. But
Christ as God does not differ from the Father and the Holy Ghost
either in nature or power of dominion. Hence He is not distant from
them.
On the contrary, Christ as man is distant from God in nature and
from men in dignity, grace, and glory, especially by the grace of
union.
b) The mediator, however, unites God and men, by communicating the
precepts and gifts of God to men, and by satisfying and appealing to
God for men. But this Christ does, not indeed as God, but as
man, because to satisfy and appeal presupposes subordination of the
created will to the divine will. Hence Christ as man is mediator.
Reply to third objection. "Although it belongs to Christ as God to
take away sin authoritatively, yet it belongs to Him as man to satisfy
for the sin of the human race, and in this sense He is called the
mediator of God and men."
Doubt. Is Christ as man mediator because of the fullness of habitual
grace, inasmuch as this presupposes the grace of union, or is He more
so formally because of the grace of union from which results the
fullness of habitual grace?
The question is almost the same as the one about what formally
constitutes Christ's priesthood. It is a disputed question even
among Thomists. We have already seen that the Salmanticenses
maintain that what formally constitutes Christ's priesthood is the
grace of headship inasmuch as it connotes the grace of
union.[1673]
Others, such as Gonet, and in more recent times Father Hugon and
many modern theologians, say that Christ is formally constituted
priest and universal mediator by the grace of union, from which the
fullness of habitual grace results. For He is priest and mediator as
anointed by God,[1674] and He is anointed by God first by the
grace of union. Moreover, as priest and mediator He must offer
redemptive sacrifice or adequate satisfaction that is of infinite
value. But the infinite value of Christ's merits and satisfaction
depend not only pre-supposedly but also formally on the grace of
union, or on Christ's divine personality.
This second opinion, which in our days is gradually gaining favor,
seems to be the more correct one. We may quote in favor of this
opinion what Pius XI teaches in his encyclical on Christ the king in
which he states that Christ as man is the universal king of all
creatures even of angels, inasmuch as by the grace of union His human
nature is personally or hypostatically united to the Word. He says:
"His kingship rests on that wondrous union which they call
hypostatic. Hence it follows, not only that God is to be adored in
Christ by angels and men, but also that angels and men are obedient
and subject to His imperial sway as man, namely, that it is not only
because of the hypostatic union that Christ has power over all
creatures.... Moreover, Christ by the right of having redeemed us
can command us."[1675]
St. Thomas spoke in the same way about Jesus, in that He is the
judge of the living and the dead. Jesus is judge even as man.
"Judiciary power, " says St. Thomas, "belongs to the man
Christ on account of both His divine personality, and the dignity of
His headship, and the fullness of His habitual grace."[1676]
This judiciary power belongs to Christ with respect to all human
affairs because "Christ's soul, which is filled with the truth of
the Word of God, passes judgment upon all things."[1677]
Christ's judiciary power, even as man, extends to the angels;
"first of all from the closeness of His assumed nature to
God."[1678] Therefore it likewise seems that Christ as man is
the universal mediator: (1) because of the grace of union; (2)
because of the grace of headship. Thus He can have theandric acts of
infinite value in meriting and satisfying for us, that is, in
reconciling us to God, which is properly the office of the universal
mediator.
This terminates the first part of this treatise on the Incarnation,
namely, on the union of the Word incarnate, on the consequences of
the union, as regards Christ in Himself, as also in His relation to
the Father and to us. We now pass on to consider what Christ did and
suffered for us.
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