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Objection 1: It would seem that this is false: "God was made
man." For since man signifies a substance, to be made man is to be
made simply. But this is false: "God was made simply." Therefore
this is false: "God was made man."
Objection 2: Further, to be made man is to be changed. But God
cannot be the subject of change, according to Malachi 3:6: "I am
the Lord, and I change not." Hence this is false: "God was made
man."
Objection 3: Further, man as predicated of Christ stands for the
Person of the Son of God. But this is false: "God was made the
Person of the Son of God." Therefore this is false: "God was
made man."
On the contrary, It is written (Jn. 1:14): "The Word was
made flesh": and as Athanasius says (Ep. ad Epictetum), "when
he said, 'The Word was made flesh,' it is as if it were said that
God was made man."
I answer that, A thing is said to be made that which begins to be
predicated of it for the first time. Now to be man is truly predicated
of God, as stated above (Article 1), yet in such sort that it
pertains to God to be man, not from eternity, but from the time of
His assuming human nature. Hence, this is true, "God was made
man"; though it is understood differently by some: even as this,
"God is man," as we said above (Article 1).
Reply to Objection 1: To be made man is to be made simply, in all
those in whom human nature begins to be in a newly created suppositum.
But God is said to have been made man, inasmuch as the human nature
began to be in an eternally pre-existing suppositum of the Divine
Nature. And hence for God to be made man does not mean that God was
made simply.
Reply to Objection 2: As stated above, to be made implies that
something. is newly predicated of another. Hence, whenever anything
is predicated of another, and there is a change in that of which it is
predicated, then to be made is to be changed; and this takes place in
whatever is predicated absolutely, for whiteness or greatness cannot
newly affect anything, unless it be newly changed to whiteness or
greatness. But whatever is predicated relatively can be newly
predicated of anything without its change, as a man may be made to be
on the right side without being changed and merely by the change of him
on whose left side he was. Hence in such cases, not all that is said
to be made is changed, since it may happen by the change of something
else. And it is thus we say of God: "Lord, Thou art made our
refuge" (Ps. 89:1). Now to be man belongs to God by reason
of the union, which is a relation. And hence to be man is newly
predicated of God without any change in Him, by a change in the human
nature, which is assumed to a Divine Person. And hence, when it is
said, "God was made man," we understand no change on the part of
God, but only on the part of the human nature.
Reply to Objection 3: Man stands not for the bare Person of the
Son of God, but inasmuch as it subsists in human nature. Hence,
although this is false, "God was made the Person of the Son of
God," yet this is true: "God was made man" by being united to
human nature.
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