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Objection 1: It would seem that it was not necessary for Christ to
suffer for the deliverance of the human race. For the human race could
not be delivered except by God, according to Is. 45:21: "Am
not I the Lord, and there is no God else besides Me? A just God
and a Saviour, there is none besides Me." But no necessity can
compel God, for this would be repugnant to His omnipotence.
Therefore it was not necessary for Christ to suffer.
Objection 2: Further, what is necessary is opposed to what is
voluntary. But Christ suffered of His own will; for it is written
(Is. 53:7): "He was offered because it was His own will."
Therefore it was not necessary for Him to suffer.
Objection 3: Further, as is written (Ps. 24:10): "All
the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth." But it does not seem
necessary that He should suffer on the part of the Divine mercy,
which, as it bestows gifts freely, so it appears to condone debts
without satisfaction: nor, again, on the part of Divine justice,
according to which man had deserved everlasting condemnation.
Therefore it does not seem necessary that Christ should have suffered
for man's deliverance.
Objection 4: Further, the angelic nature is more excellent than the
human, as appears from Dionysius (Div. Nom. iv). But Christ
did not suffer to repair the angelic nature which had sinned.
Therefore, apparently, neither was it necessary for Him to suffer
for the salvation of the human race.
On the contrary, It is written (Jn. 3:14): "As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted
up, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life
everlasting."
I answer that, As the Philosopher teaches (Metaph. v), there
are several acceptations of the word "necessary." In one way it
means anything which of its nature cannot be otherwise; and in this way
it is evident that it was not necessary either on the part of God or on
the part of man for Christ to suffer. In another sense a thing may be
necessary from some cause quite apart from itself; and should this be
either an efficient or a moving cause then it brings about the necessity
of compulsion; as, for instance, when a man cannot get away owing to
the violence of someone else holding him. But if the external factor
which induces necessity be an end, then it will be said to be necessary
from presupposing such end---namely, when some particular end cannot
exist at all, or not conveniently, except such end be presupposed.
It was not necessary, then, for Christ to suffer from necessity of
compulsion, either on God's part, who ruled that Christ should
suffer, or on Christ's own part, who suffered voluntarily. Yet it
was necessary from necessity of the end proposed; and this can be
accepted in three ways. First of all, on our part, who have been
delivered by His Passion, according to John (3:14): "The
Son of man must be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him may not
perish, but may have life everlasting." Secondly, on Christ's
part, who merited the glory of being exalted, through the lowliness of
His Passion: and to this must be referred Lk. 24:26: "Ought
not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His
glory?" Thirdly, on God's part, whose determination regarding the
Passion of Christ, foretold in the Scriptures and prefigured in the
observances of the Old Testament, had to be fulfilled. And this is
what St. Luke says (22:22): "The Son of man indeed goeth,
according to that which is determined"; and (Lk.
24:44,46): "These are the words which I spoke to you while
I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled which are
written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms
concerning Me: for it is thus written, and thus it behooved Christ
to suffer, and to rise again from the dead."
Reply to Objection 1: This argument is based on the necessity of
compulsion on God's part.
Reply to Objection 2: This argument rests on the necessity of
compulsion on the part of the man Christ.
Reply to Objection 3: That man should be delivered by Christ's
Passion was in keeping with both His mercy and His justice. With
His justice, because by His Passion Christ made satisfaction for
the sin of the human race; and so man was set free by Christ's
justice: and with His mercy, for since man of himself could not
satisfy for the sin of all human nature, as was said above (Question
1, Article 2), God gave him His Son to satisfy for him,
according to Rm. 3:24,25: "Being justified freely by His
grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God
hath proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood."
And this came of more copious mercy than if He had forgiven sins
without satisfaction. Hence it is said (Eph. 2:4): "God,
who is rich in mercy, for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in
Christ."
Reply to Objection 4: The sin of the angels was irreparable; not
so the sin of the first man (FP, Question 64, Article 2).
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