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Objection 1: It would seem that Christ contracted bodily defects.
For we are said to contract what we derive with our nature from birth.
But Christ, together with human nature, derived His bodily defects
and infirmities through His birth from His mother, whose flesh was
subject to these defects. Therefore it seems that He contracted these
defects.
Objection 2: Further, what is caused by the principles of nature is
derived together with nature, and hence is contracted. Now these
penalties are caused by the principles of human nature. Therefore
Christ contracted them.
Objection 3: Further, Christ is likened to other men in these
defects, as is written Heb. 2:17. But other men contract these
defects. Therefore it seems that Christ contracted these defects.
On the contrary, These defects are contracted through sin, according
to Rm. 5:12: "By one man sin entered into this world and by
sin, death." Now sin had no place in Christ. Therefore Christ
did not contract these defects.
I answer that, In the verb "to contract" is understood the relation
of effect to cause, i.e. that is said to be contracted which is
derived of necessity together with its cause. Now the cause of death
and such like defects in human nature is sin, since "by sin death
entered into this world," according to Rm. 5:12. And hence
they who incur these defects, as due to sin, are properly said to
contract them. Now Christ had not these defects, as due to sin,
since, as Augustine [Alcuin in the Gloss, Ord.], expounding
Jn. 3:31, "He that cometh from above, is above all," says:
"Christ came from above, i.e. from the height of human nature,
which it had before the fall of the first man." For He received
human nature without sin, in the purity which it had in the state of
innocence. In the same way He might have assumed human nature without
defects. Thus it is clear that Christ did not contract these defects
as if taking them upon Himself as due to sin, but by His own will.
Reply to Objection 1: The flesh of the Virgin was conceived in
original sin, and therefore contracted these defects. But from the
Virgin, Christ's flesh assumed the nature without sin, and He
might likewise have assumed the nature without its penalties. But He
wished to bear its penalties in order to carry out the work of our
redemption, as stated above (Article 1). Therefore He had these
defects---not that He contracted them, but that He assumed them.
Reply to Objection 2: The cause of death and other corporeal
defects of human nature is twofold: the first is remote, and results
from the material principles of the human body, inasmuch as it is made
up of contraries. But this cause was held in check by original
justice. Hence the proximate cause of death and other defects is sin,
whereby original justice is withdrawn. And thus, because Christ was
without sin, He is said not to have contracted these defects, but to
have assumed them.
Reply to Objection 3: Christ was made like to other men in the
quality and not in the cause of these defects; and hence, unlike
others, He did not contract them.
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