|
Objection 1: It would seem that the effect of Christ's priesthood
is not the expiation of sins. For it belongs to God alone to blot out
sins, according to Is. 43:25: "I am He that blot out thy
iniquities for My own sake." But Christ is priest, not as God,
but as man. Therefore the priesthood of Christ does not expiate
sins.
Objection 2: Further, the Apostle says (Heb. 10:1-3)
that the victims of the Old Testament could not "make" (the comers
thereunto) "perfect: for then they would have ceased to be offered;
because the worshipers once cleansed should have no conscience of sin
any longer; but in them there is made a commemoration of sins every
year." But in like manner under the priesthood of Christ a
commemoration of sins is made in the words: "Forgive us our
trespasses" (Mt. 6:12). Moreover, the Sacrifice is offered
continuously in the Church; wherefore again we say: "Give us this
day our daily bread." Therefore sins are not expiated by the
priesthood of Christ.
Objection 3: Further, in the sin-offerings of the Old Law, a
he-goat was mostly offered for the sin of a prince, a she-goat for
the sin of some private individual, a calf for the sin of a priest, as
we gather from Lev. 4:3,23,28. But Christ is compared to
none of these, but to the lamb, according to Jer. 11:19: "I
was as a meek lamb, that is carried to be a victim." Therefore it
seems that His priesthood does not expiate sins.
On the contrary, The Apostle says (Heb. 9:14): "The blood
of Christ, Who by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto
God, shall cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the
living God." But dead works denote sins. Therefore the priesthood
of Christ has the power to cleanse from sins.
I answer that, Two things are required for the perfect cleansing from
sins, corresponding to the two things comprised in sin---namely,
the stain of sin and the debt of punishment. The stain of sin is,
indeed, blotted out by grace, by which the sinner's heart is turned
to God: whereas the debt of punishment is entirely removed by the
satisfaction that man offers to God. Now the priesthood of Christ
produces both these effects. For by its virtue grace is given to us,
by which our hearts are turned to God, 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." Moreover, He satisfied
for us fully, inasmuch as "He hath borne our infirmities and carried
our sorrows" (Is. 53:4). Wherefore it is clear that the
priesthood of Christ has full power to expiate sins.
Reply to Objection 1: Although Christ was a priest, not as God,
but as man, yet one and the same was both priest and God. Wherefore
in the Council of Ephesus [Part III, ch. i, anath. 10] we
read: "If anyone say that the very Word of God did not become our
High-Priest and Apostle, when He became flesh and a man like us,
but altogether another one, the man born of a woman, let him be
anathema." Hence in so far as His human nature operated by virtue of
the Divine, that sacrifice was most efficacious for the blotting out
of sins. For this reason Augustine says (De Trin. iv, 14):
"So that, since four things are to be observed in every
sacrifice---to whom it is offered, by whom it is offered, what is
offered, for whom it is offered; the same one true Mediator
reconciling us to God by the sacrifice of peace, was one with Him to
Whom it was offered, united in Himself those for whom He offered
it, at the same time offered it Himself, and was Himself that which
He offered."
Reply to Objection 2: Sins are commemorated in the New Law, not
on account of the inefficacy of the priesthood of Christ, as though
sins were not sufficiently expiated by Him: but in regard to those who
either are not willing to be participators in His sacrifice, such as
unbelievers, for whose sins we pray that they be converted; or who,
after taking part in this sacrifice, fall away from it by whatsoever
kind of sin. The Sacrifice which is offered every day in the Church
is not distinct from that which Christ Himself offered, but is a
commemoration thereof. Wherefore Augustine says (De Civ. De.
x, 20): "Christ Himself both is the priest who offers it and the
victim: the sacred token of which He wished to be the daily Sacrifice
of the Church."
Reply to Objection 3: As Origen says (Sup. Joan. i, 29),
though various animals were offered up under the Old Law, yet the
daily sacrifice, which was offered up morning and evening, was a
lamb, as appears from Num. 38:3,4. By which it was signified
that the offering up of the true lamb, i.e. Christ, was the
culminating sacrifice of all. Hence (Jn. 1:29) it is said:
"Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who taketh away the sins of
the world."
|
|