Ix. Of The Defects Of Christ'S Human Nature; Of Those Of The Body; And Of Those Of The Soul
IX. OF THE DEFECTS OF CHRIST'S HUMAN NATURE; OF THOSE OF THE BODY; AND OF THOSE OF THE SOUL
(A)
Were there certain defects both in the Body and the Soul of Christ?
Yes; and such were necessary for the end of the Incarnation, which was to make satisfaction for our sins -- to come on earth as one of us -- to be for us an example by the practice of the highest virtues of patience and immolation (XIV., XV.).
What were the defects Christ took upon Himself in His Body?
They were all those defects or miseries and infirmities which are to be found in the whole of human nature as a result of Adam's sin, such as hunger, thirst, death, and so on; but in Christ there were none of those defects that are the result of personal sin or of heredity (XIV. 1).
Was the Body of our Lord, putting aside the above-mentioned defects, of great perfection and beauty?
Yes, for such belonged to the dignity of the Word of God, who was hypostatically united to this Body; and such was due also to the action of the Holy Ghost, by whom this Body was formed directly in the womb of our Blessed Lady; but of this we shall speak shortly.
(B)
What were the defects Christ took up on Himself in His Soul?
They were the capability of feeling pain, especially the sufferings inflicted upon His Body during the course of His Passion; all the interior affective motions, whether of the sensitive or intellectual order; in other words, Christ had the passions such as sadness, fear, anger, etc., except that all these passions were in perfect accord with His reason, to which they were always perfectly subjected (XV. 1-9).
(C)
Can it be said that whilst living on earth our Lord was both in heaven and yet on the way to heaven?
Yes; for as regards the function that is proper to the soul in heaven, this our Lord had, since He enjoyed fully this beatitude by the vision of the divine essence; but as regards the effect of this beatitude in His Body, this He had not as yet by a sort of miraculous suspension in view of our redemption; and this redundancy of the Soul's glory in the Body did not come about until after His Resurrection and Ascension into heaven (XV. 10).