Xiii. Of Christ'S Divine Sonship; And Of His Predestination
XIII. OF CHRIST'S DIVINE SONSHIP; AND OF HIS PREDESTINATION
(A)
When one speaks of adoption on the part of God, what does it mean?
It means that God out of His infinite goodness has deigned to give to men a participation of the glory of His beatitude; both angels and men who participate in this glory become the sons or the children of God by adoption, since the second Person of the Blessed Trinity is the only son by nature (XXIII. 1).
Is Christ as regards His human nature also a Son of God by adoption?
No; for since sonship is a personal property, wherever there is natural sonship there cannot be sonship by adoption, which is only a figure of the former (XXIII. 4).
(B)
Was Jesus Christ predestined?
Yes; for predestination is nothing else but a preordination fixed by God from all eternity of what is fulfilled in time in the order of grace. But that a human being was God in person and this being as man came from God was realized in time; and such event belonged in the highest degree to the order of grace. Hence it is true that Jesus Christ was predestined by God (XXIV. 1).
Is this predestination of Christ the cause of our own predestination?
Yes, God ordained that our salvation should be accomplished by Jesus Christ Himself, who is the author thereof; further, by predestination we become by adoption what Jesus Christ is by nature (XXIV. 3, 4).