Chapter 4 (37)
Distinction XII | 49
3. THE OBJECTION OF SOME, THAT IT WAS ABLE TO SIN EVEN WHEN
UNITED TO GOD. But some strive to prove that, even when united to the Word, it is able to sin because it has free choice and so can bend to either side. —But this is frivolous, since the angels also have free choice," and yet they are so confirmed by grace that they cannot sin. And so how much more [free choice did] that man [have] to whom the Spirit was given without measure?*
4. THEY INVOKE AUTHORITY IN SUPPORT OF THE SAME POINT. They also
adduce authority to prove the same point. For it is written in the book of Wisdom: He could have transgressed and did not, could have done evil and did not.*—But this is to be taken as referring to the members, or as partly to the head and partly to the members." It refers to the head in saying: he did not transgress and he did not do evil; it refers to the members in saying: he could have transgressed, and could have done evil.
Chapter 4 (37)
WHETHER GOD COULD HAVE TAKEN HUMAN FORM IN THE FEMALE SEX. It
is also usual for some to ask, if only for effect, whether God could have taken human nature according to the female sex.—Some judge that he could have taken human form in the female sex as he did in the male; but it was done more suitably and fittingly that he be born of a woman and take male form so that the liberation of both sexes might be shown. Hence
Augustine, in the book of &4 Questions: "The liberation of humankind had to manifest itself in each of the sexes. And so, because it was necessary that he take the form of a male, which is the more honourable sex, it followed that the liberation of the female sex manifest itself in the fact that that man was born of a woman."! "And so the Wisdom of God, which is called the only-begotten Son, declared the liberation of humankind by taking human form'? in the womb and from the womb of the Virgin.
2Cf. Bk 2 dist. 25 c3.
2Cf dni, 34:
4Eccli. 31, 10.
°Cf. Augustine, De doctrina christiana, bk 3 c31 n44.
'Augustine, De diversis quaestionibus 83, ql1.
"Ibid.
50 | THE SENTENCES, BOOK 3
DISTINCTION XIII
Chapter | (38)
1. WHETHER CHRIST, ACCORDING TO HIS HUMAN NATURE, WAS ABLE TO,
AND DID, MAKE PROGRESS IN WISDOM AND GRACE. Moreover, it is to be known that Christ, according to his human nature, received the fullness of grace from the moment of conception, for to him the Spirit was not given according to measure,' and in him the fullness of the divinity dwells in bodily form.
2. HOW THE FULLNESS OF THE DIVINITY IS SAID TO DWELL IN CHRIST.
But it dwells in such a way, as Augustine says in To Dardanus, that he is filled with every grace; it does not so dwell in the saints. Just as "in our body there is a sense in each of the members, but not so much as in the head: for in the head there is sight and hearing and smell and taste and — touch, but in the others there is only touch," so also in Christ dwells the fullness of the divinity, because he is the head in which are all the senses; but in the saints there is, as it were, touch alone, for to them the spirit was given according to measure, when they took from his fullness.A—How
'WE TOOK FROM HIS FULLNESS,' IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD. But they took from his fullness not according to essence, but according to likeness, because they did not receive the same grace as to essence, but a like one.
3. And so that child was filled with wisdom and grace' from the moment of conception. Hence Jeremias rightly says: The Lord will make something new upon the earth: a woman will encompass a man,° because a perfect man came into existence in the Virgin's womb, and not only in regard to soul and flesh, but also in regard to the wisdom and grace with which he was filled.'
4. HE SETS OUT AN AUTHORITY WHICH SEEMS TO CONTRADICT [THIS].
But there appears to be a contradiction between this and what we read in the Gospel of Luke: Jesus made progress in wisdom and age and grace before God and men.* For if he made progress in wisdom and grace, it does not seem that he had fullness of grace without measure from the moment of conception. run. 3, 34. eColJe9:
'Augustine, Epistola 187 c13 n40.
"Cloinnle 16:
Chk 240:
Jers sis 22% 'Cf. interlinear gloss, on Jer. 31, 22.
Mee. Sy.
Distinction XIII | 51 5. DETERMINATION OF THE AUTHORITY. To which it can truly be said that, according to his humanity, he received from his conception such fullness of wisdom and grace that God could not confer it more fully upon him. And yet he is truly said to have made progress in wisdom and grace; indeed, not in himself, but in others, who made progress from his wisdom and grace while, increasing in age, he made more and more manifest to them his gifts of wisdom and grace.—GREGORY. Hence Gregory says in some homily: "He made progress in wisdom according to human nature: not that he, who remained filled with the spirit of wisdom from the first hour of his conception, became wiser by the passage of time, but that he gradually over time manifested to others that same wisdom with which he was filled. According to his human nature, he made progress in age: from infancy to youth; according to his human nature, he made progress in grace: not by he himself receiving in time what he did not have before, but by revealing the gift of grace which he had; before God and men: because, with his progress in age, the more he revealed to men the gifts of grace and wisdom which were in him, the more he moved them to the praise of God; and so he made progress for God the Father as to praise, and for men as to salvation."'—Therefore it was in others, not in himself, that he made progress in wisdom and grace. Hence in the same Gospel that child is shown to be filled with wisdom and grace." And so he is said to have made progress in wisdom and grace in the same way as some ecclesiastical prelate is said to make progress in the care entrusted to him when others make progress by his industry.
6. WHAT AMBROSE SAYS APPEARS TO CONTRADICT WHAT WAS SAID
ABOVE. And yet elsewhere it is found to have been written that he had made progress according to human senses, just as he made progress in human age. For Ambrose says as follows, in On the Holy Spirit, book 3:
"God took on the perfection of human nature. He took human sense, but was not made proud by the senses of the flesh.'' With human sense, he said that his soul was troubled;'* with human sense, he was hungry and he prayed;'* with human sense, he made progress, as it is written: Jesus made progress in age and wisdom and grace.'* How did the wisdom of God make progress? There was a progress of age and a progress of wisdom, but of the human one. That is why he mentioned age, so that you would believe it to be said by reference to man: for age does not pertain to the Ordinary gloss, on Lk. 2, 52, under Gregory's name; but see Bede, /n Evangelia, hom. 1.19.
SOR Lk 2, 40.
Pot Col2, 18, PCr Jiu 2, 27:
PGE Wits 27.LkK 22, 32: ad ae
52 | THE SENTENCES, BOOK 3
divinity, but to the body. And so, if he made progress in human age, he also made progress in human wisdom. But his senses made progress; and because his senses did, so did his wisdom."'°—ON THE TWO SENSES OF CHRIST, NAMELY THE TWOFOLD WISDOM. "Which sense made progress?
If the human one, then it was taken; if the divine one, then it is changeable through progress: for what makes progress is changed for the better.
But what is divine is not changed;'° and so what is changed is not divine.
Therefore it was his human sense that made progress: it follows that he took a human sense."'' "The power of God could not be made stronger, nor could God grow, nor could the depth of God's wisdom be filled.'*
And so the wisdom that was filled was not God's, but ours. For how could he be filled, who came down in order to fill all things?'? And in what sense did Isaias say that the child knew neither his father nor his mother?
For it is written: Before the child knows his father and mother, he will take the spoils of Samaria."° For future and hidden things do not escape
God's wisdom; but a child who has not yet acquired knowledge, because of human ignorance, cannot know what he has not yet learned.""'—"But we must be careful, I say, not to divide Christ by attributing to him two principal senses or a twofold wisdom. But do we divide Christ when we adore both his divinity and flesh? Do we divide him when we venerate in him God's image and the cross? Certainly, the Apostle, who said of him:
For although he was crucified from our weakness, yet he lives by the power of God," also said that Christ is not divided.?> Do we divide him when we Say that he took a rational soul capable of understanding as we do? For God the Word himself was not in his flesh as a substitute for a rational soul which was capable of understanding; but he was perfect man by taking a rational soul and capable of understanding, a human soul and of the same substance as our souls, and a flesh similar to ours and of the same substance as our flesh.""
7. ON THE MEANING OF THE ABOVE WORDS. These words of Ambrose are to be examined with pious diligence because in part they instruct and enlighten our human ignorance, but in part, if they are badly understood, provide an occasion for error.
'°Ambrose, De incarnationis dominicae sacramento, c7 nn71-72.
'°Cf. Num. 23, 19; Mal. 3, 6.
'7Ambrose, De incarnationis dominicae sacramento, c7 n72.
Ct iky 2.40 eRonel loo:
Eph. 4, 10.
15, 8,4.
*! Ambrose, De incarnationis dominicae sacramento, c7 nn73-74.
229 Cor. 13, 4:
721 Comalwlsy "Ambrose, De incarnationis dominicae sacramento, c7 nn75-76.
Distinction XII | 53
8. ON THE TWOFOLD WISDOM OF CHRIST: BEGOTTEN AND CREATED. And
indeed, it is clearly handed down by these words that there are two principal senses, or a twofold wisdom, in Christ. Nor is the unity and singularity of the person divided on that account, but he has two wisdoms according to his two natures: the first, which is he himself, is begotten and not created; the second is not begotten, but created, and is conferred upon him by grace. Indeed, Isaias presages of him: The spirit of wisdom and understanding shall rest over him, etc."> And so, by the spirit of wisdom and understanding, that is, by the wisdom and understanding freely given through the Holy Spirit, Christ was wise as a soul; but as God, he was wise by the begotten wisdom which he is. And just as, insofar as he is
God, he is good by the natural goodness which he is, and just by the natural justice which he is, so also he is wise by the natural wisdom which he is. But just as his soul is good and just by the freely given goodness or justice which he or it is not, so it is wise by the freely given wisdom which it is not. And although there is a twofold wisdom in Christ, yet the person is one and the same which, insofar as it is God, or insofar as it is the divine nature, is wise by the eternal wisdom,"°
[ORIGINAL TEXT] namely by the begotten wisdom, that is, by itself, and by that wisdom which is not begotten that is common to the three persons; and yet not by a twofold wisdom, because there are not two different wisdoms, one begotten, which is the Son alone, and a wisdom which is the Father and Son and Holy Spirit in common.
[SECOND VERSION] namely by the unbegotten wisdom which is the Father, and by the wisdom which is not unbegotten, that is common to the three persons; and yet not by a twofold wisdom, because there are not two different wisdoms, one unbegotten, which is the Father alone, and a wisdom which is the Father and Son and Holy Spirit in common.
But insofar as the same person is man, that is, according to the humanity that was taken, or insofar as he subsists from soul and flesh, he is wise by a freely given wisdom. And so he is wise in a human and a divine sense.
9. HOW THAT [STATEMENT] IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD: HIS HUMAN SENSE
MADE PROGRESS. But from what cause are we to take the meaning of that statement, namely 'his human sense made progress'? For Ambrose seems to indicate clearly that Christ had made progress according to his human sense, and that in his infancy he would have been lacking in knowledge, and would not have known his father and mother: which the Church does not accept, nor do the above authorities admit of such an understanding.
But it can certainly be taken in this sense: that Christ may be said to have coh kf I 6See above, Bk 1 dist. 32 cc2-5, esp. c5.
54 | THE SENTENCES, BOOK 3
made progress in the sight of men and in what he revealed of his own senses. And so the human sense made progress in him according to what he revealed and in the opinion of other men. In the same way, he is also said not to have known his father and mother in his infancy because he acted and bore himself as if he were lacking in this knowledge.
DISTINCTION XIV
Chapter | (39)
1. WHETHER THE SOUL OF CHRIST HAD WISDOM EQUAL TO GOD'S AND
WHETHER IT KNOWS ALL THINGS THAT GOD KNOWS. Since Christ's soul was wise by a freely given wisdom, here it is necessary to ask whether it had wisdom equal to God's, or whether it had or has knowledge of all things, that is, whether it knows all the things which God knows.
2. THE OPINION OF SOME. It pleases some to hold that it neither has equal knowledge with God, nor knows all things which God does, "because the creature is in no way equated to the Creator."'—THEY SET
FORTH A REASON. And so, since that soul is a creature, it is in no way equated to the Creator; and so it is not equal in wisdom. Therefore it does not have an equal wisdom with God, nor knows all things which God does.—Also, if that soul has equal wisdom with God, then it is not the case that God has a greater sufficiency than his creature with regard to any good.—THEY ALSO SET FORTH AUTHORITIES. They also set forth authorities to prove the same point. For the Prophet says, in the person of the man taken up: Your knowledge has been made wonderful to me, and I am not able to grasp it.' Expounding this, Cassiodorus says: "The truth of the human condition is shown here, because the man taken up cannot be equated to the divine substance in knowledge or in anything else."*—The Apostle too says: No one knows the things that are God's, other than the Spirit of God, who alone searches all things, even the deep things of God.*—It is in these and several other reasons and authorities that they find support who assert that the soul of Christ neither has an equal knowledge with God, nor knows all things which God knows; for if it knows all things which God knows, then it knows how to create the world, and so it also knows how to create itself.
'Walter of Mortagne, Epistola ad Hugonem de S. Victore; cf. Augustine, De natura et gratia, c33 n37.
"PsnlosaG:
>Cassiodorus on Ps. 138, 6.
*"VGCor 210-1
Distinction XIV | 3)5)
3. RESPONSE TO THE QUESTION CONTAINING A DEFINITIVE SENTENCE.
Responding to them, we say that the soul of Christ, through a freely given | wisdom, in the Word of God, to which it is united and which perfectly understands, knows all things which God knows, but cannot do all the things that God can do. Nor does it grasp all things as clearly and sharply as God does, so that it is not equated to its Creator in knowledge, even though it knows all things that he knows; nor is its wisdom equal to God's wisdom because the latter is much worthier and comprehends all things more worthily and perfectly than the wisdom of that soul. And so, even with regard to knowledge, God has a greater sufficiency than that soul, which is worthier than any creature.
4. But as for that text of the Apostle which they adduce: No one knows the things that are God's, other than the Spirit of God, who alone searches all things, it supports our view. For the Apostle immediately adds: But we have the Spirit of God,' in order to show that, through the Spirit whom he had, he understood the deep things of God. But that soul had the Spirit of God more than all others, since, as John the Evangelist says, to it the Spirit was not given according to measure;' and so it had the gifts of the Holy Spirit without measure; hence it also had wisdom. It follows that that soul knew all things. For if it knew some things, but not others, then it did not have knowledge without measure. But it did have knowledge without measure; and so it knows all things.
5. In some sermon of his, Fulgentius also adduces many arguments to assert that that soul has knowledge of all things;* he appeals to the authority of the Apostle, who says: Jn whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.'—The point may also be proved by reason, as follows:
One knows nothing of which one's soul is ignorant; but, as everyone grants, Christ knows all things; and so his soul knows all things.
6. But as to their saying, 'If it knows all things, then it knows how to create the world or itself,' we respond that it has the knowledge to create the world, but not the power. So also with regard to the creation of the soul: it knows how God created it; and so it has knowledge of itself as created, but not of itself as creating, because it is not creating, but is already created.
"1 Cor 2, 10-11.
SL Corr2e 12; Jn. 3, 34; cf. above, dist. 13 nn1-2.
*Fulgentius, Epistola 14 (ad Ferrandum), q3, 029.
COZ .3.