Chapter 2 (51): 1. That Christ Merited For Himself The Same Things From His Con-
Distinction XVIII | 73 names." The Apostle plainly says that Christ was therefore exalted by the glory of impassibility because he was humbled by the obedience of the passion. And so the humility of the passion was deserving of his exaltation, and the exaltation was the reward of humility.
3. AUGUSTINE, ON JOHN. Hence Augustine, expounding the said chapter, says: "In order that Christ might be made lustrous by his resurrection, he was first humbled by the passion; humility merits glory, and glory is the reward of humility. But all this was done in the form of a servant; glory, on the other hand, was and shall ever be in the form of God.'"*—
AMBROSE. Ambrose too, treating the same chapter, says: "Here is shown what and how much humility deserves."° 4. THAT HE ALSO MERITED IMPASSIBILITY OF SOUL. By these testimonies, it becomes evident that Christ, through the humility and obedience of the passion, merited the glorification of his body, and not this alone, but also impassibility of soul. For his soul was capable of suffering before his death, and his flesh mortal; but after his death, by merit of his humility, his soul had become impassible and his flesh immortal.
5. WHEN CHRIST'S SOUL WAS MADE IMPASSIBLE. Authority offers us no certainty as to whether the soul became impassible when the flesh became immortal, namely at the very moment of the resurrection; but the soul was endowed with impassibility either soon after separation from the flesh, or at the resurrection, when the flesh again blossoms.°
Chapter 2 (51)
1. THAT CHRIST MERITED FOR HIMSELF THE SAME THINGS FROM HIS CON-
CEPTION AS THROUGH HIS PASSION. Nor did Christ merit these things only when he submitted to the cross in obedience to the Father, but also from his very conception. From the moment when he became man, through charity, justice, and the other virtues, in whose fullness he was established according to his humanity, he merited for himself as much as he did afterwards by his suffering martyrdom. For there was such fullness of spiritual charisms in him, that he could not make any increase in them, and so his soul could not become better than it had been from the beginning of his establishment, because he could not make any progress in merits. For as Gregory says, "according to the merit of the soul, there was no way in which Christ could make progress; but in his members, which we are, he
Phil. 2, 8-9.
3Cf. Phil. 2, 6-7.
'Augustine, /n loannem, tr. 104 n3.
°That is, Ambrosiaster on Phil. 2, 9.
°CE P39 2737;