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Pars 4, Cap. 9

Breviloquium · Pars IV: De incarnatione Verbi

Textus Latinus
p. 249

Capitulum IX. De passione Christi quantum ad modum patiendi.

De modo autem patiendi hoc tenendum est, quod Christus passus est passione generalissima, passione acerbissima, passione ignominiosissima, passione interemptoria, sed vivificativa. — Passione, inquam, generalissima quantum ad naturam humanam, non solum secundum omnia membra corporis principalia, verum etiam secundum omnem animae potentiam, licet nihil pati posset secundum divinam naturam. — Passus est etiam passione acerbissima, quia non solum dolendo, ut patiens per vulnera, sed etiam condolendo, ut compatiens propter nostra delicta. — Passus est etiam passione ignominiosissima et propter patibulum crucis, quae erat supplicium pessimorum, et propter consortium iniquorum, videlicet latronum, cum quibus fuit deputatus7. — Passus est etiam passione interemptoria per separationem animae a corpore, salva tamen unione utriusque cum Deitate. Anathema enim est qui dicit, Dei Filium naturam, quam semel assumserat, aliquando reliquisse.

Ratio autem ad intelligentiam praedictorum haec est: quia reparativum principium, sicut ordinate produxit, sic et ordinate reparare debuit genus humanum. Sic igitur reparare debet, ut salva sit libertas arbitrii, salvus sit nihilominus honor Dei, salvus sit etiam ordo regiminis universi8. — Quia ergo reparare debuit, salva libertate arbitrii, reparavit dando exemplum efficacissimum; exemplum autem illud efficacissimum est, quod invitat et informat ad culmen virtutum. Nihil autem magis informat hominem, ad virtutem quam exemplum tolerandi mortem propter iustitiam et obedientiam divinam, mortem, inquam, non quamcumque, sed poenalissimam. Nihil vero magis incitat quam tanta benignitas, qua pro nobis altissimus Dei Filius absque nostris meritis, immo cum multis nostris demeritis posuit animam suam1; quae benignitas tanto maior ostenditur, quanto pro nobis graviora et abiectiora sustinuit vel pati voluit. Deus enim proprio Filio suo non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum; quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit? Ex quo invitamur ad ipsum amandum et amatum imitandum.

p. 250

Rursus, quia reparare debuit, salvo honore Dei, ideo reparavit offerendo obsequium satisfactorium. « Est autem satisfacere honorem Deo debitum rependere2 ». Honor autem Deo subtractus per superbiam et inobedientiam respectu rei, ad quam homo astringitur, nullo modo melius restituitur quam per humiliationem et obedientiam ad eam rem, ad quam nullatenus tenebatur. Quoniam ergo Christus Iesus in quantum Deus aequalis erat Patri in forma Dei; in quantum homo innocens nullatenus erat debitor mortis; dum semetipsum exinanivit et factus est obediens usque ad mortem3, exsolvit Deo quae non rapuit per obsequium satisfactionis perfectae, et obtulit sacrificium suavitatis summae pro perfecta Dei placatione.

Postremo, quia reparare debuit, salvo ordine regiminis universi, ideo per remedium convenientissimum reparavit. Convenientissimum autem est, ut contraria contrariis curentur4. Quia ergo homo, volens esse sapiens ut Deus, peccavit, in ligno vetito volens delectari, ita quod inclinatus est ad libidinem, erectus in praesumtionem; ac per hoc totum genus humanum infectum est et perdidit immortalitatem et incurrit debitam mortem: hinc est, quod ad hoc, quod homo repararetur convenienti remedio, Deus factus homo voluit humiliari et in ligno pati: et contra universalem infectionem pati passione generalissima, contra libidinem passione acerbissima, contra praesumtionem passione ignominiosissima, contra mortem debitam et invitam pati voluit mortem non meritam5, sed voluntariam.

Quia ergo generalitas corruptionis in nobis infecerat non solum corpus et animam, sed etiam omnem corporis partem et omnem animae potentiam6; hinc est, quod Christus passus est in omni corporis parte et in omni potentia animae et in superiori portione rationis, quae summe in Deo delectabatur ut ratio et propter unionem sui ad superius, et summe patiebatur ut natura et propter coniunctionem ad inferius, quia Christus erat viator et comprehensor simul.

Rursus, quia libido vehementer infecerat in nobis animam et carnem et quantum ad carnalia et quantum ad spiritualia peccata7; hinc est, quod Christus et acerbissima passione passus est in carne et amarissima compassus est in anima. Et quia in carne erat maxima aequalitas complexionis et perfecta vivacitas sensuum, in anima vero summa caritas ad Deum et summa pietas ad proximum; hinc est, quod uterque dolor fuit intensissimus.

Amplius, quia tumor superbiae aliquando consurgit interius ex praesumtione, aliquando exterius ex ostentatione et aliena laude; ideo ad remediandum omnem superbiam Christus passus est utrumque genus ignominiae et in se patiente et in comitatu, quem habuit in passione.

Postremo, quia haec omnia non attingebant divinam naturam impassibilem, sed solum humanam; hinc est, quod in morte Christi sic facta est divisio animae a carne, ut tamen salva esset unitas personae et unio tam carnis quam animae cum Deitate. — Et quia unio animae cum corpore facit hominem et facit vivum; hinc est, quod Christus non fuit homo in illo triduo, licet anima et caro essent unitae cum Verbo8. Unde quia mors in humana natura non potuit mortem inducere in personam, quae semper fuit viva; ideo mortua est mors in vita, et per Christi mortem absorpta est mors in victoria9, et princeps mortis devictus, ac per hoc homo a morte et causa mortis per meritum mortis Christi tanquam per medium efficacissimum liberatus.

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English Translation

Chapter IX. On the passion of Christ as regards the manner of suffering.

Now concerning the manner of suffering this is to be held: that Christ suffered with a most general passion, with a most bitter passion, with a most ignominious passion, with a death-dealing passion, yet a life-giving one. — With a most general passion, I say, as regards human nature, not only according to all the principal members of the body, but also according to every power of the soul, although he could suffer nothing according to the divine nature. — He suffered also with a most bitter passion, because not only by grieving, as one suffering through wounds, but also by grieving-with, as one suffering-with on account of our offences. — He suffered also with a most ignominious passion, both on account of the gibbet of the cross, which was the punishment of the worst men, and on account of the fellowship of the unrighteous, namely of thieves, with whom he was deputed7. — He suffered also with a death-dealing passion through the separation of the soul from the body, the union of both with the Deity nevertheless remaining unimpaired. For let him be anathema who says that the Son of God at any time abandoned the nature which he had once assumed.

Now the reason for the understanding of the foresaid is this: since the reparative principle, just as it produced in an ordered way, so also had to repair the human race in an ordered way. Thus therefore it must repair in such a way that the freedom of choice be preserved, that the honour of God be nonetheless preserved, that the order of the government of the universe be preserved also8. — Since therefore it had to repair with the freedom of choice preserved, it repaired by giving a most efficacious example; and that example is most efficacious which invites and informs unto the summit of the virtues. But nothing more informs a man, unto virtue, than the example of enduring death for the sake of justice and of divine obedience — death, I say, not of any sort whatever, but the most penal. And nothing more incites than so great a kindness, by which for us the most high Son of God, without any merits of ours, nay rather with many demerits of ours, laid down his own soul1; which kindness is shown to be so much the greater, the heavier and the more abject the things he sustained or willed to suffer for us. For God spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how has he not also, with him, given us all things? From which we are invited to love him and, having loved him, to imitate him.

Again, since he had to repair with the honour of God preserved, therefore he repaired by offering a satisfactory homage. « Now to make satisfaction is to repay the honour owed to God2 ». But the honour withdrawn from God through pride and disobedience in respect of a thing to which man is bound is in no way better restored than through humiliation and obedience in respect of that thing to which he was in no way held. Since therefore Christ Jesus, in so far as he was God, was equal to the Father in the form of God; and in so far as he was an innocent man was in no way a debtor of death; while he emptied himself and was made obedient unto death3, he paid back to God what he had not seized, through the homage of a perfect satisfaction, and he offered a sacrifice of the highest sweetness for the perfect appeasing of God.

Lastly, since he had to repair with the order of the government of the universe preserved, therefore he repaired through a most fitting remedy. And it is most fitting that contraries be cured by contraries4. Since therefore man, willing to be wise as God, sinned, willing to take delight in the forbidden tree, so that he was inclined to lust and raised up into presumption; and through this the whole human race was infected and lost immortality and incurred the death that was owed: hence it is that, in order that man might be repaired by a fitting remedy, God made man willed to be humbled and to suffer on a tree: and against the universal infection to suffer with a most general passion, against lust with a most bitter passion, against presumption with a most ignominious passion, and against the death that was owed and unwilling he willed to suffer a death not merited5, but voluntary.

Since therefore the generality of the corruption in us had infected not only the body and the soul, but also every part of the body and every power of the soul6; hence it is that Christ suffered in every part of the body and in every power of the soul and in the higher portion of reason, which was supremely delighted in God as reason and on account of its union with what is above, and supremely suffered as nature and on account of its conjunction with what is below — since Christ was wayfarer and comprehensor at once.

Again, since lust had vehemently infected in us both soul and flesh, both as regards carnal and as regards spiritual sins7; hence it is that Christ both suffered with a most bitter passion in the flesh and suffered-with most grievously in the soul. And because in the flesh there was the greatest evenness of complexion and a perfect vivacity of the senses, while in the soul there was the highest charity toward God and the highest tenderness toward the neighbour; hence it is that each pain was the most intense.

Further, since the swelling of pride arises sometimes inwardly from presumption, sometimes outwardly from ostentation and the praise of others; therefore, to remedy all pride, Christ suffered both kinds of ignominy, both in himself suffering and in the company which he had in the passion.

Lastly, since all these things did not reach the impassible divine nature, but only the human; hence it is that in the death of Christ the division of the soul from the flesh was so made that the unity of the person and the union both of the flesh and of the soul with the Deity nevertheless remained unimpaired. — And because the union of the soul with the body makes a man and makes a thing living; hence it is that Christ was not a man in that three-day space, although the soul and the flesh were united with the Word8. Hence, since death in the human nature could not induce death into the person, which was always living; therefore death died in life, and through the death of Christ death was swallowed up in victory9, and the prince of death was overcome, and through this man was freed from death and from the cause of death through the merit of Christ's death as through a most efficacious means.

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Apparatus Criticus
  1. 7
    Isai. 53, 12: Cum sceleratis reputatus est. Marc. 15, 28. et Luc. 22, 37: Cum iniquis reputatus [Luc. deputatus] est. — De poena Christi generalissima et acerbissima cfr. III. Sent. d. 16. per totam; de passione interemptoria vide ibid. d. 21. per totam, in qua a. 1. q. 1. fundam. 1. legitur: Augustinus et Damascenus: Anathema sit qui dicit, Verbum deposuisse quod semel assumsit. — Superius pro delicta A debita.
    Isaiah 53, 12: He was reputed with the wicked. Mark 15, 28 and Luke 22, 37: He was reputed [Luke: deputed] with the unrighteous. — On the most general and most bitter penalty of Christ cf. III Sent., d. 16, throughout; on the death-dealing passion see ibid., d. 21, throughout, in which, at a. 1, q. 1, fundamentum 1, one reads: Augustine and Damascene: Let him be anathema who says that the Word laid down what it once assumed. — Above, for delicta A has debita.
  2. 8
    Vide III. Sent. d. 20. q. 5. — Superius pro debet D E H debuit, et pro libertas arbitrii S veritas liberi arbitrii. Inferius post et informat Vat., 1 et 3 addunt hominem.
    See III Sent., d. 20, q. 5. — Above, for debet D E H have debuit, and for libertas arbitrii S has veritas liberi arbitrii. Below, after et informat, the Vatican edition and editions 1 and 3 add hominem.
  3. 1
    Epist. I. Ioan. 3, 16. — Seq. locus est Rom. 8, 32: Qui etiam proprio etc. — Superius pro incitat D invitat. Inferius fide A D E S T supplevimus sustinuit vel, pro quo 2 sufficienter. Immediate post plurimi codd., exceptis A K et edd. variata interpunctione, legunt: pati voluit Deus. Qui enim etc. Pro abiectiora H N acerbiora.
    Epistle I John 3, 16. — The following passage is Romans 8, 32: Qui etiam proprio etc. — Above, for incitat D has invitat. Below, on the faith of A D E S T we have supplied sustinuit vel, in place of which 2 has sufficienter. Immediately after, most codices, A K excepted, and the editions, with altered punctuation, read: pati voluit Deus. Qui enim etc. For abiectiora H N have acerbiora.
  4. 2
    Secundum Anselm., l. Cur Deus homo, c. 11. et 20. Cfr. IV. Sent. d. 15. p. I. q. 1. et p. II. a. 1. q. 1; in primo loco cit. pro rependere cum T substituitur reddere; in secundo cum I N impendere. Inferius pro tenebatur A D K et 2 tenetur.
    According to Anselm, in the book Cur Deus homo, cc. 11 and 20. Cf. IV Sent., d. 15, p. I, q. 1, and p. II, a. 1, q. 1; in the first place cited, for rependere, together with T, reddere is substituted; in the second, together with I N, impendere. Below, for tenebatur A D K and 2 have tenetur.
  5. 3
    Phil. 2, 6-8. — Immediate post respicitur Ps. 68, 5: Quae non rapui tunc exsolvebam. Cfr. August. in hunc loc., ex quo quaedam referuntur II. Sent. lit. Magistri, d. XXII. c. 4.
    Philippians 2, 6–8. — Immediately after, Psalm 68, 5 is looked to: What I did not seize, then I was paying back. Cf. Augustine on this passage, from which certain things are reported in the text of the Master, II Sent., d. XXII, c. 4.
  6. 4
    Vide supra pag. 123, nota 4. — De seqq. vide supra p. III. c. 3. et 4. — Inferius Vat., 1, 3 in praesumtione, refragantibus codd. et 2.
    See above, p. 123, note 4. — On what follows see above, Pars III, cc. 3 and 4. — Below, the Vatican edition and 1, 3 have in praesumtione, the codices and 2 opposing.
  7. 5
    Edd., excepta 2, non invitam, P non debitam.
    The editions, 2 excepted, have non invitam; P has non debitam.
  8. 6
    Cfr. supra p. III. c. 5. seq.
    Cf. above, Pars III, c. 5 and following.
  9. 7
    Vide supra p. III. c. 8. — Inferius post amarissima A I addunt compassione.
    See above, Pars III, c. 8. — Below, after amarissima, A I add compassione.
  10. 8
    Cfr. III. Sent. d. 22. q. 1.
    Cf. III Sent., d. 22, q. 1.
  11. 9
    Epist. I. Cor. 15, 54. — Cfr. III. Sent. d. 19. a. 1. per totum. — Superius post mortua est A addit semper.
    Epistle I Corinthians 15, 54. — Cf. III Sent., d. 19, a. 1, throughout. — Above, after mortua est, A adds semper. ---
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