QUESTION VI.
Whether the soul of Christ comprehends uncreated wisdom itself.
Supposing that the soul of Christ is wise by uncreated wisdom equally and by created wisdom, it is consequently asked whether it comprehends uncreated wisdom itself. And that it does, is shown as follows.
1. John 3: God does not give the Spirit by measure; the Gloss: "To men by measure, but to the Son not by measure; but just as he begot the whole from his whole self, so to the incarnate Son he gave his whole Spirit, not partially and by subdivisions, but generally and universally"; but according to the measure of the spirit given is the measure in the knowledge of truth: therefore if the soul of Christ received the Holy Spirit in an immeasurable way, it knows God in an immeasurable way; and this is nothing other than to comprehend divine wisdom itself: therefore etc.
2. Likewise, Augustine, in the thirteenth book On the Trinity, chapter nineteen: "In the Word I understand the true Son of God, in the flesh the true son of man, both conjoined in one person of God and man by the bounty of ineffable grace." The grace of the union, therefore, is ineffable, therefore immense and incomprehensible; but according to the quantity of grace is the quantity of knowledge: therefore if by an incomprehensible knowledge the infinite is comprehensible, then of whatever immensity it may be, it will be comprehended by the soul united to it.
3. Likewise, Hugh says concerning the wisdom of Christ: "The soul of Christ has all things through grace that God has through nature"; but God through nature has comprehension of his wisdom: therefore the soul of Christ has this through grace.
4. Likewise, it is as great or greater to be God than to comprehend God: but the grace of union has the power to make a creature be God: therefore much more strongly will it make a creature comprehend God. But no other creature than the soul of Christ: therefore etc.
5. Likewise, Bernard says to Eugenius that there is a native, a dignative, and a superdignative unity; that dignative unity is not as great as the unity of the Trinity, which is superdignative, and yet greater than native: but in both the native unity and the superdignative unity one of the extremes is comprehended by the other, and conversely: therefore by equal reasoning, and indeed much stronger, it appears to be so in the dignative unity. But according to this the soul of Christ is united with uncreated wisdom: therefore etc.
6. Likewise, Isidore: "The Trinity is known only to itself and to the assumed man," and it is certain that this is not understood of just any knowledge, but only of that knowledge in which the Trinity does not share with a mere creature: but this is nothing other than comprehensive knowledge: therefore the united creature has this.
7. Likewise, Cassiodorus: "soundness of mind understands that inaccessible light above all brilliances"; but the soul united to the Word was most sound: therefore it understood that light above every other brilliance: therefore either it comprehended no other brilliance, or if it comprehended any, then it comprehended that one also.
8. Again, the grace of union exceeds any grace of comprehension whatsoever disproportionately: therefore it disproportionately causes God to be known more clearly; but this is nothing other than to comprehend the divine wisdom: therefore etc. For nothing exceeds every finite thing disproportionately except the infinite.
9. Again, Augustine in the ninth book of On the Trinity says that because the soul is simple, therefore, when it knows itself, it knows itself totally, not according to a part: therefore since the eternal wisdom is simple, if it is known by the soul of Christ, it is known totally: but to know a thing totally is nothing other than to comprehend it: therefore etc.
10. Again, this proposition is self-evidently true: when a simple thing is attained, the whole is attained; therefore a simpler thing is attained more totally, and the most simple thing is attained most totally: but the uncreated Word has the highest simplicity: therefore it is attained most totally. But this is to comprehend it most perfectly: therefore it is most perfectly comprehended by the soul of Christ.
11. Again, the soul of Christ in knowing the Word either has the whole as manifest, or has something of the Word as hidden and something as manifest. If it has it entirely as manifest: therefore it comprehends it entirely; if it has something as hidden and something as manifest: therefore in the Word there is one thing and another thing. But this is unfitting, because there would not be the highest simplicity: therefore etc.
12. Again, if something is hidden, either that thing is God or it is not. If it is not: therefore on account of the hiddenness of that thing it nonetheless comprehends God. If it is God: therefore God is hidden from the soul of Christ; but no soul from which God is hidden is blessed: therefore according to this the soul of Christ is not blessed. But this is absurd: therefore so too is that from which this follows.
13. Again, just as there is truly immensity in God, so too there is truly simplicity in God: but just as it belongs to immensity never to be entirely grasped, so it belongs to simplicity to be grasped totally by whatever grasps it: therefore by the same reasoning that God is called incomprehensible by reason of immensity, he will be called comprehensible by reason of simplicity.
14. Again, if in a point the essence and power were the same, whatever attained it totally according to essence would attain it totally according to power: but in God his essence and his power are the same, and whatever is essential in him is entirely the same and most simple: therefore either nothing of God is attained, or if something is attained, the whole is attained and totally attained, therefore the whole is totally comprehended: therefore not only does the soul of Christ comprehend the Word, but every soul that knows God in any way whatsoever.
15. Again, Bede says that "nothing less than God can fill the soul"; but if the capacity of the soul could be filled by something finite, something less than God would fill it: therefore the capacity of the soul extends itself to the infinite as infinite. But the soul of Christ comprehends everything to which its capacity extends, since it is fully perfect: therefore it comprehends the infinite.
16. Again, the soul of Christ loves God as much as He ought to be loved; but God ought to be loved without mode and measure: therefore, since it knows as much as it loves, it therefore knows without measure: therefore, etc.
17. Again, it is the nature of the intellect that it is strengthened in understanding the highest intelligible: therefore, the more clearly the soul of Christ understands, the more it is disposed to understand still more clearly: therefore either it will never reach a terminus, or it will totally comprehend the Word united to it.
18. Again, if there were something whose capacity were enlarged by receiving something, either it would never be filled by that thing, or something infinite would be added to it: but the capacity of the soul of Christ is of such a kind: therefore either it remains in some part of itself empty, or it comprehends infinite wisdom.
19. Again, the finite is as distant from the infinite as the created is distant from the uncreated: but the distance of the created from the uncreated does not prevent the intellect from raising itself to know the uncreated under the aspect of the uncreated: therefore by equal reasoning the finite can be raised to know the infinite under the aspect of the infinite. But this is not granted in any other than in the soul of Christ: therefore, etc.
20. Again, as much as finitude is distant from infinity, so much is simplicity distant from composition: but the intellect of the soul of Christ, although it has some composition, nevertheless grasps and knows the Word itself under the aspect of supreme simplicity: therefore likewise under the aspect of supreme infinity. But this is to comprehend the whole wisdom of the Word: therefore the soul of Christ comprehends uncreated wisdom.
On the contrary: 1. Damascene, in the first book, chapter four: "God is infinite and incomprehensible, and this alone is comprehensible of His substance: His infinity and incomprehensibility": therefore that He is called incomprehensible is not by reason of Himself, but in respect of created nature: if therefore the soul of Christ is a creature, uncreated wisdom is incomprehensible to it.
2. Again, Augustine, in the twelfth book of the City of God: "Whatever is known is bounded by the comprehension of the knower"; but the infinite can in no way be made finite by the finite: therefore it is in no way comprehended by the finite. But the soul of Christ is finite, since it is a creature: therefore, etc.