ARTICLE VII

In the Seventh Article We Ask: COULD CHRIST MERIT FOR OTHERS?

Difficulties:

It seems that He could not, for

1. Christ merited only inasmuch as He was a man. But other men cannot merit for others condignly. Then neither could Christ.

2. Praise as well as merit depends upon an act of virtue. Now no one is praised for the act of someone else but only for his own. Then neither is the act of someone else imputed to anyone for his merit. Christ's acts are accordingly not meritorious for others.

3. Because He holds the primacy in the Church, Christ is the Church's head, as is made clear in the Epistle to the Colossians (1:18). But other prelates who have the primacy in the Church cannot merit for their subjects. Then neither could Christ do so.

4. In itself Christ's merit is related in the same way to all men. If, then, Christ merited salvation for anyone, He merited it for all. But the merit of Christ cannot be frustrated. All therefore obtain salvation. But that obviously is false.

5. Christ is the head not only of men but also of angels. But He did not merit for the angels. Then neither did He do so for men.

6. If Christ could merit for others, then any one of His acts was meritorious for us--and that means for our salvation. His passion was accordingly not necessary for our salvation.

7. Where one means will get results it is superfluous to use two. But the grace which is given to man is sufficient for man to merit eternal life for himself. It would therefore be superfluous for Christ to have merited it for us.

8. Christ merited for us either sufficiently or insufficiently. If sufficiently, then our merit is not required for our salvation. If insufficiently, then His grace was insufficient. But both of these alternatives are inadmissible. Christ therefore did not merit for us.

9. Something necessary for glory is lacking to Christ's members now as it was before His passion. Since He does not merit for us now, neither did He then.

10. Had Christ merited for us, our condition would have been changed by His merit. But the condition of man seems to be the same after Christ as it was before. Just as the devil could tempt but not force man before, so too now. As punishment was due to sinners, so too now. As meritorious works were required in the just, so too now. Christ therefore did not merit for us.

11. In the Psalms (61:13) it is written: "Thou wilt render to every man according to his works." But this would not be so if the merits of Christ were imputed to us. Christ therefore did not merit for us.

12. Reward is meted out in proportion to the root of merit. Now if Christ merited for us, the reward of glory will be given to each one of us in proportion to the quantity of Christ's grace. But that clearly is false.

13. That which is given on the basis of merit is paid rather than gratuitously given. If, then, Christ merited justification for us, it seems that we are not gratuitously justified by God. Then grace will not be grace. Christ therefore did not merit anything for us.

To the Contrary:

1'. That Christ atoned for us is expressly said in the first Epistle of St. John (2:2): "He is the propitiation for our sins." But there cannot be atonement without merit. Christ therefore merited for us.

2'. The head in a physical body works not only for itself but also for all the members. Now Christ is the head of His body, the Church. His activity was therefore meritorious for His members.

3'. Christ and the Church are in a sense one person. On the basis of that unity He speaks in the name of the Church in the words of the Psalm (21:1): "O God, my God, look upon me," as the Gloss brings out. Consequently Christ could likewise by reason of that same unity merit in the name of others.

REPLY:

A human action informed by grace has value for obtaining eternal life in two ways that correspond to the two respects in which man falls short of winning glory.

The first respect is the lack of dignity of the person. One who does not have charity, for example, is neither suited nor worthy to have eternal life. In this respect a human action is of value for winning eternal life to the extent that by it a certain dignity and aptness for winning glory is acquired. As an act of sin leads to a certain deformity of the soul, a meritorious act leads to the soul's adornment and dignity. From this there arises merit that is called condign.

The other respect in which man falls short of winning glory is the interposition of an obstacle, with the result that a man who otherwise is worthy does not win glory. This is the debt of some penalty. A man who is justified, for example, is indebted to pay some temporal penalty. In this respect a human action is related to glory much like the price paid to free a man from a penalty due. Under this aspect the human action has the character of atonement.

In both of these respects Christ's actions were more efficacious than those of other men. By the actions of other men only the one acting is made suited for the reception of glory, because one man cannot exercise a spiritual influence upon another. As a consequence one cannot merit grace or eternal life for another condignly. But Christ in His humanity could exercise spiritual influence upon other men. His actions could accordingly cause in others suitableness for the winning of glory. He could therefore merit condignly for others, just as He could exercise influence upon others, inasmuch as His humanity was "the instrument of His divinity," as Damascene teaches.

In the second respect also we can discover greater efficacy in Christ than in other men. Although one man can atone for another provided that the former is in the state of grace, he cannot atone for the whole nature, because the act of one mere man is not equal in value to the good of the whole nature. But the action of Christ, being that of God and man, had a dignity that made it worth as much as the good of the whole nature, and so could atone for that nature.

Answers to Difficulties:

1. As man Christ is of greater dignity than other men. It is accordingly not necessary to ascribe to other men whatever belonged to Christ as man.

2. An act of virtue is praiseworthy in its relation to the agent, and so one man cannot be praised for the act of another. But it gets its meritoriousness from its relation to the end, for which a person can be made suited by the influence of Christ. Christ could therefore merit for us.

3. Christ holds the primacy in the Church by His own power, but other prelates hold it inasmuch as they represent the person and take the place of Christ. Christ could therefore merit for the faithful as for His own members, but other prelates cannot do so.

4. Christ's merit bears the same relation to all men in point of sufficiency, not in point of efficacy. This happens partly from men's free choice, partly from divine election, through which the effect of Christ's merits is mercifully bestowed upon some but by a just judgment is withdrawn from others.

5. Just as it belongs to a wayfarer to merit, so no one can merit except for a wayfarer, because the one for whom anyone merits must be lacking in some point that falls within the scope of merit. Now angels are not wayfarers with reference to the essential reward, and so Christ did not merit for them in this respect. But they are in some sense wayfarers with reference to the accidental reward in so far as they minister to us. In this respect, then, Christ's merit is of value to them as well. It is accordingly said in the Epistle to the Ephesians (1:10) that through Him are re-established all things that are in heaven and on earth.

6. Although every one of Christ's acts was meritorious for us, yet to give satisfaction for the debt of human nature, which was made liable to death by the divine sentence, as is seen in Genesis (2:17), He had to undergo death in the place of all.

7. The grace which is given to someone personally is sufficient for the needs of that person himself but not for paying the debt of the whole nature. This is evident in the case of the ancient patriarchs, who, though having grace, were unable because of the debt of the nature to arrive at glory. The merit and satisfaction of Christ was accordingly needed to remove that debt. Furthermore, personal grace was never given to anyone after the sin of the first man except through faith, either explicit or implicit, in the Mediator.

8. The merit of Christ is operative with sufficient efficacy as a universal cause of the salvation of men, but this cause must be applied to each by means of the sacraments and of informed faith, which works through love. Thus something else besides Christ's merit is needed for our salvation, though the merit of Christ is the cause of that other factor as well.

9. [The answer to this difficulty is missing.]

10. After the passion of Christ the condition of mankind has been much changed, because, with the debt of human nature paid, men can fly unrestrained to their heavenly home. Moreover, the eternal punishment due for personal sins is remitted by means of faith in the passion of Christ; and the temporal punishment is reduced by the power of the keys, in which the passion of Christ is operative. Furthermore, the demons are kept in check by the power of Christ's passion so that they cannot tempt us so violently, and many helps are given to the faithful for resisting temptation. Finally, as a result of Christ's passion grace with which to merit is given in the sacraments.

11. Christ and His members are one mystical person. Consequently the works of the head are in some sense the works of the members. Thus, when something is given us on account of Christ's works, that is not opposed to the statement of the Psalms (61:13): "Thou wilt render to every man according to his works." And yet Christ's merits are of profit to us in such a way that through the sacraments they cause in us grace by which we are bestirred to meritorious works.

12. Christ's merit is related to our reward as a first and remote cause. Our reward is therefore not commensurate to Christ's merit but to that merit which is its proximate cause, which derives from the act of the one given the reward.

13. The very fact that any one of us obtains the benefit of Christ's merit is itself gratuitously conferred upon us by God. Consequently grace is not thereby deprived of its essence.