Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that it was fitting that God should become incarnate in the beginning of the human race. For the work of the Incarnation sprang from the immensity of Divine charity, according to Eph. 2:4,5: "But God (Who is rich in mercy), for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us . . . even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ." But charity does not tarry in bringing assistance to a friend who is suffering need, according to Prov. 3:28: "Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give to thee, when thou canst give at present." Therefore God ought not to have put off the work of the Incarnation, but ought thereby to have brought relief to the human race from the beginning.

Objection 2: Further, it is written (1 Tim. 1:15): "Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners." But more would have been saved had God become incarnate at the beginning of the human race; for in the various centuries very many, through not knowing God, perished in their sin. Therefore it was fitting that God should become incarnate at the beginning of the human race.

Objection 3: Further, the work of grace is not less orderly than the work of nature. But nature takes its rise with the more perfect, as Boethius says (De Consol. iii). Therefore the work of Christ ought to have been perfect from the beginning. But in the work of the Incarnation we see the perfection of grace, according to Jn. 1:14: "The Word was made flesh"; and afterwards it is added: "Full of grace and truth." Therefore Christ ought to have become incarnate at the beginning of the human race.

On the contrary, It is written (Gal. 4:4): "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law": upon which a gloss says that "the fulness of the time is when it was decreed by God the Father to send His Son." But God decreed everything by His wisdom. Therefore God became incarnate at the most fitting time; and it was not fitting that God should become incarnate at the beginning of the human race.

I answer that, Since the work of the Incarnation is principally ordained to the restoration of the human race by blotting out sin, it is manifest that it was not fitting for God to become incarnate at the beginning of the human race before sin. For medicine is given only to the sick. Hence our Lord Himself says (Mt. 9:12,13): "They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill . . . For I am not come to call the just, but sinners."

Nor was it fitting that God should become incarnate immediately after sin. First, on account of the manner of man's sin, which had come of pride; hence man was to be liberated in such a manner that he might be humbled, and see how he stood in need of a deliverer. Hence on the words in Gal. 3:19, "Being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator," a gloss says: "With great wisdom was it so ordered that the Son of Man should not be sent immediately after man's fall. For first of all God left man under the natural law, with the freedom of his will, in order that he might know his natural strength; and when he failed in it, he received the law; whereupon, by the fault, not of the law, but of his nature, the disease gained strength; so that having recognized his infirmity he might cry out for a physician, and beseech the aid of grace."

Secondly, on account of the order of furtherance in good, whereby we proceed from imperfection to perfection. Hence the Apostle says (1 Cor. 15:46,47): "Yet that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; afterwards that which is spiritual . . . The first man was of the earth, earthy; the second man from heaven, heavenly."

Thirdly, on account of the dignity of the incarnate Word, for on the words (Gal. 4:4), "But when the fulness of the time was come," a gloss says: "The greater the judge who was coming, the more numerous was the band of heralds who ought to have preceded him."

Fourthly, lest the fervor of faith should cool by the length of time, for the charity of many will grow cold at the end of the world. Hence (Lk. 18:8) it is written: "But yet the Son of Man, when He cometh, shall He find think you, faith on earth?"

Reply to Objection 1: Charity does not put off bringing assistance to a friend: always bearing in mind the circumstances as well as the state of the persons. For if the physician were to give the medicine at the very outset of the ailment, it would do less good, and would hurt rather than benefit. And hence the Lord did not bestow upon the human race the remedy of the Incarnation in the beginning, lest they should despise it through pride, if they did not already recognize their disease.

Reply to Objection 2: Augustine replies to this (De Sex Quest. Pagan., Ep. cii), saying (Question 2) that "Christ wished to appear to man and to have His doctrine preached to them when and where He knew those were who would believe in Him. But in such times and places as His Gospel was not preached He foresaw that not all, indeed, but many would so bear themselves towards His preaching as not to believe in His corporeal presence, even were He to raise the dead." But the same Augustine, taking exception to this reply in his book (De Perseverantia ix), says: "How can we say the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon would not believe when such great wonders were wrought in their midst, or would not have believed had they been wrought, when God Himself bears witness that they would have done penance with great humility if these signs of Divine power had been wrought in their midst?" And he adds in answer (De Perseverantia xi): "Hence, as the Apostle says (Rm. 9:16), 'it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy'; Who (succors whom He will of) those who, as He foresaw, would believe in His miracles if wrought amongst them, (while others) He succors not, having judged them in His predestination secretly yet justly. Therefore let us unshrinkingly believe His mercy to be with those who are set free, and His truth with those who are condemned." .

Reply to Objection 3: Perfection is prior to imperfection, both in time and nature, in things that are different (for what brings others to perfection must itself be perfect); but in one and the same, imperfection is prior in time though posterior in nature. And thus the eternal perfection of God precedes in duration the imperfection of human nature; but the latter's ultimate perfection in union with God follows.

Articulus 5

Argumentum 1

Ad quintum sic proceditur. Videtur quod conveniens fuisset deum incarnari a principio humani generis. Incarnationis enim opus ex immensitate divinae caritatis processit, secundum illud Ephes. II, deus, qui dives est in misericordia, propter nimiam caritatem suam qua dilexit nos, cum essemus mortui peccatis, convivificavit nos in christo.

Sed caritas non tardat subvenire amico necessitatem patienti, secundum illud Prov. III, ne dicas amico tuo, vade et revertere, cras dabo tibi; cum statim possis dare.

Ergo deus incarnationis opus differre non debuit, sed statim a principio per suam incarnationem humano generi subvenire.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, I Tim. I dicitur, christus venit in hunc mundum peccatores salvos facere.

Sed plures salvati fuissent si a principio humani generis deus incarnatus fuisset, plurimi enim, ignorantes deum, in suo peccato perierunt in diversis saeculis. Ergo convenientius fuisset quod a principio humani generis deus incarnatus fuisset.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, opus gratiae non est minus ordinatum quam opus naturae. Sed natura initium sumit a perfectis, ut dicit boetius, in libro de consolatione.

Ergo opus gratiae debuit a principio esse perfectum. Sed in opere incarnationis consideratur perfectio gratiae, secundum illud, verbum caro factum est, et postea subditur, plenum gratiae et veritatis.

Ergo christus a principio humani generis debuit incarnari.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod dicitur Galat. IV, at ubi venit plenitudo temporis, misit deus filium suum, factum ex muliere, ubi dicit Glossa quod plenitudo temporis est quod praefinitum fuit a deo patre quando mitteret filium suum.

Sed deus sua sapientia omnia definivit. Ergo convenientissimo tempore deus est incarnatus. Et sic non fuit conveniens quod a principio humani generis deus incarnaretur.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod, cum opus incarnationis principaliter ordinetur ad reparationem naturae humanae per peccati abolitionem manifestum est quod non fuit conveniens a principio humani generis, ante peccatum, deum incarnatum fuisse, non enim datur medicina nisi iam infirmis.

Unde ipse dominus dicit, Matth. IX, non est opus valentibus medicus, sed male habentibus, non enim veni vocare iustos, sed peccatores.

Sed non etiam statim post peccatum conveniens fuit deum incarnari.

Primo quidem, propter conditionem humani peccati, quod ex superbia provenerat, unde eo modo erat homo liberandus ut, humiliatus, recognosceret se liberatore indigere.

Unde super illud Galat. III, ordinata per Angelos in manu mediatoris, dicit Glossa, magno consilio factum est ut, post hominis casum, non illico dei filius mitteretur. Reliquit enim deus prius hominem in libertate arbitrii, in lege naturali, ut sic vires naturae suae cognosceret.

Ubi cum deficeret, legem accepit. Qua data, invaluit morbus, non legis, sed naturae vitio, ut ita, cognita sua infirmitate, clamaret ad medicum, et gratiae quaereret auxilium.

Secundo, propter ordinem promotionis in bonum, secundum quem ab imperfecto ad perfectum proceditur.

Unde apostolus dicit, I ad Cor. XV, non prius quod spirituale est, sed quod animale, deinde quod spirituale. Primus homo de terra, terrenus, secundus homo de caelo, caelestis.

Tertio, propter dignitatem ipsius verbi incarnati.

Quia super illud Galat. IV, ubi venit plenitudo temporis, dicit Glossa, quanto maior iudex veniebat, tanto praeconum series longior praecedere debebat.

Quarto, ne fervor fidei temporis prolixitate tepesceret. Quia circa finem mundi refrigescet caritas multorum, et Luc. XVIII dicitur, cum filius hominis veniet, putasne inveniet fidem super terram?

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod caritas non differt amico subvenire, salva tamen negotiorum opportunitate et personarum conditione.

Si enim medicus statim a principio aegritudinis medicinam daret infirmo, minus proficeret, vel magis laederet quam iuvaret. Et ideo etiam dominus non statim incarnationis remedium humano generi exhibuit, ne illud contemneret ex superbia, si prius suam infirmitatem non cognosceret.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod Augustinus ad hoc respondet, in libro de sex quaestionibus Paganorum, dicens, qu. II, quod tunc voluit christus hominibus apparere, et apud eos praedicari suam doctrinam, quando et ubi sciebat esse qui in eum fuerant credituri. His enim temporibus, et his in locis, tales homines in eius praedicatione futuros esse sciebat quales, non quidem omnes, sed tamen multi in eius corporali praesentia fuerunt, qui nec in eum, suscitatis mortuis, credere voluerunt.

Sed hanc responsionem reprobans idem Augustinus dicit, in libro de perseverantia, nunquid possumus dicere tyrios aut sidonios, talibus apud se virtutibus factis, credere noluisse, aut credituros non fuisse si fierent, cum ipse dominus eis attestetur quod acturi essent magnae humilitatis poenitentiam, si in eis facta essent divinarum illa signa virtutum? proinde, ut ipse solvens subdit, sicut apostolus ait, non est volentis neque currentis, sed miserentis dei, qui his quos praevidit, si apud eos facta essent, suis miraculis credituros, quibus voluit subvenit, aliis autem non subvenit, de quibus in sua praedestinatione, occulte quidem sed iuste, aliud iudicavit. Ita misericordiam eius in his qui liberantur, et veritatem in his qui puniuntur sine dubitatione credamus.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod perfectum est prius imperfecto, in diversis quidem, tempore et natura, oportet enim quod perfectum sit quod alia ad perfectionem adducit, sed in uno et eodem imperfectum est prius tempore, etsi sit posterius natura. Sic ergo imperfectionem naturae humanae duratione praecedit aeterna dei perfectio, sed sequitur ipsam consummata perfectio in unione ad deum.