Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that it was becoming that Christ should lead an austere life in this world. For Christ preached the perfection of life much more than John did. But John led an austere life in order that he might persuade men by his example to embrace a perfect life; for it is written (Mt. 3:4) that "the same John had his garment of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins: and his meat was locusts and wild honey"; on which Chrysostom comments as follows (Hom. x): "It was a marvelous and strange thing to behold such austerity in a human frame: which thing also particularly attracted the Jews." Therefore it seems that an austere life was much more becoming to Christ.

Objection 2: Further, abstinence is ordained to continency; for it is written (Osee 4:10): "They shall eat and shall not be filled; they have committed fornication, and have not ceased." But Christ both observed continency in Himself and proposed it to be observed by others when He said (Mt. 19:12): "There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven: he that can take it let him take it." Therefore it seems that Christ should have observed an austere life both in Himself and in His disciples.

Objection 3: Further, it seems absurd for a man to begin a stricter form of life and to return to an easier life: for one might quote to his discredit that which is written, Lk. 14:30: "This man began to build, and was not able to finish." Now Christ began a very strict life after His baptism, remaining in the desert and fasting for "forty days and forty nights." Therefore it seems unbecoming that, after leading such a strict life, He should return to the common manner of living.

On the contrary, It is written (Mt. 11:19): "The Son of Man came eating and drinking."

I answer that, As stated above (Article 1), it was in keeping with the end of the Incarnation that Christ should not lead a solitary life, but should associate with men. Now it is most fitting that he who associates with others should conform to their manner of living; according to the words of the Apostle (1 Cor. 9:22): "I became all things to all men." And therefore it was most fitting that Christ should conform to others in the matter of eating and drinking. Hence Augustine says (Contra Faust. xvi) that "John is described as 'neither eating nor drinking,' because he did not take the same food as the Jews. Therefore, unless our Lord had taken it, it would not be said of Him, in contrast, 'eating and drinking.'"

Reply to Objection 1: In His manner of living our Lord gave an example of perfection as to all those things which of themselves relate to salvation. Now abstinence in eating and drinking does not of itself relate to salvation, according to Rm. 14:17: "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink." And Augustine (De Qq. Evang. ii, qu. 11) explains Mt. 11:19, "Wisdom is justified by her children," saying that this is because the holy apostles "understood that the kingdom of God does not consist in eating and drinking, but in suffering indigence with equanimity," for they are neither uplifted by affluence, nor distressed by want. Again (De Doctr. Christ. iii), he says that in all such things "it is not making use of them, but the wantonness of the user, that is sinful." Now both these lives are lawful and praiseworthy---namely, that a man withdraw from the society of other men and observe abstinence; and that he associate with other men and live like them. And therefore our Lord wished to give men an example of either kind of life.

As to John, according to Chrysostom (Hom. xxxvii super Matth.), "he exhibited no more than his life and righteous conduct . . . but Christ had the testimony also of miracles. Leaving, therefore, John to be illustrious by his fasting, He Himself came the opposite way, both coming unto publicans' tables and eating and drinking."

Reply to Objection 2: Just as by abstinence other men acquire the power of self-restraint, so also Christ, in Himself and in those that are His, subdued the flesh by the power of His Godhead. Wherefore, as we read Mt. 9:14, the Pharisees and the disciples of John fasted, but not the disciples of Christ. On which Bede comments, saying that "John drank neither wine nor strong drink: because abstinence is meritorious where the nature is weak. But why should our Lord, whose right by nature it is to forgive sins, avoid those whom He could make holier than such as abstain?"

Reply to Objection 3: As Chrysostom says (Hom. xiii super Matth.), "that thou mightest learn how great a good is fasting, and how it is a shield against the devil, and that after baptism thou shouldst give thyself up, not to luxury, but to fasting---for this cause did He fast, not as needing it Himself, but as teaching us . . . And for this did He proceed no further than Moses and Elias, lest His assumption of our flesh might seem incredible." The mystical meaning, as Gregory says (Hom. xvi in Evang.), is that by Christ's example the number "forty" is observed in His fast, because the power of the "decalogue is fulfilled throughout the four books of the Holy Gospel: since ten multiplied by four amounts to forty." Or, because "we live in this mortal body composed of the four elements, and by its lusts we transgress the commandments of the Lord, which are expressed in the decalogue." Or, according to Augustine (Questions. lxxxiii, qu. 81): "To know the Creator and the creature is the entire teaching of wisdom. The Creator is the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Now the creature is partly invisible, as the soul, to which the number three may be ascribed, for we are commanded to love God in three ways, 'with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind'; and partly visible, as the body, to which the number four is applicable on account of its being subject to heat, moisture, cold, and dryness. Hence if we multiply ten, which may be referred to the entire moral code, by four, which number may be applied to the body, because it is the body that executes the law, the product is the number forty: in which," consequently, "the time during which we sigh and grieve is shown forth." And yet there was no inconsistency in Christ's returning to the common manner of living, after fasting and (retiring into the) desert. For it is becoming to that kind of life, which we hold Christ to have embraced, wherein a man delivers to others the fruits of his contemplation, that he devote himself first of all to contemplation, and that he afterwards come down to the publicity of active life by associating with other men. Hence Bede says on Mk. 2:18: "Christ fasted, that thou mightest not disobey the commandment; He ate with sinners, that thou mightest discern His sanctity and acknowledge His power."

Articulus 2

Argumentum 1

Ad secundum sic proceditur. Videtur quod christum decuerit austeram vitam ducere in hoc mundo. Christus enim multo magis praedicavit perfectionem vitae quam ioannes. Sed ioannes austeram vitam duxit, ut suo exemplo homines ad perfectionem vitae provocaret, dicitur enim, Matth. III, quod ipse ioannes habebat vestimentum de pilis camelorum, et zonam pelliceam circa lumbos suos, esca autem eius erant locustae et mel sylvestre; quod exponens chrysostomus dicit, erat mirabile in humano corpore tantam patientiam videre, quod et Iudaeos magis attrahebat.

Ergo videtur quod multo magis christum decuerit austeritas vitae.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, abstinentia ad continentiam ordinatur, dicitur enim Osee IV, comedentes non saturabuntur, fornicati sunt, et non cessaverunt.

Sed christus continentiam et in se servavit, et aliis servandam proposuit, cum dixit, Matth. XIX, sunt eunuchi qui se castraverunt propter regnum caelorum, qui potest capere, capiat.

Ergo videtur quod christus in se, et in suis discipulis, austeritatem vitae servare debuerit.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, ridiculum videtur ut aliquis districtiorem vitam incipiat, et ab ea in laxiorem revertatur, potest enim dici contra eum quod habetur Luc. XIV, hic homo coepit aedificare, et non potuit consummare.

Christus autem districtissimam vitam incoepit post baptismum, manens in deserto et ieiunans quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus. Ergo videtur non fuisse congruum quod post tantam vitae districtionem ad communem vitam rediret.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod dicitur Matth. XI, venit filius hominis manducans et bibens.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod sicut dictum est, congruum erat incarnationis fini ut christus non ageret solitariam vitam, sed cum hominibus conversaretur. Qui autem cum aliquibus conversatur, convenientissimum est ut se eis in conversatione conformet, secundum illud apostoli, I Cor. IX, omnibus omnia factus sum.

Et ideo convenientissimum fuit ut christus in cibo et potu communiter se sicut alii haberet. Unde Augustinus dicit, contra faustum, quod ioannes dictus est non manducans neque bibens, quia illo victu quo Iudaei utebantur, non utebatur. Hoc ergo dominus nisi uteretur, non in eius comparatione manducans bibensque diceretur.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod dominus in sua conversatione exemplum perfectionis dedit in omnibus quae per se pertinent ad salutem. Ipsa autem abstinentia cibi et potus non per se pertinet ad salutem, secundum illud Rom. XIV, non est regnum dei esca et potus.

Et Augustinus dicit, in libro de quaestionibus evang., exponens illud Matth. XI, iustificata est sapientia a filiis suis, quia scilicet sancti apostoli intellexerunt regnum dei non esse in esca et potu, sed in aequanimitate tolerandi, quos nec copia sublevat nec deprimit egestas.

Et in III de doct. Christ., dicit quod in omnibus talibus non usus rerum, sed libido utentis in culpa est.

Utraque autem vita est licita et laudabilis, ut scilicet aliquis a communi consortio hominum segregatus abstinentiam servet; et ut in societate aliorum positus communi vita utatur. Et ideo dominus voluit utriusque vitae exemplum dare hominibus.

Ioannes autem, sicut chrysostomus dicit, super Matth., nihil plus ostendit praeter vitam et iustitiam. Christus autem et a miraculis testimonium habebat. Dimittens ergo ioannem ieiunio fulgere, ipse contrariam incessit viam, ad mensam intrans publicanorum, et manducans et bibens.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod, sicut alii homines per abstinentiam consequuntur virtutem continendi, ita etiam christus, in se et suis per virtutem suae divinitatis carnem comprimebat. Unde, sicut legitur Matth. IX, Pharisaei et discipuli ioannis ieiunabant, non autem discipuli christi.

Quod exponens beda dicit quod ioannes vinum et siceram non bibit, quia illi abstinentia meritum auget cui potentia nulla inerat naturae. Dominus autem, cui naturaliter suppetebat delicta donare, cur eos declinaret quos abstinentibus poterat reddere puriores?

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod, sicut chrysostomus dicit, super Matth., ut discas quam magnum bonum est ieiunium, et qualiter scutum est adversus diabolum, et quoniam post baptismum non lasciviae, sed ieiunio intendere oportet, ipse ieiunavit, non eo indigens, sed nos instruens. Non autem ultra processit ieiunando quam Moyses et elias, ne incredibilis videretur carnis assumptio.

Secundum mysterium autem, ut Gregorius dicit, quadragenarius numerus exemplo christi in ieiunio custoditur, quia virtus Decalogi per libros quatuor sancti evangelii impletur, denarius enim quater ductus in quadragenarium surgit. Vel, quia in hoc mortali corpore ex quatuor elementis subsistimus, per cuius voluntatem praeceptis dominicis contraimus, quae per Decalogum sunt accepta.

Vel, secundum Augustinum, in libro octogintatrium quaest., omnis sapientiae disciplina est creatorem creaturamque cognoscere. Creator est trinitas, pater et filius et spiritus sanctus. Creatura vero partim est invisibilis, sicut anima, cui ternarius numerus tribuitur, diligere enim deum tripliciter iubemur, ex toto corde, ex tota anima, ex tota mente, partim visibilis, sicut corpus, cui quaternarius debetur propter calidum, humidum, frigidum et siccum. Denarius ergo numerus, qui totam insinuat disciplinam, quater ductus, idest numero qui corpori tribuitur multiplicatus, quia per corpus administratio geritur, quadragenarium conficit numerum. Et ideo tempus quo ingemiscimus et dolemus, quadragenario numero celebratur.

Nec tamen incongruum fuit ut christus post ieiunium et desertum ad communem vitam rediret. Hoc enim convenit vitae secundum quam aliquis contemplata aliis tradit, quam christum dicimus assumpsisse, ut primo contemplationi vacet, et postea ad publicum actionis descendat aliis convivendo. Unde et beda dicit, super Marc., ieiunavit christus, ne praeceptum declinares, manducavit cum peccatoribus, ut, gratiam cernens, agnosceres potestatem.