Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that Christ's Ascension is not the cause of our salvation. For, Christ was the cause of our salvation in so far as He merited it. But He merited nothing for us by His Ascension, because His Ascension belongs to the reward of His exaltation: and the same thing is not both merit and reward, just as neither are a road and its terminus the same. Therefore it seems that Christ's Ascension is not the cause of our salvation.

Objection 2: Further, if Christ's Ascension be the cause of our salvation, it seems that this is principally due to the fact that His Ascension is the cause of ours. But this was bestowed upon us by His Passion, for it is written (Heb. 10:19): "We have confidence in the entering into the holies by" His "blood." Therefore it seems that Christ's Ascension was not the cause of our salvation.

Objection 3: Further, the salvation which Christ bestows is an everlasting one, according to Is. 51:6: "My salvation shall be for ever." But Christ did not ascend into heaven to remain there eternally; for it is written (Acts 1:11): "He shall so come as you have seen Him going, into heaven." Besides, we read of Him showing Himself to many holy people on earth after He went up to heaven. to Paul, for instance (Acts 9). Consequently, it seems that Christ's Ascension is not the cause of our salvation.

On the contrary, He Himself said (Jn. 16:7): "It is expedient to you that I go"; i.e. that I should leave you and ascend into heaven.

I answer that, Christ's Ascension is the cause of our salvation in two ways: first of all, on our part; secondly, on His.

On our part, in so far as by the Ascension our souls are uplifted to Him; because, as stated above (Article 1, ad 3), His Ascension fosters, first, faith; secondly, hope; thirdly, charity. Fourthly, our reverence for Him is thereby increased, since we no longer deem Him an earthly man, but the God of heaven; thus the Apostle says (2 Cor. 5:16): "If we have known Christ according to the flesh---'that is, as mortal, whereby we reputed Him as a mere man,'" as the gloss interprets the words---"but now we know Him so no longer."

On His part, in regard to those things which, in ascending, He did for our salvation. First, He prepared the way for our ascent into heaven, according to His own saying (Jn. 14:2): "I go to prepare a place for you," and the words of Micheas (2:13), "He shall go up that shall open the way before them." For since He is our Head the members must follow whither the Head has gone: hence He said (Jn. 14:3): "That where I am, you also may be." In sign whereof He took to heaven the souls of the saints delivered from hell, according to Ps. 67:19 (Cf. Eph. 4:8): "Ascending on high, He led captivity captive," because He took with Him to heaven those who had been held captives by the devil---to heaven, as to a place strange to human nature. captives in deed of a happy taking, since they were acquired by His victory.

Secondly, because as the high-priest under the Old Testament entered the holy place to stand before God for the people, so also Christ entered heaven "to make intercession for us," as is said in Heb. 7:25. Because the very showing of Himself in the human nature which He took with Him to heaven is a pleading for us. so that for the very reason that God so exalted human nature in Christ, He may take pity on them for whom the Son of God took human nature. Thirdly, that being established in His heavenly seat as God and Lord, He might send down gifts upon men, according to Eph. 4:10: "He ascended above all the heavens, that He might fill all things," that is, "with His gifts," according to the gloss.

Reply to Objection 1: Christ's Ascension is the cause of our salvation by way not of merit, but of efficiency, as was stated above regarding His Resurrection (Question 56, Article 1, ad 3,4).

Reply to Objection 2: Christ's Passion is the cause of our ascending to heaven, properly speaking, by removing the hindrance which is sin, and also by way of merit: whereas Christ's Ascension is the direct cause of our ascension, as by beginning it in Him who is our Head, with whom the members must be united.

Reply to Objection 3: Christ by once ascending into heaven acquired for Himself and for us in perpetuity the right and worthiness of a heavenly dwelling-place; which worthiness suffers in no way, if, from some special dispensation, He sometimes comes down in body to earth; either in order to show Himself to the whole world, as at the judgment; or else to show Himself particularly to some individual, e.g. in Paul's case, as we read in Acts 9. And lest any man may think that Christ was not bodily present when this occurred, the contrary is shown from what the Apostle says in 1 Cor. 14:8, to confirm faith in the Resurrection: "Last of all He was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time": which vision would not confirm the truth of the Resurrection except he had beheld Christ's very body.

Articulus 6

Argumentum 1

Ad sextum sic proceditur. Videtur quod ascensio christi non sit causa nostrae salutis. Christus enim fuit causa nostrae salutis inquantum salutem nostram meruit. Sed per ascensionem nihil nobis meruit, quia ascensio pertinet ad praemium exaltationis eius; non est autem idem meritum et praemium, sicut nec via et terminus.

Ergo videtur quod ascensio christi non fuit causa nostrae salutis.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, si ascensio christi est causa nostrae salutis, maxime hoc videtur quantum ad hoc quod ascensio eius sit causa nostrae ascensionis. Sed hoc collatum est nobis per eius passionem, quia, ut dicitur Heb. X, habemus fiduciam in introitu sanctorum per sanguinem ipsius.

Ergo videtur quod ascensio christi non fuit causa nostrae salutis.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, salus per christum nobis collata est sempiterna, secundum illud Isaiae LI, salus autem mea in sempiternum erit.

Sed christus non ascendit in caelum ut ibi in sempiternum esset, dicitur enim Act. I, quemadmodum vidistis eum ascendentem in caelum, ita veniet.

Legitur etiam multis sanctis se demonstrasse in terris post suam ascensionem, sicut de Paulo legitur Act. IX.

Ergo videtur quod eius ascensio non sit causa nostrae salutis.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod ipse dicit, Ioan. XVI, expedit vobis ut ego vadam, idest, ut recedam a vobis per ascensionem.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod ascensio christi est causa nostrae salutis dupliciter, uno modo, ex parte nostra; alio modo, ex parte ipsius. Ex parte quidem nostra, inquantum per christi ascensionem mens nostra movetur in ipsum. Quia per eius ascensionem, sicut supra dictum est, primo quidem datur locus fidei; secundo, spei; tertio, caritati. Quarto etiam, per hoc reverentia nostra augetur ad ipsum, dum iam non existimamus eum sicut hominem terrenum, sed sicut deum caelestem, sicut et apostolus dicit, II Cor. V, etsi cognovimus secundum carnem christum, idest, mortalem, per quod putavimus eum tantum hominem, ut Glossa exponit, sed nunc iam non novimus.

Ex parte autem sua, quantum ad ea quae ipse fecit ascendens propter nostram salutem. Et primo quidem, viam nobis praeparavit ascendendi in caelum, secundum quod ipse dicit, Ioan. XIV, vado parare vobis locum; et Mich. II, ascendit pandens iter ante eos.

Quia enim ipse est caput nostrum, oportet illuc sequi membra quo caput praecessit, unde dicitur Ioan. XIV, ut ubi sum ego, et vos sitis.

Et in huius signum, animas sanctorum quas de inferno eduxerat, in caelum traduxit, secundum illud Psalmi, ascendens in altum captivam duxit captivitatem, quia scilicet eos qui fuerant a diabolo captivati, secum duxit in caelum, quasi in locum peregrinum humanae naturae, bona captione captivos, utpote per victoriam acquisitos. Secundo quia, sicut pontifex in veteri testamento intrabat sanctuarium ut assisteret deo pro populo, ita et christus intravit in caelum ad interpellandum pro nobis, ut dicitur Heb. VII.

Ipsa enim repraesentatio sui ex natura humana, quam in caelum intulit, est quaedam interpellatio pro nobis, ut, ex quo deus humanam naturam sic exaltavit in christo, etiam eorum misereatur pro quibus filius dei humanam naturam assumpsit. Tertio ut, in caelorum sede quasi deus et dominus constitutus, exinde divina dona hominibus mitteret, secundum illud Ephes. IV, ascendit super omnes caelos ut adimpleret omnia, scilicet donis suis, secundum Glossam.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod ascensio christi est causa nostrae salutis, non per modum meriti, sed per modum efficientiae, sicut supra de resurrectione dictum est.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod passio christi est causa nostrae ascensionis in caelum, proprie loquendo, per remotionem peccati prohibentis, et per modum meriti. Ascensio autem christi est directe causa ascensionis nostrae, quasi inchoando ipsam in capite nostro, cui oportet membra coniungi.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod christus, semel ascendens in caelum, adeptus est sibi et nobis in perpetuum ius et dignitatem mansionis caelestis. Cui tamen dignitati non derogat si ex aliqua dispensatione christus quandoque corporaliter ad terram descendat, vel ut ostendat se omnibus, sicut in iudicio; vel ut ostendat se alicui specialiter, sicut Paulo, ut habetur Act. IX.

Et ne aliquis credat hoc factum fuisse, non christo ibi corporaliter praesente, sed aliqualiter apparente, contrarium apparet per hoc quod ipse apostolus dicit, I Cor. XV, ad confirmandam resurrectionis fidem, novissime omnium, tanquam abortivo, visus est et mihi, quae quidem visio veritatem resurrectionis non probaret nisi ipsum verum corpus visum fuisset ab eo.