Fourth Article
Whether Christ’s body
ought to have risen with its scars?
We
proceed thus to the Fourth Article:—
Objection 1.
It seems that Christ’s body ought not to have risen with its scars. For it is
written (1 Cor. 15:52): The dead shall
rise incorrupt. But scars and wounds imply corruption and defect. Therefore
it was not fitting for Christ, the author of the resurrection, to rise again
with scars.
Obj. 2.
Further, Christ’s body rose entire, as stated above (A. 1). But open scars are
opposed to bodily integrity, since they interfere with the continuity of the
tissue. It does not therefore seem fitting for the open wounds to remain in
Christ’s body; although the traces of the wounds might remain, which would
satisfy the beholder; thus it was that Thomas believed, to whom it was said: Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast
believed (John 20:29).
Obj. 3.
Further, Damascene says (De Fide Orthod.
iv.) that some things are truly said of
Christ after the Resurrection, which He did not have from nature but from
special dispensation, such as the scars, in order to make it sure that it was
the body, which had suffered, that rose again. Now when the cause ceases,
the effect ceases. Therefore it seems that when the disciples were assured of
the Resurrection, He bore the scars no longer. But it ill became the
unchangeableness of His glory that He should assume anything which was not to remain
in Him for ever. Consequently, it seems that He ought not at His Resurrection
to have resumed a body with scars.
On
the contrary, Our Lord said to Thomas (John 20:27): Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands;
and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side, and be not faithless but
believing.
I
answer that, It was fitting for Christ’s soul at His
Resurrection to resume the body with its scars. In the first place, for
Christ’s own glory. For Bede says on Luke 24:40 that He kept His scars not from
inability to heal them, but to wear them
as an everlasting trophy of His victory. Hence Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xxii.): Perhaps in that kingdom we shall see on the bodies of the Martyrs the
traces of the wounds which they bore for Christ’s name: because it will not be
a deformity, but a dignity in them; and a certain kind of beauty will shine in
them, in the body, though not of the body. Secondly, to confirm the hearts
of the disciples as to the faith in His
Resurrection (Bede, loc. cit.).
Thirdly, that when He pleads for us with
the Father, He may always show the manner of death He endured for us (Bede,
loc. cit.). Fourthly, that He may convince those redeemed in His
blood, how mercifully they have been helped, as He exposes before them the
traces of the same death (Bede, loc.
cit.). Lastly, that in the
Judgment-day He may upbraid them with their just condemnation (Bede, loc. cit.). Hence, as Augustine says (De Symb. ii.): Christ knew why He kept the scars in His body. For, as He showed them
to Thomas who would not believe except he handled and saw them, so will He show
His wounds to His enemies, so that He who is the Truth may convict them,
saying: ‘Behold the man whom you crucified; see the wounds you inflicted;
recognize the side you pierced, since it was opened by you and for you, yet you
would not enter.’
Reply
Obj.
1. The scars that remained in Christ’s body belong neither to corruption nor
defect, but to the greater increase of glory, inasmuch as they are the trophies
of His power; and a special comeliness will appear in the places scarred by the
wounds.
Reply
Obj.
2. Although those openings of the wounds break the continuity of the tissue,
still the greater beauty of glory compensates for all this, so that the body is
not less entire, but more perfected. Thomas, however, not only saw, but handled
the wounds, because as Pope Leo (cf.
Append. Opp. August., Serm. clxii.)
says: It sufficed for his personal faith
for him to have seen what he saw; but it was on our behalf that he touched what
he beheld.
Reply
Obj.
3. Christ willed the scars of His wounds to remain on His body, not only to
confirm the faith of His disciples, but for other reasons also. From these it
seems that those scars will always remain on His body; because, as Augustine
says (Ad Consent.,—De Resur. Carn.): I believe our Lord’s body to be in heaven, such as it was when He
ascended into heaven. And Gregory (Moral
xiv.) says that if aught could be changed
in Christ’s body after His Resurrection, contrary to Paul’s truthful teaching,
then the Lord after His Resurrection returned to death; and what fool would
dare to say this, save he that denies the true resurrection of the flesh?
Accordingly, it is evident that the scars which Christ showed on His body after
His Resurrection, have never since been removed from His body. (STh., III q.54
a.4, in Thomas Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica [trans. Fathers of the
English Dominican Province; London: Burns Oates & Washbourne, n.d.], 9:569;
cf. J. Brodie Brosnan, What is Sacrificial Immolation? [London: Sands &
Co., 1929])
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