40. Christ's Knowledge, Learning, and Power

Subscribe in Podcast App | Download Transcript

Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Christ’s Progress in Knowledge #

• The Three Types of Knowledge in Christ: (1) Beatific vision (direct vision of God’s essence), (2) Infused knowledge (poured in by God, complete from the beginning), and (3) Acquired/experiential knowledge (gained through the agent intellect’s abstraction from sensible images)
• The Core Question: Did Christ progress in knowledge despite having complete infused and beatific knowledge?
• Thomas’s Position: Christ progressed only in acquired experiential knowledge, not in infused or beatific knowledge. Thomas explicitly changed his mind on this (“quam vis aliter alibi”)—he had previously taken a more restrictive view in his Sentences commentary.
• The Distinction: Progress in the essence of the habit (intrinsic increase) vs. progress in effect (demonstrating knowledge to others). Thomas ultimately affirms both forms of progress in acquired knowledge.
• Scripture and Tradition: Luke 2:52 states Christ “went forward in wisdom and age and grace.” Damascene and others interpreted this as concerning infused knowledge, but Thomas (following Ambrose) interprets it as concerning human/acquired wisdom.

Natural Operations and the Agent Intellect #

• The Problem of In Vain: If Christ had no acquired knowledge, his agent intellect would operate in vain. But an agent intellect is a natural power of the human soul, so it must be actualized.
• How Acquisition Works: The agent intellect abstracts intelligible forms from phantasms (sensible images). From initial abstractions, it can abstract further forms, allowing knowledge to grow successively rather than all at once.
• Perfection in Time: Even though acquired knowledge is “not perfect simply and according to nature,” it is “always perfect according to the time”—fitting for each stage of Christ’s development.

Learning from Men #

• The Objections: (1) Luke 2:52 shows Christ questioning the doctors in the temple, which seems like learning. (2) Learning from men’s teaching (where forms are in act) is more noble than learning from sensible things (where forms are only in potency). (3) If Christ progressed in experimental knowledge, he could learn from men what he did not yet know.
• Thomas’s Resolution: Christ did not learn from men in the strict sense. Rather, he questioned the doctors to teach, using the Socratic method. The Gospel notes that those listening “were stupefied at his prudence and his responses.” He was teaching through questioning, not acquiring knowledge through their answers.
• Fitting His Age: Christ’s human will accommodated itself to his age. He did not go to the temple until age twelve, which is the age of reason under the Law. Gregory of Nyssa is cited: the Word “in the twelfth year of age…deigned to question men on earth,” and “the doctrine of instruction did not work upon him before the age of perfection.”
• His Dignity: Isaiah 55:4 calls Christ “a leader and a preceptor,” not a learner. The first mover in any order is not itself moved by that form of motion; Christ, as head of the Church, cannot be taught by those he teaches.

Learning from Angels #

• The Objections: (1) Luke 22 mentions an angel comforting Christ in Gethsemane, suggesting instruction. (2) Dionysius says Jesus “comes in an unchanging way…obediently being subject to the formations through the angels,” implying angelic mediation. (3) Just as the human body is subject to celestial bodies, the human mind should be subject to angelic minds.
• The Counter-Objection: Dionysius also says the highest angels learn from Jesus himself about his divine operation, not vice versa. To teach and to be taught are not the same.
• Thomas’s Resolution: The soul of Christ is a middle between spiritual substances and bodily things. It was perfected in two ways: (1) through experiential knowledge from sensible things (requiring only the agent intellect’s natural light), and (2) through infused knowledge poured in directly by God, not through angels. The hypostatic union grants the soul knowledge and grace immediately from the Word, bypassing angelic mediation.
• Angelic Comfort: The angels’ comforting was “not by way of instruction, but by showing the reverence proper to human nature.” As Bede says, “the creator needed no reciting of the creature, but having been made man, for the sake of us he both said and suffered, so that in us the faith…in his incarnation might be confirmed.”

Key Arguments #

For Progress in Acquired Knowledge #

1. From Natural Faculty: The agent intellect is a natural power of the human soul. It would be in vain if not actualized in Christ.
2. From Scripture: Luke 2:52 explicitly states Christ “went forward in wisdom and age and grace.”
3. From Parallel Development: Just as Christ grew in age, he grew in acquired knowledge—both are natural operations fitting to human development.
4. From Successive Abstraction: The agent intellect abstracts initial forms from phantasms, then abstracts further forms from those initial abstractions, allowing successive growth.

Against Omnipotence of Christ’s Soul #

1. From Divine Property: Omnipotence is proper to God alone (Exodus 15:1 calls it God’s name; the Creed confesses God as “Almighty”).
2. From Nature’s Limitation: Active power follows upon form and nature. The soul’s power is limited by its nature; only the divine nature (which is ipsum esse, pure being itself) grounds infinite power.
3. From Reception According to Mode: “Whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver.” The divine nature’s infinite perfections, when received by a finite soul, are received finitely—just as heat in water is not as perfect as heat in fire.
4. From Distinction of Natures: The Incarnation preserves the distinction of natures. Each nature retains what is proper to it. The soul’s power remains limited even as the person is God.
5. From Instrumentality: The soul exercises power as an instrument of the Word, not in virtue of its own nature. Attributes of the principal agent (the Word) are attributed to the instrument only through union.

Important Definitions #

Experiential Knowledge (Scientia Experimentalis) #

Knowledge acquired over time through the agent intellect’s abstraction from sensible images (phantasms). Develops successively and is limited by sensible experience, unlike infused knowledge which is complete from the beginning.

Agent Intellect (Intellectus Agens) #

The active power of the human intellect that abstracts intelligible forms from sensible images, making them actually intelligible for the possible intellect. A natural power of the human soul whose operation would be in vain if not actualized.

Infused Knowledge (Scientia Infusa) #

Knowledge poured into the soul by God at once, not acquired through experience. In Christ, this knowledge was complete from the beginning and did not progress. It includes all things knowable to human nature.

Beatific Vision (Visio Beatifica) #

Christ’s direct vision of God’s essence, which is the knowledge of God as he is. This knowledge was perfect and unchanging in Christ from the beginning; no progress occurs in it.

Colatio (Discursive Knowledge) #

The bringing together of multiple premises to reach conclusions—the natural operation of reason. Christ used this not as a means of acquiring knowledge but as a use of knowledge already possessed through infused knowledge.

Instrumental Power (Potentia Instrumentalis) #

Power exercised not in virtue of one’s own nature but as an instrument of a superior agent. The soul of Christ exercises instrumental power as united to the divine Word, but this power is attributed to the Word as principal agent.

Examples & Illustrations #

Questioning in the Temple #

Christ at age twelve questioned the doctors in the temple (Luke 2:52). This was not learning from them but teaching through Socratic questioning. The Gospel emphasizes that listeners “were stupefied at his prudence and his responses,” showing he was instructing them, not acquiring knowledge.

Heat in Water vs. Fire #

Heat in water is not received with the same perfection and power as heat in fire. Similarly, divine perfections received by the human soul are received in a finite mode, even though the source is infinite. This illustrates why Christ’s knowledge could be infinite in content (through infused knowledge) yet limited in mode (as received by a finite soul).

The Mule and Lightning #

Berquist recounts a farmer’s story: a mule struck by lightning never again would walk in that spot. This illustrates how sense memory affects bodily behavior—relevant to understanding the limits of the soul’s power to arbitrarily change bodily dispositions.

The Child Learning Wisdom #

Berquist quotes his granddaughter Sophia: “If you’re mostly good, you go to heaven. If you’re mostly bad, you go to the perpetrator.” This shows “pretty perfect knowledge for her age.” It illustrates the principle that knowledge can be perfect “according to the time” even if not perfect absolutely.

Questions Addressed #

Did Christ Progress in Knowledge? #

Resolution: Yes, in acquired experiential knowledge, which develops naturally over time through the agent intellect’s abstraction from phantasms. No, in infused or beatific knowledge, which were complete and unchanging from the beginning. Thomas changed his earlier opinion (stated in his Sentences commentary) to affirm this distinction.

Did Christ Learn from Men? #

Resolution: No, not in the strict sense of acquiring new knowledge from instruction. His questioning of the doctors in the temple was pedagogical—teaching through questions—not acquisitive. The Gospel shows he was instructing them. His human will accommodated itself to his age, appearing at the temple at age twelve, which is the age of reason under the Law.

Did Christ Learn from Angels? #

Resolution: No. Christ received infused knowledge directly from God, not through angelic mediation. The soul of Christ was perfected through: (1) experiential knowledge from sensible things (using the natural light of the agent intellect), and (2) infused knowledge poured in directly by God due to hypostatic union. Angels were comforted by and learned from Christ, not vice versa.

Did Christ’s Soul Have Omnipotence? #

Resolution: No, not simply or absolutely. Omnipotence is proper to God alone and follows from the divine nature as ipsum esse (pure being). The soul’s power is limited by its nature. However, the soul, as united to the Word in the person, has instrumental power to perform miraculous changes ordered to the Incarnation. According to its own nature, the soul has power proper to human nature—governing the body, disposing human acts, enlightening others—but cannot create or annihilate creatures or arbitrarily change the body’s natural dispositions.