62. Christ's Priesthood: Expiation of Sins and Eternal Effects

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Article 3: Does Christ’s Priesthood Effect the Expiation of Sins? #

The Objections:

• Only God can forgive/delete sins (Isaiah 43); Christ is not God according to his priesthood but according to his humanity, so Christ cannot expiate sins
• Old Testament sacrifices could not make perfect those offering them (Hebrews 10); they merely commemorated sins, so why should Christ’s priesthood be different?
• Christ is compared to a lamb, not to the animals of the sin offerings (he-goat, she-goat); this suggests a different kind of sacrifice

Thomas’s Response:

For the complete and perfect cleansing of sins, two things are required:

1. Removal of the stain of guilt (macula culpae): This is taken away through grace, by which the sinner’s heart is converted to God
2. Removal of the obligation of punishment (reatus poenae): This is wholly taken away through satisfaction to God

Christ’s priesthood effects both of these:

• Regarding grace: By virtue of Christ’s priesthood, grace is given to us through which our hearts are turned to God (Romans 3)
• Regarding satisfaction: Christ fully satisfies for us, taking on our sicknesses and carrying our sorrows (Isaiah 53)

The distinction between Christ’s humanity and divinity is crucial: Although Christ is not a priest according as he is God, but according as he is man, his human nature operated in the power of his divinity. This makes his sacrifice infinitely efficacious.

Augustine’s Insight (De Trinitate IV): Four things constitute every sacrifice:

• To whom it is offered: God
• By whom it is offered: Christ as priest
• What is offered: Christ as victim (hostia)
• For whom it is offered: His mystical body

Article 4: Does the Effect of Christ’s Priesthood Pertain Only to Others? #

The Objections:

• Priests pray for the people; Christ prayed for himself (Hebrews 5), so his priesthood had effects on himself
• Through his passion, Christ merited not only for others but for himself (his resurrection and glory)
• Old Testament priests offered sacrifice for themselves as well as others (Leviticus 16); Christ’s priesthood, as the figure of Old Testament priesthood, should do the same

Thomas’s Response:

The fundamental principle: A priest is constituted as a mediator between God and people. But Christ does not need a mediator; through himself he approaches God (Hebrews 7: “always living to intercede for us”).

Thus it does not belong to Christ to receive the effect of his priesthood, but rather to communicate it to others. Christ is the fountain of the whole priesthood—the first agent in any genus flows out and does not receive in that genus (e.g., the sun illuminates but is not enlightened; fire heats but is not heated).

Regarding the first objection (that Christ prayed for himself):

Prayer, although it belongs to priests, is not the private office of priesthood. Prayer belongs to everyone, both for themselves and for others (James 5). The proper office of priesthood concerns the sacrifice itself and its consummation.

However, Hebrews 5 connects Christ’s prayer to his priesthood (“a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek; who in the days of his flesh offered prayers…”). Therefore, the more precise response is:

Other priests partake of the effect of priesthood insofar as they are sinners. But Christ, speaking simply, had no sin. However, he had the similitude of sin (similitudo peccati) in his flesh—he assumed sinful flesh deserved by sinners—without actually being a sinner.

Therefore, it should not be said simply that Christ partook of the effect of priesthood, but rather secundum quid (in a qualified sense, according to a certain aspect)—namely, according as he had sinful flesh and underwent death.

Regarding the second objection (that Christ merited for himself through passion):

Two things must be distinguished in the offering of sacrifice:

1. The sacrifice offered itself
2. The devotion of the one offering

The proper effect of priesthood follows from the sacrifice itself. Christ achieved through his passion not as a matter of the strength of the sacrifice offered by way of satisfaction, but from his devotion—his humility sustained in the passion according to charity. The universal principle of merit is charity, which informs the particular virtue (like humility) to merit particular effects.

Regarding the third objection (the Old Testament parallel):

The figure does not equal the truth. The figurative priest of the Old Law could not attain the perfection such that he did not himself need a satisfying sacrifice. But Christ did not need such a thing. As Hebrews says, “the law constitutes men as priests having infirmity,” whereas Christ is constituted by the oath that followed the law (Hebrews 7).

Key Arguments #

On the Two Components of Sin #

Thomas’s distinction between macula culpae and reatus poenae is fundamental:

• Macula culpae (stain of guilt): The state of the soul turned away from God; removed by grace converting the heart
• Reatus poenae (obligation of punishment): The debt owed to God’s justice; removed through satisfaction

Both are necessary for perfect cleansing; both are effects of Christ’s priesthood.

On the Distinction Between Prayer and Sacrifice #

Prayer is not the distinctive office of priesthood because:

• It belongs to everyone, not just priests
• It is an act of virtue common to all persons
• The proper office of priesthood is the offering and consummation of sacrifice

On Christ as Fountain of Priesthood #

Christ does not receive the effects of priesthood (except secundum quid) because:

• Priests mediate between God and people who need mediation
• Christ, as God, has no need of mediation
• As the fountain, he communicates effects outward (like the sun illuminating) rather than receiving them
• Priests operate in persona Christi (in the person of Christ), deriving their power from him

On the Similitude of Sin #

Christ assumed flesh that sinners deserved (sinful flesh in a certain sense) without being a sinner. This allows him to undergo death and resurrection, thereby partaking of the effect of priesthood in a qualified way—not with respect to expiation of his own sins (which he had none), but with respect to the power of his sacrifice over death and resurrection.

Important Definitions #

Macula culpae #

The stain or blemish of guilt upon the soul; the state of being turned away from God. Removed through grace.

Reatus poenae #

The obligation or debt of punishment; the liability to punishment owed to God’s justice. Removed through satisfaction.

Similitudo peccati #

The similitude or likeness of sin—Christ’s assumption of mortal, sinful flesh without actual sin. This allows him to undergo death (which sin deserved) while remaining sinless.

Secundum quid #

In a qualified sense; according to a certain respect or aspect, as opposed to simpliciter (simply or absolutely).

In persona Christi #

In the person of Christ. Priests operate in this manner when they offer the sacrifice; their authority and efficacy derives from Christ’s priesthood.

Examples & Illustrations #

The Old Testament Sacrifices and Their Inadequacy #

The Old Testament sacrifices (he-goat for a prince, she-goat for a common person) could only commemorate sins, not expiate them. They had to be repeated year after year, suggesting their inefficacy. Christ’s sacrifice, by contrast, is singular and eternally efficacious because offered in the power of divinity.

The Lamb as the Principal Sacrifice #

Although diverse animals were offered in the law, the daily sacrifice (morning and evening, Numbers 28) was the lamb. Therefore, when John says “Behold the Lamb of God, behold the one who takes away the sins of the world,” this signifies that the offering of the lamb consummated all other offerings—just as the Eucharist is the consummation of all the other sacraments.

Augustine on the Four Elements of Sacrifice #

Augustine identifies four things in every sacrifice:

1. To whom: God
2. By whom: The priest (Christ)
3. What: The victim (Christ)
4. For whom: The Church (his mystical body)

In Christ’s sacrifice, all four are unified in a unique way—the same person is both priest and victim, offered to God, for the sake of his mystical body.

The Sun and Fire Analogy #

As the sun illuminates without being illuminated, and fire heats without being heated, so Christ as the fountain of priesthood communicates its effects outward without receiving them himself. This illustrates the unique position of Christ as the source and origin of all priestly power.

On Humility and Merit #

Christ’s suffering merited his resurrection not primarily through the strength of his sacrifice as satisfaction, but through his humility sustained in the passion according to charity. Humility, informed by charity (the universal principle of merit), merited the particular effect of exaltation/glorification. This parallels how in the Magnificat, Mary’s exaltation follows from God regarding her humility (not primarily her charity, though informed by it).

Questions Addressed #

Article 3: Does the Effect of Christ’s Priesthood Include the Expiation of Sins? #

Resolution: Yes, completely and perfectly. Christ’s priesthood effects both the removal of the stain of guilt (through grace) and the removal of the obligation of punishment (through satisfaction). Unlike the Old Testament sacrifices which could only commemorate sins, Christ’s sacrifice actually expiates sins because it is offered in the power of his divinity.

Article 4: Does the Effect of Christ’s Priesthood Pertain Only to Others, or Also to Himself? #

Resolution: Properly speaking, only to others. Christ as the fountain of priesthood does not receive its effects but communicates them. However, in a qualified sense (secundum quid), Christ partook of the effect of priesthood through his assumption of sinful flesh and his passage through death—though not as a sinner needing expiation, but as one undergoing the consequences of sin on behalf of his mystical body.