65. Christ's Predestination and Its Exemplarity

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Christ’s Predestination #

• Whether predestination properly belongs to Christ despite His being the natural Son of God
• The relationship between predestination (which aims at adoption as sons) and Christ’s eternal sonship
• The role of the grace of union (gratia unionis) in making predestination applicable to Christ
• How Christ’s predestination differs fundamentally from human predestination

Predestination: Eternal Act vs. Temporal Effect #

• Predestination defined as “a certain divine preordering from eternity about those things which are going to come to be in time through the grace of God”
• Two modes of considering predestination:
  1. According to the divine act itself (God’s eternal preordering)
  2. According to the term or effect of predestination (what is actually accomplished in time)
• This distinction resolves apparent contradictions about Christ being eternally the Son of God yet predestined

Christ’s Predestination According to Human Nature #

• The puzzle: How can Christ according as He is man be predestined to be Son of God, when He is not the Son of God according as He is man?
• Resolution: The determination “according as man” can refer either to:
  1. The material object of predestination (false sense)
  2. The very notion of the predestinatory act itself (true sense)
• Human nature alone is the subject of predestination because it was not always united to the Word and received this union through grace

Christ’s Predestination as Exemplar and Cause #

• Whether Christ’s predestination serves as an exemplar (exemplar) for human predestination
• Whether Christ’s predestination is a cause (causa) of human predestination
• The relationship between these two roles and how they are compatible

Key Arguments #

Against Christ’s Predestination (Three Objections) #

Objection 1: Predestination aims at adoption as sons; Christ is not an adopted son; therefore predestination does not apply to Christ

Objection 2: Predestination concerns things from grace; Christ’s sonship is from nature, not grace; therefore predestination does not apply to Christ

Objection 3: What is predestined was not always; Christ was always God and Son of God; therefore predestination does not apply to Christ

Thomas’s Resolution on Christ’s Predestination #

• The union of natures in Christ’s person comes under God’s eternal predestination
• Christ is said to be predestined by reason of the grace of union (ratione gratiae unionis)
• This grace united human nature to the divine person in a way that was not always the case temporally
• The predestination refers to God’s eternal ordering of this temporal union

Against Predestination According to Human Nature (Three Objections) #

Objection 1: If Christ as man is predestined to be Son of God, then He is the Son of God as man, which is false

Objection 2: Whatever belongs to Christ as man belongs to every man; not every man is predestined to be Son of God; therefore this does not belong to Christ as man

Objection 3: It is more true that God became man than that man became God; therefore more properly Christ as Son of God is predestined to be man, not vice versa

Thomas’s Resolution on Human Nature and Predestination #

• Predestination belongs to Christ by reason of human nature alone (sola)
• Two ways something can belong to a man by reason of human nature:
  1. As caused by human nature (e.g., visibility, capability of laughter) - predestination does NOT belong this way
  2. As something human nature is susceptible to receiving - predestination DOES belong this way
• Predestination refers to the exaltation of human nature in Christ
• Example: Mary was predestined to be the mother of God, but not every woman was

On Exemplarity #

• Predestination can be considered according to the act of predestinating (one eternal act for Christ and us both)
• Predestination can be considered according to the term (terminus) or limit of predestination (the effect)
• According to the act: Christ’s predestination is NOT the exemplar
• According to the term/effect: Christ’s predestination IS the exemplar of our predestination in two ways:
  1. Regarding the good to which we are predestined (natural sonship vs. adopted sonship, which is a participated likeness)
  2. Regarding the way of obtaining that good (through grace, most manifest in Christ)

On Causality #

• If predestination is considered according to the divine act itself: Christ’s predestination is NOT the cause (one eternal act)
• If predestination is considered according to the term of predestination: Christ’s predestination IS the cause
• God foreordained our salvation to be completed through Jesus Christ (per Iesum Christum)
• Eternal predestination includes not only what will be accomplished but also the way and order according to which it will be accomplished

Important Definitions #

Predestination (Praedestinatio) #

“A certain divine preordering from eternity about those things which are going to come to be in time through the grace of God.”

• Properly understood as directing someone to the end of beatitude (beatitudo)
• Includes both the eternal divine act and the temporal effects of that act
• Part of divine providence applied to rational creatures

Grace of Union (Gratia Unionis) #

• The grace by which the human nature of Christ was united to the divine person of the Word
• Makes it appropriate to say Christ was predestined, since human nature was not always thus united
• The supreme exaltation that human nature could receive

Exemplar (Exemplar) #

• That which serves as a model or pattern
• One of Aristotle’s four causes (discussed in Physics II and Metaphysics V)
• In this context, Christ’s predestination shows the pattern according to which our predestination is ordered

Limit or Term (Terminus) #

• The end point or goal of predestination
• The actual effect accomplished through predestination
• Different from the act of predestinating itself

Examples & Illustrations #

Mary as Predestined to Be Mother of God #

• Similar to Christ’s predestination but with important differences
• Mary was predestined to an exaltation, though not the same degree as Christ
• Shows how predestination according to human nature can be unique to an individual

Notable Quotes #

“The grace of union, that is to say. That’s a little thing to chew on a little bit, huh?”

“So he was predestined to be, what, the Son of God. But he’s not made the Son of God because the Son of God was not made.”

“The predestination is a difficult thing, you know. I first got into predestination with those treatises of Augustine, the predestination of saints.”

“Because the human, the divine nature of Christ was not exalted by this human, huh? In fact, Philippians says he kind of, what? Emptied himself, right?”

Questions Addressed #

Article 1: Whether Predestination Belongs to Christ #

Question: How can predestination belong to Christ when predestination aims at adoption as sons, and Christ is the natural Son of God, not an adopted son?

Resolution: Christ is predestined by reason of the grace of union through which His human nature was united to the divine person. Although Christ was eternally the Son of God, this union was eternally foreordained to come about in time. The predestination refers to God’s eternal preordering of this temporal union.

Article 2: Whether Christ Is Predestined According as He Is Man #

Question: If Christ according as He is man is predestined to be Son of God, does it not follow that He is the Son of God according as He is man, which is false?

Resolution: The phrase “according as He is man” can be understood in two ways:

1. Referring to the object that comes under predestination (materially false)
2. Referring to the very notion of the predestinatory act itself, which implies both antecedence and gratuitous effect (true)

In the second sense, it is true that Christ according as He is man is predestined to be Son of God.

Article 3: Whether Christ’s Predestination Is the Exemplar of Our Predestination #

Question: How can Christ’s predestination be an exemplar when both are eternal and nothing pre-exists the eternal?

Resolution: Predestination can be considered according to:

1. The divine act of predestinating (where both are one eternal act, so no exemplarity here)
2. The term of predestination (the effect and what one is predestined to receive, where Christ’s predestination exemplifies ours)

Christ’s predestination exemplifies ours in two ways: regarding the good itself (natural vs. adopted sonship) and regarding the way of obtaining it (through grace).

Article 4: Whether Christ’s Predestination Is a Cause of Our Predestination #

Question: How can Christ’s predestination cause ours when both depend solely on God’s will and our salvation could have occurred through other means?

Resolution: According to the divine act, Christ’s predestination is not the cause. But according to the term of predestination, Christ’s predestination is the cause: God foreordained in one eternal act that our salvation would be accomplished through Christ and according to the way and order established through His predestination.