Folia Theologica 9. (1998)

Tibor Somlyói Tóth: "Habitu inventus ut homo"

“HABITU INVENTUS UT HOMO”

195

and subject to the Father. Human nature is less than the divine in the hierarchy of goodness, just as all created natures, although participants in divine goodness are less than the very essence of goodness which is the divine. In this sense, the human goodness of Christ is less than the goodness of the divine nature. Human nature is, moreover, subject to divine power. In this sense, Christ’s humanity was subject to God because his human acts were subject to the dispositions of divine providence (or wisdom) and also at the service of God. Thirdly, human nature is subject to God insofar as it obedient to his commandments. In this sense, also, Christ was at the service of God and “became obedient... even unto death”.44 If it is asked whether Christ is subject to himself, the same distinction between the forma Dei and the forma servi must be maintained. In art. 2, on that question, Thomas therefore explains: According to one of these (two natures) which he shares with the Father, we may say that he rules and is Lord together with the Father, but according to the other nature, which he shares with us, he is subject and serves.45

Philippians 2,7 is brought forward as proof of Christ’s full humanity in the article (q.21, art. 2) within the question on Christ’s prayer, asking whether Christ’s prayer is the expression of his sensitive impulses. Thomas’s treatment of the problem demonstrates how Christ’s prayer, as the expression of his sensuous impulses or affections, revealed the completeness of a human nature that included natural affections and a will that might sometimes may be imprecise theology be drawn to what God did not will. In this, too, he presented us with an example, in his human nature, of the way in which human beings ought to submit to the

44 AQUINAS, Summa theol., 3a, q.20, a.l, p.2557b: “Resp.: ...Et haec est subjectio servitutis, secundum quod omnis creatura Deo servit, eius ordinationi subjecta, secundum illud Sap. 16,24: ’Creatura tibi Factori deserviens’. Et secundum hoc etiam Filius Dei, Philipp. 2,7, dicitur ’formam servi accepisse’.

Tertiam etiam subjectionem attribuit sibi ipsi, Ioann. 8,29, dicens: ’Quae placita sunt ei, facio semper’. Et haec est subjectio obedientiae. Unde dicitur Philipp. 2,8 quod ’factus est obediens Patri usque ad mortem’.

45 AQUINAS, Summa theol., 3a, q.20, a.2, p.2559a: “Resp.: ...Et sic dicere possumus secundum unam earum, in qua cum Patre convenit, simul eam cum Patre praeesse et dominari; secundum vero alteram naturam, in qua nobiscum convenit, ipsum subesse et servire”.