Folia Theologica 9. (1998)

Tibor Somlyói Tóth: "Habitu inventus ut homo"

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T. SOMLYÓI TÓTH

but also delectation in sin, so that satisfaction for it had to be made in physical suffering as well as humility.5

Finally, Philippians 2,7 also appears within the question on Christ’s ascension. It supports part of the reply to the second argument in this article, where the objection is made that it would not have been appropriate for Christ to ascend according to his divinity, because of the ubiquity of the divine nature, nor according to his humanity, since that did not descend from heaven — and the text of John 3,13 seems to indicate that no one ascends to heaven except the one who came down from heaven — nor yet according to dignity, since Christ’s post-resurrection glory was not increased. Thomas’ reply begins by distinguishing between the proper and the metaphorical senses of ascent and descent. The proper sense, implying local movement, applies to the human nature of Christ, but the metaphorical sense, applying to the divine nature, is expressed in the Philippians text, where the divine nature descended insofar as the Son emptied himself and took on the form of a servant, beginning to be on earth in a new way, according to which he had not been there before. The text from John is referred to the person of Christ, however, because he is rightly said to have descended from heaven according to his divine nature, when he assumed flesh, and to have ascended according to his human nature.6

When Thomas Aquinas wrote his commentary on Philippians, sometime between 1259 and 1265,7 and few years after completing his the commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, he would certainly have been acquainted with Augustine’s treatments of the text, if only through Lombard’s inclusion of them in the Sentences.8 He probably also

5 AQUINAS, In Sent. 3, dist. 20, q.l, art. 3, p.619-620, 621: “Peccatum primi hominis, per quod natura humana est corrupta, fuit peccatum superbiae, ut in 2 lib., d. 22 (q.l, a.l) dictum est. Sed major fuit humilitas Christi in assumptione humanae naturae, quando exinavit semetipsum, formam servi accipiens (Phil. 2,7) quam superbiae Adae.”

6 AQUINAS, In Sent. 3, dist. 20, q.L, art. 3, p. 678, 680: “Dicitur etiam metaphorice: et sic dicitur descendisse secundum divinam naturam inquantum se exinavit formán servi accipiens, Phil. 2,7, et inquantum per novum effectum fuit in terris secundum quem ibi ante non fuerat; ascendisse autem quantum ad notitiam aliorum”.

7 See WEISHEIPL, Friar Thomas, p. 248.

8 See above, nn. 30-34; see also LOMBARD, Sent., lib. 2, dist. 22, cap. 4. lib. 3, dist. 6, cap. 4-6.