Folia Theologica 9. (1998)
Tibor Somlyói Tóth: "Habitu inventus ut homo"
182 T. SOMLYÓI TÓTH Augustine in this connection. It was, indeed, to make satisfaction for humanity’s attempted usurpation that Christ came into the world.11 Christ’s emptying of himself, Thomas continues, is spoken of initially in order to to commend his humility, both in the incarnation and in the passion. Moreover, the mode and form of Christ’s humility are expressed in the words, semetipsum exinavit, formán servi accipiens. In this emptying of himself, Christ did not set aside the fullness of the divine nature, but assumed a nature he did not previously possess and began to be in a new way on earth, without ceasing also to be in heaven. The verb, exinavit, is regarded by Thomas as a means of contrasting the full perfection of the divine nature with the “emptiness” of human nature; indeed, it is seen as the word by which Paul expresses the mode of the assumption of human nature. Elsewhere, commenting on Romans 9,28 — quia Dominus faciet super terram verbum breviatum — Thomas finds in the word breviatum an expression for the Word’s assumption of the human condition of exile and poverty, although without losing the plenitude of his divinity.12 Meanwhile, the form of the assumption of human nature is expressed in the phrase, formam servi, since a human being is by creation the servant of God, and human nature is the “form of a servant”. Here, Thomas refers back to the prophetic text of Isaiah 42,1: Ecce servus meus, suscipiat eum, while in the commentary on Isaiah 53,13: Ecce intelliget servus meus, he notes the connexion with Philippians 2,7 and the taking on of human nature.13 In the commentary on Matthew 12,18 moreover, Thomas refers from the text of Isaiah 42,1, quoted there as Ecce puer meus, the Philippians 2,7 and Christ’s servant form.14 11 AQUINAS, In ep. ad Phil., cap. 2, lect. 2, vol. 2, p.101 (55): “...quia est in forma Dei, et cognoscet bene naturam suam. Et quia cognoscit hoc, ideo dicitur Joan. 5,18 ’Aequalem se Deo facit’. Sed hoc non fuit rapina, sicut quando diabolus et homo volebant ei aequari... Haec autem fuit rapina, ideo pro hac Christus venit satisfacere”. 12 S. THOMAE AQUINATIS in omnes S. Pauli epistolas lectura, 8th ed„ P.R. CAI (Turin: Marietta, 1953), Lect. in ep ad Rom., cap. 9., lect. 5, vol. 1, p. 148 (804). 13 Sancti THOMAE de AQUINO opera omnia iussu Leonis XIII P.M. edita, vol. 28: Expositio super Isaiam ad litteram (Rome, 1974), p. 213. 14 S. THOMAE AQUINATIS super evangélium S. Matthei lectura, ed. P.R.CAI (Rome: Marietti, 1951), p. 157 (996).
