Thomas Aquinas

Above the Apostle proved by authority that the Angels are ministers; here he proves this by an argument taken from the side of Christ himself. Hence he intends here to prove the kingly dignity of Christ; and here he does two things. First he commends the kingly dignity of Christ himself; second he shows his fitness for that dignity, at the place: therefore God has anointed you. Concerning the first he does three things: first he commends the kingly authority of Christ; second, the equity of his rule, at: a rod of equity; third, the goodness of his rule, at: you have loved justice.

He says therefore: but to the Son he says, your throne, etc. And these are the words of God the Father speaking through the tongue of the prophet, as through the pen of a scribe. He says therefore: O God, O son, your throne, etc. In this royal majesty is denoted. For a throne is the seat of a king, but a chair is that of a teacher, and a tribunal is the seat of a judge. All of which befit Christ, because he himself is our king: Luke 1:32: he will reign in the house of Jacob; and therefore a throne befits him. Ps. 88:30: his throne is like the sun. He himself is teacher, John 3:2: we know that you have come from God as teacher; therefore a chair befits him. He himself is our judge, Is. 33:22: the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver; and therefore a tribunal is fitting for him. 2 Cor. 5:10: we must all be made manifest before the tribunal of Christ, etc.

Now a throne belongs to Christ according to the divine nature, inasmuch as he is God, Ps. 46:8: God is king of all the earth; but according as he is man, it belongs to him from the merit of his passion, victory, and resurrection. Apoc. 3:21: to him who conquers I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I have conquered and sat down on my Father's throne with him. This throne is everlasting. Luke 1:33: and of his kingdom there will be no end. Dan. 7:14: his power is an everlasting power, which will not be taken away. Now it is clear that that kingdom is eternal, both inasmuch as it belongs to him from nature, because he is God. Ps. 144:13: your kingdom is a kingdom of all ages. Likewise, inasmuch as it belongs to him as man, and this for a twofold reason. One, because that kingdom is not ordered to temporal things, but to eternal ones. John 18:36: my kingdom is not of this world. For he reigns to this end, that he may direct men to eternal life. But it is not so with the kingdom of men; hence their kingdom ends with the present life. The other reason is that the Church, which is his kingdom, endures until the end of the world, and then Christ will hand over the kingdom to God and the Father, to be consummated and perfected.

Next he commends his kingdom from equity, when he says: a rod of equity, etc. Now the kingdom is fittingly described by a rod. For tyrannical rule differs from the rule of a king, because tyrannical rule is for its own advantage with the oppression of subjects; but the rule of a king is principally ordered to the advantage of subjects. And therefore a king is a father and a shepherd. For a shepherd does not correct with a sword, but with a rod. Ps. 88:33: I will visit their iniquities with a rod. Likewise a shepherd uses a rod in directing the flock. Micah 7:14: feed your people with your rod. A rod also sustains the weak. Ps. 22:4: your rod and your staff, they have comforted me. Likewise a rod troubles enemies. Num. 24:17: a rod will arise out of Israel, and will strike the leaders of Moab. But this is a rod of equity. Is. 11:4: he will reprove in equity for the meek of the earth.

But it must be known that sometimes someone rules by the rigor of law, as when he keeps those things which are just in themselves. But it happens that something is just in itself, which nevertheless, when compared to something, brings about detriment if it is kept; and therefore it is necessary that the common law be applied to this, and if this is done, then it is a rule of equity. The kingdom of the Old Testament was according to the rigor of justice. Acts 15:10: a burden which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. But the kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of equity and justice, because in it nothing is imposed except a gentle observance. Matt. 11:30: for my yoke is sweet and my burden is light. And Ps. 95:13: he will judge the world in equity.

Next, when he says you have loved, etc., he commends the goodness of the ruler. For some keep equity, yet not on account of love of justice, but rather on account of fear, or glory, or dread, and such rule does not last. But this one keeps equity on account of love of justice. He says therefore, you have loved justice, as if to say: that the rod is equitable and straight, this is because you have loved justice. Wisdom 1:1: love justice, you who judge the earth. But he is not just who does not love justice. Matt. 5:6: blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice. But some indeed love justice, but are remiss in the correction of iniquity; but Christ hates, that is, reproves iniquity. Ps. 118:113: I have hated the iniquitous. Wisdom 14:9: likewise the impious man and his impiety are hateful to God. Ecclus. 12:3: the Most High hates sinners, and has had mercy on those who repent. And therefore he says: and you have hated iniquity.

Then, when he says therefore God has anointed you, he shows Christ's fitness for carrying out and governing, where there is a difficulty concerning what he says, "therefore," etc. In these words there is treated the spiritual anointing, because Christ is filled with the Holy Spirit. For was he filled for this reason, because he loved justice? Then he merited grace, which is against that saying of Rom. 11:6: if by works, then it is no longer of grace; and this is the common difficulty. But specifically to the point, because Christ in his very conception was full of the Holy Spirit, John 1:14: full of grace and truth; therefore he did not merit it.

I respond. Here the error of Origen must be guarded against. For he held that all spiritual creatures, even the soul of Christ, were created from the beginning, and according as they adhered more or less to God, or turned away from him through the freedom of their will, a distinction was made between angels and even souls. Hence in the Periarchon he says that the soul of Christ, because it adhered more vehemently to God, by loving justice and hating iniquity, merited a greater fullness of grace before all spiritual substances. But this is heretical to say, namely that any soul whatsoever, or even the soul of Christ, was created before the body — which also has a special reason in the case of Christ, because in the first instant the soul was created together with the forming of the body, and the whole was assumed by the Son of God.

What then does he mean by "therefore"? One Gloss seems to hold with Origen. But if we wish to save it, we shall say that in Scripture something is said to happen when it becomes known; as when it is said, Phil. 2:8: he became obedient, etc., for which reason God also exalted him, and gave him a name, etc. Did Christ, by the merit of his passion, merit to be God? By no means: for this is the error of Photinus. It must be said therefore that Christ's being God exceeds all merit, but through his passion he merited that it be made manifest everywhere that he is God, and that God had given him such a name, etc. Thus that which he says here, therefore God has anointed you, etc. — so that the sense is: from the fact that you loved justice, you merited that this become known.

Or otherwise, and better, in such a way that the word "therefore" denotes not a meritorious cause, but a final one; as if he were to say: in order that you might have those things — namely the perpetual throne, the rod of equity, etc., which have been mentioned — therefore God has anointed you with oil, namely of sanctification, which the Lord commanded to be done, Ex. 30:24ff: with which the vessels and the priests were anointed, Lev. 8:2 and 9:1f, and the kings, as is clear of David, 1 Kings 16:13, and of Solomon, 3 Kings 1:39; likewise the prophets, as is clear of Elisha, 3 Kings 19:16.

But why was this sanctification done by anointing? The reason is literal. For men of the East were anointed for festivity, so that they might not waste away, because they are in a region very hot. The poor also were anointed for festivity. 4 Kings 4:2: your handmaid has nothing except a little oil with which to anoint myself. But in the divine Scripture things are handed down to us according to the manner in which men are accustomed to make use of. Because therefore men were then anointed, either on account of the celebration of a feast, or on account of the eminence of the person, therefore to show the excellence of Christ, he says he was anointed with the oil of exultation.

For he himself is king. Is. 32:1: behold, a king will reign in justice. And 35: for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he himself will come and save us. He is also a priest. Ps. 109:4: you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech. He was also a prophet. Deut. 18:15: the Lord will raise up for you a prophet of your own nation and of your brothers, like me. And it befits him to be anointed with the oil of sanctification and exultation. From him, moreover, are the sacraments, which are the vessels of grace. Is. 22:24: I will hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the diverse kinds of vessels, etc.

This anointing also befits Christians. For they are kings and priests. 1 Peter 2:9: you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. Apoc. 5:10: you have made us a kingdom and priests to our God. Likewise he has the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of prophecy. Joel 2:28: I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, etc. And therefore all are anointed, with an invisible anointing. 2 Cor. 1:21: now he who confirms us with you in Christ, and who has anointed us, is God, and who has sealed us, and has given, etc. 1 John 2:20: you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.

But what comparison is there between Christ anointed and Christians anointed? This, namely that he has it principally and first, but we and others have it poured out from him. Ps. 127: like the ointment upon the head, etc. And he says: above your fellows. John 1:16: of his fullness we have all received. Hence the others are called saints, but he himself is the saint of saints. For he himself is the root of all holiness. But he says with the oil of gladness, or exultation, because from this anointing spiritual gladness proceeds. Rom. 14:17: the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Gal. 5:22: but the fruit of the spirit is charity, peace, joy. Ps. 103:15: that he might gladden the face with oil. Is. 61:3: the oil of joy for mourning, etc.

Now that he says "God" twice — God, God — is explained in two ways. In one way, that the nominative case is repeated, so that the sense is: God has anointed you, through himself as God, but us through you, the mediator of God and men, the man Christ. 2 Pet. 1:4: through whom he has granted to us great and precious promises. In another way, because, according to Augustine in the Gloss, one is of the nominative case, the other of the vocative, so that the sense is: O Christ, who are God the Son, God the Father has anointed you, etc. And that it ought to be explained in this way is more evident in the Greek. But since Christ is not anointed according as he is God, because thus it does not befit him to receive the Holy Spirit, but rather to give it to others, the second exposition does not seem to be true.

I respond. It must be said that he is the same in person, both God and man, yet he is anointed inasmuch as he is man. And when it is said: O God, etc., both the one anointing is God and man, and the one anointed likewise is God and man, and one with him in person.