Thomas Aquinas

Above the Apostle made a certain comparison, showing that there is a greater necessity of observing the precepts of Christ than of the law given through Angels; here he confirms the consequence, where he does two things. First he confirms the said consequence, showing that the power of Christ is greater than that of the Angels; second he proves the same through authority, where it says, but a certain one has testified. He says, therefore, that those who act against the commandments of Christ will bear greater punishments than those who act against the commandments of Angels, because Christ himself is Lord, and one who sins against the lord is punished more than one who sins against servants. And that Christ is Lord he shows from this, that God did not subject the world to come — subject to Christ — to the Angels. And he does two things. First he shows that the world is not subject to Angels; second he shows of which world he means, where it says of which we speak.

For the world is not subject to Angels. Job 34:13: Whom else has he set over the earth, or whom has he appointed over the world which he made? But against this, Daniel 10:20 speaks of an Angel prince of the kingdom of the Greeks and Persians. And Deuteronomy 32:8: He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God, according to another reading. And it must be said that it is not subject to them by way of dominion, but by way of a certain ministry. For the whole corporeal creation is administered through Angels. Ps. 102:21: His ministers, who do, etc. Above, 1:14, they are all called ministers.

Or else, he did not subject the world to come to the Angels — the world to come, I say, namely this world, which is called "to come," because in Scripture something is sometimes called "to come" not with respect to us, but with respect to that to which it is compared, just as the same Apostle says, Rom. 5:14, concerning Adam with respect to Christ, who is the form of the one to come; for Christ is not future with respect to himself, but with respect to Adam. Thus here the world is called "to come," not with respect to us, but with respect to Christ, who is from eternity, whereas the world is in time. And because the Manichees say that the world is subject to an evil God, and not to the good one, therefore he adds of which we speak, because he means not another world, but this one.

Or above, 1:11 and following, he had said they themselves will perish, namely the heavens, and will be changed, which, as was said there, is understood with respect to their state, not with respect to their substance, so that there is a twofold state of the world. One, which is now present. 2 Pet. 3:7: The heavens which now are, etc., by the same word stored up, are reserved unto fire, etc. And the other is to come. But in this world which now is, not all things are subject to him, as was said above — this with respect to the execution of power, although they are subject with respect to authority; but then, in that future state, the world will be subject to him. And therefore he adds of which we speak.

Next he proves it through authority, when he says but a certain one has testified. Where he does three things. First he commends the authority of the testimony he is bringing in; second he brings in the truth of the testimony, where it says, What is man, that you are mindful of him? Third he explains the sense of the testimony, where it says, for in that to him all things.

Concerning the testimony, he first sets down that the words of the Old Testament are certain testimonies of Christ. John 5:39: Search the Scriptures, etc. And a little after: and they are the ones that bear witness of me. And therefore he says but he has testified. Second, because among the Jews there were certain Scriptures less known, and certain ones more known, and therefore the Scriptures of the Psalms are of greater dignity, which they themselves used in all their sacrifices. And therefore he says in a certain place, namely one known and manifest. Third he sets down the authority of the one speaking, namely David, who was of the greatest authority. 2 Kings 23:1: The man said, to whom it was appointed concerning the Christ of the God of Jacob, the excellent psalmist of Israel.

Then he brings in the testimony, when he says what is man, etc. Where he does three things. First he sets down the mystery of the incarnation; second, of the passion, where it says you made him a little lower than the Angels; third, the mystery of the exaltation, where it says with glory and honor. Concerning the first he touches on two things: first the cause of the incarnation, second the incarnation itself, where it says or the son of man.

Now the cause of the incarnation is God's remembrance of man, and therefore he says what is man, to be read disparagingly; as if he were saying: man is a very small thing with respect to God. Is. 40:17: All nations are before him as though they were not, and are reputed to him as nothing and vanity. For if someone loves another, and leaves him a long time in miseries, and does not come to his aid, he seems to have forgotten him. But God loved the human race, both because he made it in his own image, and because he placed it in the midst of Paradise. But after sin, because he did not immediately come to its aid, he seems to have forgotten it. But then he seems to have been mindful of it, when he sent the restorer. Ps.: Remember us, O Lord, in your good pleasure, etc. And therefore he says what is man, etc., as if he were saying: if we consider the lowliness of man, it is a marvel that you are mindful of him, who is so lowly and small; lowly, I say, and small in nature, especially as regards his lowly substance. Gen. 2:8: God formed man from the slime of the earth. Is. 64:8: And now, O Lord, you are our father; but we are the clay, etc. Lowly in guilt. Whence Augustine, on John: Men become nothing when they sin. Obadiah: Behold, I have made you small among the nations; you are exceedingly contemptible, etc. Lowly and weak in punishment. Job 14:1: Man born of woman, living a short time. Amos 7:5: Who shall raise up Jacob? — namely, prostrate, because he is small.

Second he sets down the incarnation itself, when he says son of man. Where it must be known that in sacred Scripture Christ is called son of man, as is clear from Dan. 7:13, and in the Gospel in many places; and the reason for this is that others are sons of men — Ps.: Sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart? But Christ is son of only one human being, namely of the blessed virgin. And he himself is visited by God. Sometimes visitation in Scripture refers to a benefit, as is said in Gen. 21:1: The Lord visited Sarah, etc. But sometimes to punishment. Ps.: I will visit their iniquities with a rod. But here it refers to a benefit. You visit, that is, you confer upon him a most excellent benefit, because you make him the Son of God, from this namely, that the humanity was assumed by the Word into the unity of the supposit. Or he says this on account of the fullness of Christ. John 1:14: Full of grace and truth, etc. Or both are to be referred to Christ, so that the sense is: you are mindful of him in the incarnation, in which the humanity was assumed by Christ, but you visit in the resurrection.

Or both are to be referred to the human race. Now every son of man is a man, but not every man is a son of man, for Adam was not a son of man. He is therefore called man who bears the image of the earthly man, namely of Adam. And this man is called a sinner. But he is called son of man who bears the image of the heavenly man, namely of Christ, who is called son of man. 1 Cor. 15:49: As we have borne the image of the earthly, let us also bear the image of the heavenly. Man, therefore, simply speaking is called a sinner. And because he is far from God — for salvation is far from sinners — God is said to be mindful of him, just as a man is mindful of that which is far from him. But when from a sinner he becomes just, thus the son of man is visited through grace. Job 10:12: Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

Next he sets down the mystery of the passion, when he says you made him a little lower than the Angels. Where it must be known that, in the order of nature, corruptible and passible things are lesser than incorruptible and impassible things. But Angels according to nature are impassible and immortal. Hence when Christ deigned to sustain the passion and death, he was made lower than they, not because he lost his fullness, or was diminished in anything, but because he assumed our smallness to himself. And this was signified in Luke 22:43, where it is said that an Angel of the Lord appeared to him, comforting him — not because he needed him, but that he might show himself made lower than they through the passion.

Now he says a little lower on account of two things. First, because every corporeal creature is a small thing, by comparison with the rational, because the corporeal is comprehended within certain limits of quantity, but the rational is not, but is always able to reach further into the more intelligible; but Christ was made lower than the Angels, not as to his divinity, nor as to his soul, but by his body alone. And thus he said a little lower on account of quantity. Second, he is said to be a little lower as to duration, because it lasted but a little. Is. 54:7: For a small moment I have forsaken you, etc. Nor is it a marvel that in the passibility of his body he was made lower than the Angels, since in this he was made lower even than man, according to that of Ps. 21:6: But I am a worm, and no man — and this on account of the shamefulness of death, concerning which Wisdom 2:20: Let us condemn him to a most shameful death.

But if both things that were said, what is man, etc., are referred to man, then man is said to be made lower than the Angels in three ways: first as to knowledge, but a little lower, because not as to the genus of knowledge — for both man and Angel share in one genus of knowledge — but as to the mode, because Angels know in a more excellent mode than men. Second, as to the body, because although the Angel and the soul are of one nature, namely the intellectual, yet the soul is united to the body — but even in this only a little, because the dignity of the soul is not taken away through this kind of union, though it is in some way weighed down and impeded from a higher contemplation. Wisdom 9:15: The body which is corrupted weighs down the soul. Third, as to gifts, and this a little, not as to the gratuitous gifts — Matt. 22:30: they shall be as the Angels of God in heaven — but as to the natural gifts.

Then when he says with glory and honor, etc., he shows the mystery of the exaltation, where he does three things. First he shows his glory; second, his honor, where it says and with honor, etc.; third, his power, where it says you have set him, etc. Rev. 5:12f.: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing, in every creature, etc.

He says therefore first, you have crowned him with glory, that is, with brightness. For glory implies brightness. But Christ was crowned with a twofold glory, namely with the brightness of the body. Phil. 3:21: Who will refashion the body of our lowliness, conformed to the body of his brightness. This brightness is promised to him, John 12:28: And I have glorified the soul, namely by filling it with the splendors of grace, and I will glorify again, namely the body, with the glory of immortality. The other brightness is in the confession of all peoples. Phil. 2:11: And every tongue confess. Ps. 20:5: You will bestow glory and great splendor upon him.

Next he shows his honor, when he says and with honor, etc. Now honor differs from glory, as effect from cause. For honor is reverence shown in testimony of excellence, whence it is a testifying of his goodness. That honor is, that every creature should revere him just as the Father. John 5:23: That all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. And he says you have crowned, namely as a sign of victory, because a crown is given to the victor. 1 Cor. 9:25: They indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, etc. 2 Tim. 2:5: He shall not be crowned, except he strive lawfully. But Christ, through the struggle of the passion, merited this glory and honor. Phil. 2:8: He became obedient unto death, and it follows: For which cause God also exalted him, etc. But these things, as they belong to Christ insofar as he is God, are not a reward, but rather natural to him; but insofar as he is man, they are the reward of the victory of his passion.

But he shows his power, first as to his authority; second as to the effect, where it says you have subjected all things, etc. As to the first, he says you have set, which can be understood in three ways. In one way, that he was set over all places, and this in the ascension. Eph. 4:10: He ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. Second, in dignity. Eph. 1:20f.: Setting him at his right hand, above all principality and power, etc. Third, in power, because over every creature. Matt., last chapter: All power is given to me in heaven, etc. But Christ, insofar as he is God, was not set, but born; but he was set insofar as he is man. Above, 1:2: Whom he has appointed heir of all things, etc.

The effect of his power is, that you have subjected all things under his feet. Now the prophet uses the past tense for the future, on account of greater certainty. For it has already been done in the eternal predestination of God. And he says under his feet, that is, his humanity, or with total subjection. Ps. 109:2: Until I make your enemies, etc. Or under his feet, that is, under his humanity; for just as by the head of Christ is understood God, 1 Cor. 11:3, so also by the feet of Christ is understood his humanity. Ps.: We will adore in the place where his feet stood.

But if this is expounded thus, man is said to be crowned with glory as to intellectual knowledge, by which he is preeminent over the other animals. 1 Cor. 11:7: The man indeed is the glory and image of God, etc. Job 35:11: Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth. Likewise with honor, inasmuch as he alone, above all the animals, is lord of his own acts, and is not subjected to the necessity of mutable things as to his soul, since he has free will. Likewise with power, because you have set him over all the works — in one way, so that by the word "all" are understood all the creatures which are beneath man. Gen. 1:26: Let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, etc. In another way, so that the word "all" stands for the whole universe of creation, because even the heavenly bodies and the Angels are of service to man. Ps. 90:11: God has given his Angels charge over you, to keep you, etc.

Next when he says for in that, etc., he expounds the sense of the testimony. Where the Apostle does two things. First he expounds as to his sublimity; second as to the lowering, where it says but him who by a little. Concerning the first he does two things: first he shows how the saying of the prophet is to be understood; second he shows that it is not yet fulfilled, where it says but now.

When therefore he says for in that he subjected to him, he shows how it is to be understood; for since Scripture says that all things are subjected to Christ, it has left nothing not subjected to him. Hence the word "all" is not a distribution accommodated to certain classes, but absolutely to all things, because all things are generally and universally subjected to him. This is true, apart from him who subjected all things to himself, as is said in 1 Cor. 15:28; just as it is said heaven covers all things — true, of things other than itself. But then Arius argues thus: the Father subjected all things to the Son, therefore the Son is lesser than the Father himself. I respond. It must be said that it is true that the Father subjected all things to the Son according to the human nature, in which he is lesser than the Father — John 14:28: The Father is greater than I — but according to the divine nature, Christ himself subjected all things to himself.

Next when he says but now we do not yet see all things subjected to him, he shows that this is not yet fulfilled, because unbelieving sinners and Demons are not yet subject to him. Rom. 10:16: But not all obey the Gospel. Ex. 10:3: How long will you refuse to be subject to me, etc. And thus sinners are not subject to Christ through the rebellion of their will, but through his power all are subjected to him now as to authority, but in the future all will be subject as to execution. Whence this is the exposition of what he said above, the world to come.