De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae
Christ Learned Obedience in His Body
The author resolves an apparent difficulty in Hebrews 5:8 by explaining that Christ 'learned' obedience not in his divine person but in his body, the Church.
But perhaps what I said — that Christ, the wisdom of God, learned mercy — strikes you as hard to accept. After all, he through whom all things were made could hardly have been ignorant of anything that exists. And there's another consideration: the passage from the epistle to the Hebrews that I cited to support this point can, in a different sense that doesn't seem so strained, be understood another way. You see, the word "learned" should not be applied to Christ himself, the Head, in his own person, but to his body, which is the Church. So the sense is this: "He learned obedience from what he suffered" — that is, he learned obedience in his body, in the things he suffered in his Head.✦12
Christ's Sufferings as Examples for His Body
Christ's death, cross, and humiliations are presented as brilliant examples of obedience for his body, the Church, with supporting allusions to Philippians 2:8 and 1 Peter 2:21.
That death, that cross, the insults, the spitting, the scourgings — everything our head, Christ, went through — what were they to his body, that is, to us, if not shining examples of obedience?✦ Christ, Paul says, was made obedient to the Father even to death.✦ Out of what necessity? Let the apostle Peter answer: Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, so that, he says, you may follow his footsteps — that is, so that you may imitate his obedience.✦
The Head and Body Are One Christ
Because Christ who is God did not hesitate to die for obedience, we who are merely human ought to endure far more; thus Christ both teaches and learns mercy and obedience in his body, since head and body are one Christ.
From what he suffered, then, we learn how much we — who are merely human — ought to endure for the sake of obedience, for which he, who was also God, did not hesitate to die.345 And in this way, you say, there will be no inconsistency if it is said that Christ learned obedience, or mercy, or something else in his own body — provided that nothing which was previously hidden from him in his own person is believed to have been able to accrue to him over time. And so let him himself be the one who teaches mercy or obedience, and let him himself be the one who learns, because head and body are one Christ.678
Read the original Latin
Sed forte durum tibi videtur, quos dixi dei sapientiam Christum didicisse misericordiam, quasi is per quem omnia facta sunt, aliquid aliquando ignorasset ex his quae sunt, maxime cum illud quod ex epistola ad Hebraeos ad id comprobandum commemoravi, alio sensu, qui non ita videatur absurdus, possit intelligi, tu hoc quod dictum est; didicit, non ad ipsum caput referatur in sui persona, sed ad corpus eius, quod est Ecclesia, et sit ita sensus: Et didicit ex his quae passus est oboedientiam, hoc est: oboedientiam didicit in suo corpore his quae passus est in capite.
Nam illa mors, illa crux, opprobria, sputa flagella, quae omnia caput nostrum Christus pertransiit, quis aliud corpori eius,id es nobis, quam praeclara oboedientiae documenta fuerunt? Christus factus est, ait Paulus, oboediens Patri usque ad mortem. Qua necessitate? Respondeat apostolus Petrus: Christus passus est pro nobis, vobis relinquens exemplum, ut sequamini, inquit, vestigia eius, id est tu imitemini oboedientiam eius.
Ex his ergo quae passus est, discimus quanta nos, qui puri homines sumus, oporteat pro oboedentia perpeti, pro qua is, qui et Deus erat, non dubitaverit mori. Et hoc modo, inquis, inconveniens non erit si dicitur Christus vel oboedientiam, vel misericordiam, seu aliquid aliud in suo corpore didicisse, dum tamen sibi in sui persona nil, quod se ante latuerit, credatur ex tempore potuisse accedere, sicque ipse sit qui misereri aut oboedire doceat, ipse qui discat, quia caput et corpus unus est Christus.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Heb.5.8 — Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
- ↩Phil.2.8 — And he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
- ↩Phil.2.8 — And he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
- ↩1Pet.2.21 — For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
Notes
- 1 ↩The sentence navigates a delicate Christological point: the verb didicit ("learned") in Hebrews 5:8 cannot mean the divine Son was ever ignorant. Kempis resolves it by redirecting the reference from Christ as Head to Christ as the whole mystical body — Head and members together — so that "he learned" means the Church learned through what the Head suffered.
- 2 ↩The embedded quotation "Et didicit ex his quae passus est oboedientiam" echoes Hebrews 5:8. Final scriptural resolution deferred to Moses stage.
- 3 ↩ergo rendered as 'then' to capture the inferential force naturally in contemporary English.
- 4 ↩quanta rendered as 'how much' (degree/extent) rather than 'how great' to convey the scale of endurance expected.
- 5 ↩dubitaverit: tense ambiguous between future perfect indicative and perfect subjunctive; rendered as 'did not hesitate' to convey the intended certainty of Christ's willingness.
- 6 ↩dum tamen rendered as 'provided that' to capture the concessive/conditional force.
- 7 ↩latuerit: tense ambiguous (future perfect or perfect subjunctive); rendered as 'was previously hidden' to convey the intended sense of no prior ignorance in Christ's divine person.
- 8 ↩The passage engages the theological question of what Christ 'learned' through his human experience versus what was already possessed in his divine person — a Christological distinction the author resolves through the head-and-body unity.
De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae (On the Steps of Humility and Pride) companion
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