Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus I: Demonstratio Christiana

Jesus Himself assigns His personal character ("personality") as the criterion of His messianic dignity and divinity. "Learn of me..." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life..." "He that seeth me, seeth also my Father." By these and similar words Jesus presents to His disciples His own person as the criterion of the truth of what He professed concerning Himself.

In fact, the disciples and the faithful of every age have been moved to belief above all by the personal character of Jesus. So great indeed was the sanctity and so great the wisdom of the Lord that they appear altogether superhuman.

This moral and intellectual perfection of Jesus is, to be sure, fully recognized only by those who grasp the teaching of Christ through the study of theology and imitate the life of the Lord in every respect through the practice of virtue. Yet, to prove the truth of the testimony that Jesus gave to His messianic dignity and divinity, it suffices to have sketched His superhuman character; indeed, it would suffice to have proved that Jesus certainly was not subhuman.

For if the testimony of Jesus concerning His messianic dignity and divinity were not true, He would Himself have been either a prodigy of madness or a prodigy of wickedness. A prodigy of madness, if, believing this testimony to be true, He had been deceived so enormously; a prodigy of wickedness, if, knowing this testimony to be false, He had deceived others so enormously.

But the intellectual character of Jesus is such that He cannot be called mad; and His moral character is likewise such that He cannot be called wicked.

Therefore the testimony that He bore to His messianic dignity and divinity is true.

The rationalists, who shrink from the messiahship and divinity of Jesus, extol in words "the wise man of Nazareth." Yet undeservedly. For if Jesus is not the Messiah and God, neither can He be wise. For a man who, by deceiving, falsely calls himself the Messiah and God — and does so seriously, constantly, publicly, demanding the supreme faith, the supreme love, and the supreme worship due to God — is not wise but foolish, nay, insane. For this reason quite a few modern critics, rather than call Jesus the Messiah and God, have called Him insane. Against this opinion, as empty as it is blasphemous, we maintain: Jesus gave no signs of insanity; on the contrary, He displayed the highest signs of wisdom.

Certain ultraradical unbelievers maintain that Jesus was insane; many radicals and liberals, however, contend that he was at least mentally disturbed. The former are rightly called psychiatric critics; the latter, psychopathic critics.

1. The psychiatric criticism.

The psychiatric criticism maintains that Jesus was insane, alleging his delusional fury and his delusional fanaticism.¹

a) They conclude that Jesus was driven by a delusional fury from certain deeds of his own and from the judgment of his contemporaries.

The deeds are the expulsion of the sellers from the temple and the cursing of the barren fig tree.²

Jesus threatens the sellers in the temple precinct with a whip, overturns their seats and the tables of the money-changers, and drives out all the profaners of the house of God, saying: "It is written: My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves."³ Everyone can see that Jesus acted out of a just zeal for the glory of God, and was not moved by a delusional fury. — Jesus cursed a tree that had leaves, yet neither bore fruit nor promised any,⁴ to signify the severity of the punishment with which fruitless men, and above all the Jewish people, would be visited. Therefore that curse was by no means an act of delusional fury, but a typical or symbolic action, of the kind that occur in countless numbers in the Old Testament and among all oriental peoples.

The judgments of his contemporaries the evangelists report as follows: "For they said: He is beside himself [ἐξέστη]… he has Beelzebub, and by the prince of demons he casts out demons."⁵ "He has a demon and is mad; why do you listen to him?"⁶ The Jews therefore maintain that Jesus was possessed by a demon and consequently deprived of his own senses, because he professed himself the Messiah, worked miracles, and contradicted the Pharisees. This judgment proves not the insanity of Jesus, but the unbelief of the Jews.

b) They say that Jesus, carried away by a delusional fanaticism, commanded his disciples both to mutilate themselves and to pursue their relatives with implacable hatred. Indeed he already said to the disciples: "There are eunuchs who have been so from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."⁷ … "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you... And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you: for it is better for you that one of your members perish, than that your whole body go into hell."⁸

It is evident, however, that Jesus commands not a physical mutilation, but a moral mortification for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. — Likewise, speaking of discipleship, he says: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."⁹ He bids us bid farewell to our relatives rather than to discipleship of Jesus; he does not in the proper sense bid us hate our relatives, he who commands us to love even our enemies.¹⁰ These and similar words, spoken hyperbolically in the manner of the orientals, are to be understood spiritually, not materially.

2. The psychopathic criticism.

The psychopathic criticism affirms that Jesus was mentally disturbed, attributing to him hallucinations and ecstatic exaltations.¹¹

a) They contend that Jesus suffered from ecstatic hallucinations, that is, vain phantasms of the senses, at the baptism, in the temptation, at the return of the disciples from their preaching, at the transfiguration, and in the agony.

At the baptism he saw, through an error of the eyes, a dove, and perceived, through a delusion of the ears, a voice from heaven; in the temptation he underwent a manifold sensory hallucination, falsely persuading himself of a devil tempting, speaking, and transporting him, and of angels ministering to him; at the transfiguration he falsely imagined a light from heaven, the wraiths of Moses and Elijah, and the words of the Father; in the agony he was deluded by a vain imagination of an angel descending from heaven and consoling him; at the return of the disciples from their preaching he was likewise deceived by a hallucination of the devil falling from heaven.

In reality, however, it is the adversaries themselves who hallucinate, thinking that Jesus saw with his eyes Satan falling from heaven, whereas from the context it is clear that the Lord, speaking metaphorically, was only extolling the victory which he had won over Satan and his kingdom.¹² — Likewise the unbelievers err who contend that the things narrated concerning the baptism, temptation, transfiguration, and agony of Jesus are not objectively true, but only Jesus' purely subjective hallucinations. The evangelists affirm the historicity of these events, trusting the testimony of Jesus, and partly also that of John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John, who were present either at the baptism or at the transfiguration; the modern critics, on the other hand, deny the historical truth of the events altogether gratuitously. Their only ground for denying is unbelief, which refuses to admit the existence of angels and demons and every supernatural power of God in the world. For the sake of this philosophical rationalism they do not shrink from accusing Jesus Christ of psychopathic hallucinations!

b) They bluster that Jesus indulged in ecstatic exaltations, that is, a morbid enthusiasm, throughout his whole life. Why? Because he dulled his concern for temporal things; because he ardently sought the things that were his Father's; because he loved solitary places for the sake of prayer; because, scorning marriage, he chose a celibate life; because he insisted on sublime precepts; because he affirmed that the kingdom of heaven was at hand; because he foretold his passion and his death; because he worked miracles; because he taught that his doctrine was heavenly; because he announced that he himself had come from heaven; because he showed himself the envoy and the Son of God; because he announced that he would come to judge the world. In a word: the psychopathic critics call Jesus a dreaming enthusiast, because he had a supernatural and superhuman self-consciousness, and because his whole life corresponded perfectly to this self-consciousness.¹³

Behold, then, the whole psychiatric and psychopathic criticism of Jesus: the former declares Jesus mentally disturbed or insane for this reason, that he refused to be merely a man, but was Messiah-God; indeed, at times this pseudo-criticism accuses not only Jesus, but also his parents and relatives and the whole people of Israel of a religious paranoia (madness), because they believed in and worshipped God and looked for the Messiah and the kingdom of heaven.¹⁴ Hence the ultimate ground of the psychiatric and psychopathic criticism is a preconceived hatred of revelation, or even of all religion and of God himself, not the psychic state of Jesus. If we examine this state, it will be evident, on the contrary, that Jesus excelled in the highest wisdom.

The psychic state of Jesus is to be judged from his own psychic or intellectual acts, i.e., from the manner in which he taught and from the truths which he taught. If these acts were sound, then Jesus' mind itself was sound, since it is impossible that a madman should perform wise acts.¹ Now Jesus' intellectual acts were not only wise, but indeed most wise. Therefore Jesus proved himself supremely wise.

1. The manner in which Jesus taught.

Jesus set forth his doctrine with a calm heart, with clear speech, with a keen intellect.

a) With a calm heart. The founders of false religions propagate their doctrine with immoderate zeal, with force and deceit, with fire and sword.

Jesus, however, to persuade men simply preaches the truth and confirms it by miracles, and he recommends the same manner of acting to his disciples.² He rejects every untimely manner and every violent means. To the apostles who sought that fire come down from heaven upon the Samaritans resisting the gospel, he answers: "You do not know of what spirit you are. The Son of man did not come to destroy souls, but to save them."³ He rebukes Peter fighting with the sword for his master: "Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword."⁴ The proper character of the whole gospel is gentleness, charity, peace, moderation, mercy: "Blessed are the peacemakers... Blessed are the merciful... Blessed are the meek... Blessed are they who suffer persecution for the sake of justice..."⁵ Hence Jesus can say: "Learn from me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls."⁶

b) With clear speech. Horace's "I hate the profane crowd and keep it away" was the watchword of all the pagan philosophers. But the Jewish scribes, too, despised the unlearned people.⁷ Jesus indeed readily receives the experts in the law and all the learned who come to him, and speaks with them in scholastic fashion, as is evident, e.g., from the conversation with the teacher Nicodemus, with the Pharisees in the temple, with the men of the Sanhedrin at the trial. Yet he more willingly instructs the unlettered common people: "The poor are evangelized... Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."⁸ And indeed he addresses them with speech so accommodated to the common understanding that the crowds press upon him everywhere and, fasting, support him while he teaches for several days.⁹

For, abhorring the veneer of eloquence and the cabbalistic exegesis of the rabbis, he uses popular and familiar words. He utters sentences as brief as they are perspicuous, which strike the mind no less than the memory, so that even today they are proverbial among all peoples.¹⁰

Moreover, "he spoke the word to them in many parables, as they were able to hear"¹¹ For very many of the Jews were blinded by unbelief, so that they could not or would not grasp "the mysteries of the kingdom of God". For this reason Jesus most fittingly uses parables, whose force believers could understand, but whose word could not escape even the unbelievers themselves.¹² Finally, by innumerable sensible and common examples he raises his disciples to the grasping of insensible and supernatural things. Surely no literary monuments equal the gospel in clarity and simplicity. And this very clarity and simplicity of his speech already prove that Jesus excels:

c) With a keen intellect. Jesus had attended neither the rabbinic schools, in which future scribes were trained for many years, nor had he even learned letters.¹³ Yet he manifests an astonishing keenness of mind and subtlety of judgment. Already as a boy of twelve he sat in the temple in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and questioning them. "And all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers."¹⁴ And when he first taught in the city of Capharnaum, "many who heard him marveled at his teaching... at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth", and they said: "Where does this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Where then does this man get all these things?"¹⁵

Thereupon he illuminates his whole gospel with wonderful strength of mind and wisdom. He shrewdly passes judgment on the six hundred precepts of the rabbis and their unbearable burdens, and easily detects how empty they are, despite the opposing tradition and common and inveterate observance.¹⁶ He sees through and interprets the Sacred Scriptures of the whole Old Testament, and likewise lays bare and corrects the false explanations of the scribes.¹⁷ He proposes his own most profound doctrines, never hesitating, never doubting, never deliberating, never emending: "It was said to the ancients... But I say to you...

"Amen, amen I say to you..."¹⁸ By this keenness, majesty, and gravity of teaching the people were struck with astonishment: "The crowds were amazed at his teaching: for he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes and pharisees."¹⁹

Indeed, Jesus surpasses all his learned Jewish adversaries in subtlety of intellect. Although he never uses the cunning, cavils, sophisms, or ambiguities of the rabbis, he nevertheless always gains an easy triumph over them. Think of the disputation with the Herodians, who "could not catch his word before the people, and marveling at his answer they were silent";²⁰ the encounter with the Sadducees, whom he publicly convicts of ignorance of the Scriptures and utterly confounds;²¹ the altercations with the Pharisees, whom he drives into such straits "that no one could answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to question him anymore";²² the officers of the chief priests, who, sent to seize Jesus, return stupefied, saying: "Never has a man spoken like this man."²³

2. The truths which Jesus taught.

The doctrines set forth by Jesus do not pertain to the profane order, but look to the sacred. Jesus therefore did not manifest himself as a scientific, artistic, or political genius, but as a religious one. Although through the Christian religion the sciences, the arts, and the social good are also mediately promoted, and indeed most brilliantly, Jesus nonetheless came immediately to communicate to us supernatural salvation.²⁴ This salvation, which he merited for us by his life and his death, he also taught by word, setting forth a most wise religious doctrine about God, about man, and about the world.²⁵ There is no reason for us to say that this doctrine far surpasses the ethico-religious philosophy.²⁶ That it excels, however, even the revelation of the Old Testament and rabbinic theology, and hence the whole pre-Christian wisdom, will be evident from what follows.²⁷

a) The religious doctrine about God. The Old Testament proclaims God above all as the supreme king, almighty, holy, just, and terrible, although it also remembers him as a merciful, kind, and long-suffering lord. It very rarely calls him Father, and only in that sense, that he, as it were, begot men by creation, educated them by revelation, and governs them by providence.²⁸ The rabbinic Jews conceived of God as an abstract being which admits of no connection with the world and whose ineffable name it is impious to pronounce.²⁹ Jesus, however, never separates the majesty, holiness, and justice of God from the divine fatherhood. Everywhere he exhibits God as the best father of all men, who pursues us with infinite love, mercy, grace, and kindness;³⁰ who provides for the spiritual and bodily needs of each one;³¹ who has mercy even on the unjust and sinners, and seeks and draws them with a singular love.³² The disciples of Jesus continually repeat that no one but Jesus handed down this supremely wise concept of God, by which we call him our heavenly Father: "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known."³³ This Jesus himself confirms: "No one knows the Father except the Son, and him to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."³⁴

b) The religious doctrine about man announced by Jesus³⁵ corresponds to the concept of God already expounded. Since God is the heavenly Father of all men, all men also are sons of God. In the Old Testament the Israelites indeed, and above all the pious and just Israelites, are also called sons of God because of their special election, by which they were set apart from other men;³⁶ and so also the rabbinic Jews at the time of Christ boasted of being sons of God, priding themselves and despising other men.³⁷³⁸ Jesus, however, proclaims all men, not excepting pagans and the wicked, sons of God. All are bidden to pray in the manner of sons: "Our Father, who art in heaven."³⁹ All are admonished: "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be named and be sons of God... Beloved, now we are sons of God."⁴⁰ Almost the whole gospel is summed up in this word, that it teaches us to be sons loved by God and adopted by charity, just as God is taught to be our Father.

Now to this dignity of the sons of God correspond also the moral duties which are prescribed to us toward God, toward our fellow men, and also toward ourselves. As sons of God we are commanded: to love God with the worship of filial love. The love of God prescribed in the Old Testament was rather a servile love shown to the supreme and most just king. Indeed, for the most part the Israelites, and especially the Pharisees, loved God with their lips rather than with their heart, as Christ testifies of them: "Isaiah prophesied well of you hypocrites: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."⁴¹ Jesus, however, requires that we glorify God the Father with filial heart and soul, do his will, and expect from him with confidence all things needful to us.⁴² What is indeed everywhere expressed in the gospel⁴³ Jesus comprehends in a few words, teaching us to pray thus: "Our Father, who art in heaven: hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread..."⁴⁴

To love men with brotherly love. Although the Old Testament commanded the love of neighbor,⁴⁵ it did not, however, join this precept with the precept of the love of God. Indeed, the rabbis said that only the just Israelites are to be loved.⁴⁶ Jesus, however, since he teaches that all men are sons of the heavenly Father, commands that all likewise be loved for the sake of the heavenly Father, even foreigners and pagans,⁴⁷ the unjust and sinners,⁴⁸ enemies and persecutors.⁴⁹ This precept of brotherly love he calls his commandment, the new commandment, the commandment by which we may recognize his disciples, the commandment by which the whole evangelical law is fulfilled.⁵⁰ Indeed, Jesus adds and appends this commandment to the precept of loving God: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart... This is the greatest and first commandment. But the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."⁵¹

To love ourselves with an intense striving after perfection. For since we are sons of God, it befits us to be assimilated to God also in holiness. The Old Testament commands men to be holy only because God is holy;⁵² the New, however, (commands them to be holy) in the manner in which God is holy: "Be you therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."⁵³ The Old Testament chiefly required the external works of the virtues, without, however, neglecting the inner goodness of the heart;⁵⁴ Pharisaic rabbinism, not attending to uprightness of heart, prescribed and practiced countless merely external burdens.⁵⁵ Jesus Christ rejects this semblance of justice and perfects the very justice of the ancient law. Hence he utterly abolishes merely external observances; he prescribes justice not only of works and words, but also of desires and thoughts;⁵⁶ finally, he establishes uprightness of heart and intention as the norm and measure of all holiness.⁵⁷ And of this holiness he gives this reason: "That you may be sons of your Father, who is in heaven."⁵⁸ This holiness, by which we are assimilated to the Father, he urged throughout his whole life, and, dying, he entreats it for us: "Holy Father: sanctify them in truth... For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth."⁵⁹ Yet he makes this most profound holiness and justice so easy, that he can say: "Take my yoke upon you... for my yoke is sweet and my burden light."⁶⁰

c) The religious doctrine about the world, as Jesus teaches it, is without example supreme. For it follows from the most wise doctrine about God and about man. In all worldly things Jesus beholds, praises, and loves the heavenly Father. Seeds and harvests are to him symbols of the word and of the divine kingdom.⁶¹ The calm and the stormy weather alike proclaim the heavenly Father, "who makes his sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust"⁶² The heavenly Father directs even the smallest creatures and the vicissitudes of the world by his most benign will. With surpassing beauty he clothes the lilies of the field, and with the tenderest solicitude he feeds the birds of the air. Not even one sparrow is forgotten before him.⁶³ Therefore all earthly things shine with heavenly light and present a most joyful aspect, whatever the unbelievers prattle about the pessimism of Jesus.

It is certainly true that Jesus rejects a materialistic estimation of the world and an immanentistic "affirmation of life". For just as worldly things come from the heavenly Father, so they must be referred back to him. Jesus orders all natural things to the supernatural end and eternal life of man. He warns us that, fleeing pleasures, honors, glory, and worldly things, we should devote ourselves to heavenly things,⁶⁴ that, little solicitous about earthly treasures, we should first seek the kingdom of God and his justice,⁶⁵ that in all things and above all things we should work for the salvation of the soul: "For what does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?"⁶⁶ Thus the religious doctrine of Jesus is admirable in every respect. It evinces a knowledge of God, of the world, and of man, which surpasses the revelation of the Old Testament, far excels the theology of the rabbis, and wins every comparison with philosophy. Jesus therefore displayed the supreme signs of wisdom.

Most rationalists, just as, having denied the messianic office and divinity of Jesus, they celebrate His human wisdom, so too do they extol His moral holiness. But this is illogical. For a man who is wise, or even simply of sound mind, who falsely professes himself to be the Messiah and God, is not holy but perverse — indeed, an unheard-of portent of perversity. Hence many unbelievers of recent times, lest they be compelled to acknowledge Him as Messiah and God, attempt with as much insolence as madness to disparage the moral dignity of Jesus. For sound criticism proves most clearly that Jesus was free from every sin — nay more, that He was distinguished by the highest virtue.

¹

Christ's immunity from sin is proved by the authority of Jesus' deeds, by the authority of Jesus' contemporaries, and by the authority of Jesus' own testimony.

1. The authority of Jesus' deeds.

The life of Jesus as narrated in the Gospels shines with a marvelous splendor of moral purity. Nevertheless, certain hypercritics find shadows even in this sun. With eyes darkened by preconceived ideas, they discover three things in Jesus' deeds to be censured: sins committed, duties omitted, offenses perpetrated.

a) Sins committed. They conclude that Jesus suffered certain moral defects from His baptism and temptation.² For they maintain that Jesus wished to be baptized in order to obtain the forgiveness of sins, and that He underwent temptation inasmuch as He was inclined to sin.

On the contrary, however, Jesus approached John's baptism not as a sinner, but as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world"³⁴ For by His baptism He publicly assumed the messianic mission of doing penance and making satisfaction for the sins of the human race. Likewise, the temptation of Jesus was not an internal struggle with sin, but an external combat with the devil enticing Him to sin.⁵ By His temptation, namely, Jesus entered upon His first messianic contest with the prince of sinners and carried off the first victory over the kingdom of sin.

b) Duties omitted. The pseudo-critics reproach Jesus with having neglected the duties of man and of citizen by withdrawing Himself from marriage and from public affairs.⁶ And yet Jesus' own, that is, essential office was the messianic office. Others are called to govern public affairs; He came as a spiritual king to found and govern the kingdom of heaven: "My kingdom is not of this world."⁷ Others are called to beget and educate carnal offspring; He came for the spiritual regeneration and redemption of all men, to which the care of wife, children, and household affairs was altogether hostile: "I came that they may have (eternal) life and may have it more abundantly."⁸

c) Offenses perpetrated. Finally, the pseudo-critics maintain that Jesus offended by harshness toward His parents and relatives, His disciples, and the Pharisees.⁹

Truly, in His public life Jesus devotes His energies to the sole messianic office enjoined upon Him by the Father, and in the perfect discharge of this office He suffers Himself to be hindered by no one. Hence, when His mother desires an untimely miracle from Him, He rightly answers: "Woman, what is that to me and to thee? My hour is not yet come,"¹⁰ when, while He is preaching, His mother and brethren (namely, relatives) are reported to be present, stretching out His hand over His disciples and preferring spiritual kindred to carnal, He justly says: "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother;"¹¹ when Peter tries to turn Him away from the messianic Passion, He most fittingly warns the apostle, saying: "Get thee behind me, Satan, because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men;"¹² finally, when the Pharisees seduce the people with hypocrisy, vices, and words and keep them back from the kingdom of God, He rebukes them sharply with just zeal: "Woe to you, hypocrites, blind guides, whited sepulchres! Serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?"¹³

Therefore, in the deeds of Jesus recorded by the evangelists, there is nothing to be censured.

2. The authority of Jesus' contemporaries.

The evangelists do not narrate all the things done by Jesus and known to His contemporaries. Hence we must inquire what Christ's contemporaries, both enemies and friends, thought, as experience testifies, of His moral conduct.

a) The enemies of Jesus, and above all the Pharisees and scribes, left nothing untried in order to catch Him in word or in deed. Hence they scrutinized His whole manner of life with lynx-like eyes.

And that they might be able to judge all things the more perfectly, Jesus lived and spoke openly.¹⁴ Yet His enemies find no sin in Him. Many things indeed they reproach Christ with: namely, that He received sinners and publicans, forgave sins, healed on the sabbaths, cast out devils by Beelzebub, ate with unwashed hands, threatened the destruction of the temple, disparaged Caesar by stirring up the people, by forbidding the payment of the tribute, by professing Himself king. But these accusations were either futile or certainly false. For: "The chief priests and the whole council sought false witness against Jesus ... and they found none, although many false witnesses had come forward."¹⁵ Pilate agrees, who, after instituting a juridical examination of Jesus' deeds, declares: "I find no cause in this man."¹⁶ And even Judas the traitor himself, intimately acquainted with the life of his Master, cries out: "I have sinned, betraying innocent blood."¹⁷ A fortiori:

b) The friends of Christ, namely the faithful apostles, testify to Jesus' immunity from sin. And this both implicitly, by acknowledging Him as the Savior of sinners and the true God, and in explicit words. James accuses the Jewish people: "You have condemned and put to death the just one."¹⁸ Peter insists: "You denied the Holy One and the Just ... who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth ... who himself bore our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, being dead to sins, might live to justice ... You were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled."¹⁹ John exhorts: "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just ... because he appeared to take away our sins: and in him there is no sin."²⁰ Paul teaches: "Him, who knew no sin, (God) hath made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him... For we have not a high priest who cannot have compassion on our infirmities, but one tempted in all things by way of likeness, without sin... For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens."²¹

3. The authority of Jesus' own testimony.

Even if some evil deeds of Christ had escaped His contemporaries, certainly they would not have escaped Christ Himself, who knew not only His own acts but also the movements and thoughts of His soul most intimately. And in view of His supreme humility and truthfulness, the Lord would not have declared Himself immune from sins if He had been implicated in sins. In fact, however, He excludes from Himself the confession, the consciousness, and the possession of sin.

Jesus nowhere elicits the confession of His own sin. He does indeed accuse others of sin, obliging them to repentance²² and exhorting them to ask forgiveness of sins.²³ But He Himself never humbles Himself before God the Father on account of His own sins; He never prays to the Father in order to obtain pardon; He never shows even the slightest sign of penitence or contrition. Nay more:

He expressly repudiates the consciousness of His own sin. For He provokes His most hostile adversaries: "Which of you shall convince me of sin?"²⁴ He contends that He always perfectly does the will of the Father.²⁵ He affirms that in Him there is no injustice²⁶ and that Satan has nothing in Him.²⁷ Nay, even more:

He excludes from Himself the possession of His own sin. For His are the remission of sins, the redemption of sinners, and the judgment of sinners — these three things opposed to sin. Jesus remits sins by His own authority²⁸ and grants this power of remitting even to His disciples;²⁹ Jesus came that by His life, death, and blood He might blot out the sins of all sinners and redeem all men from sin;³⁰ finally, at the end of time Jesus will judge all sinners by His own right, and by His power He will award to all eternal life or punishment.³¹ All these things, as is evident, exclude the very possession of sin committed or to be committed by Jesus as necessarily as light excludes darkness; nay more, they require the supreme sanctity and virtue of Jesus.

¹

Jesus was preeminent in the highest virtues toward himself, toward his neighbor, toward God.

1. The virtues of Jesus toward himself.

Jesus abundantly fulfilled his moral duties toward himself by cultivating especially truthfulness, chastity, fortitude, and humility.

a) Truthfulness. With what ardor Jesus cultivated truthfulness and truth, the apostle Peter declares: "He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth."² Even the Pharisees admit: "Master, we know that thou art truthful and teachest the way of God in truth."³ Indeed Jesus himself testifies of himself: "I have spoken to you the truth, which I have heard from God ... If you abide in my word, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free ... For this was I born, and for this came I into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice ... I am the truth."⁴

b) Chastity. Jesus so ardently loved chastity and kept it so unsullied, that his adversaries, the Jews, however much they slandered him, never dared to call this virtue of his into question. This was reserved for certain modern fabulists, who, foaming out their own disgrace, imagined Jesus to be sensual, like themselves.⁵

c) Fortitude. Through his whole life Jesus endured with admirable fortitude labors and fatigues, hostilities and reproaches, for the sake of the Gospel of the kingdom of God. Never losing sight of his future Passion and death, he longed for them with unconquered spirit: "I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?"⁶ At length, when the end drew near, with divine virtue he conquered human frailty, crying out: "My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."⁷ Then he bore the martyrdom of body and soul with heroic patience and magnanimity, even to his last words: "It is consummated! Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!"⁸

d) Humility. Jesus so loved a condition of life so humble and so destitute of earthly goods, that he could say: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."⁹ Abhorring the pride and ostentation of the rabbis, he preferred the most humble manner of teaching and acting. He chose poor fishermen as his companions; and he lived among them as a servant and washed their feet, as though he were the servant of all.¹⁰ Finally he endured being condemned by the impious as an impious man; in silence he suffered himself to be scourged by the soldiers, crowned with thorns, mocked, spat upon, struck with blows; and at last, hanging between two thieves, laden with insults and contumely, he suffered the most ignominious death of the cross.

2. The virtues of Jesus toward his neighbor.

Jesus most fully performed his duties toward his neighbor through the exercise of meekness, mercy, and love.

a) Meekness. Meekness is nothing other than humility toward one's neighbor. Therefore Jesus, joining meekness to humility, says: "Learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart."¹¹ Jesus beatifies the meek.¹² He calms the angry.¹³ He patiently instructs and tolerates disciples who are slow to learn and incredulous.¹⁴ He kindly receives the traitor Judas.¹⁵ By his most gentle look he moves and converts Peter after his denial.¹⁶ By the meekness he preserves in the midst of calumnies he astonishes Caiphas and Pilate.¹⁷ The most meek lamb endures the Roman cohort and the Jewish populace inflicting savage torments. Dying, he even prays for his persecutors: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."¹⁸

b) Mercy. Mercy fills the whole Gospel and the whole life of Jesus: "He went about doing good."¹⁹ In affection, word, and deed he has mercy on all who, pressed by necessity, come to him: "Seeing the multitudes, he had compassion on them: because they were distressed, and lying like sheep that have no shepherd."²⁰ He has mercy above all on the sad and the weeping, the sick and the poor, sinners and the despised. He comforts all, raises up all, helps all, exhorts all: "Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you."²¹ He also commands his own disciples: "Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful."²² To the precept of mercy he adds an absolute sanction: "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy ... Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me."²³

c) Love. Jesus' mercy welled up from his ineffable charity. That new commandment which he gave us, that we love one another as brothers and sons of God,²⁴ he himself consecrated by his example. Paul embraces, as it were, the whole life of Jesus in a single word, saying: "The goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared"²⁵ and desiring "to know the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge."²⁶ Jesus loved friends and enemies, kinsmen and strangers, Jews and Gentiles with the same bowels of fraternal, paternal, nay maternal charity.²⁷ Finally, "Jesus, knowing that his hour was come, that he should pass out of this world to the Father: having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end,"²⁸ instituting the Eucharistic mystery of love and delivering himself for us as a holocaust upon the altar of the cross. How justly, therefore, does he liken his charity toward us to the divine charity by which he himself is loved by the heavenly Father, and by which he himself loves the heavenly Father: "As the Father hath loved me ... as I abide in his love ... and I have loved you ... Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends."²⁹

3. The virtues of Jesus toward God.

Jesus worshiped the heavenly Father most religiously through the duties of love, obedience, and prayer.

a) Love. Jesus not only gave men the precept of the love of God, but even more inculcated that we should embrace God as Father with filial love. Of this filial love toward the heavenly Father Jesus himself was the absolute exemplar, loving the Father in all things and above all things. In all the things and vicissitudes of the world and of life³⁰ he beholds and reveals tokens of paternal love: the Father loves us all;³¹ the Father provides for all;³² the Father hears the prayers of all;³³ the Father rewards even a particle of good work;³⁴ the Father gives his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting;³⁵ the Father will send the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love and truth, that he may abide with us.³⁶ In the whole world Jesus everywhere and always sees, marvels at, and proclaims the traces of paternal love. Hence he loves the Father in return above all things.³⁷ In prosperity and adversity the only joy and the only consolation of Jesus is to converse with the Father. He promotes the glory of the Father most ardently and solely.³⁸ He continually aspires to union with the Father.³⁹ When at last his return to the Father draws near, trembling with joy he exults: "Because I go to the Father ... Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son ... And now I am not in the world, and I come to thee ... But now I come to thee."⁴⁰ The last word of the dying Jesus is a sigh of love: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!"⁴¹

b) Obedience. Obedience toward the Father was the supreme and sole law of Jesus' acting and living. He fulfills the will of the Father in deed most strenuously. Everywhere and always and with all his strength he strives to enlarge the kingdom of God and to perfect the messianic work entrusted to him by the Father, so indeed that he can say: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect his work ... I do always the things that please him ... I must work the works of him that sent me, whilst it is day."⁴² He conforms himself to the will of the Father with a most humble heart. He never follows his own will: "I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me, the Father."⁴³ He does and seeks nothing beyond the will of the Father: "I cannot of myself do anything ... because I seek not my own will, but the will of him that sent me."⁴⁴ In things alien to human counsel he exclaims: "Even so, Father: for so hath it seemed good in thy sight."⁴⁵ The very chalice of Passion and death offered him by the Father he drinks most willingly: "Father, not as I will, but as thou wilt ... Not my will, but thine be done!"⁴⁶ Dying, he bows his head only then at last, when the will of the Father had been accomplished to the last iota.⁴⁷

c) Prayer. The virtues of Jesus toward himself, his neighbor, and God are consummated and unfolded in this, that Jesus passed his life, as it were, in prayer, praying much and praying perfectly. Jesus prays much. Through his whole life he prays: he prays entering the world,⁴⁸ as a boy on pilgrimage, as a master teaching, as a victim dying on the cross, triumphant in the resurrection and ascension.⁴⁹ He prays in all places: in his chamber with the door shut,⁵⁰ in the temple and in the synagogues, in the desert, in lonely gardens, on the mountains of Galilee and Judaea. He prays at every hour: early in the morning and late in the day,⁵¹ and after his daily labors he often spends the night in prayer to God.⁵² He prays for all: for little children,⁵³ for the sick,⁵⁴ for his disciples and for the faithful of all places and times,⁵⁵ even for his very murderers.⁵⁶ And thus he most fully fulfills the command: "We ought always to pray, and not to faint."⁵⁷ Jesus prays perfectly. That the disciples were taught by him to invoke and adore the Father in heaven with filial prayer, we have already said.⁵⁸ This perfect prayer he himself cultivated in the most perfect manner. Whether he praises the Father with a hymn of exultation;⁵⁹ whether he gives thanks to the Father;⁶⁰ whether as a suppliant he entreats and invokes the Father;⁶¹ whether in prayer he demands the glory of the Father⁶² or, dying, commends his soul to the Father:⁶³ his prayer is never lacking in filial love, trust, admiration, and humility toward the Father. Recall the sacerdotal prayer of Jesus.⁶⁴

Jesus therefore was preeminent in holiness both negative and positive in a marvelous way: in negative holiness, since he was immune from every sin; in positive, since he was distinguished by every virtue. So admirable and so astounding is this moral character of Jesus, that no man can be compared with him, that no one can conceive a greater holiness, that we cannot think of God himself walking among men as living more perfectly than Jesus lived.

Therefore, briefly recapitulating the sum of the matters which have been said concerning the intellectual and moral character of Jesus, we necessarily conclude: Jesus, asserting his messianity and divinity, was neither deceived nor a deceiver. For he could not be deceived, unless he was a prodigy of madness; but in fact he was a prodigy of the highest wisdom. He could not deceive, unless he was a prodigy of malice; but on the contrary he was a prodigy of the highest holiness. Therefore his testimony concerning himself is true, and he himself is the Messiah, God.