Summa de Ecclesia

From what has been said a doubt not unreasonably arises, whether, just as the character of the head with respect to the body of the Church is attributed to Christ, so the character of a member of the same is also fitting to him, and it will perhaps seem to some that it is so.

¹

Both because the natural head, to whose likeness Christ is called the head of the Church, is called not only the head of the natural body but also its principal member. For heart, head, and liver are designated the principal members of the body; therefore likewise Christ can be called a member of the mystical body, since he is its head.

²

Also second, from that saying of the Apostle in 1 Cor. xii: You are the body of Christ and members of a member, the Gloss: of Christ the head and with our member. But that Christ, according as the character of the head with respect to the body of the Church is attributed to him according to the humanity, cannot be called a member of the Church is shown thus. For this it must be considered, with Saint Thomas in the third book of the Sentences, that in the name of head is implied the principle and origin of something. In the name of member, however, is implied partiality, which is repugnant to the character of the first origin, because in the first origin all things are virtually which are found in the things originated, and therefore what receives influence from no other cannot be called a member; but because the head in the natural body not only flows into the other members but also receives from others, as nourishment and other services, it is called not only head but also fellow member. But Christ according as he is man receives nothing from the other members of the Church, but from God alone. Hence he cannot be called a member according as he himself is called the head of the Church according to the humanity; he can, however, be called a member according to the humanity according as he himself is the head of the Church according to the Godhead, for thus his humanity, compared to the Godhead, is a member of the Godhead itself which is the head, because the Godhead itself to which the humanity is united moves the humanity and gives sensation to it as the head does the members. And in this way Christ is a member of the body of the Church, whose head is the Godhead itself, and thus the Apostle says what was alleged above: 1 Cor. xii: You are the body and a member of a member, that is, of Christ the head. Hence he calls Christ the head according to the humanity a member with respect to the Godhead. Moreover Saint Thomas in the fourth book of the Sentences, dist. xlix, notes concerning this point that the name of the Church is taken two ways. Sometimes it names in some manner the body which is joined to Christ as to its head, and thus the Church has only the character of the bride, and in this way he is truly not a member of the Church but is the head flowing into all the other members. In another way the Church is taken according as it names the head and the members joined together, and thus Christ can be called a member of the Church inasmuch as he has an office distinct from all the others, namely to flow life into the others, although he is not called a member very properly, because member implies a certain partiality, whereas in Christ the spiritual good is not particularized but is wholly integral. Hence he himself is the whole good of the Church, nor is he with the others anything greater than he alone. Speaking of the Church in this way, however, the Church names not only the bride but the bridegroom and the bride, so that by spiritual conjunction one thing is made from them.

³

Hence blessed Augustine on Ps. xxx says thus. Christ is called one, the head and his body. He says this where he spoke of marriage. Two shall be in one flesh; therefore now not two but one flesh is made; therefore as it were from two one person is made, from head and body, from bridegroom and bride. For Isaiah the prophet commends this wondrous and excellent unity of the person. For speaking, Christ also in the prophet says: As a bridegroom he has bound a mitre upon me, and as a bride he has adorned me with ornament. But he said bridegroom, but he said bride; why himself bridegroom, why himself bride, unless because they were two in one flesh? Thus far Aug. Hence, although on account of this unity of the acceptance of the name of the Church Christ is in some way called a member of the Church, in the way namely declared above, yet in no way can he be called a member of the bride. From what has been said the answer to the objections is also clear.

⁴

To the first, where it is objected that the natural head is called not only head but also a member of the body, it must be said that it is not in all respects alike with the natural head of the material body and with the spiritual head, as has been said, because the natural head not only flows into the other members but also receives from them, but Christ does not, who receives nothing from the body of the Church but from God alone. And hence it is that, properly speaking, Christ cannot properly be called a member of the Church according as he himself is called the head of the Church according to the humanity.

⁵

To the second, from the Apostle in 1 Cor. xii, the answer is clear from what has already been said. For it has been said that there the Apostle calls Christ the head according to the humanity a member with respect to the Godhead. Or it must be said, as Lord Peter of Tarentaise says, that Christ is the head by excellence of grace and a member by conformity of nature.