Summa de Ecclesia

¹

It rightly comes to be asked, for a fuller understanding of the present matter, whether it belongs to Christ alone as God to be head of the Church, and it is argued in many ways that it does not. First thus. From that passage 1 Cor. 11, The head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ, the head of Christ is God, the Gloss: the divine essence, or the Trinity is head of Christ as man, because the divinity as creator is head of the assumed nature. If therefore the Trinity is head of Christ as man, and Christ according to his humanity is head of the Church: therefore much more is the Trinity itself head of the Church, and so it belongs to the Father and the Holy Spirit to be head of the Church, and not to the Son of God alone. The consequence is clear, and the assumption is known in all its parts.

²

Second thus. Whatever belongs to the Son of God by his divinity belongs to the Father and the Holy Spirit: but to be head of the Church belongs to Christ even according to his divinity, as is clear: therefore also to the Father and the Holy Spirit; the consequence seems clear.

³

Third. The notion of head is taken from the influence by which it flows into the members sense and motion, as was touched on above; but since all grace flows from the Holy Spirit, all spiritual sense and motion must be said to emanate from him: therefore the notion of head belongs to the Holy Spirit himself.

⁴

Fourth thus. For it is said 1 Kings 13, When you were little in your own eyes you were made head among the tribes of Israel, but the Church is one in the new and the old testament, as has often been recalled above: therefore it belongs to others than Christ to be head of the Church.

⁵

Fifth thus. From the fact that Christ is set over the Church he is called not only head, but also shepherd, John x, and foundation of the Church, 1 Cor. 3. But Christ did not retain for himself alone the name of shepherd, according to that passage 1 Pet. 5, When the prince of shepherds appears you shall receive the unfading crown of eternal glory. Nor the name of foundation, according to that passage Apoc. 21, The wall of the city having twelve foundations, by which, as the Gloss says, the twelve apostles are understood: therefore it seems that he has not retained for himself alone the name of head either.

⁶

Sixth it is confirmed thus. It was said to Peter by Christ: You shall be called Cephas, John 1; but Cephas is called head according to one interpretation. For Cephas in Greek is the same as head in Latin: therefore Peter was head of the Church.

⁷

Seventh thus. Christ is called head of the Church from the fact that he flows grace into the members of his body which is the Church, but it pertains to others also to bestow grace, according to that passage to Eph. 4, Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth, but if any is good, for the edification of faith, that it may give grace to the hearers: therefore it seems that to be head of the Church belongs to others than Christ, even in the notion of influence.

⁸

On the contrary it is argued thus from what was said above, that Christ alone has these two things which concur for the full notion of head with respect to the Church, namely the influence of spiritual sense and motion into the whole body of the Church, and conformity of nature with it: therefore the notion of head and of the body of the Church belongs to him alone, the consequence with the assumption being manifest. It is argued also from that passage of the Apostle to Eph. 1, The Father gave him to be head over the whole Church which is his body.

⁹

For the explanation of the present question two things are to be noted. First that head is said in two ways, commonly and properly. According as it is taken commonly, it either denotes only excellence of perfection, and in this way whatever is most perfect or most noble in any nature is called head, as the lion among animals. Or only the notion of beginning, and in this way every beginning of a way is called the head of the way, as a spring is the head of rivers; but according to the notion of beginning the whole Trinity is called head of Christ as man, whence in the adduced authority, 1 Cor. 11, when it is said: The head of Christ is God, if God does not stand for the person of the Father alone but for the whole Trinity, from which, as from the more perfect, all goods are derived into the humanity of Christ, and to which the humanity of Christ is subject. In this way the whole Trinity is also called head of the Church, since from it all spiritual influence descends into the Church, since the works of the divinity outward are undivided, as Aug. says. Second, head is taken properly, insofar namely as with the notion of beginning it denotes conformity of nature with that of which it is said to be head, and according to this notion God the Father is called head of Christ even according to his divinity. For with respect to him he has both the notion of beginning and unity of nature with him, according to that passage of the psalm: You are my Son, this day have I begotten you. But taking head in this way, to be head of the Church belongs to Christ alone, who alone, assuming human nature, was made in the likeness of men and was found in habit as a man, to Eph. 2. Through this conformity of nature he has a homogeneous perfection with the members, and thus as it were a univocal beginning, and a rule of conformed and of one kind, as holy Tho. says in the third part.

¹⁰

Further it must be said with the same holy Tho. in the fourth part, q. 8, art. 5, that the head flows into the other members in two ways. In one way by a certain intrinsic influx, insofar as motion or the motive and sensitive power is derived from the head into the other members. In another way according to a certain exterior government, insofar namely as according to sight and the other senses which are rooted in the head man is directed in exterior acts. But the interior influx of grace is from no other than Christ alone, whose humanity, from the fact that it is joined to the divinity, has the power of justifying. But influx into the members of the Church as to exterior government can belong to others, and according to this some others can be called heads of the Church, according to that passage Amos vi, You chief men, heads of the peoples, yet they are distinguished from Christ. First as to this, that Christ is head of all who pertain to the Church according to every place and time and state. But other men are called heads according to certain spiritual places, as bishops of their churches, or also according to a determined time, as the head of the whole Church is the Pope in the time of his pontificate, and according to a determined state, insofar namely as they are in the state of wayfarers. Second there is a difference in this, that Christ is head of the Church by his own unity and authority. But others are called heads insofar as they bear the place of Christ, according to that passage 2 Cor. 2, For what I have pardoned, if I have pardoned anything, for your sakes I have done it in the person of Christ, the Gloss: I did this in the person of Christ as if Christ himself pardoned, and 2 Cor. 5, We perform legation for Christ as though God exhorted through us. With these things established the answer to the arguments to the contrary is clear.

¹¹

To the first three it is answered according to the distinction set down in the first note, conceding that to be head of the Church belongs to other persons than the person of Christ, indeed to the whole Trinity itself, as we declared a little before, according as the notion of head is taken from the notion of beginning alone. But if it is taken from the notion of beginning with conformity of nature, which is the more proper acceptation, thus to be head of the Church belongs to Christ alone, and thus the arguments do not proceed.

¹²

To the next three arguments also the answer in one is clear, since the adduced authorities are understood according as the notion of head is considered according to exterior government, as a king is called head of the kingdom, since to be head belongs to others than Christ, yet they differ from Christ as has already been said. To the last argument it is answered that in that saying of the Apostle it is not meant that man gives grace to the hearers by flowing grace inwardly but by persuading outwardly to the things that are of grace, and therefore the argument does not proceed. But in what spiritual way it belongs to the supreme pontiff to be head of the universal Church we shall declare with God's help in the second book of this work.