Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~480,000 words · 2,272 passages
Cite this work
- APAThomas Aquinas. (n.d.). Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars). Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/thomas-aquinas/summa-theologica-part-iii-tertia-pars
- MLAThomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars). Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/thomas-aquinas/summa-theologica-part-iii-tertia-pars.
- ChicagoThomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars). Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/thomas-aquinas/summa-theologica-part-iii-tertia-pars.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Christ and the sacraments: the part Aquinas left unfinished.
Context and history
It treats the Incarnation, the life of Christ and the sacraments. Aquinas broke off in December 1273: by what he told Reginald of Piperno, after an experience during Mass everything he had written seemed to him as straw. He died three months later. Editions complete it with the Supplementum, which is not his but a compilation made by his followers from an earlier work.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Incarnation is such; according to John 3:16: "God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting." Therefore it was necessary for man's salvation that God should become incarnate. _I answer that,_ A thing is said to be necessary for a certain end in two ways. First, when the end cannot be without it; as food is necessary for the preservation of human life. Secondly, when the end is attained better and more conveniently, as a horse is necessary for a journey. In the first way it was not necessary that God should become incarnate for the restoration of human nature. For God with His omnipotent power could have restored human nature in many other ways. But in the second way it was necessary that God should become incarnate for the restoration of human nature. Hence Augustine says (De Trin. xii, 10): "We shall also show that other ways were not wanting to God, to Whose power all things are equally subject; but that there was not a more fitting way of healing our misery." Now this may be viewed with respect to our "furtherance in good." First, with regard to faith, which is made more certain by believing God Himself Who speaks; hence Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xi, 2): "In order that man might journey more trustfully toward the truth, the Truth itself, the Son of God, having assumed human nature, established and founded faith." Secondly, with regard to hope, which is thereby greatly strengthened; hence Augustine says (De Trin. xiii): "Nothing was so necessary for raising our hope as to show us how deeply God loved us. And what could afford us a stronger proof of this than that the Son of God should become a partner with us of human nature?" Thirdly, with regard to charity, which is greatly enkindled by this; hence Augustine says (De Catech. Rudib. iv): "What greater cause is there of the Lord's coming than to show God's love for us?…