Question One. Whether Christ was under any Necessity to Die

1. About the sixteenth distinction I ask whethera Christ was under any necessity to die.

a.a [Interpolation] About the sixteenth question, where the Master deals with the way in which the Son of God assumed the defects of human nature, one question is asked, namely whether^

2. That he was not:

Romans 8.10, “The body is dead because of sin,” that is, it was under necessity to die; and Genesis 2.17, “In the day that you eat thereof, you will die.” But Christ did not have either actual or original sin;     therefore Christ was not under any necessity to die.

3. Second as follows: Christ’s soul was omniscient (as said in d.14 nn.58-70); therefore it was omnipotent, and if so it was not under necessity to die because it could prevent any cause that would prevent life. The first consequence is plain, because omniscience is not a greater perfection than omnipotence, since the acts of both have regard to the same objects and include power for acts that tend to everything possible; therefore etc     .

4. Third: Christ’s body was most balanced and with the best complexion, otherwise it would not have been proportionate to his soul, which was the most noble among forms that perfect matter; therefore his soul knew everything that could benefit or harm the body’s health, and he was obliged to preserve his life; therefore by accepting as food what was beneficial and avoiding what was harmful and guarding against anything corrupting he was able to go on living always - and he well knew how to do these things; therefore he was under no necessity to die.

5. And there is a confirmation like the previous argument [n.4], for his soul was most perfect among forms that perfect matter; therefore it did perfect the matter most perfectly, and therefore it removed all privation from the matter it perfected (for a more imperfect form, as the form of the heavens, can do this, namely take away all privation from matter; and so the heavens are naturally incorruptible [2 d.14 n.13]). Therefore Christ’s soul did the same with respect to his own matter.

6. On the contrary:

Everything composed of contraries necessarily suffers corruption (On the Heavens 2.3.286a33-34) - and the cause is that the contraries are in the same thing; since, therefore, Christ’s body was composed of contraries, it would at length naturally suffer corruption.

7. Second as follows: “Matter is that whereby a thing is able to be and not to be” (Metaphysics 7.7.1032a20-21), and this by reason of privation (Physics 1.9.192a3-16), because privation in deprived matter works harm, that is, the corruption of the composite it is found in; but the matter in Christ was of the same nature in him as in us, and in us it is a necessary cause of corruption; therefore also in Christ.