35. Jesus Christ's Divinity
Jesus Christ is true man. However, the Church teaches that he is not merely a man, but truly and properly the Son of God, and God himself.1
3. The Doctrine of the Church on Jesus’ Divinity
In all the Symbols of the Faith and doctrinal definitions of the Councils, the Church has proclaimed her faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God. To cite one example from the many definitions, the Apostles’ Creed affirms: “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, his Only-Begotten Son.”2
In a.d. 325, the Council of Nicaea defined against Arius, who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, “We believe in only one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten born of the Father … God from God; light from light; true God from true God; begotten, not created, consubstantial with the Father.”3 Likewise, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed teaches, “And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all time; light from light, true God from true God; begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.”4
The modernists deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, since, according to them (following the liberal Protestant theology), one has to distinguish between the Jesus who lived in Palestine (the “historical Jesus”) and the Jesus in whom we believe (“Jesus of the faith”). Consequently, they conjecture that our faith in Jesus Christ and in his divinity is not at all related to the Jesus who appears in the historical narrations of the Sacred Scriptures, and, therefore, we cannot prove that Jesus was really the Son of God.
In 1907, Pope St. Pius X approved the decree Lamentabili, where various modernist propositions were condemned, among them: “The divinity of Jesus Christ is not proven from the Gospels; but it is a dogma that the Christian consciousness deduced from the notion of the Messiah”; “It may be conceded that the Christ who appears in the light of history is far inferior to the Christ who is the object of faith”; and “The Christology taught by Paul, John, and the Councils of Nicaea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon is not the doctrine that Jesus taught, but one that the Christian consciousness formed about Jesus.”5
The dogmatic definitions of the Church teach that Jesus Christ possessed the divine nature with all its perfections because he has been eternally begotten by God the Father, and is, thus, of the same substance of the Father. He is the Son of God and true God.
4. Christ’s Divinity in Sacred Scripture: The Testimony of the Old Testament
The Old Testament prepares the ground for the New Testament. Thus, the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament announcing the Redeemer acquire their full meaning in the light of the New Testament, and they should be interpreted accordingly. For example, because the mystery of the Blessed Trinity had not yet been revealed in the Old Testament, the Jews understood the title “Son of God” only in a broad sense. After the revelation of the New Testament, which shows Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, we understand it in the sense that Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity and, therefore, true God.
4a) Messianic Prophecies
In the Old Testament, the Messianic prophecies tell of the different divine characteristics of the future Redeemer. He is the Son of God: “[The Lord] said to me: ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you” (Ps 2:7), generated from all eternity: “From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days” (Mi 5:2); and his power is eternal and universal, like that of God: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man … and to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away” (Dn 7:13–14).
Christ called himself “Son of Man,” an expression found, among other places, in the above quoted text of the prophet Daniel.
Isaiah called the future Redeemer “Immanuel” (“God with us”) and clearly pointed out the divinity of the Messiah with this expression (cf. Is 7:14; 8:8). He repeated the same idea in other places: “For God is with us” (Is 8:10); “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’” (Is 9:6).
4b) Jesus is the Divine Wisdom
Along with the messianic prophecies, other Old Testament texts deal with the divine wisdom; they are interpreted as referring to the Person of the Son because the Son of God—the Word—is the wisdom of God. In them, the Word appears as co-eternal with the Father: “The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth … when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him … rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the sons of men” (Prv 8:22–31). According to this text, the divine wisdom, like God, is eternal and takes part in creation.
One should remember that St. John, in the prologue of his Gospel, applied these words to the Incarnation of Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made though him … In him was life, and the life was the light of men.… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (Jn 1:1–4, 14).
St. Paul applied the above text to Jesus Christ when he taught that Jesus Christ is “the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible … all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:15–17).
4c) The Divine Wisdom is God
Certain parts of the Old Testament, like the Book of Wisdom, identify the divine wisdom—the Word of God—with God himself. It affirms that it “is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness” (Wis 7:25–26). The expressions “pure emanation,” “nothing defiled gains entrance into her,” and “spotless mirror” indicate that the Word is in no way inferior to God. From these texts came the expression “light from light,” which is used in the Creeds by the Magisterium of the Church.
4d) Jesus Christ Applied the Messianic Prophecies to Himself
Jesus Christ allowed himself to be called “Lamb of God” by John the Baptist (cf. Jn 1:36). To the question of the disciples of St. John, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Jesus answered with a prophecy of Isaiah: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them” (Mt 11:3–5). In accordance with Psalm 2, he calls himself Son of David. Jesus claims the power to judge at the end of time as Daniel had foretold as his own (cf. Lk 20:41–44; Mt 24:29–31; 25:31–46).6
The ancient prophecies are, thus, fulfilled in Jesus Christ: He is the Messiah and Son of God, heir to the eternal throne of David through the foundation of a kingdom not of this world in which everyone will be admitted with equal rights; this kingdom is the Holy Church.
5. The Divinity of Christ in the New Testament
The New Testament reveals the divinity of Jesus. We will systematically study this topic as revealed by the synoptic Gospels, the writings of St. John, the epistles of St. Paul, and the other books of the New Testament.7
5a) Testimonies of God the Father
In various moments of the life of Jesus, God the Father called him “Son.” In his narration of the moment of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, St. Mark says, “And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased’” (Mk 1:10–11). During the transfiguration at Mount Tabor, the voice of the Father was also heard saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 17:5). In these words, the Church has found a testimony to Jesus’ divine filiation.
5b) Jesus’ Own Testimony about Himself
(1) Jesus showed himself superior to all creatures. Jesus revealed his divinity by showing himself superior to the angels, men, and all other creatures. After being tempted in the desert, “angels came and ministered to him” (Mt 4:11). Jesus’ responses to Satan in the temptation also revealed that he could ask his Father to send him legions of angels (cf. Mt 26:53).
Jesus Christ is superior to both the prophets and kings of Israel. He explicitly stated this: “And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.… and behold, something greater than Solomon is here” (Mt 12:41–42). David had regarded him as his Lord, a lordship underlined further by the fact that Moses and Isaiah accompanied him on Tabor (cf. Mt 17:3; 22:43–44).
(2) Jesus claimed divine attributions. Jesus affirmed his equality to God by applying what was exclusive of God in the Old Testament to himself. As God the Father did in the Old Testament, Jesus sent “prophets and wise men and scribes” (Mt 23:34) to proclaim the good news. At the same time, he promised them his help: “I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict” (Lk 21:15).
Jesus, as God, is the Lord of the Law prescribed by the Old Testament. Upon his own authority, he brings the old precepts to their full and rightful perfection, a dominion that he particularly manifested when he declared himself the “lord of the sabbath” (Mt 12:8).
On the occasion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ confirmed that he did not come “to abolish the law and the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them” (Mt 5:17). He repeatedly stated, “You have heard that it was said to the me of old … but I say to you …” (Mt 5:21ff). Consequently, “when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Mt 7:28–29).
(3) Jesus imposed divine commands. Jesus imposed divine precepts on his disciples that only God can demand from people. Jesus asked his disciples to have faith in him and added, “blessed is he who takes no offense at me” (Mt 11:6). He demanded from his disciples a love that is exclusive, a love that is rightful to God, who should be loved “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Dt 6:5). He declared that “if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26), thus, pointing out that one should hold love for him above any other human love.
Jesus allowed himself to be adored in a religious manner, permitting people to prostrate themselves at his feet. Among those who prostrated themselves before him were the woman from Canaan (cf. Mt 15:25), the leper whom he touched to heal (cf. Mt 8:2), the ruler who asked for the cure of his daughter, who was later raised from the dead by Jesus (cf. Mt 9:18), his disciples after he had walked over the water and calmed the winds (cf. Mt 14:33), and the holy women and his disciples after his Resurrection (cf. Mt 28:9, 17). In Jewish as well as Christian tradition, prostration is an act of adoration rendered to God alone.
(4) Jesus was aware of his divine power. Jesus said of himself, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt 28:18), and he exercises this power by performing many miracles. He also gave his disciples the power to perform miracles in his name: “And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits” (Mt 10:1). He commanded them to “[h]eal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Mt 10:8). Further, the disciples, upon returning, bore witness to his divinity: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name” (Lk 10:17).
Jesus Christ forgave sins, something that is proper to God alone. To the paralytic who was carried to him by four friends, Jesus declared, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” He was met by the scandal of the scribes, who “said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say: “Rise and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’—he then said to the paralytic—‘Rise, take up your bed and go home.’ And he rose and went home” (Mt 9:2–7).
Furthermore, Jesus claimed the task of judging the world, a right that the Old Testament reserves for God alone: “For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done” (Mt 16:27).
(5) Jesus was aware of being the Son of God. Jesus clearly distinguished between his divine Sonship and the divine filiation proper to his disciples. When he talked of his relation to his heavenly Father, he always referred to him as “my Father.” However, when he talked to his disciples, he said “your Father.” Note that he never used the expression “our Father,” which could imply that God is Father to Jesus and all other people in the same way. The only time he used this expression was in the Lord’s Prayer, when he taught his disciples how they should pray.
Jesus’ awareness of his divine filiation was made plain when he went up to the temple at the age of twelve. To Mary’s question “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously,” Jesus answered, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:48–49). When Mary alluded to her rights as a mother, Jesus pointed out that his being the Son of his heavenly Father imposed higher duties on him and superseded his natural filiation to her.
In expounding his relationship with his Father God, Jesus showed an awareness of his divine Sonship: “All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Mt 11:27). This passage reveals that Jesus received all the power to carry out his mission from the Father. Moreover, by affirming that no one knows the Father but the Son and the Son but the Father, he revealed his divinity, because only God the Father is capable of knowing his divine nature. For the same reason, only the Son can know the Father. The fact that the Father and Son know each other necessarily presupposes that both possess the same divine nature.
During his life, Jesus allowed himself to be called “Son of God.” When he asked his disciples ‘“But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven’” (Mt 16:15–17).
In the climax of his trial before the Sanhedrin, the high priest compelled him, “‘I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have said so. But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven’” (Mt 26:63–64). Jesus Christ did not evade the question; rather, he affirmed his divinity by saying, “you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power.” The Jews understood it in that sense and condemned him to death for blasphemy, which it would not have been if Jesus had called himself only the Messiah and not the Son of God.
5c) Jesus’ Divinity in the Gospel of St. John
The divinity of Jesus is splendidly disclosed in the fourth Gospel. It is only natural, since St. John attested that he wrote his Gospel “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” (Jn 20:31). Under the inspiration of God, John emphasized the divinity of Jesus Christ in his Gospel.
(1) The Word of God
In the prologue of his Gospel, St. John emphasizes that Jesus Christ is the consubstantial Son of the Father. First, he describes the preexistent Word (Logos in Greek) who has been from all eternity and is a Person who coexists with God, for he is God himself. All things were made through him, he is the fount of eternal life, and he enlightens all mankind through his revelation. The Word is the Son of God, called the “only-begotten of the Father” and the “only-begotten Son.” The Word, who existed from all eternity, came to the world and “was made flesh” in order to bring grace and truth to humanity. The Word made flesh is Jesus Christ (cf. Jn 1:1–18).
St. John repeats several times in his Gospel that Jesus is “the only Son of God” (Jn 3:16; cf. Jn 3:18).
(2) Jesus’ divine filiation
In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus calls God “his Father” or “the Father” and himself “the Son” more frequently than in the synoptics (the other three Gospels). He explicitly distinguished his divine filiation from the filiation of his disciples. Thus, he said to Mary Magdalene after his Resurrection: “Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Jn 20:17, author’s emphasis).
(3) The pre-existence of Jesus as God
Jesus Christ testified that the Father had sent him and that he had come down “from heaven” or “from above” (Jn 3:13; 6:38). So saying, he expressed his eternal existence in God.
(4) Jesus as equal in nature to the Father
After the cure of the sick man who had been waiting for 38 years at the pool of Bethzatha, the Jews told him: “It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” The Gospel narrative continues: “And this is why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working still, and I am working.’ This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God” (Jn 5:10, 16–18).
Jesus claimed that his work was equal to the work of his Father. More explicitly, he declared that “the Son cannot do anything of himself, but what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son also does in like manner” (Jn 5:19). This undoubtedly means that the work of the Son is equal to that of the Father. Jesus, therefore, being the Son of God, rightly ascribed to himself the same powers as the Father.
Jesus demanded faith in his words: “He who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life.” He called himself “Son of God” in this passage and affirmed his consubstantiality with the Father: “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (Jn 5:24, 26).
On the occasion of a dispute he had with the Jews while he was walking about Solomon’s portico in the temple, Jesus revealed his consubstantiality with the Father: “So the Jews gathered round him and said to him: ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me’” (Jn 10:24–25). After making them realize that they do not believe because they are not his sheep, he concluded: “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30). Then, the Jews tried to stone him, and Jesus asked them: ‘“I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘We stone you for no good work but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God’” (Jn 10:32–33).
It was plain to the Jews that Jesus had declared himself the Son of God. Because of this, they said that he blasphemed, and they wanted to stone him. Jesus answered them saying: “Do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said ‘I am the Son of God’?” (Jn 10:36). He asked them to believe in the testimony of the Father, shown in the miracles that he did, “Believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (Jn 10:38).
In the long discourse of the Last Supper, Jesus explained the intimate and mutual relation that exists between him and the Father in careful detail. When Philip begged him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied,” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves” (Jn 14:8–11).
Finally, in his priestly prayer during the Last Supper, Jesus prayed for the unity of the apostles and of all the faithful, and offered them his substantial unity with the Father as a model: “Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (Jn 17:11). Some moments later, he added, “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one” (Jn 17:20–22).
(5) Jesus’ claims of divine attributes and operations
In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus affirms his eternal nature: “Before Abraham was, I am” (Jn 8:58); his perfect knowledge of the Father: “I know him. If I said, I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him and I keep his word” (Jn 8:55); his equal power and activity with the Father: “My Father is working still, and I am working” (Jn 5:17); and his power to forgive sins: “Go, and do not sin again” (Jn 8:11). Additionally, he claimed to be judge, worthy of adoration, the light of the world, and “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).
Jesus imposed divine precepts: “Believe in God, believe also in me” (Jn 14:1). He promised that he and the Father will dwell in the souls of those who believe in him: “And we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn 14:23).
He asked for prayers in his and his Father’s name and assured their efficacy: “If you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name” (Jn 16:23).
He accepted the solemn profession of his divinity made by St. Thomas the Apostle: “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28).
(6) Christ’s divinity proved by his works
The miracles were signs that confirmed the divinity of Jesus. The Lord repeatedly resorted to the testimony of his works as motives of his credibility: “The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me” (Jn 10:25).
5d) The Divinity of Jesus in the Epistles of St. Paul
(1) Jesus is Lord
St. Paul testified to the divinity of Jesus by calling him Lord (Dominus in Latin, Kyrios in Greek).8 The Jews never uttered God’s name when reading the Scriptures. In the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, and at the time of St. Paul, the title of Kyrios was generally used to designate God. St. Paul, therefore, reveals that Jesus Christ is God by calling him Kyrios. “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord” (1 Cor 1:31). “Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom 10:13).
According to St. Paul, the name of Jesus is above all names. It is the name of God and is, therefore, worthy of adoration: “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil 2:10).
(2) Jesus is God
St. Paul also testified to the divinity of Jesus Christ by calling him God. St. Paul presented a magnificent summary of Christology in the epistle to the Philippians: “Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:5–11).
(3) Jesus is the Son of God
St. Paul attributed divine filiation to Jesus9 and called him Son of God: “[The Father] has … transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col 1:13). Jesus Christ, as the Son of God the Father, “reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature” (Heb 1:3).
(4) Natural divine filiation
The writings of St. Paul unmistakably profess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God by nature while redeemed humans are children of God by an adoption through grace: “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son … to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4–5).
5e) Other Testimonies about the Divinity of Jesus
The other apostles and disciples gave witness to their faith in Jesus as the Son of God. One may recall what St. Peter declared in Caesarea Philippi: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). Much later, in his preaching, he did not cease to ascribe the divine prerogatives to Jesus. Thus, in his first discourse after Pentecost, he told his audience, “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One … and killed the Author of life” (Acts 3:14–15). St. Peter called Jesus God and Savior in his letters (cf. 2 Pt 1:1).
St. James the apostle proclaimed himself “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Jas 1:1), while St. Stephen exclaimed just before being martyred, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56).
6. The Divinity of Jesus Christ Affirmed in Tradition
The Fathers of the Church unanimously affirmed the divinity of Jesus Christ. St. Clement of Rome, the third pope in the line of succession from St. Peter, wrote in a letter to the Corinthians around a.d. 96, “Christ is the splendor of the majesty of God, the Son of God exalted above all the angels.” St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyred about a.d. 107, bore abundant witness about the divinity of Jesus, whom he called “God our Lord,” “God humanly manifested,” and “The Only Son of the Most High Father … our God.”10
7. Major Heresies Denying the Divinity of Christ
The heresies that denied the divinity of Jesus Christ tended to consider him either a simple man adorned with great virtues (the Ebionites, of Jewish origin), a man in whom the Logos dwells, which made him worthy to be the adoptive son of God (Nestorians), or the most perfect creature made by God ex nihilo (Arianism).11
Nowadays, rationalists and modernists deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and consider his divinity a personified projection of the desires and aspirations of individuals or of the whole of humanity.
These heresies against the divinity of Jesus Christ are opposed to revealed truth. Their claims cannot stand when confronted with the testimony of Sacred Scripture, which so clearly shows that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Somehow, they all spring from an anti-supernatural bias that refuses to accept any mystery that totally exceeds our rational capacity.
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 456–469.
2. DS 2; cf. CCC, 422–445.
3. DS 125.
4. DS 150.
5. DS 3427, 3429, 3431.
6. Cf. CCC, 439–440.
7. Cf. Ibid., 441–445.
8. Cf. Ibid., 446–451.
9. Cf. Ibid., 441–445.
10. Ep. ad Cor. 36:2–4; Ep. ad Eph. 18:2; 19:3; Ep. ad Rom., Intr.
11. Cf. CCC, 464–469.
3. The Doctrine of the Church on Jesus’ Divinity
In all the Symbols of the Faith and doctrinal definitions of the Councils, the Church has proclaimed her faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God. To cite one example from the many definitions, the Apostles’ Creed affirms: “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, his Only-Begotten Son.”2
In a.d. 325, the Council of Nicaea defined against Arius, who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, “We believe in only one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten born of the Father … God from God; light from light; true God from true God; begotten, not created, consubstantial with the Father.”3 Likewise, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed teaches, “And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all time; light from light, true God from true God; begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.”4
The modernists deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, since, according to them (following the liberal Protestant theology), one has to distinguish between the Jesus who lived in Palestine (the “historical Jesus”) and the Jesus in whom we believe (“Jesus of the faith”). Consequently, they conjecture that our faith in Jesus Christ and in his divinity is not at all related to the Jesus who appears in the historical narrations of the Sacred Scriptures, and, therefore, we cannot prove that Jesus was really the Son of God.
In 1907, Pope St. Pius X approved the decree Lamentabili, where various modernist propositions were condemned, among them: “The divinity of Jesus Christ is not proven from the Gospels; but it is a dogma that the Christian consciousness deduced from the notion of the Messiah”; “It may be conceded that the Christ who appears in the light of history is far inferior to the Christ who is the object of faith”; and “The Christology taught by Paul, John, and the Councils of Nicaea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon is not the doctrine that Jesus taught, but one that the Christian consciousness formed about Jesus.”5
The dogmatic definitions of the Church teach that Jesus Christ possessed the divine nature with all its perfections because he has been eternally begotten by God the Father, and is, thus, of the same substance of the Father. He is the Son of God and true God.
4. Christ’s Divinity in Sacred Scripture: The Testimony of the Old Testament
The Old Testament prepares the ground for the New Testament. Thus, the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament announcing the Redeemer acquire their full meaning in the light of the New Testament, and they should be interpreted accordingly. For example, because the mystery of the Blessed Trinity had not yet been revealed in the Old Testament, the Jews understood the title “Son of God” only in a broad sense. After the revelation of the New Testament, which shows Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, we understand it in the sense that Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity and, therefore, true God.
4a) Messianic Prophecies
In the Old Testament, the Messianic prophecies tell of the different divine characteristics of the future Redeemer. He is the Son of God: “[The Lord] said to me: ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you” (Ps 2:7), generated from all eternity: “From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days” (Mi 5:2); and his power is eternal and universal, like that of God: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man … and to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away” (Dn 7:13–14).
Christ called himself “Son of Man,” an expression found, among other places, in the above quoted text of the prophet Daniel.
Isaiah called the future Redeemer “Immanuel” (“God with us”) and clearly pointed out the divinity of the Messiah with this expression (cf. Is 7:14; 8:8). He repeated the same idea in other places: “For God is with us” (Is 8:10); “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’” (Is 9:6).
4b) Jesus is the Divine Wisdom
Along with the messianic prophecies, other Old Testament texts deal with the divine wisdom; they are interpreted as referring to the Person of the Son because the Son of God—the Word—is the wisdom of God. In them, the Word appears as co-eternal with the Father: “The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth … when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him … rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the sons of men” (Prv 8:22–31). According to this text, the divine wisdom, like God, is eternal and takes part in creation.
One should remember that St. John, in the prologue of his Gospel, applied these words to the Incarnation of Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made though him … In him was life, and the life was the light of men.… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (Jn 1:1–4, 14).
St. Paul applied the above text to Jesus Christ when he taught that Jesus Christ is “the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible … all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:15–17).
4c) The Divine Wisdom is God
Certain parts of the Old Testament, like the Book of Wisdom, identify the divine wisdom—the Word of God—with God himself. It affirms that it “is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness” (Wis 7:25–26). The expressions “pure emanation,” “nothing defiled gains entrance into her,” and “spotless mirror” indicate that the Word is in no way inferior to God. From these texts came the expression “light from light,” which is used in the Creeds by the Magisterium of the Church.
4d) Jesus Christ Applied the Messianic Prophecies to Himself
Jesus Christ allowed himself to be called “Lamb of God” by John the Baptist (cf. Jn 1:36). To the question of the disciples of St. John, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Jesus answered with a prophecy of Isaiah: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them” (Mt 11:3–5). In accordance with Psalm 2, he calls himself Son of David. Jesus claims the power to judge at the end of time as Daniel had foretold as his own (cf. Lk 20:41–44; Mt 24:29–31; 25:31–46).6
The ancient prophecies are, thus, fulfilled in Jesus Christ: He is the Messiah and Son of God, heir to the eternal throne of David through the foundation of a kingdom not of this world in which everyone will be admitted with equal rights; this kingdom is the Holy Church.
5. The Divinity of Christ in the New Testament
The New Testament reveals the divinity of Jesus. We will systematically study this topic as revealed by the synoptic Gospels, the writings of St. John, the epistles of St. Paul, and the other books of the New Testament.7
5a) Testimonies of God the Father
In various moments of the life of Jesus, God the Father called him “Son.” In his narration of the moment of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, St. Mark says, “And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased’” (Mk 1:10–11). During the transfiguration at Mount Tabor, the voice of the Father was also heard saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 17:5). In these words, the Church has found a testimony to Jesus’ divine filiation.
5b) Jesus’ Own Testimony about Himself
(1) Jesus showed himself superior to all creatures. Jesus revealed his divinity by showing himself superior to the angels, men, and all other creatures. After being tempted in the desert, “angels came and ministered to him” (Mt 4:11). Jesus’ responses to Satan in the temptation also revealed that he could ask his Father to send him legions of angels (cf. Mt 26:53).
Jesus Christ is superior to both the prophets and kings of Israel. He explicitly stated this: “And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.… and behold, something greater than Solomon is here” (Mt 12:41–42). David had regarded him as his Lord, a lordship underlined further by the fact that Moses and Isaiah accompanied him on Tabor (cf. Mt 17:3; 22:43–44).
(2) Jesus claimed divine attributions. Jesus affirmed his equality to God by applying what was exclusive of God in the Old Testament to himself. As God the Father did in the Old Testament, Jesus sent “prophets and wise men and scribes” (Mt 23:34) to proclaim the good news. At the same time, he promised them his help: “I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict” (Lk 21:15).
Jesus, as God, is the Lord of the Law prescribed by the Old Testament. Upon his own authority, he brings the old precepts to their full and rightful perfection, a dominion that he particularly manifested when he declared himself the “lord of the sabbath” (Mt 12:8).
On the occasion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ confirmed that he did not come “to abolish the law and the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them” (Mt 5:17). He repeatedly stated, “You have heard that it was said to the me of old … but I say to you …” (Mt 5:21ff). Consequently, “when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Mt 7:28–29).
(3) Jesus imposed divine commands. Jesus imposed divine precepts on his disciples that only God can demand from people. Jesus asked his disciples to have faith in him and added, “blessed is he who takes no offense at me” (Mt 11:6). He demanded from his disciples a love that is exclusive, a love that is rightful to God, who should be loved “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Dt 6:5). He declared that “if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26), thus, pointing out that one should hold love for him above any other human love.
Jesus allowed himself to be adored in a religious manner, permitting people to prostrate themselves at his feet. Among those who prostrated themselves before him were the woman from Canaan (cf. Mt 15:25), the leper whom he touched to heal (cf. Mt 8:2), the ruler who asked for the cure of his daughter, who was later raised from the dead by Jesus (cf. Mt 9:18), his disciples after he had walked over the water and calmed the winds (cf. Mt 14:33), and the holy women and his disciples after his Resurrection (cf. Mt 28:9, 17). In Jewish as well as Christian tradition, prostration is an act of adoration rendered to God alone.
(4) Jesus was aware of his divine power. Jesus said of himself, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt 28:18), and he exercises this power by performing many miracles. He also gave his disciples the power to perform miracles in his name: “And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits” (Mt 10:1). He commanded them to “[h]eal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Mt 10:8). Further, the disciples, upon returning, bore witness to his divinity: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name” (Lk 10:17).
Jesus Christ forgave sins, something that is proper to God alone. To the paralytic who was carried to him by four friends, Jesus declared, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” He was met by the scandal of the scribes, who “said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say: “Rise and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’—he then said to the paralytic—‘Rise, take up your bed and go home.’ And he rose and went home” (Mt 9:2–7).
Furthermore, Jesus claimed the task of judging the world, a right that the Old Testament reserves for God alone: “For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done” (Mt 16:27).
(5) Jesus was aware of being the Son of God. Jesus clearly distinguished between his divine Sonship and the divine filiation proper to his disciples. When he talked of his relation to his heavenly Father, he always referred to him as “my Father.” However, when he talked to his disciples, he said “your Father.” Note that he never used the expression “our Father,” which could imply that God is Father to Jesus and all other people in the same way. The only time he used this expression was in the Lord’s Prayer, when he taught his disciples how they should pray.
Jesus’ awareness of his divine filiation was made plain when he went up to the temple at the age of twelve. To Mary’s question “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously,” Jesus answered, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:48–49). When Mary alluded to her rights as a mother, Jesus pointed out that his being the Son of his heavenly Father imposed higher duties on him and superseded his natural filiation to her.
In expounding his relationship with his Father God, Jesus showed an awareness of his divine Sonship: “All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Mt 11:27). This passage reveals that Jesus received all the power to carry out his mission from the Father. Moreover, by affirming that no one knows the Father but the Son and the Son but the Father, he revealed his divinity, because only God the Father is capable of knowing his divine nature. For the same reason, only the Son can know the Father. The fact that the Father and Son know each other necessarily presupposes that both possess the same divine nature.
During his life, Jesus allowed himself to be called “Son of God.” When he asked his disciples ‘“But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven’” (Mt 16:15–17).
In the climax of his trial before the Sanhedrin, the high priest compelled him, “‘I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have said so. But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven’” (Mt 26:63–64). Jesus Christ did not evade the question; rather, he affirmed his divinity by saying, “you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power.” The Jews understood it in that sense and condemned him to death for blasphemy, which it would not have been if Jesus had called himself only the Messiah and not the Son of God.
5c) Jesus’ Divinity in the Gospel of St. John
The divinity of Jesus is splendidly disclosed in the fourth Gospel. It is only natural, since St. John attested that he wrote his Gospel “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” (Jn 20:31). Under the inspiration of God, John emphasized the divinity of Jesus Christ in his Gospel.
(1) The Word of God
In the prologue of his Gospel, St. John emphasizes that Jesus Christ is the consubstantial Son of the Father. First, he describes the preexistent Word (Logos in Greek) who has been from all eternity and is a Person who coexists with God, for he is God himself. All things were made through him, he is the fount of eternal life, and he enlightens all mankind through his revelation. The Word is the Son of God, called the “only-begotten of the Father” and the “only-begotten Son.” The Word, who existed from all eternity, came to the world and “was made flesh” in order to bring grace and truth to humanity. The Word made flesh is Jesus Christ (cf. Jn 1:1–18).
St. John repeats several times in his Gospel that Jesus is “the only Son of God” (Jn 3:16; cf. Jn 3:18).
(2) Jesus’ divine filiation
In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus calls God “his Father” or “the Father” and himself “the Son” more frequently than in the synoptics (the other three Gospels). He explicitly distinguished his divine filiation from the filiation of his disciples. Thus, he said to Mary Magdalene after his Resurrection: “Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Jn 20:17, author’s emphasis).
(3) The pre-existence of Jesus as God
Jesus Christ testified that the Father had sent him and that he had come down “from heaven” or “from above” (Jn 3:13; 6:38). So saying, he expressed his eternal existence in God.
(4) Jesus as equal in nature to the Father
After the cure of the sick man who had been waiting for 38 years at the pool of Bethzatha, the Jews told him: “It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” The Gospel narrative continues: “And this is why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working still, and I am working.’ This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God” (Jn 5:10, 16–18).
Jesus claimed that his work was equal to the work of his Father. More explicitly, he declared that “the Son cannot do anything of himself, but what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son also does in like manner” (Jn 5:19). This undoubtedly means that the work of the Son is equal to that of the Father. Jesus, therefore, being the Son of God, rightly ascribed to himself the same powers as the Father.
Jesus demanded faith in his words: “He who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life.” He called himself “Son of God” in this passage and affirmed his consubstantiality with the Father: “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (Jn 5:24, 26).
On the occasion of a dispute he had with the Jews while he was walking about Solomon’s portico in the temple, Jesus revealed his consubstantiality with the Father: “So the Jews gathered round him and said to him: ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me’” (Jn 10:24–25). After making them realize that they do not believe because they are not his sheep, he concluded: “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30). Then, the Jews tried to stone him, and Jesus asked them: ‘“I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘We stone you for no good work but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God’” (Jn 10:32–33).
It was plain to the Jews that Jesus had declared himself the Son of God. Because of this, they said that he blasphemed, and they wanted to stone him. Jesus answered them saying: “Do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said ‘I am the Son of God’?” (Jn 10:36). He asked them to believe in the testimony of the Father, shown in the miracles that he did, “Believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (Jn 10:38).
In the long discourse of the Last Supper, Jesus explained the intimate and mutual relation that exists between him and the Father in careful detail. When Philip begged him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied,” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves” (Jn 14:8–11).
Finally, in his priestly prayer during the Last Supper, Jesus prayed for the unity of the apostles and of all the faithful, and offered them his substantial unity with the Father as a model: “Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (Jn 17:11). Some moments later, he added, “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one” (Jn 17:20–22).
(5) Jesus’ claims of divine attributes and operations
In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus affirms his eternal nature: “Before Abraham was, I am” (Jn 8:58); his perfect knowledge of the Father: “I know him. If I said, I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him and I keep his word” (Jn 8:55); his equal power and activity with the Father: “My Father is working still, and I am working” (Jn 5:17); and his power to forgive sins: “Go, and do not sin again” (Jn 8:11). Additionally, he claimed to be judge, worthy of adoration, the light of the world, and “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).
Jesus imposed divine precepts: “Believe in God, believe also in me” (Jn 14:1). He promised that he and the Father will dwell in the souls of those who believe in him: “And we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn 14:23).
He asked for prayers in his and his Father’s name and assured their efficacy: “If you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name” (Jn 16:23).
He accepted the solemn profession of his divinity made by St. Thomas the Apostle: “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28).
(6) Christ’s divinity proved by his works
The miracles were signs that confirmed the divinity of Jesus. The Lord repeatedly resorted to the testimony of his works as motives of his credibility: “The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me” (Jn 10:25).
5d) The Divinity of Jesus in the Epistles of St. Paul
(1) Jesus is Lord
St. Paul testified to the divinity of Jesus by calling him Lord (Dominus in Latin, Kyrios in Greek).8 The Jews never uttered God’s name when reading the Scriptures. In the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, and at the time of St. Paul, the title of Kyrios was generally used to designate God. St. Paul, therefore, reveals that Jesus Christ is God by calling him Kyrios. “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord” (1 Cor 1:31). “Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom 10:13).
According to St. Paul, the name of Jesus is above all names. It is the name of God and is, therefore, worthy of adoration: “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil 2:10).
(2) Jesus is God
St. Paul also testified to the divinity of Jesus Christ by calling him God. St. Paul presented a magnificent summary of Christology in the epistle to the Philippians: “Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:5–11).
(3) Jesus is the Son of God
St. Paul attributed divine filiation to Jesus9 and called him Son of God: “[The Father] has … transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col 1:13). Jesus Christ, as the Son of God the Father, “reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature” (Heb 1:3).
(4) Natural divine filiation
The writings of St. Paul unmistakably profess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God by nature while redeemed humans are children of God by an adoption through grace: “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son … to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4–5).
5e) Other Testimonies about the Divinity of Jesus
The other apostles and disciples gave witness to their faith in Jesus as the Son of God. One may recall what St. Peter declared in Caesarea Philippi: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). Much later, in his preaching, he did not cease to ascribe the divine prerogatives to Jesus. Thus, in his first discourse after Pentecost, he told his audience, “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One … and killed the Author of life” (Acts 3:14–15). St. Peter called Jesus God and Savior in his letters (cf. 2 Pt 1:1).
St. James the apostle proclaimed himself “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Jas 1:1), while St. Stephen exclaimed just before being martyred, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56).
6. The Divinity of Jesus Christ Affirmed in Tradition
The Fathers of the Church unanimously affirmed the divinity of Jesus Christ. St. Clement of Rome, the third pope in the line of succession from St. Peter, wrote in a letter to the Corinthians around a.d. 96, “Christ is the splendor of the majesty of God, the Son of God exalted above all the angels.” St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyred about a.d. 107, bore abundant witness about the divinity of Jesus, whom he called “God our Lord,” “God humanly manifested,” and “The Only Son of the Most High Father … our God.”10
7. Major Heresies Denying the Divinity of Christ
The heresies that denied the divinity of Jesus Christ tended to consider him either a simple man adorned with great virtues (the Ebionites, of Jewish origin), a man in whom the Logos dwells, which made him worthy to be the adoptive son of God (Nestorians), or the most perfect creature made by God ex nihilo (Arianism).11
Nowadays, rationalists and modernists deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and consider his divinity a personified projection of the desires and aspirations of individuals or of the whole of humanity.
These heresies against the divinity of Jesus Christ are opposed to revealed truth. Their claims cannot stand when confronted with the testimony of Sacred Scripture, which so clearly shows that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Somehow, they all spring from an anti-supernatural bias that refuses to accept any mystery that totally exceeds our rational capacity.
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 456–469.
2. DS 2; cf. CCC, 422–445.
3. DS 125.
4. DS 150.
5. DS 3427, 3429, 3431.
6. Cf. CCC, 439–440.
7. Cf. Ibid., 441–445.
8. Cf. Ibid., 446–451.
9. Cf. Ibid., 441–445.
10. Ep. ad Cor. 36:2–4; Ep. ad Eph. 18:2; 19:3; Ep. ad Rom., Intr.
11. Cf. CCC, 464–469.