man nature, but by virtue of the Divine
Nature, in which Divine Nature resides the power of forgiving sins
authoritatively; whereas in the human nature it resides
instrumentally and ministerially. Hence Chrysostom expounding this
passage says [*Implicitly. Hom. xxx in Matth; cf. St. Thomas, Catena
Aurea on Mk. 2:10]: "He said pointedly 'on earth to forgive sins,' in
order to show that by an indivisible union He united human nature to
the power of the Godhead, since although He was made Man, yet He
remained the Word of God."

Reply Obj. 3: When we say "this man," the demonstrative pronoun
"this" attracts "man" to the suppositum; and hence "Christ as this
Man, is God, is a truer proposition than Christ as Man is God."
_______________________

TWELFTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 16, Art. 12]

Whether This Is True: "Christ As Man Is a Hypostasis or Person"?

Objection 1: It would seem that Christ as Man is a hypostasis or
person. For what belongs to every man belongs to Christ as Man, since
He is like other men according to Phil. 2:7: "Being made in the
likeness of men." But every man is a person. Therefore Christ as Man
is a person.

Obj. 2: Further, Christ as Man is a substance of rational nature. But
He is not a universal substance: therefore He is an individual
substance. Now a person is nothing else than an individual substance
of rational nature; as Boethius says (De Duab. Nat.). Therefore
Christ as Man is a person.

Obj. 3: Further, Christ as Man is a being of human nature, and a
suppositum and a hypostasis of the same nature. But every hypostasis
and suppositum and being of human nature is a person. Therefore
Christ as Man is a person.

_On the contrary,_ Christ as Man is not an eternal person. Therefore
if Christ as Man is a person it would follow that in Christ there are
two persons--one temporal and the other eternal, which is erroneous,
as was said above (Q. 2, A. 6; Q. 4, A. 2).

_I answer that,_ As was said (AA. 10, 11), the term "Man" placed in
the reduplication may refer either to the suppositum or to the
nature. Hence when it is said: "Christ as Man is a person," if it is
taken as referring to the suppositum, it is clear that Christ as Man
is a person, since the suppositum of human nature is nothing else
than the Person of the Son of God. But if it be taken as referring to
the nature, it may be understood in two ways. First, we may so
understand it as if it belonged to human nature to be in a person,
and i