Was He Faithful? | Mary Magdalene Eitenmiller, OP

This talk examines the question of whether Jesus Christ possessed
the theological virtue of faith and, if not, in what sense he can
be called faithful. Drawing upon Scripture, and particularly the
theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, it argues that while Christ did not
have faith in the proper sense—since faith concerns truths not yet
seen—he nevertheless embodied its perfection through the beatific
vision granted to him from the first moment of his conception.
Aquinas teaches that faith and the beatific vision are mutually
exclusive: one either sees God’s essence directly, as in the vision
of the blessed, or one believes in what is unseen. Because Christ,
as the Incarnate Word, saw the Father immediately, he did not live
by faith but by vision. Yet this vision was necessary for his role
as the immovable and perfect principle of human salvation, the
“author and finisher of faith” (Heb 12:2). The study further
explores the Pauline expression pistis Christou
(“faith/faithfulness of Christ”) and argues that even if read as a
subjective genitive, the phrase refers not to Christ’s personal act
of believing but to his unwavering fidelity to the Father’s
salvific will. Through his obedience “unto death, even death on a
cross” (Phil 2:8), Christ merited the perfection of faith without
sharing its defect of unseeing. Consequently, his beatific
knowledge grounds his perfect charity, by which he redeemed
humanity. Thus, while Christ did not have faith as a wayfarer does,
he was supremely faithful—the exemplar and efficient cause of all
faith. His fidelity, flowing from divine vision and perfect love,
ensures the faith and salvation of those united to him.