John Duns Scotus - Four Questions On Mary

Question One: The Predestination of Christ and His Mother

QuesTion one The PredesTinaTion oF chrisT and his MoTher John Duns Scotus: Four Questions on Mary 24 DE PREDESTINATIONE CHRISTI EIUSQUE MATRIS1 Tertium quaero, utrum Christus praedestinatus sit esse Filius Dei. [Argumenta Pro et Contra] Quod non: Quia non secundum quod Filius Dei praedestinatus est esse Filius Dei, quia non praecessit eius esse praedestinatio, et praedestinatio dicit praecessionem ad illud quod praedestinatur; neque secundum quod homo, quia secundum quod aliquid praedestinatur esse aliquale, secundum hoc est esse Filius Dei, secundum quod homo praedestinatus est esse Filius Dei, secundum quod homo est Filius Dei, quod est falsum. Contra: Romans 1:3-4: “Factus est ex semine David qui praedestinatus est esse Filius Dei in virtute.” [Corpus Questionis] Respondeo: Cum praedestinatio sit praeordinatio alicuius ad gloriam principaliter et ad alia in ordine ad gloriam, et huic naturae humanae in Christo praeordinata sit gloria, et unio ista in Verbo in ordine ad gloriam, quia non tanta gloria fuisset sibi conferenda , si non esset unita, sicut modo collata est; quemadmodum igitur merita cadunt sub praedestinatione, sine quibus non ordinaretur de congruo quis ad tantam gloriam sine eis sicut cum eis, ita videtur ista unio ordinari ad tantam gloriam de congruo, licet non tamquam meritum cecidisset sub praedestinatione; et ita sicut praedestinatum est hanc naturam uniri Verbo, ita praedestinatum est Verbum esse hominem, et hunc hominem esse Verbum. Consequentiae probantur per simile, sicut dictum est de factione passiva. 1 Ordinatio III, dist. 7, q. 3 (from the text edited by C. Balić, O.F.M. in Ioannis Duns Scoti, Doctoris Mariani Theologiae Marianae Elementa (Sibenici, 1933), 1-10. Question One 25 THE PREDESTINATION OF CHRIST AND HIS MOTHER I ask: Was Christ predestined to be the Son of God? [Arguments Pro and Con] Negative view: Not as Son of God was he predestined to be the Son of God, for predestination must be prior to the event predestined, and there was no predestination prior to the existence of the Son of God. Neither is he predestined as man, for if as something one is predestined to be a certain kind of thing, then as such one is that kind of thing. Consequently, if as man he is predestined to be the Son of God, in so far as he is a man he is the Son of God, which is false. [Positive view]: On the contrary: Romans 1:3-4: “He who was born of the seed of David...was predestined the Son of God in power.” [Body of the Question] I reply: Predestination consists in foreordaining someone first of all to glory and then to other things which are ordered to glory. Now the human nature in Christ was predestined to be glorified, and in order to be glorified, it was predestined to be united to the Word, in as much as such glory as it was granted would never have been conferred on this nature had it not been so united. Now if it would not be fitting to ordain one to such glory if certain merits were absent, whereas it would be fitting if they were present, then such merits are included in the predestination. And so it would seem that this union by way of fitness is ordered to this glory, although it is not exactly as merit that it falls under this predestination . And just as it is foreordained that this nature be united to the Word, so it is predestined that the Word be man and that this man be the Word. The validity of these last two inferences may be established as we did [in the previous question where we proved that since the hypostatic union did not always exist, it is correct to say both that “God became man” and “And man became God”]. John Duns Scotus: Four Questions on Mary 26 Et si dicas, quod predestinatio primo respicit personam, et ita oportet hic primo invenire aliquam personam cui primo Deus praedestinavit gloriam et istam unionem in ordine ad gloriam; nulli autem personae divinae praedestinavit istam unionem: non personae Verbi, ut Verbi, patet; non autem illi personae ut subsistenti in natura humana quia sic includitur illa unio. Respondeo: Potest negari illa propositio quod praedestinatio respicit solam personam; sicut enim Deus potest omne bonum aliud a se diligere, non tantum suppositum sed naturam, ita etiam potest alii a se praeoptare vel praeordinare bonum illi conveniens, et ita naturae et non tantum personae praeoptare gloriam et unionem...