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Part IIIaOur Lord Jesus ChristQuestion 58

Our Lord at the Father's Right Hand

  1. To sit means to abide, to stay. It also means to occupy the throne of judgment. In both meanings of this word, it belongs to Christ to sit at the right hand of the Father, that is, to abide in the Father’s glory, and to reign together with the Father.

  2. It belongs to Christ as God to have, equally with the Father, the identical divine glory, beatitude, and power. This is”sitting at the right hand of the Father.” The phrase does not indicate a secondary place, nor a place merely next to the Father. It means that Christ as God rules in absolute equality with the other two divine Persons.

  3. And it belongs to Christ as man to sit at the Father’s right hand, in the sense that Christ’s humanity isdowered with the Father’s gifts beyond all other creatures.

  4. As God, Christ is equal with the Father, and one with him in substance; as man, Christ excels all creatures in possessing divine gifts. On both scores, Christ alone holds just title to the place at the Father’s right hand.

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Full Summa Text · III, Q. 58
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