Saint Thomas Aquinas's Biblical Exegesis: Hebrews 2:9 as a Case Study

Abstract

Saint Thomas Aquinas's Biblical Exegesis:Hebrews 2:9 as a Case Study Jörgen Vijgen "Biblical Thomism," a term coined by the American theologian Matthew Levering, constitutes, together with the emphasis on the patristic sources of Saint Thomas and the renewed discovery of the commentatorial tradition of Thomism, one of the most vibrant features of contemporary Thomism. Its dynamic is rooted in its twofold aim.1 Historically, biblical Thomism aims at uncovering the methods and sources of Saint Thomas's the principal task as magister in sacra pagina, which consisted in reading and commenting on the Holy Scriptures. This approach should not be limited to his biblical commentaries or the scriptural references in his systematical works but can also include a reconstruction of the central ideas of Saint Thomas's commentary on a book of the Bible for which we do not have a commentary, as has been demonstrated recently by Serge-Thomas Bonino in his book St. Thomas Aquinas: Reader of the Song of Songs.2 In doing so, biblical Thomism further aims at contributing to overcoming the typically modern gap between exegesis and speculative theology or to contribute to what Joseph Ratzinger in his famous 1988 lecture "Biblical Interpretation in Conflict" has called the "Method C" within biblical exegesis, that is to say, a perspective on Scripture which takes advantage of the strengths of "Method A" (the patristic-medieval exegetical approach) and "Method B" (The historical-critical [End Page 269] approach), while being cognizant of the shortcomings of both.3 In this contribution I would like to draw attention to his Super Epistolam ad Hebraeos, his commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, which still remains somewhat overlooked, by way of an analysis of Saint Thomas's reflections on Hebrews 2:9. For in these reflections he offers the contemporary reader an overview of his exegetical methods and as such his analysis can function as a case study for his biblical exegesis and an introduction to the way he reads the Scriptures. First, however, I present Saint Thomas's arguments for why one should not separate the three features mentioned above. Next, I briefly introduce his Super Epistolam ad Hebraeos before offering in the final part a detailed analysis of Hebrews 2:9. Distinguish to Unite Although for practical purposes a division of labor is often necessary, it would be contrary to both the mind of Saint Thomas, as well as his explicit teaching, were one to separate these three features (the Scriptures, Church Fathers, and the commentators) so that his thought becomes detached from the tradition that formed his work and subsequently brought his work to us. Rather, due to the role of the Holy Spirit in history, there exists for Saint Thomas a profound unity between the reading of Scripture and its transmission and interpretation throughout the ages. Saint Thomas argues, often with reference to Ambrosiaster's phrase Omne verum, a quocumque dicatur, a Spiritu Sancto est ("All truth, by whomever it is spoken, is from the Holy Spirit"), in favor of God's causal action with regard to the formal, efficient and exemplary role of the Holy Spirit in the constitution and recognition of any truth whatsoever.4 In particular regarding the truth of Scripture, Saint Thomas emphatically rejects an absolute separation between the inspired nature of the Scriptures and their subsequent interpretation. On the contrary, as he explains in one of his quodlibetal questions, the interpretation is itself a gift of the Holy Spirit so that at any given time in history the Holy Spirit is both the author and the interpreter of the Scriptures in so far as the "spiritual man" (1 Cor 2: 15) possesses the Holy Spirit and judges accordingly.5 The sed contra of [End Page 270] the same article expresses this even more clearly: To the contrary: It belongs to one and the same person to do something for the sake of a goal and to lead to that goal. But the goal of the Scriptures, which stems from the Holy Spirit, is the erudition of man. This erudition of man from the Scriptures, however, cannot exist unless by way of the expositions of the saints...