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Summa Theologiae · Suppl., q. 89, a. 3

Whether the angels will judge?

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Supplement, question 89, Of Those Who Will Judge and of Those Who Will Be Judged at the General Judgment, article 3. About 2 min.

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From the Supplement, compiled after Aquinas’s death from his Commentary on the Sentences and transcribed here from the 1917 to 1922 printings. About the Supplement.

Text: Summa Theologiae, Supplement to the Third Part (Supplementum Tertiae Partis), transcribed from Internet Archive scans, translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. The Supplement, compiled after Aquinas’s death from his earlier Commentary on the Sentences, in the same English Dominican translation as the Gutenberg Parts. Transcribed by Bibliotheca Catholica from the OCR of four Internet Archive scans of the pre-1931 printings (Questions 1 to 33 from the 1917 Washbourne and Benziger volume, 34 to 68 from the 1922 volume, 69 to 86 from the 1921 volume, and 87 to 99 from the 1922 Benziger volume), with OCR errors corrected and doubtful passages marked, not rewritten. 99 questions and 446 articles. The two appendices printed after Question 99 are not included. Sources, SHA-256 of each OCR file, and the method are in the source record. Rights: Public domain (US)

The Supplement is not a Project Gutenberg text. It is Bibliotheca Catholica’s transcription of public-domain scans at the Internet Archive; obvious OCR errors were corrected, and passages marked “OCR uncertain” could not be confidently corrected, so check them against the linked scan page.

Objection 1: It would seem that the angels will judge. For it is written (Matth. xxv. 81): When the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him. Now He is speaking of His coming to judgment. Therefore it would seem that also the angels will judge.

Obj. 2: Further, The orders of the angels take their names from the offices which they fulfil. Now one of the angelic orders is that of the Thrones, which would seem to pertain to the judicial power, since a throne is the judicial bench, a royal seat, a professor's chair.* Therefore some of the angels will judge.

Obj. 3: Further, Equality with the angels is promised the saints after this life (Matth. xxii.30). If then men will have this power of judging, much more will the angels have it.

[*S, Isidore, Etym. vii. 5.]

On the contrary, It is written (Jo. v. 27): He hath given Him power to do judgment, because He is the Son of man. But the angels have not the human nature in common with Him. Neither therefore do they share with Him in the judicial power.

Further, The same person is not judge and judge's minister. Now in this judgment the angels will act as ministers of the Judge and, according to Matth. xiii. 41: The Son of man shall send His angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom all scandals. Therefore the angels will not judge.

I answer that, The judge's assessors must be conformed to the judge. Now judgment is ascribed to the Son of man because He will appear to all, both good and wicked, in His human nature, although the whole Trinity will judge by authority. Consequently it behoves also the Judge's assessors to have the human nature, so as to be visible to all, both good and wicked. Hence it is not fitting for the angels to judge, although in a certain sense we may say that the angels will judge, namely by approving the sentence.*

Reply Obj. 1: As a gloss on. this passage observes, the angels will come with Christ, not to judge, but as witnesses of men's deeds, because lt was under their guardianship that men did well or tll.

Reply Obj. 2: The name of Thrones is given to angels in reference to the judgment which God is ever pronouncing, by governing all things with supreme justice: of which judgment angels are in a way the executors and promulgators. On the other hand, the judgment of men by the man Christ will require human assessors.

Reply Obj. 3: Equality with angels is promised to men as regards the essential reward. But nothing hinders an accidental reward from being bestowed on men to the exclusion of the angels, as in the case of the virgins' and martyrs' crowns: and the same may be said of the judicial power.

Ch Ate

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Also online, linked only: the same translation at New Advent and the Latin text at Corpus Thomisticum. Neither is copied here.

Source: Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, Supplement to the Third Part. Internet Archive scans: Third Part, Fourth Number (QQ. LXXXIV to Suppl. XXXIII), 1917, Third Part (Supplement), QQ. XXXIV to LXVIII, 1922, Third Part (Supplement), QQ. LXIX to LXXXVI, 1921, and Third Part (Supplement), QQ. LXXXVII to XCIX and Appendices, 1922; two curled pages of the 1921 volume are read from another scan of the same printing. Public domain in the USA. Printed in 1917, 1921, and 1922, before 1931. Outside the U.S., check local copyright rules. Transcription, OCR file checksums, and method: source record.