Person.
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SECOND ARTICLE [III, Q. 45, Art. 2]

Whether This Clarity Was the Clarity of Glory?

Objection 1: It would seem that this clarity was not the clarity of
glory. For a gloss of Bede on Matt. 17:2, "He was transfigured before
them," says: "In His mortal body He shows forth, not the state of
immortality, but clarity like to that of future immortality." But the
clarity of glory is the clarity of immortality. Therefore the clarity
which Christ showed to His disciples was not the clarity of glory.

Obj. 2: Further, on Luke 9:27 "(That) shall not taste death unless
[Vulg.: 'till'] they see the kingdom of God," Bede's gloss says:
"That is, the glorification of the body in an imaginary vision of
future beatitude." But the image of a thing is not the thing itself.
Therefore this was not the clarity of beatitude.

Obj. 3: Further, the clarity of glory is only in a human body. But
this clarity of the transfiguration was seen not only in Christ's
body, but also in His garments, and in "the bright cloud" which
"overshaded" the disciples. Therefore it seems that this was not the
clarity of glory.

_On the contrary,_ Jerome says on the words "He was transfigured
before them" (Matt. 17:2): "He appeared to the Apostles such as He
will appear on the day of judgment." And on Matt. 16:28, "Till they
see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom," Chrysostom says: "Wishing
to show with what kind of glory He is afterwards to come, so far as
it was possible for them to learn it, He showed it to them in their
present life, that they might not grieve even over the death of their
Lord."

_I answer that,_ The clarity which Christ assumed in His
transfiguration was the clarity of glory as to its essence, but not
as to its mode of being. For the clarity of the glorified body is
derived from that of the soul, as Augustine says (Ep. ad Diosc.
cxviii). And in like manner the clarity of Christ's body in His
transfiguration was derived from His Godhead, as Damascene says
(Orat. de Transfig.) and from the glory of His soul. That the glory
of His soul did not overflow into His body from the first moment of
Christ's conception was due to a certain Divine dispensation, that,
as stated above (Q. 14, A. 1, ad 2), He might fulfil the mysteries of
our redemption in a passible body. This did not, however, deprive
Christ of His power of outpouring the glory of His soul into His
body. And this He did, as to clarity, in His trans