such order: thus fire, which is the principle of heat,
can never become cold. But the Son of God is the fountain-head and
principle of all life, according to Ps. 35:10: "With Thee is the
fountain of life." Therefore it does not seem fitting for Christ to
die.

Obj. 2: Further, death is a greater defect than sickness, because it
is through sickness that one comes to die. But it was not beseeming
for Christ to languish from sickness, as Chrysostom [*Athanasius,
Orat. de Incarn. Verbi] says. Consequently, neither was it becoming
for Christ to die.

Obj. 3: Further, our Lord said (John 10:10): "I am come that they may
have life, and may have it more abundantly." But one opposite does
not lead to another. Therefore it seems that neither was it fitting
for Christ to die.

_On the contrary,_ It is written, (John 11:50): "It is expedient that
one man should die for the people . . . that the whole nation perish
not": which words were spoken prophetically by Caiphas, as the
Evangelist testifies.

_I answer that,_ It was fitting for Christ to die. First of all to
satisfy for the whole human race, which was sentenced to die on
account of sin, according to Gen. 2:17: "In what day soever ye shall
[Vulg.: 'thou shalt'] eat of it ye shall [Vulg.: 'thou shalt'] die
the death." Now it is a fitting way of satisfying for another to
submit oneself to the penalty deserved by that other. And so Christ
resolved to die, that by dying He might atone for us, according to 1
Pet. 3:18: "Christ also died once for our sins." Secondly, in order
to show the reality of the flesh assumed. For, as Eusebius says
(Orat. de Laud. Constant. xv), "if, after dwelling among men Christ
were suddenly to disappear from men's sight, as though shunning
death, then by all men He would be likened to a phantom." Thirdly,
that by dying He might deliver us from fearing death: hence it is
written (Heb. 2:14, 15) that He communicated "to flesh and blood,
that through death He might destroy him who had the empire of death
and might deliver them who, through the fear of death, were all their
lifetime subject to servitude." Fourthly, that by dying in the body
to the likeness of sin--that is, to its penalty--He might set us the
example of dying to sin spiritually. Hence it is written (Rom. 6:10):
"For in that He died to sin, He died once, but in that He liveth, He
liveth unto God: so do you also reckon that you are dead to sin, but
alive unto God." Fifthly, that by rising