h as by
God's ordinance there remains in the dead flesh a certain relation to
the resurrection. And therefore the union of the Godhead with the
flesh is not taken away.

Reply Obj. 3: The soul formally possesses the life-giving
energy, and therefore, while it is present, and united formally, the
body must necessarily be a living one, whereas the Godhead has not the
life-giving energy formally, but effectively; because It cannot be the
form of the body: and therefore it is not necessary for the flesh to
be living while the union of the Godhead with the flesh remains, since
God does not act of necessity, but of His own will.
_______________________

THIRD ARTICLE [III, Q. 50, Art. 3]

Whether in Christ's Death There Was a Severance Between His Godhead
and His Soul?

Objection 1: It would seem that there was a severance in death
between Christ's Godhead and His soul, because our Lord said (John
10:18): "No man taketh away My soul from Me: but I lay it down of
Myself, and I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
up again." But it does not appear that the body can set the soul
aside, by separating the soul from itself, because the soul is not
subject to the power of the body, but rather conversely: and so it
appears that it belongs to Christ, as the Word of God, to lay down
His soul: but this is to separate it from Himself. Consequently, by
death His soul was severed from the Godhead.

Obj. 2: Further, Athanasius [*Vigilius Tapsensis, De Trin. vi;
Bardenhewer assigns it to St. Athanasius: 45, iii. The full title is
De Trinitate et Spiritu Sancto] says that he "is accursed who does
not confess that the entire man, whom the Son of God took to Himself,
after being assumed once more or delivered by Him, rose again from
the dead on the third day." But the entire man could not be assumed
again, unless the entire man was at one time separated from the Word
of God: and the entire man is made of soul and body. Therefore there
was a separation made at one time of the Godhead from both the body
and the soul.

Obj. 3: Further, the Son of God is truly styled a man because of the
union with the entire man. If then, when the union of the soul with
the body was dissolved by death, the Word of God continued united
with the soul, it would follow that the Son of God could be truly
called a soul. But this is false, because since the soul is the form
of the body, it would result in the Word of God being the form of the