int. Therefore this conception cannot be called simply natural.
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QUESTION 34

OF THE PERFECTION OF THE CHILD CONCEIVED
(In Four Articles)

We must now consider the perfection of the child conceived: and
concerning this there are four points of inquiry:

(1) Whether Christ was sanctified by grace in the first instant of
His conception?

(2) Whether in that same instant He had the use of free-will?

(3) Whether in that same instant He could merit?

(4) Whether in that same instant He was a perfect comprehensor?
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FIRST ARTICLE [III, Q. 34, Art. 1]

Whether Christ Was Sanctified in the First Instant of His Conception?

Objection 1: It would seem that Christ was not sanctified in the
first instant of His conception. For it is written (1 Cor. 15:46):
"That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural:
afterwards that which is spiritual." But sanctification by grace is
something spiritual. Therefore Christ received the grace of
sanctification, not at the very beginning of His conception, but
after a space of time.

Obj. 2: Further, sanctification seems to be a cleansing from sin:
according to 1 Cor. 6:1: "And such some of you were," namely,
sinners, "but you are washed, but you are sanctified." But sin was
never in Christ. Therefore it was not becoming that He should be
sanctified by grace.

Obj. 3: Further, as by the Word of God "all things were made," so
from the Word incarnate all men who are made holy receive holiness,
according to Heb. 2:11: "Both he that sanctifieth and they who are
sanctified are all of one." But "the Word of God, by whom all things
were made, was not Himself made"; as Augustine says (De Trin. i).
Therefore Christ, by whom all are made holy, was not Himself made
holy.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Luke 1:35): "The Holy which shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God"; and (John 10:36):
"Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world."

_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 7, AA. 9, 10, 12), the abundance
of grace sanctifying Christ's soul flows from the very union of the
Word, according to John 1:14: "We saw His glory . . . as it were of
the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." For it has
been shown above (Q. 33, AA. 2, 3) that in the first instant of
conception, Christ's body was both animated and assumed by the Word
of God. Consequently, in the first instant of His conception,