Can anything be added to Christ's righteousness?

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Big_Dummy said:
Can He be made more righteous by anything that you or I do?"
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Jesus is God. His righteousness is incomparable, it is complete. Nothing that we do as creatures can in anyway add to the righteousness of the Creator.
 
I wouldn’t say he could be more righteous. As someone new to the faith I’m fairly ignorant on a lot of teachings but as I understand it Jesus is essentially the embodiment of what God wants us to be like. How can we who are trying to live by his example hope to do anything to make Him more righteous? If anything it’s the opposite… His example is meant to show us how WE can be more righteous.

But again… I could we way off base lol that’s just my take on it.
 
On an individual level, I can add to or become more right with God when I follow His Commandments.

By my actions, I can add to and/or detract from the mystical Body of Christ, in my role as an earthly representative of Christ.
 
Well, you can follow the teachings of Jesus, which makes you a living example of what he taught. Nothing can be added to God, who is immortal, perfect, etc., but you, or anyone, can bring about the reign of God on earth by living as Jesus taught, no?
 
Certainly not. God lacks nothing to be fulfilled within the Trinity. He made us as an expression of His love, not because He needs anything from us. Hopefully the same reason you decided to have kids (if applicable!).

If I may indulge in a bit of reading between lines, are you coming from a background of protestant theology in which the believer, by his act of faith, is thought to receive some sort of divine legal transfer of Christ’s righteousness? In such a scenario, the person is really unchanged, but is “covered” with Christ’s righteousness. That model is foreign to catholic thinking. As catholics, we understand sanctification to be wholistic. We REALLY ARE changed (slowly) to the point that when we enter heaven we will be perfect. Not an achievement we can take credit for, but because by then we will have fully accepted the Grace God offers. We understand Grace to be a gift that works in us through a lifetime, and one that we have to receive/accept in thousands, maybe millions of occasions throughout life. Not just a single occurrance.
 
Bigdummy,

Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas would help out.
 
mdrummer5 said:
I wouldn’t say he could be more righteous. As someone new to the faith I’m fairly ignorant on a lot of teachings but as I understand it Jesus is essentially the embodiment of what God wants us to be like. How can we who are trying to live by his example hope to do anything to make Him more righteous? If anything it’s the opposite… His example is meant to show us how WE can be more righteous.

But again… I could we way off base lol that’s just my take on it.
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So true!
 
Big_Dummy said:
Can He be made more righteous by anything that you or I do?"
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No but we can participate in his righteousness and be transformed into his image. We cannot add anything to Christ but, through the grace of the Sacraments, we can truly take on his righteousness. Catholics the righteousness of Christ as not simply being attributed to us in a legal way but in an actual way. The eternal Word is creative and thus when we are imputed righteousness it creates that righteousness in us rather than simply covering our sins; the Scriptures tell us that ‘as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.’ [Psalm 103:12]

We do not make God more righteous by our righteousness but there is an actual transformation, a process, by which Christ’s righteousness truly and really becomes ours in a literal way.
 
manualman said:
How about “Catholicism for Dummies?” (I’m not joking!)
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I’ve actually heard good things about this book and am likely going to be picking up a copy myself. Anyone I’ve talked to that has read it enjoyed it and it’s gotten awesome reviews.
 
KathleenGee said:
Mdrummer…

God gave us brains for a reason…
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I agree. I’m a big advocate of using logic and my free will to come to conclusions. I’m also a firm believer in not making random statements without explaining the intent behind them.

Are you suggesting that Catholicism for Dummies wouldn’t be a good book for someone who knows little or nothing of the faith? If so (and I can only assume so since you said nothing else) please explain why. Not because I’m being snarky but because as someone who’s considering purchasing the book who’s heard nothing but good things I’d genuinely like to know why I’m being told something to the contrary. Keep in mind that you’re talking to someone that could only know less about the faith if he’d never heard of Jesus.

Otherwise the only other plausible conclusion is that you felt the need to randomly insult me by implying that I don’t use the brain God gave me.
 
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