In this paper, I argue the vine discourse of John 15 is a foundational reference point for Thomas Aquinas’s account of man’s friendship with God because it illuminates implicit theological dimensions of charity as friendship in the Summa Theologiae.
Several contemporary scholars have shown that while Aquinas appropriates Aristotle’s philosophical account of friendship in many ways, Holy Scripture is his primary source concerning friendship. Most particularly, Jesus’ statement of friendship in John 15:15 is foundational for Aquinas, serving as his authority in the sed contra of ST II-II, Q.23, A.1: “Whether charity is friendship?” Interestingly, no contemporary scholar arguing for the primacy of John 15 for Aquinas’s account of friendship has considered whether the vine discourse preceding Jesus’ statement in John 15:15 has any impact on his development of the doctrine. However, such a project is needed since Thomas’s comments on John 15:15 in his Lectura super Ioannem explain that friendship with God is a benefit of the disciples’ abiding in Christ, the main command of Jesus within the vine discourse.
Consideration of the vine discourse illuminates implicit theological dimensions of man’s friendship with God in the Summa. First, the vine discourse illuminates divine choice as the beginning of man’s friendship with God. Philosophically, choice is an essential feature of friendship for Aquinas. The preeminence of the vinedresser’s work within the vine discourse prefigures Jesus’ teaching of the primacy of divine choice in John 15:16. Second, the vine discourse illuminates divine comfort as an end of man’s friendship with God. Aquinas claims Jesus’ teaching in John 15 is intended to comfort the disciples for impending tribulations. In the face of trials, the disciples can rest in the truth that God relates to them as a friend. This theological dimension affords an important connection between ST II-II, Q.23 and Thomas’s comments on friendship as a remedy for sorrow in I-II, Q.38, A.3.
In the final section, I argue the theological dimensions illuminated by the vine discourse indicate that Thomas’s account of man’s friendship with God aids contemporary evangelical theologians in recovering the importance of friendship within systematic theology. God extends friendship to the disciples in Christ who is the vine, and Aquinas claims that Christ is the true vine according to his human nature. Further, Aquinas claims Christ is our “wisest and greatest friend” (ST I-II, Q.108, A.4). With these themes in mind, evangelical theologians should consider the relationship of Christology and man’s friendship with God with particular reference to friendship and Christ’s two natures. Further, evangelical theologians should consider the relationship of friendship and union with Christ and the soteriological, pneumatological, and eschatological themes that result therefrom.