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Thomas Aquinas - Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars)

T >> Thomas Aquinas >> Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars)




Reply Obj. 1: Image, properly speaking, means whatever proceeds forth
in likeness to another. That to the likeness of which anything
proceeds, is properly speaking called the exemplar, and is improperly
called the image. Nevertheless Augustine (Fulgentius) uses the name
of Image in this sense when he says that the divine nature of the
Holy Trinity is the Image to whom man was made.

Reply Obj. 2: species, as mentioned by Hilary in the definition of
image, means the form derived from one thing to another. In this
sense image is said to be the species of anything, as that which is
assimilated to anything is called its form, inasmuch as it has a like
form.

Reply Obj. 3: Imitation in God does not signify posteriority, but
only assimilation.
_______________________

SECOND ARTICLE [I, Q. 35, Art. 2]

Whether the Name of Image Is Proper to the Son?

Objection 1: It would seem that the name of Image is not proper to the
Son; because, as Damascene says (De Fide Orth. i, 18), "The Holy Ghost
is the Image of the Son." Therefore Image does not belong to the Son
alone.

Obj. 2: Further, similitude in expression belongs to the nature of an
image, as Augustine says (QQ. lxxxiii, qu. 74). But this belongs to
the Holy Ghost, Who proceeds from another by way of similitude.
Therefore the Holy Ghost is an Image; and so to be Image does not
belong to the Son alone.

Obj. 3: Further, man is also called the image of God, according to 1
Cor. 11:7, "The man ought not to cover his head, for he is the image
and the glory of God." Therefore Image is not proper to the Son.

_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Trin. vi, 2): "The Son alone is
the Image of the Father."

_I answer that,_ The Greek Doctors commonly say that the Holy Ghost
is the Image of both the Father and of the Son; but the Latin Doctors
attribute the name Image to the Son alone. For it is not found in the
canonical Scripture except as applied to the Son; as in the words,
"Who is the Image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creatures"
(Col. 1:15) and again: "Who being the brightness of His glory, and
the figure of His substance." (Heb. 1:3).

Some explain this by the fact that the Son agrees with the Father, not
in nature only, but also in the notion of principle: whereas the Holy
Ghost agrees neither with the Son, nor with the Father in any notion.
This, however, does not seem to suffice. Because as it is not by
reason of the relations that we consider either equality or inequality
in God, as Augustine says (De Trin. v, 6), so neither (by reason
thereof do we consider) that similitude which is essential to image.
Hence others say that the Holy Ghost cannot be called the Image of the
Son, because there cannot be an image of an image; nor of the Father,
because again the image must be immediately related to that which it
is the image; and the Holy Ghost is related to the Father through the
Son; nor again is He the Image of the Father and the Son, because then
there would be one image of two; which is impossible. Hence it follows
that the Holy Ghost is in no way an Image. But this is no proof: for
the Father and the Son are one principle of the Holy Ghost, as we
shall explain further on (Q. 36, A. 4). Hence there is nothing
to prevent there being one Image of the Father and of the Son,
inasmuch as they are one; since even man is one image of the whole
Trinity.

Therefore we must explain the matter otherwise by saying that, as the
Holy Ghost, although by His procession He receives the nature of the
Father, as the Son also receives it, nevertheless is not said to be
"born"; so, although He receives the likeness of the Father, He is
not called the Image; because the Son proceeds as word, and it is
essential to word to be like species with that whence it proceeds;
whereas this does not essentially belong to love, although it may
belong to that love which is the Holy Ghost, inasmuch as He is the
divine love.

Reply Obj. 1: Damascene and the other Greek Doctors commonly employ
the term image as meaning a perfect similitude.

Reply Obj. 2: Although the Holy Ghost is like to the Father and the
Son, still it does not follow that He is the Image, as above
explained.

Reply Obj. 3: The image of a thing may be found in something in two
ways. In one way it is found in something of the same specific
nature; as the image of the king is found in his son. In another way
it is found in something of a different nature, as the king's image
on the coin. In the first sense the Son is the Image of the Father;
in the second sense man is called the image of God; and therefore in
order to express the imperfect character of the divine image in man,
man is not simply called the image, but "to the image," whereby is
expressed a certain movement of tendency to perfection. But it cannot
be said that the Son of God is "to the image," because He is the
perfect Image of the Father.
_______________________

QUESTION 36

OF THE PERSON OF THE HOLY GHOST
(In Four Articles)

We proceed to treat of what belongs to the person of the Holy Ghost,
Who is called not only the Holy Ghost, but also the Love and Gift of
God. Concerning the name "Holy Ghost" there are four points of
inquiry:

(1) Whether this name, "Holy Ghost," is the proper name of one divine
Person?

(2) Whether that divine person Who is called the Holy Ghost, proceeds
from the Father and the Son?

(3) Whether He proceeds from the Father through the Son?

(4) Whether the Father and the Son are one principle of the Holy
Ghost?
_______________________

FIRST ARTICLE [I, Q. 36, Art. 1]

Whether This Name "Holy Ghost" Is the Proper Name of One Divine Person?

Objection 1: It would seem that this name, "Holy Ghost," is not the
proper name of one divine person. For no name which is common to the
three persons is the proper name of any one person. But this name of
'Holy Ghost' [*It should be borne in mind that the word "ghost" is the
old English equivalent for the Latin "spiritus,"] whether in the sense
of "breath" or "blast," or in the sense of "spirit," as an immaterial
substance. Thus, we read in the former sense (Hampole, Psalter x, 7),
"The Gost of Storms" [spiritus procellarum], and in the latter
"Trubled gost is sacrifice of God" (Prose Psalter, A.D. 1325), and
"Oure wrestlynge is . . . against the spiritual wicked gostes of the
ayre" (More, "Comfort against Tribulation"); and in our modern
expression of "giving up the ghost." As applied to God, and not
specially to the third Holy Person, we have an example from Maunder,
"Jhesu Criste was the worde and the goste of Good." (See Oxford
Dictionary).) is common to the three persons; for Hilary (De Trin.
viii) shows that the "Spirit of God" sometimes means the Father, as in
the words of Isa. 61:1: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;" and
sometimes the Son, as when the Son says: "In the Spirit of God I cast
out devils" (Matt. 12:28), showing that He cast out devils by His own
natural power; and that sometimes it means the Holy Ghost, as in the
words of Joel 2:28: "I will pour out of My Spirit over all flesh."
Therefore this name 'Holy Ghost' is not the proper name of a divine
person.

Obj. 2: Further, the names of the divine persons are relative terms,
as Boethius says (De Trin.). But this name "Holy Ghost" is not a
relative term. Therefore this name is not the proper name of a divine
Person.

Obj. 3: Further, because the Son is the name of a divine Person He
cannot be called the Son of this or of that. But the spirit is spoken
of as of this or that man, as appears in the words, "The Lord said to
Moses, I will take of thy spirit and will give to them" (Num. 11:17)
and also "The Spirit of Elias rested upon Eliseus" (4 Kings 2:15).
Therefore "Holy Ghost" does not seem to be the proper name of a
divine Person.

_On the contrary,_ It is said (1 John 5:7): "There are three who bear
witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost." As
Augustine says (De Trin. vii, 4): "When we ask, Three what? we say,
Three persons." Therefore the Holy Ghost is the name of a divine
person.

_I answer that,_ While there are two processions in God, one of
these, the procession of love, has no proper name of its own, as
stated above (Q. 27, A. 4, ad 3). Hence the relations also which
follow from this procession are without a name (Q. 28, A. 4): for
which reason the Person proceeding in that manner has not a proper
name. But as some names are accommodated by the usual mode of
speaking to signify the aforesaid relations, as when we use the names
of procession and spiration, which in the strict sense more fittingly
signify the notional acts than the relations; so to signify the
divine Person, Who proceeds by way of love, this name "Holy Ghost" is
by the use of scriptural speech accommodated to Him. The
appropriateness of this name may be shown in two ways. Firstly, from
the fact that the person who is called "Holy Ghost" has something in
common with the other Persons. For, as Augustine says (De Trin. xv,
17; v, 11), "Because the Holy Ghost is common to both, He Himself is
called that properly which both are called in common. For the Father
also is a spirit, and the Son is a spirit; and the Father is holy,
and the Son is holy." Secondly, from the proper signification of the
name. For the name spirit in things corporeal seems to signify
impulse and motion; for we call the breath and the wind by the term
spirit. Now it is a property of love to move and impel the will of
the lover towards the object loved. Further, holiness is attributed
to whatever is ordered to God. Therefore because the divine person
proceeds by way of the love whereby God is loved, that person is most
properly named "The Holy Ghost."

Reply Obj. 1: The expression Holy Spirit, if taken as two words, is
applicable to the whole Trinity: because by 'spirit' the
immateriality of the divine substance is signified; for corporeal
spirit is invisible, and has but little matter; hence we apply this
term to all immaterial and invisible substances. And by adding the
word "holy" we signify the purity of divine goodness. But if Holy
Spirit be taken as one word, it is thus that the expression, in the
usage of the Church, is accommodated to signify one of the three
persons, the one who proceeds by way of love, for the reason above
explained.

Reply Obj. 2: Although this name "Holy Ghost" does not indicate a
relation, still it takes the place of a relative term, inasmuch as it
is accommodated to signify a Person distinct from the others by
relation only. Yet this name may be understood as including a
relation, if we understand the Holy Spirit as being breathed
[spiratus].

Reply Obj. 3: In the name Son we understand that relation only which
is of something from a principle, in regard to that principle: but in
the name "Father" we understand the relation of principle; and
likewise in the name of Spirit inasmuch as it implies a moving power.
But to no creature does it belong to be a principle as regards a
divine person; but rather the reverse. Therefore we can say "our
Father," and "our Spirit"; but we cannot say "our Son."
_______________________

SECOND ARTICLE [I, Q. 36, Art. 2]

Whether the Holy Ghost Proceeds from the Son?

Objection 1: It would seem that the Holy Ghost does not proceed from
the Son. For as Dionysius says (Div. Nom. i): "We must not dare to say
anything concerning the substantial Divinity except what has been
divinely expressed to us by the sacred oracles." But in the Sacred
Scripture we are not told that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son;
but only that He proceeds from the Father, as appears from John 15:26:
"The Spirit of truth, Who proceeds from the Father." Therefore the
Holy Ghost does not proceed from the Son.

Obj. 2: Further, In the creed of the council of Constantinople (Can.
vii) we read: "We believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Life-giver,
who proceeds from the Father; with the Father and the Son to be
adored and glorified." Therefore it should not be added in our Creed
that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son; and those who added such a
thing appear to be worthy of anathema.

Obj. 3: Further, Damascene says (De Fide Orth. i): "We say that the
Holy Ghost is from the Father, and we name Him the spirit of the
Father; but we do not say that the Holy Ghost is from the Son, yet we
name Him the Spirit of the Son." Therefore the Holy Ghost does not
proceed from the Son.

Obj. 4: Further, Nothing proceeds from that wherein it rests. But the
Holy Ghost rests in the Son; for it is said in the legend of St.
Andrew: "Peace be to you and to all who believe in the one God the
Father, and in His only Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the one
Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father, and abiding in the Son."
Therefore the Holy Ghost does not proceed from the Son.

Obj. 5: Further, the Son proceeds as the Word. But our breath
[spiritus] does not seem to proceed in ourselves from our word.
Therefore the Holy Ghost does not proceed from the Son.

Obj. 6: Further, the Holy Ghost proceeds perfectly from the Father.
Therefore it is superfluous to say that He proceeds from the Son.

Obj. 7: Further "the actual and the possible do not differ in things
perpetual" (Phys. iii, text 32), and much less so in God. But it is
possible for the Holy Ghost to be distinguished from the Son, even if
He did not proceed from Him. For Anselm says (De Process. Spir.
Sancti, ii): "The Son and the Holy Ghost have their Being from the
Father; but each in a different way; one by Birth, the other by
Procession, so that they are thus distinct from one another." And
further on he says: "For even if for no other reason were the Son and
the Holy Ghost distinct, this alone would suffice." Therefore the
Holy Spirit is distinct from the Son, without proceeding from Him.

_On the contrary,_ Athanasius says: "The Holy Ghost is from the Father
and the Son; not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding."

_I answer that,_ It must be said that the Holy Ghost is from the Son.
For if He were not from Him, He could in no wise be personally
distinguished from Him; as appears from what has been said above (Q.
28, A. 3; Q. 30, A. 2). For it cannot be said that the divine Persons
are distinguished from each other in any absolute sense; for it would
follow that there would not be one essence of the three persons:
since everything that is spoken of God in an absolute sense, belongs
to the unity of essence. Therefore it must be said that the divine
persons are distinguished from each other only by the relations. Now
the relations cannot distinguish the persons except forasmuch as they
are opposite relations; which appears from the fact that the Father
has two relations, by one of which He is related to the Son, and by
the other to the Holy Ghost; but these are not opposite relations,
and therefore they do not make two persons, but belong only to the
one person of the Father. If therefore in the Son and the Holy Ghost
there were two relations only, whereby each of them were related to
the Father, these relations would not be opposite to each other, as
neither would be the two relations whereby the Father is related to
them. Hence, as the person of the Father is one, it would follow that
the person of the Son and of the Holy Ghost would be one, having two
relations opposed to the two relations of the Father. But this is
heretical since it destroys the Faith in the Trinity. Therefore the
Son and the Holy Ghost must be related to each other by opposite
relations. Now there cannot be in God any relations opposed to each
other, except relations of origin, as proved above (Q. 28, A. 4). And
opposite relations of origin are to be understood as of a
"principle," and of what is "from the principle." Therefore we must
conclude that it is necessary to say that either the Son is from the
Holy Ghost; which no one says; or that the Holy Ghost is from the
Son, as we confess.

Furthermore, the order of the procession of each one agrees with this
conclusion. For it was said above (Q. 27, AA. 2, 4; Q. 28, A. 4),
that the Son proceeds by the way of the intellect as Word, and the
Holy Ghost by way of the will as Love. Now love must proceed from a
word. For we do not love anything unless we apprehend it by a mental
conception. Hence also in this way it is manifest that the Holy Ghost
proceeds from the Son.

We derive a knowledge of the same truth from the very order of nature
itself. For we nowhere find that several things proceed from one
without order except in those which differ only by their matter; as
for instance one smith produces many knives distinct from each other
materially, with no order to each other; whereas in things in which
there is not only a material distinction we always find that some
order exists in the multitude produced. Hence also in the order of
creatures produced, the beauty of the divine wisdom is displayed. So
if from the one Person of the Father, two persons proceed, the Son and
the Holy Ghost, there must be some order between them. Nor can any
other be assigned except the order of their nature, whereby one is
from the other. Therefore it cannot be said that the Son and the Holy
Ghost proceed from the Father in such a way as that neither of them
proceeds from the other, unless we admit in them a material
distinction; which is impossible.

Hence also the Greeks themselves recognize that the procession of the
Holy Ghost has some order to the Son. For they grant that the Holy
Ghost is the Spirit "of the Son"; and that He is from the Father
"through the Son." Some of them are said also to concede that "He is
from the Son"; or that "He flows from the Son," but not that He
proceeds; which seems to come from ignorance or obstinacy. For a just
consideration of the truth will convince anyone that the word
procession is the one most commonly applied to all that denotes origin
of any kind. For we use the term to describe any kind of origin; as
when we say that a line proceeds from a point, a ray from the sun, a
stream from a source, and likewise in everything else. Hence, granted
that the Holy Ghost originates in any way from the Son, we can
conclude that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son.

Reply Obj. 1: We ought not to say about God anything which is not
found in Holy Scripture either explicitly or implicitly. But although
we do not find it verbally expressed in Holy Scripture that the Holy
Ghost proceeds from the Son, still we do find it in the sense of
Scripture, especially where the Son says, speaking of the Holy Ghost,
"He will glorify Me, because He shall receive of Mine" (John 16:14).
It is also a rule of Holy Scripture that whatever is said of the
Father, applies to the Son, although there be added an exclusive
term; except only as regards what belongs to the opposite relations,
whereby the Father and the Son are distinguished from each other. For
when the Lord says, "No one knoweth the Son, but the Father," the
idea of the Son knowing Himself is not excluded. So therefore when we
say that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father, even though it be
added that He proceeds from the Father alone, the Son would not
thereby be at all excluded; because as regards being the principle of
the Holy Ghost, the Father and the Son are not opposed to each other,
but only as regards the fact that one is the Father, and the other is
the Son.

Reply Obj. 2: In every council of the Church a symbol of faith has
been drawn up to meet some prevalent error condemned in the council
at that time. Hence subsequent councils are not to be described as
making a new symbol of faith; but what was implicitly contained in
the first symbol was explained by some addition directed against
rising heresies. Hence in the decision of the council of Chalcedon it
is declared that those who were congregated together in the council
of Constantinople, handed down the doctrine about the Holy Ghost, not
implying that there was anything wanting in the doctrine of their
predecessors who had gathered together at Nicaea, but explaining what
those fathers had understood of the matter. Therefore, because at the
time of the ancient councils the error of those who said that the
Holy Ghost did not proceed from the Son had not arisen, it was not
necessary to make any explicit declaration on that point; whereas,
later on, when certain errors rose up, another council [*Council of
Rome, under Pope Damasus] assembled in the west, the matter was
explicitly defined by the authority of the Roman Pontiff, by whose
authority also the ancient councils were summoned and confirmed.
Nevertheless the truth was contained implicitly in the belief that
the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father.

Reply Obj. 3: The Nestorians were the first to introduce the error
that the Holy Ghost did not proceed from the Son, as appears in a
Nestorian creed condemned in the council of Ephesus. This error was
embraced by Theodoric the Nestorian, and several others after him,
among whom was also Damascene. Hence, in that point his opinion is
not to be held. Although, too, it has been asserted by some that
while Damascene did not confess that the Holy Ghost was from the Son,
neither do those words of his express a denial thereof.

Reply Obj. 4: When the Holy Ghost is said to rest or abide in the
Son, it does not mean that He does not proceed from Him; for the Son
also is said to abide in the Father, although He proceeds from the
Father. Also the Holy Ghost is said to rest in the Son as the love of
the lover abides in the beloved; or in reference to the human nature
of Christ, by reason of what is written: "On whom thou shalt see the
Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, He it is who baptizes" (John
1:33).

Reply Obj. 5: The Word in God is not taken after the similitude of
the vocal word, whence the breath [spiritus] does not proceed; for it
would then be only metaphorical; but after the similitude of the
mental word, whence proceeds love.

Reply Obj. 6: For the reason that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the
Father perfectly, not only is it not superfluous to say He proceeds
from the Son, but rather it is absolutely necessary. Forasmuch as one
power belongs to the Father and the Son; and because whatever is from
the Father, must be from the Son unless it be opposed to the property
of filiation; for the Son is not from Himself, although He is from
the Father.

Reply Obj. 7: The Holy Ghost is distinguished from the Son, inasmuch
as the origin of one is distinguished from the origin of the other;
but the difference itself of origin comes from the fact that the Son
is only from the Father, whereas the Holy Ghost is from the Father
and the Son; for otherwise the processions would not be distinguished
from each other, as explained above, and in Q. 27.
_______________________

THIRD ARTICLE [I, Q. 36, Art. 3]

Whether the Holy Ghost Proceeds from the Father Through the Son?

Objection 1: It would seem that the Holy Ghost does not proceed from
the Father through the Son. For whatever proceeds from one through
another, does not proceed immediately. Therefore, if the Holy Ghost
proceeds from the Father through the Son, He does not proceed
immediately; which seems to be unfitting.

Obj. 2: Further, if the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father through
the Son, He does not proceed from the Son, except on account of the
Father. But "whatever causes a thing to be such is yet more so."
Therefore He proceeds more from the Father than from the Son.

Obj. 3: Further, the Son has His being by generation. Therefore if
the Holy Ghost is from the Father through the Son, it follows that
the Son is first generated and afterwards the Holy Ghost proceeds;
and thus the procession of the Holy Ghost is not eternal, which is
heretical.

Obj. 4: Further, when anyone acts through another, the same may be
said conversely. For as we say that the king acts through the
bailiff, so it can be said conversely that the bailiff acts through
the king. But we can never say that the Son spirates the Holy Ghost
through the Father. Therefore it can never be said that the Father
spirates the Holy Ghost through the Son.

_On the contrary,_ Hilary says (De Trin. xii): "Keep me, I pray, in
this expression of my faith, that I may ever possess the
Father--namely Thyself: that I may adore Thy Son together with Thee:
and that I may deserve Thy Holy Spirit, who is through Thy Only
Begotten."

_I answer that,_ Whenever one is said to act through another, this
preposition "through" points out, in what is covered by it, some cause
or principle of that act. But since action is a mean between the agent
and the thing done, sometimes that which is covered by the preposition
"through" is the cause of the action, as proceeding from the agent;
and in that case it is the cause of why the agent acts, whether it be
a final cause or a formal cause, whether it be effective or motive. It
is a final cause when we say, for instance, that the artisan works
through love of gain. It is a formal cause when we say that he works
through his art. It is a motive cause when we say that he works
through the command of another. Sometimes, however, that which is
covered by this preposition "through" is the cause of the action
regarded as terminated in the thing done; as, for instance, when we
say, the artisan acts through the mallet, for this does not mean that
the mallet is the cause why the artisan acts, but that it is the cause
why the thing made proceeds from the artisan, and that it has even
this effect from the artisan. This is why it is sometimes said that
this preposition "through" sometimes denotes direct authority, as when
we say, the king works through the bailiff; and sometimes indirect
authority, as when we say, the bailiff works through the king.

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