Part I (Prima Pars) Part 46 (2/2)
Obj. 3: Further, what is not in any species is not in the genus. So if there is a procession of love in G.o.d, there ought to be some special name besides this common name of procession. But no other name is applicable but generation. Therefore the procession of love in G.o.d is generation.
_On the contrary,_ Were this true, it would follow that the Holy Ghost Who proceeds as love, would proceed as begotten; which is against the statement of Athanasius: ”The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son, not made, nor begotten, but proceeding.”
_I answer that,_ The procession of love in G.o.d ought not to be called generation. In evidence whereof we must consider that the intellect and the will differ in this respect, that the intellect is made actual by the object understood residing according to its own likeness in the intellect; whereas the will is made actual, not by any similitude of the object willed within it, but by its having a certain inclination to the thing willed. Thus the procession of the intellect is by way of similitude, and is called generation, because every generator begets its own like; whereas the procession of the will is not by way of similitude, but rather by way of impulse and movement towards an object.
So what proceeds in G.o.d by way of love, does not proceed as begotten, or as son, but proceeds rather as spirit; which name expresses a certain vital movement and impulse, accordingly as anyone is described as moved or impelled by love to perform an action.
Reply Obj. 1: All that exists in G.o.d is one with the divine nature.
Hence the proper notion of this or that procession, by which one procession is distinguished from another, cannot be on the part of this unity: but the proper notion of this or that procession must be taken from the order of one procession to another; which order is derived from the nature of the will and intellect. Hence, each procession in G.o.d takes its name from the proper notion of will and intellect; the name being imposed to signify what its nature really is; and so it is that the Person proceeding as love receives the divine nature, but is not said to be born.
Reply Obj. 2: Likeness belongs in a different way to the word and to love. It belongs to the word as being the likeness of the object understood, as the thing generated is the likeness of the generator; but it belongs to love, not as though love itself were a likeness, but because likeness is the principle of loving. Thus it does not follow that love is begotten, but that the one begotten is the principle of love.
Reply Obj. 3: We can name G.o.d only from creatures (Q. 13, A. 1). As in creatures generation is the only principle of communication of nature, procession in G.o.d has no proper or special name, except that of generation. Hence the procession which is not generation has remained without a special name; but it can be called spiration, as it is the procession of the Spirit.
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FIFTH ARTICLE [I, Q. 27, Art. 5]
Whether There Are More Than Two Processions in G.o.d?
Objection 1: It would seem that there are more than two processions in G.o.d. As knowledge and will are attributed to G.o.d, so is power.
Therefore, if two processions exist in G.o.d, of intellect and will, it seems that there must also be a third procession of power.
Obj. 2: Further, goodness seems to be the greatest principle of procession, since goodness is diffusive of itself. Therefore there must be a procession of goodness in G.o.d.
Obj. 3: Further, in G.o.d there is greater power of fecundity than in us. But in us there is not only one procession of the word, but there are many: for in us from one word proceeds another; and also from one love proceeds another. Therefore in G.o.d there are more than two processions.
_On the contrary,_ In G.o.d there are not more than two who proceed--the Son and the Holy Ghost. Therefore there are in Him but two processions.
_I answer that,_ The divine processions can be derived only from the actions which remain within the agent. In a nature which is intellectual, and in the divine nature these actions are two, the acts of intelligence and of will. The act of sensation, which also appears to be an operation within the agent, takes place outside the intellectual nature, nor can it be reckoned as wholly removed from the sphere of external actions; for the act of sensation is perfected by the action of the sensible object upon sense. It follows that no other procession is possible in G.o.d but the procession of the Word, and of Love.
Reply Obj. 1: Power is the principle whereby one thing acts on another. Hence it is that external action points to power. Thus the divine power does not imply the procession of a divine person; but is indicated by the procession therefrom of creatures.
Reply Obj. 2: As Boethius says (De Hebdom.), goodness belongs to the essence and not to the operation, unless considered as the object of the will.
Thus, as the divine processions must be denominated from certain actions; no other processions can be understood in G.o.d according to goodness and the like attributes except those of the Word and of love, according as G.o.d understands and loves His own essence, truth and goodness.
Reply Obj. 3: As above explained (Q. 14, A. 5; Q. 19, A. 5), G.o.d understands all things by one simple act; and by one act also He wills all things. Hence there cannot exist in Him a procession of Word from Word, nor of Love from Love: for there is in Him only one perfect Word, and one perfect Love; thereby being manifested His perfect fecundity.
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QUESTION 28
THE DIVINE RELATIONS (In Four Articles)
The divine relations are next to be considered, in four points of inquiry:
(1) Whether there are real relations in G.o.d?
(2) Whether those relations are the divine essence itself, or are extrinsic to it?
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