Part I (Prima Pars) Part 93 (2/2)

Obj. 3: Further, Augustine (De Trin. xiii) proves the soul's incorruptibility by the fact that the mind is capable of truth. But as truth is incorruptible, so is it eternal. Therefore the intellectual nature of the soul and of the angel is not only incorruptible, but likewise eternal.

_On the contrary,_ It is said (Prov. 8:22), in the person of begotten Wisdom: ”The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He made anything from the beginning.” But, as was shown above (A. 1), the angels were made by G.o.d. Therefore at one time the angels were not.

_I answer that,_ G.o.d alone, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, is from eternity. Catholic Faith holds this without doubt; and everything to the contrary must be rejected as heretical. For G.o.d so produced creatures that He made them ”from nothing”; that is, after they had not been.

Reply Obj. 1: G.o.d's being is His will. So the fact that G.o.d produced the angels and other creatures by His being does not exclude that He made them also by His will. But, as was shown above (Q. 19, A. 3; Q.

46, A. 1), G.o.d's will does not act by necessity in producing creatures. Therefore He produced such as He willed, and when He willed.

Reply Obj. 2: An angel is above that time which is the measure of the movement of the heavens; because he is above every movement of a corporeal nature. Nevertheless he is not above time which is the measure of the succession of his existence after his non-existence, and which is also the measure of the succession which is in his operations. Hence Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. viii, 20,21) that ”G.o.d moves the spiritual creature according to time.”

Reply Obj. 3: Angels and intelligent souls are incorruptible by the very fact of their having a nature whereby they are capable of truth.

But they did not possess this nature from eternity; it was bestowed upon them when G.o.d Himself willed it. Consequently it does not follow that the angels existed from eternity.

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THIRD ARTICLE [I, Q. 61, Art. 3]

Whether the Angels Were Created Before the Corporeal World?

Objection 1: It would seem that the angels were created before the corporeal world. For Jerome says (In Ep. ad t.i.t. i, 2): ”Six thousand years of our time have not yet elapsed; yet how shall we measure the time, how shall we count the ages, in which the Angels, Thrones, Dominations, and the other orders served G.o.d?” Damascene also says (De Fide Orth. ii): ”Some say that the angels were begotten before all creation; as Gregory the Theologian declares, He first of all devised the angelic and heavenly powers, and the devising was the making thereof.”

Obj. 2: Further, the angelic nature stands midway between the Divine and the corporeal natures. But the Divine nature is from eternity; while corporeal nature is from time. Therefore the angelic nature was produced ere time was made, and after eternity.

Obj. 3: Further, the angelic nature is more remote from the corporeal nature than one corporeal nature is from another. But one corporeal nature was made before another; hence the six days of the production of things are set forth in the opening of Genesis. Much more, therefore, was the angelic nature made before every corporeal nature.

_On the contrary,_ It is said (Gen. 1:1): ”In the beginning G.o.d created heaven and earth.” Now, this would not be true if anything had been created previously. Consequently the angels were not created before corporeal nature.

_I answer that,_ There is a twofold opinion on this point to be found in the writings of the Fathers. The more probable one holds that the angels were created at the same time as corporeal creatures. For the angels are part of the universe: they do not const.i.tute a universe of themselves; but both they and corporeal natures unite in const.i.tuting one universe. This stands in evidence from the relations.h.i.+p of creature to creature; because the mutual relations.h.i.+p of creatures makes up the good of the universe. But no part is perfect if separate from the whole. Consequently it is improbable that G.o.d, Whose ”works are perfect,” as it is said Deut. 32:4, should have created the angelic creature before other creatures. At the same time the contrary is not to be deemed erroneous; especially on account of the opinion of Gregory n.a.z.ianzen, ”whose authority in Christian doctrine is of such weight that no one has ever raised objection to his teaching, as is also the case with the doctrine of Athanasius,” as Jerome says.

Reply Obj. 1: Jerome is speaking according to the teaching of the Greek Fathers; all of whom hold the creation of the angels to have taken place previously to that of the corporeal world.

Reply Obj. 2: G.o.d is not a part of, but far above, the whole universe, possessing within Himself the entire perfection of the universe in a more eminent way. But an angel is a part of the universe. Hence the comparison does not hold.

Reply Obj. 3: All corporeal creatures are one in matter; while the angels do not agree with them in matter. Consequently the creation of the matter of the corporeal creature involves in a manner the creation of all things; but the creation of the angels does not involve creation of the universe.

If the contrary view be held, then in the text of Gen. 1, ”In the beginning G.o.d created heaven and earth,” the words, ”In the beginning,” must be interpreted, ”In the Son,” or ”In the beginning of time”: but not, ”In the beginning, before which there was nothing,” unless we say ”Before which there was nothing of the nature of corporeal creatures.”

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FOURTH ARTICLE [I, Q. 61, Art. 4]

Whether the Angels Were Created in the Empyrean Heaven?

Objection 1: It would seem that the angels were not created in the empyrean heaven. For the angels are incorporeal substances. Now a substance which is incorporeal is not dependent upon a body for its existence; and as a consequence, neither is it for its creation.

Therefore the angels were not created in any corporeal place.

Obj. 2: Further, Augustine remarks (Gen. ad lit. iii, 10), that the angels were created in the upper atmosphere: therefore not in the empyrean heaven.

Obj. 3: Further, the empyrean heaven is said to be the highest heaven. If therefore the angels were created in the empyrean heaven, it would not beseem them to mount up to a still higher heaven. And this is contrary to what is said in Isaias, speaking in the person of the sinning angel: ”I will ascend into heaven” (Isa. 14:13).

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