Part I (Prima Pars) Part 110 (2/2)
Reply Obj. 2: According to Augustine (De Civ. Dei ix, 33), by the heaven is understood the formless spiritual nature, and by the earth, the formless matter of all corporeal things, and thus no creature is omitted. But, according to Basil (Hom. i in Hexaem.), the heaven and the earth, as the two extremes, are alone mentioned, the intervening things being left to be understood, since all these move heavenwards, if light, or earthwards, if heavy. And others say that under the word, ”earth,” Scripture is accustomed to include all the four elements as (Ps. 148:7,8) after the words, ”Praise the Lord from the earth,” is added, ”fire, hail, snow, and ice.”
Reply Obj. 3: In the account of the creation there is found something to correspond to the words, ”G.o.d saw that it was good,” used in the work of distinction and adornment, and this appears from the consideration that the Holy Spirit is Love. Now, ”there are two things,” says Augustine (Gen. ad lit. i, 8) which came from G.o.d's love of His creatures, their existence and their permanence. That they might then exist, and exist permanently, ”the Spirit of G.o.d,” it is said, ”moved over the waters”--that is to say, over that formless matter, signified by water, even as the love of the artist moves over the materials of his art, that out of them he may form his work. And the words, ”G.o.d saw that it was good,” signify that the things that He had made were to endure, since they express a certain satisfaction taken by G.o.d in His works, as of an artist in his art: not as though He knew the creature otherwise, or that the creature was pleasing to Him otherwise, than before He made it. Thus in either work, of creation and of formation, the Trinity of Persons is implied. In creation the Person of the Father is indicated by G.o.d the Creator, the Person of the Son by the beginning, in which He created, and the Person of the Holy Ghost by the Spirit that moved over the waters.
But in the formation, the Person of the Father is indicated by G.o.d that speaks, and the Person of the Son by the Word in which He speaks, and the Person of the Holy Spirit by the satisfaction with which G.o.d saw that what was made was good. And if the words, ”G.o.d saw that it was good,” are not said of the work of the second day, this is because the work of distinguis.h.i.+ng the waters was only begun on that day, but perfected on the third. Hence these words, that are said of the third day, refer also to the second. Or it may be that Scripture does not use these words of approval of the second day's work, because this is concerned with the distinction of things not evident to the senses of mankind. Or, again, because by the firmament is simply understood the cloudy region of the air, which is not one of the permanent parts of the universe, nor of the princ.i.p.al divisions of the world. The above three reasons are given by Rabbi Moses [*Perplex. ii.], and to these may be added a mystical one derived from numbers and a.s.signed by some writers, according to whom the work of the second day is not marked with approval because the second number is an imperfect number, as receding from the perfection of unity.
Reply Obj. 4: Rabbi Moses (Perplex. ii) understands by the ”Spirit of the Lord,” the air or the wind, as Plato also did, and says that it is so called according to the custom of Scripture, in which these things are throughout attributed to G.o.d. But according to the holy writers, the Spirit of the Lord signifies the Holy Ghost, Who is said to ”move over the water”--that is to say, over what Augustine holds to mean formless matter, lest it should be supposed that G.o.d loved of necessity the works He was to produce, as though He stood in need of them. For love of that kind is subject to, not superior to, the object of love. Moreover, it is fittingly implied that the Spirit moved over that which was incomplete and unfinished, since that movement is not one of place, but of pre-eminent power, as Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. i, 7). It is the opinion, however, of Basil (Hom.
ii in Hexaem.) that the Spirit moved over the element of water, ”fostering and quickening its nature and impressing vital power, as the hen broods over her chickens.” For water has especially a life-giving power, since many animals are generated in water, and the seed of all animals is liquid. Also the life of the soul is given by the water of baptism, according to John 3:5: ”Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of G.o.d.”
Reply Obj. 5: According to Augustine (Gen. ad lit. i, 8), these three phrases denote the threefold being of creatures; first, their being in the Word, denoted by the command ”Let ... be made”; secondly, their being in the angelic mind, signified by the words, ”It was . .
. done”; thirdly, their being in their proper nature, by the words, ”He made.” And because the formation of the angels is recorded on the first day, it was not necessary there to add, ”He made.” It may also be said, following other writers, that the words, ”He said,” and ”Let ... be made,” denote G.o.d's command, and the words, ”It was done,”
the fulfilment of that command. But as it was necessary, for the sake of those especially who have a.s.serted that all visible things were made by the angels, to mention how things were made, it is added, in order to remove that error, that G.o.d Himself made them. Hence, in each work, after the words, ”It was done,” some act of G.o.d is expressed by some such words as, ”He made,” or, ”He divided,” or, ”He called.”
Reply Obj. 6: According to Augustine (Gen. ad lit. iv, 22, 30), by the ”evening” and the ”morning” are understood the evening and the morning knowledge of the angels, which has been explained (Q. 58, A. 6, 7). But, according to Basil (Hom. ii in Hexaem.), the entire period takes its name, as is customary, from its more important part, the day. An instance of this is found in the words of Jacob, ”The days of my pilgrimage,” where night is not mentioned at all. But the evening and the morning are mentioned as being the ends of the day, since day begins with morning and ends with evening, or because evening denotes the beginning of night, and morning the beginning of day. It seems fitting, also, that where the first distinction of creatures is described, divisions of time should be denoted only by what marks their beginning. And the reason for mentioning the evening first is that as the evening ends the day, which begins with the light, the termination of the light at evening precedes the termination of the darkness, which ends with the morning. But Chrysostom's explanation is that thereby it is intended to show that the natural day does not end with the evening, but with the morning (Hom. v in Gen.).
Reply Obj. 7: The words ”one day” are used when day is first inst.i.tuted, to denote that one day is made up of twenty-four hours.
Hence, by mentioning ”one,” the measure of a natural day is fixed.
Another reason may be to signify that a day is completed by the return of the sun to the point from which it commenced its course.
And yet another, because at the completion of a week of seven days, the first day returns which is one with the eighth day. The three reasons a.s.signed above are those given by Basil (Hom. ii in Hexaem.).
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TREATISE ON MAN (QQ. 75-102) _______________________
QUESTION 75
OF MAN WHO IS COMPOSED OF A SPIRITUAL AND A CORPOREAL SUBSTANCE: AND IN THE FIRST PLACE, CONCERNING WHAT BELONGS TO THE ESSENCE OF THE SOUL (In Seven Articles)
Having treated of the spiritual and of the corporeal creature, we now proceed to treat of man, who is composed of a spiritual and corporeal substance. We shall treat first of the nature of man, and secondly of his origin. Now the theologian considers the nature of man in relation to the soul; but not in relation to the body, except in so far as the body has relation to the soul. Hence the first object of our consideration will be the soul. And since Dionysius (Ang. Hier. xi) says that three things are to be found in spiritual substances--essence, power, and operation--we shall treat first of what belongs to the essence of the soul; secondly, of what belongs to its power; thirdly, of what belongs to its operation.
Concerning the first, two points have to be considered; the first is the nature of the soul considered in itself; the second is the union of the soul with the body. Under the first head there are seven points of inquiry.
(1) Whether the soul is a body?
(2) Whether the human soul is a subsistence?
(3) Whether the souls of brute animals are subsistent?
(4) Whether the soul is man, or is man composed of soul and body?
(5) Whether the soul is composed of matter and form?
(6) Whether the soul is incorruptible?
(7) Whether the soul is of the same species as an angel?
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FIRST ARTICLE [I, Q. 75, Art. 1]
Whether the Soul Is a Body?
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