Part III (Secunda Secundae) Part 48 (2/2)
Obj. 3: Further, the Philosopher reckons five things pertaining to friends.h.i.+p (Ethic. ix, 4), the first of which is that a man should wish his friend well; the second, that he should wish him to be and to live; the third, that he should take pleasure in his company; the fourth, that he should make choice of the same things; the fifth, that he should grieve and rejoice with him. Now the first two pertain to goodwill. Therefore goodwill is the first act of charity.
_On the contrary,_ The Philosopher says (Ethic. ix, 5) that ”goodwill is neither friends.h.i.+p nor love, but the beginning of friends.h.i.+p.” Now charity is friends.h.i.+p, as stated above (Q. 23, A. 1). Therefore goodwill is not the same as to love considered as an act of charity.
_I answer that,_ Goodwill properly speaking is that act of the will whereby we wish well to another. Now this act of the will differs from actual love, considered not only as being in the sensitive appet.i.te but also as being in the intellective appet.i.te or will. For the love which is in the sensitive appet.i.te is a pa.s.sion. Now every pa.s.sion seeks its object with a certain eagerness. And the pa.s.sion of love is not aroused suddenly, but is born of an earnest consideration of the object loved; wherefore the Philosopher, showing the difference between goodwill and the love which is a pa.s.sion, says (Ethic. ix, 5) that goodwill does not imply impetuosity or desire, that is to say, has not an eager inclination, because it is by the sole judgment of his reason that one man wishes another well. Again such like love arises from previous acquaintance, whereas goodwill sometimes arises suddenly, as happens to us if we look on at a boxing-match, and we wish one of the boxers to win. But the love, which is in the intellective appet.i.te, also differs from goodwill, because it denotes a certain union of affections between the lover and the beloved, in as much as the lover deems the beloved as somewhat united to him, or belonging to him, and so tends towards him. On the other hand, goodwill is a simple act of the will, whereby we wish a person well, even without presupposing the aforesaid union of the affections with him. Accordingly, to love, considered as an act of charity, includes goodwill, but such dilection or love adds union of affections, wherefore the Philosopher says (Ethic. ix, 5) that ”goodwill is a beginning of friends.h.i.+p.”
Reply Obj. 1: The Philosopher, by thus defining ”to love,” does not describe it fully, but mentions only that part of its definition in which the act of love is chiefly manifested.
Reply Obj. 2: To love is indeed an act of the will tending to the good, but it adds a certain union with the beloved, which union is not denoted by goodwill.
Reply Obj. 3: These things mentioned by the Philosopher belong to friends.h.i.+p because they arise from a man's love for himself, as he says in the same pa.s.sage, in so far as a man does all these things in respect of his friend, even as he does them to himself: and this belongs to the aforesaid union of the affections.
_______________________
THIRD ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 27, Art. 3]
Whether Out of Charity G.o.d Ought to Be Loved for Himself?
Objection 1: It would seem that G.o.d is loved out of charity, not for Himself but for the sake of something else. For Gregory says in a homily (In Evang. xi): ”The soul learns from the things it knows, to love those it knows not,” where by things unknown he means the intelligible and the Divine, and by things known he indicates the objects of the senses. Therefore G.o.d is to be loved for the sake of something else.
Obj. 2: Further, love follows knowledge. But G.o.d is known through something else, according to Rom. 1:20: ”The invisible things of G.o.d are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.”
Therefore He is also loved on account of something else and not for Himself.
Obj. 3: Further, ”hope begets charity” as a gloss says on Matt. 1:1, and ”fear leads to charity,” according to Augustine in his commentary on the First Canonical Epistle of John (In prim. canon. Joan. Tract.
ix). Now hope looks forward to obtain something from G.o.d, while fear shuns something which can be inflicted by G.o.d. Therefore it seems that G.o.d is to be loved on account of some good we hope for, or some evil to be feared. Therefore He is not to be loved for Himself.
_On the contrary,_ According to Augustine (De Doctr. Christ. i), to enjoy is to cleave to something for its own sake. Now ”G.o.d is to be enjoyed” as he says in the same book. Therefore G.o.d is to be loved for Himself.
_I answer that,_ The preposition ”for” denotes a relation of causality. Now there are four kinds of cause, viz., final, formal, efficient, and material, to which a material disposition also is to be reduced, though it is not a cause simply but relatively. According to these four different causes one thing is said to be loved for another. In respect of the final cause, we love medicine, for instance, for health; in respect of the formal cause, we love a man for his virtue, because, to wit, by his virtue he is formally good and therefore lovable; in respect of the efficient cause, we love certain men because, for instance, they are the sons of such and such a father; and in respect of the disposition which is reducible to the genus of a material cause, we speak of loving something for that which disposed us to love it, e.g. we love a man for the favors received from him, although after we have begun to love our friend, we no longer love him for his favors, but for his virtue.
Accordingly, as regards the first three ways, we love G.o.d, not for anything else, but for Himself. For He is not directed to anything else as to an end, but is Himself the last end of all things; nor does He require to receive any form in order to be good, for His very substance is His goodness, which is itself the exemplar of all other good things; nor again does goodness accrue to Him from aught else, but from Him to all other things. In the fourth way, however, He can be loved for something else, because we are disposed by certain things to advance in His love, for instance, by favors bestowed by Him, by the rewards we hope to receive from Him, or even by the punishments which we are minded to avoid through Him.
Reply Obj. 1: From the things it knows the soul learns to love what it knows not, not as though the things it knows were the reason for its loving things it knows not, through being the formal, final, or efficient cause of this love, but because this knowledge disposes man to love the unknown.
Reply Obj. 2: Knowledge of G.o.d is indeed acquired through other things, but after He is known, He is no longer known through them, but through Himself, according to John 4:42: ”We now believe, not for thy saying: for we ourselves have heard Him, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.”
Reply Obj. 3: Hope and fear lead to charity by way of a certain disposition, as was shown above (Q. 17, A. 8; Q. 19, AA. 4, 7, 10).
_______________________
FOURTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 27, Art. 4]
Whether G.o.d Can Be Loved Immediately in This Life?
Objection 1: It would seem that G.o.d cannot be loved immediately in this life. For the ”unknown cannot be loved” as Augustine says (De Trin. x, 1). Now we do not know G.o.d immediately in this life, since ”we see now through a gla.s.s, in a dark manner” (1 Cor. 13:12).
Neither, therefore, do we love Him immediately.
Obj. 2: Further, he who cannot do what is less, cannot do what is more. Now it is more to love G.o.d than to know Him, since ”he who is joined” to G.o.d by love, is ”one spirit with Him” (1 Cor. 6:17). But man cannot know G.o.d immediately. Therefore much less can he love Him immediately.
Obj. 3: Further, man is severed from G.o.d by sin, according to Isa.
<script>