Part III (Secunda Secundae) Part 245 (2/2)
Reply Obj. 1: The Lord reveals to the prophets all things that are necessary for the instruction of the faithful; yet not all to every one, but some to one, and some to another.
Reply Obj. 2: Prophecy is by way of being something imperfect in the genus of Divine revelation: hence it is written (1 Cor. 13:8) that ”prophecies shall be made void,” and that ”we prophesy in part,” i.e.
imperfectly. The Divine revelation will be brought to its perfection in heaven; wherefore the same text continues (1 Cor. 113:10): ”When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.” Consequently it does not follow that nothing is lacking to prophetic revelation, but that it lacks none of those things to which prophecy is directed.
Reply Obj. 3: He who has a science knows the principles of that science, whence whatever is pertinent to that science depends; wherefore to have the habit of a science perfectly, is to know whatever is pertinent to that science. But G.o.d Who is the principle of prophetic knowledge is not known in Himself through prophecy; wherefore the comparison fails.
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FIFTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 171, Art. 5]
Whether the Prophet Always Distinguishes What He Says by His Own Spirit from What He Says by the Prophetic Spirit?
Objection 1: It would seem that the prophet always distinguishes what he says by his own spirit from what he says by the prophetic spirit.
For Augustine states (Confess. vi, 13) that his mother said ”she could, through a certain feeling, which in words she could not express, discern betwixt Divine revelations, and the dreams of her own soul.” Now prophecy is a Divine revelation, as stated above (A.
3). Therefore the prophet always distinguishes what he says by the spirit of prophecy, from what he says by his own spirit.
Obj. 2: Further, G.o.d commands nothing impossible, as Jerome [*Pelagius. Ep. xvi, among the supposit.i.tious works of St. Jerome]
says. Now the prophets were commanded (Jer. 23:28): ”The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My word, let him speak My word with truth.” Therefore the prophet can distinguish what he has through the spirit of prophecy from what he sees otherwise.
Obj. 3: Further, the cert.i.tude resulting from a Divine light is greater than that which results from the light of natural reason. Now he that has science, by the light of natural reason knows for certain that he has it. Therefore he that has prophecy by a Divine light is much more certain that he has it.
_On the contrary,_ Gregory says (Hom. i super Ezech.): ”It must be observed that sometimes the holy prophets, when consulted, utter certain things by their own spirit, through being much accustomed to prophesying, and think they are speaking by the prophetic spirit.”
_I answer that,_ The prophet's mind is instructed by G.o.d in two ways: in one way by an express revelation, in another way by a most mysterious instinct to ”which the human mind is subjected without knowing it,” as Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. ii, 17). Accordingly the prophet has the greatest cert.i.tude about those things which he knows by an express revelation, and he has it for certain that they are revealed to him by G.o.d; wherefore it is written (Jer. 26:15): ”In truth the Lord sent me to you, to speak all these words in your hearing.” Else, were he not certain about this, the faith which relies on the utterances of the prophet would not be certain. A sign of the prophet's cert.i.tude may be gathered from the fact that Abraham being admonished in a prophetic vision, prepared to sacrifice his only-begotten son, which he nowise would have done had he not been most certain of the Divine revelation.
On the other hand, his position with regard to the things he knows by instinct is sometimes such that he is unable to distinguish fully whether his thoughts are conceived of Divine instinct or of his own spirit. And those things which we know by Divine instinct are not all manifested with prophetic cert.i.tude, for this instinct is something imperfect in the genus of prophecy. It is thus that we are to understand the saying of Gregory. Lest, however, this should lead to error, ”they are very soon set aright by the Holy Ghost [*For instance, cf. 2 Kings 7:3 seqq.], and from Him they hear the truth, so that they reproach themselves for having said what was untrue,” as Gregory adds (Hom. i super Ezech.).
The arguments set down in the first place consider the revelation that is made by the prophetic spirit; wherefore the answer to all the objections is clear.
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SIXTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 171, Art. 6]
Whether Things Known or Declared Prophetically Can Be False?
Objection 1: It would seem that things known or declared prophetically can be false. For prophecy is about future contingencies, as stated above (A. 3). Now future contingencies may possibly not happen; else they would happen of necessity. Therefore the matter of prophecy can be false.
Obj. 2: Further, Isaias prophesied to Ezechias saying (Isa. 38:1): ”Take order with thy house, for thou shalt surely die, and shalt not live,” and yet fifteen years were added to his life (4 Kings 20:6).
Again the Lord said (Jer. 18:7, 8): ”I will suddenly speak against a nation and against a kingdom, to root out and to pull down and to destroy it. If that nation against which I have spoken shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do them.” This is instanced in the example of the Ninevites, according to John 3:10: ”The Lord [Vulg.: 'G.o.d'] had mercy with regard to the evil which He had said that He would do to them, and He did it not.” Therefore the matter of prophecy can be false.
Obj. 3: Further, in a conditional proposition, whenever the antecedent is absolutely necessary, the consequent is absolutely necessary, because the consequent of a conditional proposition stands in the same relation to the antecedent, as the conclusion to the premises in a syllogism, and a syllogism whose premises are necessary always leads to a necessary conclusion, as we find proved in I Poster. 6. But if the matter of a prophecy cannot be false, the following conditional proposition must needs be true: ”If a thing has been prophesied, it will be.” Now the antecedent of this conditional proposition is absolutely necessary, since it is about the past.
Therefore the consequent is also necessary absolutely; yet this is unfitting, for then prophecy would not be about contingencies.
Therefore it is untrue that the matter of prophecy cannot be false.
_On the contrary,_ Ca.s.siodorus says [*Prol. in Psalt. i] that ”prophecy is a Divine inspiration or revelation, announcing the issue of things with invariable truth.” Now the truth of prophecy would not be invariable, if its matter could be false. Therefore nothing false can come under prophecy.
_I answer that,_ As may be gathered from what has been said (AA. 1, 3, 5), prophecy is a kind of knowledge impressed under the form of teaching on the prophet's intellect, by Divine revelation. Now the truth of knowledge is the same in disciple and teacher since the knowledge of the disciple is a likeness of the knowledge of the teacher, even as in natural things the form of the thing generated is a likeness of the form of the generator. Jerome speaks in this sense when he says [*Comment. in Daniel ii, 10] that ”prophecy is the seal of the Divine foreknowledge.” Consequently the same truth must needs be in prophetic knowledge and utterances, as in the Divine knowledge, under which nothing false can possibly come, as stated in the First Part (Q. 16, A. 8). Therefore nothing false can come under prophecy.
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