The Trinitarian Theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas - El Camino ...

The Processions 69
procession distinct from that of the word (the procession of the Holy Spirit is
not the generation of the Son); (3) the procession of a term which is
consubstantial to its principle (since the will of God is identical to the being
of God, the Spirit which proceeds by the mode of love has the very nature of
God, whilst being personally distinct from the Father and the Son).83
Such is the path which enables one to grasp the procession of the Holy
Spirit and which by doing so, sidesteps arguments against the truth of Faith.
The theologian is not content with asserting this truth, but can actually show
that there is a procession which is distinct from that of the Word, thus
indicating that the criticisms of Trinitarian faith are not compelling.
6. THE ORDER OF THE TRINITARIAN PROCESSIONS
ReXecting on the procession of the Holy Spirit creates another reWnement.
It relates to the order of the processions.84 In using the analogies of mind and
will, does Thomas grasp the procession of the divine persons on the basis of
God’s mind and will, taken as essential attributes? In that case, would he not
be conceiving the Son and the Spirit as somehow deriving from the divine
essence? But then, the project of understanding the faith would be empty,
since as Thomas himself has explained, the distinction of the persons is not
drawn from the divine essence, since that essence is common to the Three.
The intellect and will of God are really identical to the one single being and
substance of God.85 So in God, intellect and will are a single, identical reality.
But then how can one think the procession of two really distinct persons,
when one uses the mode of two attributes (intellect and will or love) which
are, in God, really identical? Would such an enterprise not be doomed to
failure from the start?
The Wrst point to clarify is that Thomas does not reserve the activity of
thought to the procession of the Son, nor the activity of love to the procession
of the Spirit: there is no more ‘intellect’ in the begetting of the Son, nor is
there ‘more love’ in the procession of the Holy Spirit. The begetting of the Son
is also, and eminently, an act of love; and the procession of the Holy Spirit is
not without wisdom. Thomas explains that, in each of the processions, all of
the divine attributes are brought into play ‘concomitantly’.86 All of the divine
83 ST I, q. 27, a. 4, ad 1; cf. SCG IV, ch. 19 (no. 3563); De rationibus Wdei, ch. 4.
84 This is the premier aspect in the Disputed Questions De potentia, q. 10, a. 2.
85 Cf. ST I, q. 14, a. 4; q. 19, a. 1.
86 I Sent. d. 6, q. 1, a. 2 and 3; cf. ST I, q. 41, a. 2; De potentia, q.2,a.3.