FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   442   443   444   445   446   447   448   449   450   451   452   453   454   455   456   457   458   459   460   461   462   463   464   465   466  
467   468   469   470   471   472   473   474   475   476   477   478   479   480   481   482   483   484   485   486   487   488   489   490   491   >>   >|  
erson sends Himself visibly or invisibly? _______________________ FIRST ARTICLE [I, Q. 43, Art. 1] Whether a Divine Person Can Be Properly Sent? Objection 1: It would seem that a divine person cannot be properly sent. For one who is sent is less than the sender. But one divine person is not less than another. Therefore one person is not sent by another. Obj. 2: Further, what is sent is separated from the sender; hence Jerome says, commenting on Ezech. 16:53: "What is joined and tied in one body cannot be sent." But in the divine persons there is nothing that is separable, as Hilary says (De Trin. vii). Therefore one person is not sent by another. Obj. 3: Further, whoever is sent, departs from one place and comes anew into another. But this does not apply to a divine person, Who is everywhere. Therefore it is not suitable for a divine person to be sent. _On the contrary,_ It is said (John 8:16): "I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me." _I answer that,_ the notion of mission includes two things: the habitude of the one sent to the sender; and that of the one sent to the end whereto he is sent. Anyone being sent implies a certain kind of procession of the one sent from the sender: either according to command, as the master sends the servant; or according to counsel, as an adviser may be said to send the king to battle; or according to origin, as a tree sends forth its flowers. The habitude to the term to which he is sent is also shown, so that in some way he begins to be present there: either because in no way was he present before in the place whereto he is sent, or because he begins to be there in some way in which he was not there hitherto. Thus the mission of a divine person is a fitting thing, as meaning in one way the procession of origin from the sender, and as meaning a new way of existing in another; thus the Son is said to be sent by the Father into the world, inasmuch as He began to exist visibly in the world by taking our nature; whereas "He was" previously "in the world" (John 1:1). Reply Obj. 1: Mission implies inferiority in the one sent, when it means procession from the sender as principle, by command or counsel; forasmuch as the one commanding is the greater, and the counsellor is the wiser. In God, however, it means only procession of origin, which is according to equality, as explained above (Q. 42, AA. 4, 6). Reply Obj. 2: What is so sent as to begin to exist where pre
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   442   443   444   445   446   447   448   449   450   451   452   453   454   455   456   457   458   459   460   461   462   463   464   465   466  
467   468   469   470   471   472   473   474   475   476   477   478   479   480   481   482   483   484   485   486   487   488   489   490   491   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

person

 

sender

 

divine

 
procession
 

origin

 

Therefore

 

counsel

 

command

 

meaning

 
implies

present

 
mission
 
begins
 

habitude

 
Father
 

whereto

 

Further

 

visibly

 
flowers
 
adviser

explained

 
equality
 

battle

 

counsellor

 
existing
 

inferiority

 

previously

 
nature
 

taking

 

Mission


greater

 

commanding

 

forasmuch

 

fitting

 

hitherto

 

principle

 

separated

 

Jerome

 

properly

 

commenting


persons

 

joined

 
ARTICLE
 

invisibly

 

Himself

 

Whether

 

Divine

 
Objection
 

Properly

 

Person