Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: The Trinune God: Systematics

Titel: The Triune God: Systematics

Stichwort: Liebe, Hervorgang (processio); Folgerungen (corallary), Analogie: göttliche - menschliche Liebe; Hervorgang (processio) von Wort und Liebe: Unterschiede (Zeugung); Liebe in Gott: essentiell - notional; Aussagen über Gott: essentiell - personal

Kurzinhalt: To all the foregoing we may add some corollaries... First, it may seem as if the procession of the Word and the procession of Love are absolutely one and the same, since they do not differ in any respect.

Textausschnitt: 677g To all the foregoing we may add some corollaries. (Fs)

First, it may seem as if the procession of the Word and the procession of Love are absolutely one and the same, since they do not differ in any respect. For they cannot be distinguished on the basis of either their principle or their term, since in both cases God proceeds from God, nor on the basis of their act, since in God understanding and willing are the same reality, nor on the basis of a power, since in God intellect and will are the same, nor on the basis of a conceptual distinction between the divine intellect and will, since a conceptual distinction cannot serve as the foundation for a real distinction. (Fs) (notabene)

679a Now, all this is true, and so must be admitted and granted. Yet it remains that these two processions are really distinct according to the real order between them. For, 'as there is an order between the word and the principle from which it proceeds, even though in God intellect and the conception of his intellect are the same reality, so, even though in God intellect and will are the same, nevertheless, because it is of the nature of love not to proceed except from a conception of the intellect, therefore it follows that in God the procession of Love is distinct from the procession of the Word on the basis of this order between them' (Summa theologiae, 1, q. 27, a. 3, ad 3m). (Fs)

One must be careful, however, not to say that one of these processions precedes or is prior to the other. In God, 'there is nothing that precedes or is subsequent to anything else' (db 39, ds 75, nd 16); and yet there is an order, since multiplicity without order is just confusion (Summa theologiae, 1, q. 42, a. 3). (Fs)

679b Second, it may seem as if the procession of Love, like the procession of the Word, is also a generation, since in both cases God proceeds from God. But against this is the fact that it is of the nature of generation that there not only proceeds that which is similar in nature [to its principle], but also that that which proceeds is similar by reason of the procession itself. Now, by its very nature the procession of an inner word is such that what is conceived in the word is the very same thing as what is understood by the intellect. But by its very nature the procession of love is such that it does not reproduce its object in the mind but rather that the mind joins and unites itself affectively with the object loved. Therefore, the procession of the word is for a resulting likeness in nature, whereas the procession of Love in God is the procession of that which is similar in nature. See Summa theologiae, 1, q. 27, a. 4. (Fs) (notabene)

679c Third, note here that love in God can be understood in two ways. First, it can be understood essentially, in that divine existence is divine willing and divine willing is love, and in this sense the Father and the Son as well as the Holy Spirit are divine love itself; and all three divine persons equally love whatever God loves. Second, it can be understood notionally, in that love is proceeding love; in this sense only the Holy Spirit is Love because only the Spirit proceeds as Love. In this notional sense of love, the Father and the Son are said to love, not because they are love, but because they are the principle of Love; and just as we are said to love by a love whose principle we are, so the Father and the Son are said to love by the Holy Spirit, proceeding Love. And this Love, since it is God, is that Love by which the Father and the Son love whatever God loves. See Summa theologiae, 1 q. 37.

681a Fourth, speaking more generally, one may say that in reference to God nouns and verbs are predicated either personally or essentially depending upon whether they include in their essential idea a relation of origin. The divine persons are distinguished by reason of mutually opposed relations of origin (Summa theologiae, 1, q. 28, a. 3; q. 40, a. 2). Accordingly, if a noun or verb includes in its notion a relation of origin, it is predicated of one or at most two divine persons, while if it does not include such a relation, it is predicated equally of the three persons. Thus being and existing, intelligence and understanding, love and loving, and all similar notions are predicated essentially, that is, are predicated equally of all three persons on account of the divine essence which they share. But to utter and to be uttered, to generate and to be generated, Word and Image, to spirate and to be spirated, proceeding Love and Gift - since all of these imply a relation of origin either on the part of the originating principle or on the part of the originated, they are said to be predicated personally of the Father alone, or of the Son alone, or of both Father and Son together, or of the Holy Spirit alone, depending upon the relation implied. (Fs) (notabene)

681b Fifth, just as the generation of the Word, so the procession of Love in God, although knowable in itself and necessary, is something that we can know only by faith. The reasons for this are the same as those given above concerning the Word [§ 25]. We can demonstrate that God loves himself but we cannot demonstrate that God spirates himself. Indeed, any who try to do so would seem not to have understood the meaning of spiration; for spiration does not mean that from the mutual love between the Father and the Son something else proceeds; it means that the Father and the Son are one principle from which their mutual love proceeds (Summa theologiae, 1, q. 37, a. 1, ad 3m). (Fs)