110. Procession in God: Internal Emanation and Divine Generation

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Problem of Divine Procession #

Thomas poses five questions regarding procession in God:

1. Whether procession exists in God at all
2. Whether procession can be called generation
3. Whether another procession besides generation exists
4. Whether that other procession can be called generation
5. Whether there are more than two processions in God

Three major objections challenge the concept of procession in God:

• Procession implies motion and change, which God cannot undergo
• Whatever proceeds from something must be diverse from it; God has no diversity
• Procession from another contradicts God being the First Beginning (ἀρχή)

Two Types of Procession #

Berquist emphasizes the critical distinction between:

External Procession (ad extra)

• Something goes forth from an agent and becomes external to it
• Example: a craftsman making a chair or table
• Implies diversity of substance
• Involves motion (locomotion)
• NOT found in God

Internal Procession (ad intra)

• Something proceeds from an agent but remains within it
• Analogies: an image proceeding from imagination, a thought proceeding from understanding
• No motion or change involved
• The basis for understanding procession in God

Analogy from Understanding #

Thomas’s key insight: when I understand something, a conception (conceptio) proceeds from my understanding. This conception:

• Remains within my mind (does not go outside)
• Is a likeness of the thing understood
• Proceeds from understanding as its principle
• The more perfectly I understand, the more the concept is one with my understanding

This is the closest analogy to divine procession because it involves internal emanation without external effect.

The Problem of Moving Words #

Berquist emphasizes the pedagogical importance of understanding how theological language develops:

• We name things as we know them; we first know sensible things
• The word “procession” first names local motion (going forward from a room)
• This sensible meaning must be carefully extended to intelligible realities
• Many people (like “Monsignor D’Anne”) cannot follow this extension and fall back on the original sensible meaning
• Example: “understand” originally means “to stand under”; Shakespeare puns on this in his plays
• The word “nature” (from Latin natura and Greek φύσις) originally means birth, then source, then essence

Distinction vs. Division #

Thomas distinguishes between key terms:

• Definition: Dividing something into its parts
• Division: Breaking a whole into parts
• Distinction: Simply stating “this is not that” (most general)

Crucially, Thomas never says God is “divided” into Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (which would imply parts), but rather that there is a real distinction between them. This preserves divine simplicity (summa simplicitas) while allowing for real diversity of persons.

Two Heretical Approaches #

Berquist examines two major heresies through the lens of truth as a mean between extremes:

Arianism (represented by Arius)

• Treats the procession of the Son as external procession
• Says the Son is the first creature of the Father
• Denies the Son’s true divinity
• Says MORE than the truth (claims three divine substances when Scripture teaches one)

Sabellianism (represented by Sabellius)

• Treats procession according to causation in effect
• Denies real distinction of persons
• Claims the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one person called by different names
• Says LESS than the truth (claims one person when Scripture teaches three)

Thomas uses this framework: truth about the Trinity lies between saying too much (Arianism) and saying too little (Sabellianism). The true position has one divine substance and three real persons.

How God Differs from Creatures #

Thomas emphasizes why divine procession differs fundamentally from creatures’ internal operations:

• In creatures: to be (esse) and to understand (intelligere) are distinct
  • A creature exists before understanding anything
  • A creature’s thought is an accident, not its substance
  • Therefore, the creature’s thought is not truly the creature
• In God: to be and to understand are identical
  • God’s understanding IS His very being
  • What proceeds from God’s understanding is God Himself
  • The Word is not merely a thought ABOUT God but IS God

Procession Remains Within God #

Thomas resolves the objections by clarifying that procession in God:

• Is NOT locomotion or change of place
• Is NOT the action of a cause producing an external effect
• IS an emanation (emanatio) that flows forth but remains within God
• Like the word that proceeds from understanding while remaining in the mind
• This is internal procession (ad intra), not external (ad extra)

Key Arguments #

Thomas’s Response to Objections #

Against the First Objection (Procession implies motion)

• Procession as local motion is indeed impossible in God
• But procession as intellectual emanation (remaining within) IS possible
• Imagination and understanding provide examples of procession without motion
• The activity of understanding remains in the one understanding; it does not go outside

Against the Second Objection (Whatever proceeds must be diverse)

• External procession necessarily involves diversity of substance
• Internal procession (ad intra) does NOT necessarily involve diversity
• In God’s perfect understanding, the Word is perfectly one with the Father
• This preserves both procession and divine simplicity

Against the Third Objection (Contradicts being First Beginning)

• External and diverse procession would contradict being First Beginning
• But internal procession without diversity is INCLUDED in the notion of First Beginning
• An artist who is the beginning of an artifact necessarily includes conception of it in his art
• God as First Beginning necessarily includes conception of all things in His understanding (the divine Word)

The Artist Analogy #

A house-builder is the beginning of a house. Included in this notion is the conception of the house in the builder’s art. Similarly:

• God is the First Beginning of all things
• Included in this is God’s conception of all things
• This conception is the divine Word
• Therefore, procession is not opposed to being First Beginning but included in it

Why Divine Language Must Be Understood Properly #

God is “above all things,” so:

• Things said of God should not be understood according to the way of lowest creatures (bodies)
• But according to the likeness of highest creatures (those with intellect)
• Even this likeness “falls short” from true representation of divine things
• Per the Fourth Lateran Council (1215): “You could never know the likeness of the creature to God without at the same time a greater unlikeness”
• There is always an infinite distance between creature and Creator

Important Definitions #

Procession (processio) #

• Latin: literally “going forward”
• In God: internal emanation by which one divine person proceeds from another
• Distinguished from creation: procession is ad intra (within God); creation is ad extra (outside God)
• The basis for real distinction between divine persons
• Presupposes understanding of God’s operations (understanding and willing)

Generation (generatio) #

• In the generic sense: change from non-being to being (involves matter and potentiality; not applicable to God)
• In the particular sense (in living things): origin of something living from a living principle of the same nature
  • Requires likeness in nature (man from man, horse from horse)
  • Does NOT require change from potency to act
  • CAN be applied to God

Conception (conceptio) #

• The thought or idea that proceeds from understanding
• A likeness of the thing understood
• Related to why the second person is called both Word and Son
• In God: the Word is the perfect conception of the Father
• The Word is not merely a thought ABOUT God but is God Himself

Emanation (emanatio) #

• A flowing forth that remains within the source
• Contrasted with external action that produces something outside
• The proper model for understanding divine procession
• What Thomas uses to explain how proceeding can occur without motion or change

Intelligere / Intus legere #

• Thomas takes the Latin word intelligere (to understand) as derived from intus legere (to read within)
• The eyes read the words on the outside; reason reads the meanings inside those words

Examples & Illustrations #

The Image in Imagination #

• When I imagine a golden mountain, an image proceeds from my imagination
• This image remains within my imagination (not external to me)
• The image is a likeness of what I’m imagining
• Yet the image is not the same as my imagination itself
• This shows procession without external motion

The Thought in Understanding #

• When I understand a triangle, a concept proceeds from my understanding
• This concept remains in my mind (internal to me)
• The concept is a likeness of the triangle
• The more perfectly I understand something, the more the concept is one with my understanding
• Yet my concept is not my substance (I existed before understanding this)

The Word in Speech #

• The exterior spoken word (verbum vocis) signifies the interior word of the heart (verbum cordis)
• The interior word is what proceeds from understanding
• In Greek, λόγος (logos) first means the spoken word, then the thought, then reason itself
• This progression shows how language moves from sensible to intelligible meanings

Shakespeare and Understanding #

• In a scene, one character says “I don’t understand you”
• The other responds that his cane understands him (punning on the lower sensible meaning)
• This illustrates how the original meaning of “understand” (to stand under) can be lost if we don’t track the word’s development

Chocolate Chip Cookies #

• Berquist’s oldest grandchild makes “piles of childhood cookies”
• The making of cookies is more known to us than the proceeding of an image in imagination
• But the proceeding of an image is more like procession in God (because it remains internal)
• This illustrates the pedagogical principle: start with what is more known, move to what is more hidden

Questions Addressed #

Question 1: Does procession exist in God? #

Answer: Yes, but internal procession (ad intra), not external (ad extra)

• Basis: Scripture uses language of procession regarding the Son and Holy Spirit (John 1:8, “I have proceeded from God”)
• Explanation: Just as thought proceeds from understanding while remaining in the mind, so the Word proceeds from the Father while remaining in God
• Key point: This procession involves no motion, change, or external effect

Question 2: Can procession in God be called generation? #

Answer: Yes, in the particular sense applicable to living things

• Reason: The Word proceeds from the Father as a living principle, with likeness of nature, but without change from potency to act
• Significance: This allows use of scriptural language of “begetting” and “generation” for the Trinity
• Key distinction: Generation in God is not change from non-being to being but procession from a living principle

Question 3: Are there more than two processions in God? #

Answer: No, only two (corresponding to understanding and willing)

• The answer depends on seeing that there are only two kinds of operations of God: understanding and willing
• Therefore, there can be only two processions
• This presupposes understanding of divine understanding and willing
• (The second procession—of the Holy Spirit—is more hidden than the first)

Notable Quotes #

“We name things as we know them, right? And what do we know first? Sensible things, right?”

• Foundational principle explaining why theological language must begin with sensible examples

“If you can’t follow that carrying over, you’ll be like Monsignor D’Anne used to say, you know, you can’t move the word.”

• Warns against failing to extend words from sensible to intelligible meanings

“The distinction of the three persons of the Trinity is the first distinction. And the distinction there would be even if God had not created anything.”

• Emphasizes that the Trinity is prior to creation; procession is internal to God’s nature

“For not so vile that on the earth doth live, but to the earth some special good doth give. Not so good, but straying from that fair use, revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse.”

• Shakespeare (Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet) using “birth” to mean nature/essence

“Having seen only a part, they boast of having seen the whole.”

• Attributed to “the great Greek philosopher, Petipi” on how heretics see partial truths but claim total understanding

“You could never know the likeness of the creature to God without at the same time the greater unlikeness.”

• From the Fourth Lateran Council (1215); emphasizes the infinite distance between Creator and creature even when using analogies

“For whoever understands, from this very fact that he understands, there goes forward something within him, which is the conception of the thing understood.”

• Thomas’s key statement explaining how procession occurs in understanding

“Since God is above all things, those things which are said to be in God should not be understood according to the way of the lowest creatures, which are bodies, but according to the likeness of the highest creatures, which are the rational [creatures].”

• Thomas on the proper method of extending language from creatures to God