112. The Second Procession in God: Love and the Holy Spirit

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• The Structure of Question 27: How to divide five articles into two or three intelligible parts: (1) whether a procession exists in God, (2) what processions exist, and (3) how many processions are there
• The Problem of Infinite Processions: Whether admitting a second procession necessarily leads to an infinite regress of processions
• Two Divine Operations: Understanding and willing as the only immanent operations in God that could ground processions
• The Nature of the Second Procession: Whether it can be properly called generation
• God’s Simplicity and Real Distinction: How to reconcile God’s absolute simplicity with real distinctions between processions

Key Arguments #

Objections to a Second Procession #

1. The Infinite Regress Objection: If there is another procession besides generation of the Word, why not another procession from that one, ad infinitum?

   • This “unsuitable” consequence suggests only one procession exists

2. The Unity of Nature Argument: In every nature, there is found only one way of communicating that nature

   • Operations have unity and diversity according to their limits
   • Since there is only one divine nature, there should be only one procession

3. The Identity of Divine Operations: Divine understanding and divine will are identical in God

   • If will and understanding are the same thing in God, their processions must be the same
   • This would make any distinction between them merely conceptual (the heresy of Sabellianism)

Thomas’s Affirmative Response #

• Scripture witnesses to two processions: John 15:26 (Holy Spirit proceeds from Father) and John 14:16 (another Comforter, distinct from Son)
• Two immanent operations ground two processions: Understanding and willing are the only operations in intellectual nature that remain within the agent
• Both processions communicate the divine nature: Whatever is in God is God; therefore both processions transmit the divine nature
• Termination of processions: The procession of love terminates in the procession of understanding; one rests in what is understood, then loves it

Resolution of the Divine Simplicity Problem #

• Whatever is in God is God: Unlike creatures, where knowledge is added to being, in God all attributes are identical with His being
• Real distinction through order of operations: Although divine understanding and will are not really distinct substances, the processions have an order: love proceeds from understanding
• Notion vs. Being: Understanding and will differ in their proper notiones (notions) even though they are identical in substance

Important Definitions #

Procession (Processio) #

A going forth or emanation that remains within the agent, not an external production. In God, there are two processions: generation (according to understanding) and spiration (according to will/love).

Generation (Generatio) #

Strictly speaking, the origin of something living from a living principle conjoined to it. Requires proceeding by way of likeness in the same nature. The Word’s procession is properly called generation because it is a perfect likeness of the Father.

Understanding vs. Will #

• Understanding: Acts through the thing understood being in the mind by its likeness
• Will: Acts through inclination toward the thing willed, not through likeness

This fundamental difference explains why the procession of love is not generation: it does not proceed by way of likeness but by way of inclination.

Antonomasia (ἀντονοματοποιία) #

Naming something by a figure of speech, using a particular instance for the universal class. Example: calling someone a “Romeo” for a lover. Scripture uses antonomasia when referring to the Word as “the Word” (ὁ λόγος) and Christ as “the Christ” (ὁ Χριστός). The Holy Spirit has no special name for its procession, so it retains the common name “procession.”

Examples & Illustrations #

Imagination and Image #

• When I imagine a glass mountain, an image goes forward from my imagination and remains within it
• This illustrates how processions in God remain within God, unlike external production (making a chair)
• However, imagination is less perfect than understanding as an analogy

Reason Defining Itself #

• Shakespeare’s definition: reason is “the ability for large discourse, looking before and after”
• When reason understands itself, it forms a thought of itself
• Unlike imagination (which cannot imagine imagination), reason can know its own act
• This is closer to the Word’s procession because the Word is God understanding Himself
• Illustration: In logic, reason thinks about how to use reason itself

Love and Impression on the Heart #

• When someone makes a big impression on your heart, they are in your heart differently than in your memory
• Memory: the person exists as an image/likeness
• Heart: the person exists as an inclination toward them
• This illustrates how the Holy Spirit is in God through love’s inclination, not through likeness

Knowledge and Love of Opposites #

• Knowledge of opposites is the same: knowing virtue helps you know vice
• Love of opposites is not the same: loving virtue excludes loving vice
• Shows why love operates fundamentally differently from understanding

Notable Quotes #

“Whatever is in God is God, which does not take place in other things.” — Thomas Aquinas This principle is crucial for understanding why both processions communicate the divine nature despite their real distinction.

“Nothing is able to be loved by the will unless it be conceived in the understanding.” — Thomas Aquinas Establishes the order of processions: understanding comes first, love proceeds from it.

“Although in God the will and the understanding are not other, nevertheless, it pertains to the notion of the will and of the understanding that the proceedings…have themselves according to a certain order.” — Thomas Aquinas Resolves how two processions can exist in God without violating simplicity.

Questions Addressed #

Q: Is there a procession in God besides generation of the Word? #

A: Yes. There are two processions: the procession of the Word (according to understanding) and the procession of the Holy Spirit (according to will/love). Both communicate the divine nature and constitute real processions within God.

Q: Why doesn’t the second procession lead to infinite processions? #

A: The procession of love terminates in the procession of understanding. In intellectual natures, one rests in what is understood and then loves it. Since understanding and willing are the only two immanent operations in God that produce processions, only two processions are possible.

Q: If divine understanding and will are identical in God, how can their processions differ? #

A: Although they are identical in substance, they differ in their proper notiones (notions). Understanding proceeds by way of likeness; willing proceeds by way of inclination. This difference in notion preserves real distinction of processions despite God’s simplicity.

Q: Why does the Holy Spirit’s procession have no special name? #

A: In creatures, the only way of communicating nature is through generation. Since we can only name divine things from what we know in creatures, we have no special name for the procession of love. Therefore, the Holy Spirit’s procession keeps the common name “procession” rather than having its own distinct name like “generation.”