124. Why Three Persons in God, Not Four or More?

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Four Relations Problem #

• God possesses four real relations: fatherhood, sonship, active spiration (spiratio activa), and passive spiration (spiratio passiva)
• Yet Scripture and doctrine affirm only three divine persons, not four
• Solution: Active spiration (breathing/common breathing) belongs to both the Father and the Son, not to a separate person
• Since active spiration has no relative opposition to fatherhood or sonship, it does not constitute a separate person
• Passive spiration (procession of the Holy Spirit) belongs only to the Holy Spirit

The Three Processions Objection #

• Objection: If nature and will are not more distinct in God than intellect and will, why should procession per modum naturae (Son) and per modum intellectus (Word) be one person, while procession per modum voluntatis (Holy Spirit) is another?
• Berquist’s explanation of Thomas’s response: Both the Word and the Son proceed by way of likeness (per modum similitudinis)
  • The Word proceeds as an intellectual concept—a likeness formed in understanding
  • The Son proceeds as natural generation—a likeness in generation
  • In God, to understand and to be are identical (intellectus et essentia idem), so what proceeds by intellect also proceeds by nature
• Love does not proceed by likeness but by impression and inclination toward the object itself
• Therefore, only two processions are truly possible in God: generation and spiration

Relative Opposition as the Basis of Distinction #

• Core principle: Divine persons are distinguished only by relations of origin (relations of proceeding)
• Real distinction among relations: Occurs only through relative opposition (relatio oppositio)
• Fatherhood and sonship are opposed relations → two distinct persons (Father and Son)
• Active and passive spiration are opposed to each other → cannot both belong to one person
• Active spiration cannot belong to the Father and Son alone, because this would reverse the proper order of processions (understanding should precede willing, not follow from it)
• Therefore, active spiration belongs to both Father and Son, and passive spiration constitutes the third person

The Holy Spirit’s Goodness and Procession #

• Objection: The Holy Spirit possesses infinite goodness like the Father; why does it not produce another divine person?
• Thomas’s response: The Holy Spirit and the Father share numerically the same goodness, but they have this goodness with different relations
  • The Father has the goodness as not from another but as the source to be communicated
  • The Son has the goodness from another (the Father) and gives it to another (the Holy Spirit)
  • The Holy Spirit has the goodness from another but does not give it to another
• The opposition of relations does not permit the Holy Spirit to have a relation of beginning with respect to another divine person
• The Holy Spirit can only produce outside the divine nature (creatures), not within it
• This does not make the Holy Spirit inferior; it has the same divine goodness, merely with a different relational character

Why Only Three Logical Possibilities Exist #

• Berquist employs Aristotle’s analysis of plot structure as an analogy:
  • Before another / not before another
  • After another / not after another
  • These create four logical combinations, but only three are actualizable
• Applied to procession in God:
  • From another AND has another from oneself → (impossible in God’s structure)
  • From another BUT NOT having another from oneself → Holy Spirit
  • NOT from another BUT having another from oneself → Father
  • From another AND has another from oneself → Son
  • Neither from another NOR has another from oneself → (impossible—would have no relation, no distinction)
• Only three positions are coherent with the necessity of relational distinction

Numerical Terms and Divine Immensity #

• Objection: The Athanasian Creed says the divine persons are immensus (immeasurable); how can they be contained under the number three?
• Thomas’s distinction: Number operates in two ways:
  • Numerus simplex (abstract number): Exists only in understanding, measured by the unit
  • Numerus rerum (number of things): The numbered multitude itself, not properly measured by a unit
• When applying number to the divine persons, it is taken in the second sense
• Because all three persons share the same magnitude (the infinite divine nature), they are not measured by the unit in the way material things are
• The numerical term signifies the three persons themselves with only the addition of negation of division
• This does not limit God but rather expresses the formal multitude constitutive of three undivided beings

Key Arguments #

Argument Against Four Persons #

1. Divine persons are constituted by subsisting relations
2. There are four relations in God: fatherhood, sonship, active spiration, passive spiration
3. BUT: A subsisting relation constitutes a person only if it is opposed to other relations
4. Active spiration has no opposition to fatherhood or sonship (belongs to both)
5. Therefore, active spiration does not constitute a separate person
6. Conclusion: Three persons, not four

Argument Against Three Processions Producing Three New Persons #

1. The Son proceeds per modum naturae (by way of nature)
2. The Word proceeds per modum intellectus (by way of intellect)
3. The Holy Spirit proceeds per modum voluntatis (by way of will)
4. BUT: Procession by nature and procession by intellect both proceed by way of likeness
5. In God, understanding and being are identical
6. Therefore, these two processions are the same procession
7. Procession by way of will (love) does not proceed by way of likeness
8. Therefore, only two processions exist, yielding three persons

Argument Against Infinite Persons from the Holy Spirit’s Goodness #

1. The Holy Spirit possesses divine goodness (numerically identical to the Father’s)
2. IF the Holy Spirit’s goodness were numerically distinct from the Father’s, then by the same reasoning the Father produces a person through goodness, the Holy Spirit should too
3. BUT: The Holy Spirit’s goodness is not numerically distinct; it is the same goodness had from another
4. The Holy Spirit has no relation of beginning with respect to any divine person (it cannot be an origin of procession)
5. Therefore, the Holy Spirit cannot produce another divine person
6. Conclusion: No fourth or infinite persons

Important Definitions #

Divine Person (Persona Divina) #

• A relation subsisting in the divine nature (relatio subsistens in natura divina)
• Distinct from created persons (which are absolute substances of rational nature)
• Signifies relation not as an accident but per modum substantiae (as something substantial)

Relative Opposition (Oppositio Relativa) #

• The opposition between correlative relations (e.g., father-son, active-passive)
• The sole ground for real distinction among divine persons
• Relations without opposition to each other belong to the same person

Procession (Processio) #

• The emanation of one divine person from another
• Two types: generation (of the Son) and spiration (of the Holy Spirit)
• Relations of origin are distinguished by the mode of their procession

Spiration (Spiratio) #

• Active spiration (spiratio activa): The breathing-forth of the Holy Spirit by Father and Son
• Passive spiration (spiratio passiva): The procession of the Holy Spirit (being breathed forth)
• The term “procession” (processio) is used by Thomas for the procession of the Holy Spirit when he lacks a better name

Examples & Illustrations #

The Plot Structure Analogy #

• Aristotle teaches that a proper plot has three parts: beginning, middle, and end
• These correspond to the logical divisions:
  • Before another, not after another = beginning
  • Before another, after another = middle
  • After another, not before another = end
  • Neither before nor after = impossible (no plot function)
• Applied to the Trinity: Only three relational positions are coherent; a fourth would require a new logical structure

Understanding vs. Imagination vs. Love #

• Imagination and understanding: When I imagine or think of something, a likeness of that thing is formed in my mind
• Love: When I love something, an impression is made on my heart; I am inclined toward the object itself, not toward a likeness of it
• In human nature: Understanding and nature are distinct, so what proceeds by intellect (thought) differs from what proceeds by nature (children)
• In God: Understanding and being are identical, so the Word and the Son (proceeding by intellect and by nature respectively) are the same procession
• Conclusion: Only the Holy Spirit (proceeding by will/love) is a distinct procession because love does not proceed as a likeness

The Goodness Relation Structure #

• The Father: Has goodness not from another but as the source communicating to another
• The Son: Has goodness from the Father and gives it to the Holy Spirit
• The Holy Spirit: Has goodness from the Father and Son but does not give it to another divine person
• All three possess the same divine goodness numerically, but the relations by which they possess it differ

The Whiteness and Blackness Example (Implied) #

• Just as “whiteness” signifies the quality itself (not merely the exclusion of blackness), so “three persons” signifies the persons themselves with the addition only of negation of division (not merely the exclusion of solitude or multiple gods)

Notable Quotes #

“Plurality of persons in God is according to the plurality of relative properties.”

“The only basis for real distinction in God is the opposition of relations.”

“If relations are not opposed, it is necessary for them to pertain to the same person.”

“Both [nature and intellect] proceed by way of likeness, right? And because in God, to understand and to be are the same, right? And therefore, as has been said above, the going forward of the divine word is also the generation per modum ture.”

“Love as such does not go forward as a likeness of that from which it proceeds.”

“The opposition of relation does not permit that with the relation of the Holy Spirit, there be a relation of a beginning with respect to a divine person.”

“The Holy Spirit has that goodness only from another… The Father has that same goodness but not from another… The Son has… Both.”

Questions Addressed #

Q1: Why are there not four divine persons corresponding to four relations? #

• A: Because active spiration (one of the four relations) is not opposed to fatherhood or sonship; therefore, it belongs to both the Father and the Son rather than constituting a separate person. Only opposed relations constitute distinct persons.

Q2: Why are the Son and the Word the same person if they proceed differently (per modum naturae vs. per modum intellectus)? #

• A: Both proceed by way of likeness. Since in God understanding and being are identical, procession by intellect is also procession by nature. They are the same procession viewed from two perspectives. Love, however, does not proceed by likeness, so the Holy Spirit is a distinct person.

Q3: Does the divine immensity (immensitas) contradict being contained under the number three? #

• A: No. The number three, when applied to divine persons, is taken not as discrete quantity (measured by a unit) but as formal multitude of three undivided beings. This adds only negation of division, not a limiting measure.

Q4: Why does the Holy Spirit not produce another divine person given its infinite goodness? #

• A: The Holy Spirit possesses the same divine goodness as the Father, but it possesses it from another rather than as an origin. The Holy Spirit has no relation of beginning with respect to another divine person, which is the only basis for producing a new person in God. Outside the divine nature, creatures can proceed, but not another divine person.

Q5: Why not infinite divine persons if there are infinite operations or ways in God? #

• A: While higher creatures have more intrinsic operations than lower creatures (e.g., humans have sensation, imagination, and understanding; plants only growth and nutrition), God’s perfection is not per modum compositionis (by way of composition) but utterly simple. In God, secundum rem (in reality), there is only one operation: His essence. The two processions shown above exhaust the divinely possible modes of origination.