139. Love and Gift as Personal Names of the Holy Spirit

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Challenge of Naming the Holy Spirit #

• Unlike the Son (who has the proper name “Word” or verbum), the Holy Spirit lacks a single inherent proper name in Latin
• The poverty of Latin vocabulary compared to Greek (which has eros, philia, storge, agape) creates linguistic difficulties
• Names must be understood both essentially (pertaining to the divine nature common to all three persons) and personally or notionally (pertaining to one divine person by their origin/relation)
• Thomas must use circumlocutions or borrowed terms to express the Holy Spirit’s procession

Two Processions in God #

• Procession by way of understanding (per modum intellectus): The Word/Son proceeds as the intellectual conception of God, like an internal word or thought
• Procession by way of will (per modum voluntatis): Love proceeds as an affective response and inclination toward the beloved
• Both processions remain interior to God (unlike external actions) and are eternal
• The procession by understanding is more known to us, so we have better vocabulary for it; the procession by will is less known, so we must borrow terms

Love: Essential vs. Personal Predication #

• Essentially: “God is love” (1 John) — love pertains to the divine nature common to all three persons, not to one person alone
• Personally/Notionally: Love as the Holy Spirit proceeding from Father and Son — this is the proper name of the Holy Spirit
• The distinction parallels how intelligere (to understand) is said essentially, while dicere (to say) is said notionally (implying the person and the word that proceeds)
• Love can be taken both ways, unlike “Word” which is only personal/notional

The Impression of the Beloved in the Lover #

• When someone loves, the beloved is impressed upon or imprinted in the heart of the lover
• This differs fundamentally from understanding, where the understood is present as a likeness (imago) of the thing
• Love creates an inclination or affection toward the thing loved, not merely a representation of it
• The beloved is said to be “in” the lover in a different way than the understood is “in” the one understanding
• The Holy Spirit proceeds not as a likeness but as the mutual love/inclination of Father and Son toward each other

The Problem: “The Father and Son Love Each Other by the Holy Spirit” #

• Augustine teaches this doctrine, but it seems to say the Holy Spirit is the cause of the Father and Son’s love, which is impossible
• The ablative case in Latin (used in the phrase by the Holy Spirit) can signify various types of causes or relations
• This creates apparent contradiction: If the Holy Spirit is love proceeding from Father and Son, how can they love by means of it?

Key Arguments #

Against Love Being a Proper Name of the Holy Spirit (Objections) #

1. Augustine’s authority on essential predication: Love is said of all three persons and the Trinity as a whole, not privately of one person
2. Love as action, not person: Love signifies an action going forth from the lover to the beloved, but the Holy Spirit is a subsisting person, not an action
3. Love as connection: Love unites the lover and beloved as a middle thing between them; but the Holy Spirit proceeds from them, not stands between them
4. Infinite regress problem: If the Holy Spirit is love and he loves, wouldn’t he have some love? Then love of love, and so on indefinitely?

Thomas’s Resolution on Love #

• Love can be taken both essentially and personally, unlike “Word” which is only personal
• In God, all actions remain within the agent (understanding, willing, loving do not go outside God)
• Although grammar may suggest otherwise, intelligere, velle, and amare are immanent acts that remain in the one who thinks, wills, and loves
• The Holy Spirit is not a static connection between Father and Son, but the living expression of their mutual love
• The Holy Spirit loves essentially (as love itself) but not notionally/relationally (he does not produce another love from himself)
• Gregory the Great: Ipse Spiritus Sanctus est Amor (The Holy Spirit himself is love)

The Resolution: “By the Holy Spirit” as Formal Effect #

• The ablative by must be construed as a formal effect, not an efficient cause
• Just as we say:
  • A person is “healthy by health” (health is a form in the person)
  • A person is “clothed by clothing” (clothing functions like a form)
  • A tree is “flowering by its flowers” (flowers proceed from the tree, yet we name the tree from them)
  • A person speaks “by words” (not by knowledge, but by the words that proceed from speaking)
• Similarly, the Father and Son are said to “love by the Holy Spirit” — the Holy Spirit proceeds from their mutual love, and we denominate their loving from what proceeds
• This does NOT mean the Holy Spirit causes or enables the Father and Son’s love; rather, their love expresses itself or manifests in the Holy Spirit

Four Opinions on the Phrase (mentioned by Thomas) #

1. Some say it is simply false and was retracted by Augustine
2. Some say it is improper, meaning the Father loves the Son by essential love (which is appropriated to the Holy Spirit)
3. Some say the Holy Spirit is a sign that the Father loves the Son (because he proceeds as love)
4. Some (following Thomas more closely) say it should be construed as a formal cause — the Holy Spirit is formally the love by which they love
5. Thomas’s position: The ablative should be construed as a formal effect — this comes closest to the truth

Love Proceeding from Both Father and Son #

• The Father loves the Son and himself and creatures by the Holy Spirit
• All these uses are valid because the Holy Spirit proceeds as love from both the Father and Son
• The relation to creatures is secondary; the primary relation is the mutual love of Father and Son
• The Holy Spirit is “that by which the one generated is loved by the one generating, and the one generated loves the one generating” (Augustine)

Important Definitions #

Essential Predication #

When a name pertains to the divine nature or essence common to all three persons (e.g., “God is love,” “God is wise”). Such names do not distinguish the persons from one another.

Personal/Notional Predication #

When a name pertains to one divine person by virtue of their origin or relation to another person (e.g., “Father,” “Son,” “Love” as the Holy Spirit). Such names express what distinguishes one person from the others.

Procession (processio) #

The eternal going-forth of one divine person from another(s). In God, there are two processions: by way of understanding (the Son) and by way of will (the Holy Spirit).

Impression (impressio) #

The way the beloved is present in the lover’s affection or heart — not as a likeness or representation, but as an inclination or inclination toward the thing loved itself.

Notional Act (actus notionalis) #

An act that expresses the origin of a divine person and so belongs properly to distinguishing that person (e.g., generation belongs to the Father as the principle, and to the Son as the one proceeding; breathing/spiration belongs to Father and Son as principles, and to the Holy Spirit as proceeding).

Formal Effect (effectus formalis) #

That which proceeds from an agent’s action and by which we denominate the agent (e.g., flowers from a tree, words from a speaker). Distinct from efficient cause (the source) and from formal cause (a quality intrinsic to the agent).

Denomination #

To name or characterize something by means of something else that either inheres in it (formal cause) or proceeds from it (formal effect).

Examples & Illustrations #

The Tree and Flowers #

• A tree is said to be “flowering by its flowers”
• The flowers are not the form of the tree (the tree could be a tree without flowers)
• Yet we denominate or name the tree from the flowers that proceed from it
• Application: The Father and Son are said to “love by the Holy Spirit” — the Holy Spirit proceeds from their love, and we name their loving from what proceeds

Speaking by Words #

• I am healthy “by health” → health is a form in me (formal cause)
• I speak “by knowledge and ability to form words” → these are intrinsic capacities (formal cause)
• I speak “by words” → words are what proceed from my speaking (formal effect)
• Application: The Father and Son love “by the Holy Spirit” functions like “I speak by words” — the Holy Spirit is what proceeds from their loving

Clothing and Denomination #

• I am clothed “by my clothing” — even though clothing is not a form like health or knowledge
• Clothing functions like a form in the act of denomination, though it is not intrinsically a form
• Application: The Holy Spirit is formally effective in the Father and Son’s love, even though he is not an intrinsic capacity

The Author and Books #

• An author is denominated “by knowledge” (the knowledge in the author)
• An author is denominated “by books” (what proceeds from the author’s writing)
• Both are true but in fundamentally different ways
• Application: The Father and Son are denominated as loving both by the essential divine love (nature/form) and by the Holy Spirit who proceeds from them (formal effect)

Michaelangelo and Sculpture #

• Michaelangelo is a sculptor by his art (formal cause — intrinsic capacity)
• Michaelangelo is a sculptor by the statues he has made (formal effect — what proceeds from his artistic action)
• We denominate him from what proceeds from him

Notable Quotes #

“The Holy Spirit himself is love” (Ipse Spiritus Sanctus est Amor) — Gregory the Great, Homily on Pentecost

“The Holy Spirit is that by which the one generated is loved by the one generating it, and the one generated loves the one generating it” — Augustine, Book 6 of the Trinity

“I know not why it is that just as wisdom is said to be the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit all together, not three but one wisdom, one would not also say that charity or love is [said to be the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit], as if this were something essential rather than a private name” — Augustine, Book 15 of the Trinity

“These relations we signify by the words of love” — Thomas, explaining the poverty of vocabulary for the procession of the will

“Although they name actions remaining in the ones doing them, nevertheless, in the one doing this, there is implied a certain relation to the object” — Thomas, on immanent actions

“According to his origin, the Holy Spirit is not middle, but third in the Divine Person” — Thomas, clarifying the Holy Spirit’s position in the Trinity

Questions Addressed #

Q1: Is Love a Proper Name of the Holy Spirit? #

Thomas’s Answer: Yes, when taken personally/notionally. Love is the proper name of the Holy Spirit insofar as the Holy Spirit proceeds as love from the Father and Son. However, love is also taken essentially, in which case it pertains to all three persons and the divine nature itself. The key is to distinguish between these two ways of understanding “love.”

Q2: Do the Father and Son Love Each Other by the Holy Spirit? #

Thomas’s Answer: Yes, understood correctly. The preposition “by” (ablative per or implied instrumental relation) must be construed as a formal effect: the Holy Spirit proceeds from their mutual love, and we denominate their loving from what proceeds from them. This does not mean the Holy Spirit causes their love or is prior to it, but rather that the Holy Spirit is the expression or proceeding of their love. The tree is “flowering by its flowers” — similarly, the Father and Son “love by the Holy Spirit.”

Q3: Is the Holy Spirit a “Middle” or “Bond” Between Father and Son? #

Thomas’s Answer: According to his origin (the way he comes to be), the Holy Spirit is the third person in the Trinity, not a middle. However, according to the force or ratio of his relation as love, the Holy Spirit is a middle insofar as he implies the relation of lover to beloved on both sides. But this does not mean he stands between them as an intermediary cause; he is the mutual love that binds them together.

Q4: If the Holy Spirit Loves, Does He Have a Love (Love of Love)? #

Thomas’s Answer: No, because although the Holy Spirit loves essentially (taking love as pertaining to the divine nature and activity), he does not love notionally (in the sense of producing or spirating forth another love). He loves as love itself proceeding, not as a principle from which another love proceeds. Just as the Son understands but does not generate a word (he is the word generated), the Holy Spirit loves but does not breathe/spirate another love.

Q5: What Is the Difference Between Saying the Father is Wise and Saying He Loves by the Holy Spirit? #

Thomas’s Answer: If “the Father is wise by the Son” meant the Son causes or enables the Father’s wisdom, it would be false and impossible. Similarly, “the Father loves by the Holy Spirit” does NOT mean the Holy Spirit causes their love. Instead, these statements must be understood as denomination from processions: the Father is “wise” in relation to the wisdom that proceeds from him (the Son), and the Father and Son “love” in relation to the love that proceeds from both (the Holy Spirit). The ablative construction implies a formal effect, not an efficient cause.

Connections to Other Thomistic Concepts #

Immanent vs. Transient Actions #

• Understanding, willing, and loving are immanent actions that remain within the agent
• This contrasts with transitive actions (like hitting or kicking) that pass over into external objects
• Grammar often obscures this distinction, but metaphysically it is crucial

The Simplicity of God #

• God’s understanding and his being are identical
• God’s loving and his being are identical
• Therefore, when love is taken essentially, it is identical with God’s essence

Appropriation #

• Although all perfections (including love and wisdom) pertain to all three persons essentially, the Church appropriates certain perfections to certain persons for pedagogical reasons
• Love is often appropriated to the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit personally proceeds as love
• Wisdom is often appropriated to the Son because the Son personally proceeds as Word

Pedagogical Notes #

Berquist emphasizes the importance of understanding the distinction between grammar and logic (logica). The grammarian sees only the surface structure of words (adjectives, nouns, verbs). The logician sees the things that words signify and the relationships between them. This distinction is crucial for understanding how statements about the Trinity can be true even when they seem grammatically ambiguous or contradictory.