140. Love and Gift as Divine Personal Names

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Love as a Divine Name #

• Love can function in two distinct ways: essentially (pertaining to God’s nature common to all three persons) and personally (as a proper notional name of the Holy Spirit)
• Unlike “word” (verbum), which is taken only personally in God, love possesses both essential and personal meanings
• The linguistic difference arises from how we must speak of the procession of the will compared to the procession of the intellect

The Preposition “By” (per) in Divine Love #

• When saying “the Father and Son love each other by the Holy Spirit,” the preposition “by” must be carefully understood
• It should NOT be construed as indicating an efficient cause (as if the Holy Spirit causes their love)
• Rather, it indicates formal denomination from what proceeds: just as a tree is said to flower by its flowers, the Father and Son love by the Holy Spirit as the love proceeding from them
• The Holy Spirit is both a person proceeding and a notional act (love itself)

Denomination from Effects #

• An author is properly denominated from his books (what proceeds from him), though he is also denominated from his knowledge (the form within him)
• Similarly, persons in God can be denominated from the notional acts and persons proceeding from them
• This is distinct from essential predication but is not false or merely metaphorical

Gift as Proper to the Holy Spirit #

• Gift properly denotes something given gratuitously and not intended to be returned (following Aristotle’s philosophical usage)
• The reason for gratuitous giving is love: we give something gratis because we will good to another
• Therefore, love has the notion of the first gift by which all other gratuitous gifts flow
• Since the Holy Spirit proceeds as love, it proceeds in the notion of the first gift

Gift and Rational Creatures #

• A divine person can be given only to a rational creature who is capable of freely knowing and loving God
• Other creatures may be moved by a divine person, but they cannot possess or enjoy a divine person and use its effects
• Only rational creatures elevated by grace can become partakers of the divine Word and the preceding love (the Holy Spirit)
• This is why gift properly relates to rational creatures receiving from God

Key Arguments #

The First Objection: Augustine and Wise #

Objection: Augustine says the Father is not wise by the generated wisdom (the Son). If this is true, how can love be a personal name when wisdom is not?

Response:

• “Wise” or “understanding” in God is taken only essentially, never notionally or personally
• “To speak” (dicere), however, is taken both notionally and relatively, belonging properly to the Father as Speaker
• “To love” is taken both essentially AND notionally: the Father loves essentially as God, but also loves notionally as the Holy Spirit proceeds from him
• Therefore the Father and Son can love each other by the Holy Spirit (the notional love proceeding from them)

The Second Objection: Breathe and Generate #

Objection: If we can say “the Father and Son love by the Holy Spirit,” why cannot we say “they breathe by the Holy Spirit” or “the Father generates by the Son”?

Response:

• When an action implies a determined effect in its very notion, one can denominate the agent from both the action and the effect
• Example: a tree flowers by its flowering (the action) and by its flowers (the effect)
• Example: I speak by my speaking (the action) and by my words (the effect)
• However, when an action does NOT imply a determined effect in its notion, one cannot denominate from the effect
• Example: we do not say “the tree produces by the flower” but only “by the production of a flower”
• To breathe and to generate imply only notional acts, not persons proceeding; therefore we cannot denominate from the effect
• To say (dicere) implies the person (the Word) proceeding; to love (as notional) implies the person (the Holy Spirit) proceeding
• Therefore we can properly say: the Father speaks by the Word and by speaking; the Father loves by the Holy Spirit and by love

The Third Objection: Does Love Also Apply to Creatures? #

Objection: If the Father loves the Son by the Holy Spirit, what about the Father loving himself and creatures?

Response:

• The Father loves not only the Son but also himself and all creatures by the Holy Spirit
• Because love, taken notionally/personally, implies both the production of the divine person (the Holy Spirit) AND a relation of that person to the thing loved
• Just as the Father speaks (says) himself and all creatures by the Word he generates, insofar as the generated Word sufficiently represents the Father and all creatures
• So the Father loves himself and every creature by the Holy Spirit, insofar as the Holy Spirit proceeds as the love by which the Father loves himself and every creature
• The relation of the Holy Spirit (as proceeding love) to creatures is secondary, whereas the divine truth and divine goodness are the primary source and beginning of understanding and loving creatures

Gift Is a Personal Name #

Objection: Gift does not imply distinction in God (since the Holy Spirit gives himself); it does not belong to divine persons but to the divine essence; gift implies subjection which cannot exist in God; gift implies relation to creatures (temporal) while personal names are eternal.

Response:

• Gift implies an aptness to be given, not necessarily the act of being given
• Something given has a relation to both: (1) the one giving it, and (2) the one to whom it is given
• A divine person is said to be of someone in three ways:
  1. By identity: “A free man is of himself” (the Holy Spirit is of the Father and Son as proceeding from them)
  2. By possession or servitude: A creature is “of” its master (this requires real distinction, applicable to created gifts)
  3. By origin only: The Son is of the Father (proceeding from the Father)
• Gift as a personal name in God signifies the third sense: proceeding from the giver
• The Holy Spirit gives himself because he is of himself (not possessed by another, but proceeding from his source)
• This is analogous to how a person is said to be free who is of himself
• Essence is a gift of the Father to the Son by the first meaning (identity), not the third
• Gift, taken personally, does not imply subjection but only relation of origin
• Gift can be said eternally of a divine person (aptness to be given), though actualized in time when given to creatures

Gift Is Proper to the Holy Spirit #

Objection: The Son is also given (John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son”). Therefore gift is not proper to the Holy Spirit.

Response:

• Just as the Son is properly called the Word (though the Holy Spirit is also like the Father), while the Son is given from the Father’s love
• So the Holy Spirit is properly called Gift (though the Son is also given)
• The reason: Gift is properly something gratuitous that is not to be returned
• The reason for gratuitous giving is love
• Therefore, love is the first gift; all other gratuitous gifts are given by means of love
• Since the Holy Spirit proceeds as love, it proceeds as the first gift
• When the Son is given, it is given FROM the love of the Father (according to John 3:16)
• But the Holy Spirit itself is the love by which the Father gives: hence it is properly the gift

Important Definitions #

Love (Amor):

• Essentially: the divine essence understood as love (common to all three persons)
• Notionally: the procession from the Father and Son by way of the will, constituting the proper name of the Holy Spirit

Gift (Donum):

• Something given gratuitously, not intended to be returned
• Implies relation to the giver (by origin) and to the receiver (by possession in the case of creatures)
• In God: a divine person proceeding from another

Aptness (Aptitudo):

• The capacity or suitability to be given
• Gift is said of a divine person from its aptness to be given, not necessarily from being actually given

Notional Act:

• An act that distinguishes the divine persons: to generate, to breathe (spirare), to be generated, to proceed
• These constitute the proper names of the persons

Denomination (Denominatio):

• Naming or characterizing something by what proceeds from it or is related to it
• Example: “author” from books; “lover” from love

Examples & Illustrations #

The Tree and Flowers #

• A tree is said to flower by its flowering (the action) and by its flowers (the effect)
• Similarly, the Father and Son love by love itself (the notional act) and by the Holy Spirit (the person proceeding)

The Author and Books #

• An author is denominated from his books (what proceeds from him)
• But an author is also denominated from his knowledge (the form within him)
• These represent different though not contradictory ways of denomination
• One can be an author by knowledge and diligence rather than (or prior to) by books written

Speaking and Words #

• I speak by my speaking (the action) and by my words (the effect produced)
• The Father says himself and all creatures by the Word he generates

The Library Book #

• A personal library book is truly “mine” in the sense that I freely possess and use it
• A library book is not truly “mine” in the same way—I have only temporary use of it
• This illustrates the distinction in what it means for a rational creature to “have” a divine person

Tree Production #

• We do not say “the tree produces a flower by the flower” but only “by the production of a flower”
• This shows the importance of whether an action implies a determined effect in its very notion

Questions Addressed #

Can the Father and Son love each other by the Holy Spirit? #

• Answer: Yes. The Holy Spirit proceeds as the notional act (love) from their mutual loving. This is denomination from a formal effect proceeding from them, not from an efficient cause. Just as a tree flowers by its flowers, so they love by the Holy Spirit.

Is gift a personal name in God? #

• Answer: Yes. Gift implies an aptness to be given, and a divine person is said to proceed “from” the giver according to origin. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and Son in this sense.

Why is gift proper to the Holy Spirit rather than to the Son? #

• Answer: Because love is the first gift by which all gratuitous gifts are given. The Holy Spirit proceeds as love, hence as the first gift. Though the Son is given by the Father, the Son is given from the Father’s love (the Holy Spirit).

Can the Father love himself and creatures by the Holy Spirit? #

• Answer: Yes. The Holy Spirit proceeds as love with relation to all that is loved—the Father himself, the Son, and all creatures. The divine goodness is the primary source; the Holy Spirit is the proceeding love by which the Father loves all things.

Does gift imply subjection in God? #

• Answer: No. Gift implies relation of origin only (proceeding from), not possession or servitude. The Holy Spirit gives himself because he is of himself (free), analogous to how a free man is of himself.