160. The Three Acts of Reason and Divine Mission

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Three Acts of Reason #

• First Act: Understanding what something is through definition, division, and distinction. Ignorance is characterized as ‘dull’ because it cannot distinguish, divide, or define things.
• Second Act: Forming judgments or statements about things (e.g., ‘I feel that this is so’)—expressing what one thinks about a proposition
• Third Act: Reasoning and syllogistic inference, where premises produce conclusions (e.g., dogs producing dogs, numbers producing numbers)
• These acts are ordered: the first is ordered to the second, and the second to the third

Semantic Degradation of Terms #

• Imitation: Originally meant ’likeness’ (Aristotle on tragedy); degraded in commercial society to mean ‘inferior likeness’ or ‘cheap copy’
• Feeling: Degraded in democratic customs from meaning sensory perception or judgment to primarily meaning emotion; yet retains legitimacy in both senses
• The word ‘unfeeling’ in Shakespeare can mean both emotionless and unthinking (lacking the second act of reason)

Divine Mission: Definition and Structure #

Mission (Missio) involves two essential relations:

1. Relation to the One Sending: The one sent must proceed from the one sending by way of origin (not command or counsel, which would imply inferiority)
2. Relation to the Term/Goal: The one sent must begin to exist in a new way in that which receives the mission

Why Mission Applies to Divine Persons #

• Procession from Another: Only the Son and Holy Spirit can be sent because only they proceed from another (the Son from the Father; the Holy Spirit from Father and Son). The Father cannot be sent because he proceeds from no one.
• No Inferiority Implied: The procession is according to equality of nature, not according to command (which would imply the sender is greater) or counsel (which would imply the sender is wiser)
• No Separation Occurs: The divine person does not begin to exist where previously it was not; rather, it begins to exist in a new way in the creature
• No Local Motion: The change is not in the divine person but in the creature receiving it

The Distinction Between Eternal Procession and Temporal Mission #

• Eternal Procession: Generation (Son) and Spiration (Holy Spirit) are eternal goings-forth that determine an eternal term
• Temporal Mission: Mission determines a temporal term—the new way in which the divine person exists in a creature in time
• A divine person can have eternal procession but temporal mission because mission adds a temporal effect or term to the eternal procession
• The procession itself is not changed by being temporal; rather, mission includes the eternal procession and adds something temporal to it

Key Arguments #

Objections Against Divine Mission #

1. Inferiority Objection: The one sent is less than the one sending; but divine persons are equal to one another; therefore, one divine person cannot be sent by another
2. Separation Objection: Whatever is sent is separated from the one sending it; but divine persons are inseparable; therefore, one divine person cannot be sent by another
3. Local Motion Objection: Sending implies going from one place to another; but divine persons are everywhere; therefore, divine persons cannot be sent
4. Eternity Objection: If mission is based on generation (which is eternal), then mission must be eternal, not temporal

Thomas’s Resolutions #

To the Inferiority Objection:

• Sending only implies lesserness when it involves command (where the commander is greater) or counsel (where the counselor is wiser)
• Divine mission involves only the going forward of origin, which is according to equality, as the one proceeding has the same nature as the one from whom it proceeds
• We drop the genus of inequality but keep the specific character of procession from another

To the Separation Objection:

• Things are separated in place when sent if they begin to exist where they previously were not
• This does not occur in divine mission because the divine person does not begin to exist where it was not (it is omnipresent)
• Divine mission has only the distinction of origin without any spatial separation

To the Local Motion Objection:

• The objection proceeds from imagination and must be transcended when speaking of God (following Boethius)
• Local motion has no place in God; the supposed ‘movement’ is only an analogical way of speaking

To the Eternity Objection:

• Mission involves two components: (1) procession from a principle and (2) a temporal term or effect
• The procession itself can be eternal, but mission adds a temporal term because the divine person is received by a creature in a new way in time
• Some things can be said of God both eternally and temporally: the Son proceeds from eternity to be God, but in time to be in man through visible mission

Important Definitions #

• Missio (Mission): A procession of a divine person from another combined with a new mode of indwelling in or relation to a creature, accomplished through grace
• Procession (Processio) (in the context of mission): A going forward of origin from one person to another; can be eternal (generation, spiration) or temporal (mission)
• Term (Terminus) of a mission: The goal, effect, or new mode of existence that constitutes what the mission accomplishes in the creature
• Distinction of Origin (Distinctio Originis): The way in which divine persons are distinguished from one another by their relations of origin, which provides the basis for mission

Examples & Illustrations #

• Reproduction in Nature: Dogs produce dogs (not cats); cats produce cats (not dogs); humans produce humans. This exemplifies how the third act of reason (syllogism) mirrors natural procession: premises determine conclusions as generators determine offspring.
• Numbers and Reproduction: When numbers come together in addition and subtraction, a number is produced. When statues come together (in Berquist’s terminology), a ‘staten’ is produced.
• Euclid’s Definition of Odd Numbers: One is not strictly a number, yet can be called ‘odd’ by analogy—we drop the genus (number) but keep the difference (differing from an even number by one). This exemplifies how terms are analogically predicated of God: we drop the genus of inequality in ‘sending’ but keep the specific relation to origin.
• Shakespeare’s Richard II (Gaunt’s Dying Advice): “Direct not him whose way himself will choose”—illustrates that one cannot direct those who do not listen; the lack of docility (receptivity) prevents reception of guidance. Similarly, the Holy Spirit cannot be ‘sent’ to one unwilling to receive.
• The Queen’s Sorrow in Richard II: The queen grieves over things not yet happened; the courtiers say she weeps over ‘imaginary things’ rather than ’true things.’ This illustrates the need to transcend imagination when speaking of divine realities.
• Beginning to Know and Love God: If I begin to know God or love him, it can be said that God is in me in a new way—in my knowledge and love—even though God himself undergoes no real change. This illustrates how the term of mission can be temporal while the divine person remains unchanging.

Notable Quotes #

“In the definition of mission or sending, two things are implied, huh? One of which is the relation of the one sent to the one from whom or by whom he is sent, right? The other is the relation of the one sent to the term or the limit, the goal to which he is sent, huh?”

“[I]n divine things, it does not imply except the going forward of, what, origin, which is according to equality, as he said before, right? The one who proceeds is equal to the one from whom he proceeds, having the same nature.”

“[A] divine person who is sent, just as he does not begin to be where before he was not, because he’s everywhere, So he does not cease to be where he was. He’s everywhere. When such a mission is without any separation, but it has only the distinction of what? Origin, huh?”

“A divine person to be in a new way in someone, or to be had by someone, right? Temporarily. It’s not because of a change of that divine person, but because of a change in the creature.”

“Ignorance is dull, not sharp, right, but dull, is to say it can’t distinguish them, it can’t divide them, it can’t define them things, right?”

“You have to transcend the imagination when you talk about what? God.”

Questions Addressed #

Can Divine Persons Be Sent? #

Question: How can divine persons be sent given three apparent impossibilities: (1) sending implies inferiority, (2) sending implies separation, (3) sending implies local motion?

Resolution: Mission implies procession from another by way of origin alone (not inferiority), a new mode of indwelling (not spatial separation), and no local motion (only an analogical relation of dependence). The divine person remains unchanged; only the creature’s relation to the divine person is transformed.

Is Mission Eternal or Temporal? #

Question: If the Son’s procession from the Father is eternal (generation), must not the Son’s mission also be eternal?

Resolution: Mission can be temporal even when procession is eternal because mission adds a temporal term or effect to the eternal procession. The Son proceeds from eternity in the divine nature, but is sent in time by beginning to exist in a new way in creatures (through grace). This temporal aspect comes not from a change in the Son but from a change in the creature receiving the mission.

Why Cannot the Father Be Sent? #

Question: The Father gives himself to creatures; why cannot he be said to be sent?

Resolution: Sending requires proceeding from another by origin. The Father proceeds from no one; therefore, the Father cannot be sent. Only the Son (who proceeds from the Father by generation) and the Holy Spirit (who proceeds from Father and Son by spiration) can be sent.