2. The Object of Faith: First Truth and Complex Knowledge

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Object of Faith as First Truth #

• Central Question: Is the object of faith the first truth (God)?
• Faith concerns not only divine things but also Christ’s humanity, sacraments, and created things
• Key Resolution: God as first truth is the formal object of faith; all other things come under faith only insofar as they relate to God
• Analogy from Medicine: Just as medicine considers everything in relation to health, faith considers all things in relation to God
• This answers the apparent objection that faith concerns many things besides God alone

Whether Faith’s Object is Complex or Simple #

• The Apparent Contradiction: God is absolutely simple and uncomposed, yet faith expresses itself through statements (subject + predicate), which are complex
• Resolution Through Distinction:
  • On the part of the thing believed: God is simple and uncomposed (incomplex)
  • On the part of the believer: The object is complex, expressed through enunciabilia (statable propositions)
• God does not need complex knowledge; His understanding knows all things in a single, simple act
• Human understanding must know truth through componendo et dividendo (composing and dividing) - that is, through affirmative or negative statements

Divine vs. Human Knowledge Compared #

• God’s Knowledge: Simple, incomplex, complete in one act of knowing Himself; knows all complex things in this simple way
• Human Knowledge: Complex and discursive; must move from one thing to another; knows even simple things in composed ways
• Angels’ Knowledge: Intermediate between God and humans; simpler than human but not as simple as divine; when an angel understands what a triangle is, it sees all properties at once, whereas humans must demonstrate properties one by one
• The Governing Principle: “Things known are in the knower in the way of the knower” - knowledge takes the form suited to the knower’s nature

The Creed and Statements of Faith #

• The Creed (Symbolo) contains statements not because God is composed, but because this is how humans must grasp divine reality
• The act of believing does not stop at the statement but passes through it to the thing itself
• Example: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty” - this is not formally a statement saying “God is Almighty,” yet it expresses a complex understanding

Key Arguments #

First Article: Is the First Truth the Object of Faith? #

Objection 1: Faith concerns many things beyond God

• If faith’s object is the first truth, why does faith include beliefs about Christ’s humanity, sacraments, and creatures?
• Reply: These are all known through faith in relation to God; they have no claim on faith except as ordered to God

Objection 2: Infidelity can concern anything in Scripture

• If one denies facts about creatures mentioned in Scripture (e.g., “Solomon is the son of David”), one is called unfaithful
• Therefore faith concerns created things, not only the first truth
• Reply: Such things are treated in Scripture always in relation to God and divine revelation

Objection 3: Charity loves both God and neighbor

• Yet we say the object of charity is God (the summa bonitas); God is not the only object of charity
• By this logic, the object of faith should not be only the first truth
• Reply: Charity loves the neighbor on account of God; we “love our neighbor in God”
• Similarly, faith relates all things to God as their formal cause of being known

Second Article: Is the Object of Faith Complex or Simple? #

Objection 1: God is simple; statements are complex

• A statement has subject and predicate (noun and verb); God is absolutely simple, without composition
• How can faith’s object be a statement when God transcends all composition?
• Reply: Proceeds “about the object on the part of the thing believed, not on the part of the way we believe it”

Objection 2: The Creed says “I believe in God” not “I believe that God is…”

• The creed uses things (res), not statements (enunciabilia)
• Reply: The act of believing does not terminate at the statement but passes through it to the thing; statements are means to knowledge of things
• We form complex statements not for their own sake but to know things

Objection 3: Vision in the fatherland will be of God’s incomplex essence

• According to 1 Corinthians 13:12, we now see “through a mirror, in darkness” but then “face to face”
• The beatific vision will see God as He is, which is simple and incomplex
• Therefore faith’s object should also be incomplex
• Reply: This describes different modes: in heaven we shall see God’s essence as simple; on the road of faith, we know through complex statements

Thomas’s Resolution:

• Things known are in the knower “in the way of the knower”
• God’s understanding knows complex things in a simple way
• Human understanding knows simple things in a complex way
• Therefore, though God Himself is simple, we grasp this simplicity through the necessarily complex structure of human understanding
• This is not a defect but the natural mode of human knowing

Important Definitions #

• First Truth (Prima Veritas): God Himself as the primary and foundational truth; the formal object of faith
• Formal Object: That through which or by which something is known (the medium of knowing); in faith, this is God
• Material Object: That which is known or believed about (creatures, sacraments, Christ’s humanity) - but these only insofar as they relate to the formal object
• Enunciabile: Something statable or able to be expressed in a proposition; a complex expression composed of subject and predicate
• Componendo: Composing or affirming - joining elements in a statement
• Dividendo: Dividing or negating - separating elements in a statement
• Incomplex (Incomplexa): Not composed; simple without parts or divisions; God’s nature
• Symbolo (Greek): “Thrown together” - referring to the Creed, which throws together articles of faith

Examples & Illustrations #

Medicine Analogy #

• Medicine considers all things (diet, exercise, rest, etc.) in relation to health (its formal object)
• Similarly, faith considers all things (Christ, sacraments, creatures, Scripture) in relation to God (its formal object)
• Just as medicine doesn’t claim to know diet apart from health, faith doesn’t claim knowledge of things apart from their relation to God

Triangle and Understanding #

• When an angel understands a triangle, it immediately sees all properties belonging to triangles
• A human, knowing what a triangle is, must still demonstrate that its interior angles equal two right angles
• This shows how even simple things (what is a triangle?) require complex processes of demonstration for human minds

“The Book” and Antonomasia #

• The Bible is called “the Book” (biblios in Greek simply means “book”), yet this title singles it out by antonomasia
• Among all books, the Bible stands out as THE book because it is the Word of God
• Similarly, Christ is THE anointed one (Messiah) among all anointed ones
• This illustrates how we grasp the singular and simple through common names applied complexly

Soul and Body #

• God creates an immortal soul to fit the particular body that has been begun by one’s parents
• Each person’s soul is precisely fitted to that body; your soul could not animate another’s body
• This shows an intricate relation: the simple (soul) is intimately bound to the composite (body)

Questions Addressed #

1. Is the first truth the object of faith?

   • Yes. God as first truth is the formal object. All material objects (creatures, Christ, sacraments) come under faith only in relation to God.

2. Is faith’s object complex or simple?

   • Both. The thing believed (God) is simple and incomplex. The way we believe (through human understanding) is necessarily complex, expressed in statements.

3. How can we believe in a simple God through complex statements?

   • Things are known in the knower according to the knower’s mode. Human understanding grasps truth through composition and division. Our complexity mirrors our created nature.

4. Why does the Creed express faith in statements if God is simple?

   • The Creed expresses how we know God, not what God is in Himself. The statements are necessary for human understanding, not because God is composite.

5. Will the beatific vision transcend these complex statements?

   • Yes. In heaven, we shall see God “face to face” - His simple essence directly. This will be incomplex vision, not expressed in propositions, yet more perfect than faith.