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Whether there are real relations in God?
There are real relations in God. The Father is from paternity while the Son is from filiation. In other words, The Father is not begotten of anyone or anything, because He is the First Mover, He Who Puts all Things into Motion and who Himself is unmoved. Furthermore, everything in existence springs forth from Him, as there is nothing prior or before Him. As for Son, who is the Word Made Flesh as the apostle John proclaimed in His gospel, The Son comes from the Father as begotten from a conjoined living principle; representing the nature of the Father (Divine), who is God, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. These relations are real and in the literal sense. It is not a metaphor, as some have falsely suggested when they consider the Son as a high level manager, prophet, or messenger who is that of a creature and not Divine or from the same substance as the Father. Whether relation in God is the same as His essence? Everything that is not of the Divine Essence is a creature and not worthy of the highest worship which is only reserved for the Godhead which is truly One Essence; One in Three and Three in One, The Father (intellect, first principle, not begotten), The Son (intellect, begotten by an eternal generation, and word), and Holy Spirit (impulse of the will, procession of Love, Truth, and Advocate which comes forth from the Father and Son by an eternal procession). Whether the relations in God are really distinguished from each other? The relations in God between Father (intellect, not begotten, the first principle), Son (intellect, begotten, procession of the word) and Holy Spirit (will, procession of love, truth, and advocate) are clearly distinguished from one another. The Father is by paternity, as He is the First Principle, and the Son is by filiation, as He is the Word Made Flesh, begotten (in the literal sense); for example, in a way we can understand this - as a human son (who is creature) comes from a human father (who is also creature) from the same substance as the father in the same likeness with the same attributes and traits as observed through the human family in accordance with natural law as we see in the material principle which is subjected to time (birth and death). From spiration, in that the Holy Spirit which is WILL and IMPULSE proceeds into the world by way of LOVE and TRUTH from both the Father (pure intellect, source of everything) and Son (intellect and word). We also see this in the Kings and Prophets of Israel who received the Holy Spirit before Pentecost and before when Lord Jesus Christ walked the earth in His human nature; for they too knew Him, acknowledged Him, and wrote about Him, even though the rest of the world did not know Him or could even bring themselves to accept Him. Finally, we distinguish them by their processions as when the bible is read in a solemn assembly and when a composite of flesh and spirit (a human), by sanctifying grace, establishes their holy body as a proper temple and dwelling place for the Holy Spirit as when the Holy Spirit illuminates the consciousness and mind of the person to confess their sins, testify truthfully, and to keep a pledge; come what may! Whether in God there are only four real relations-paternity, filiation, spiration, and procession? There are only four real relations in God. Furthermore, there are two ways to understand real relations; one, by its parts as they relate to one another (quantity), two by the action in relation to one another (doer to the deed). For example, the rider of a horse to the horse, a driver of the car to the car, so this is how we understand relations to one another - through their parts (quantity) and the one who does something (the deed). Now, God does not consist of many parts (quantity) because as was stated before, He is simple and whole (eternal with no beginning or end), for His intellect and will are one in the same, and He understands all things in existence, not in existence, or could be in existence by one simple act of knowing (because He is the source of all of it in a way we do not understand as creatures). Therefore, we can not understand the relation in God through His quantity of parts, for no such thing exists in Him. Now, we as creatures understand real relation in other things that are not God to quantity and parts because of our own subjection to time (start to finish, birth to death, corruption and decay), for we understand one thing by way of another, and from that knowledge we discover new knowledge of a thing that pertains to it, and in this way, by successive movements (time) we understand things. So, in order for us to understand real relations in God it must be linked to an action. These actions are the procession of the intellect (Son) which is also the Word (scripture) and is also known as generation which is proper to life and living things. The second action of procession is that of the will (Holy Spirit) which is also love. Now, considering these two processions of God, opposite relations exist; the First Principle (God the Father) to which all life originates from is of paternity, while the Word (Son and Begotten) proceeds from this First Principle where the relation is filiation. As for the procession of Love (Holy Spirit), the relation is to the Father and Son which is called spiration because it proceeds from them, for anyone who receives the Holy Spirit must acknowledge both the Father and Son (as when one performs the action of the sign of the cross as a show of faith). Finally, we know the four relations by their two processions, not by their parts or quantity, because no creature could understand the Holy Trinity by way of parts or quantity, for such is immeasurable, but we can somewhat know the Holy Trinity by their actions (proceeding by way of Word and Intellect and by way of Love and Will).
I am blessed to be a Third Order Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed in this post are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole.
Commentary regarding Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae derived from: ST part (I), Q. 27-49 from newadvent.org with permission. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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mr. scott lowry, op
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