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Whether the trinity of the divine persons can be known by natural reason?
God can be known by natural reason, for as the Apostle Paul says: Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. Although we cannot see God directly, we know He is there, just like when we see the effects of something but not the something directly, our natural reason identifies the cause through the evidence of the effect. The belief or unbelief in the cause of something has to do with human ignorance and misunderstanding, because the thought of a man cannot nullify what something is out of existence, even though the man cannot perceive it or understand it. Now, as it pertains to the persons of the Holy Trinity (God), this knowledge cannot be found through the use of natural reason, but is an article of faith (as the 2,000 year old Apostolic Roman Catholic Church proclaims to the entire world) and can only be attained through the teaching and preaching of creatures (those who are sent out). The creative power in God is of the unity of essence of the Godhead and is an effect of what it does, for one who does not recognize or know the Three Persons in God can easily believe that God (however they understand Him) does create things and sets the universe into motion, even though the faith to receive the Three Persons as He revealed to the entire world may not be present in the man who does not understand or can receive it at the moment. For as was stated before, the mind is finite and can only come to the understanding of things through parts as they are subjected to time (the measure of start to finish, birth and death). For example; if the man learns how to pop open the hood of the car, then the man will also learn how to jump start his car battery shortly after. Now, the Holy Trinity is infinite and is of eternity - beyond human understanding and faculties of reason through the corporeal senses. This truth must be received by faith, because as the Apostle also said: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. However, this does not mean that we are justified by faith alone, for faith is not the only thing which is required of a people (see the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes) as the gospel message and the old testament proclaims. Finally, it is most important to pick and choose correct battles that can actually be won distinctively, for if one were to debate an article of faith improperly, this failed method could lose more converts rather than gain, because the ridiculousness of the claims turn those considering the faith completely off from discovering the truth and thus finding salvation (which is the highest good for any person). For example, when sola scriptura/fide protestants deny the existence of dinosaurs and revealed science, such as the age of rocks and evidence of the surpassing time throughout the universe for the sake of promoting scripture, this brings more harm than good to the faith, and only leads others to mock the faith. Rather, one could simply remind the unbeliever that science is also the work of God’s hands and that the books of the Holy Bible are the human account of His creation as it pertains to Adam and Eve. Logically speaking, just because somebody doesn’t mention something, it does not mean that it never happened. It just simply means that it was never brought up in the account. This too is supposed to be received through faith (scripture), but when taught improperly, one strays from the faith, especially when it is taught by those with no authority (self-proclaimed teachers and shepherds who called themselves and laid hands upon themselves - which is an abomination). For when we take the next step and leap so as to prove the faith to another, we point to authority and the source of its power (The Church to which Christ Jesus is the head). Whether there are notions in God? There are notions in God. We can accept this because of what Holy Scripture revealed to us notionally; The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Even though The Holy Trinity and the Godhead was not mentioned specifically in the bible; notions do exist in God nonetheless. The use of demonstrating abstract terms to better describe God to others is not wrong. Since God is simple, where His intellect and will are one in the same, and because He is actual existence as opposed to creatures who are existence in potentiality (we exist through the agency of God), and since we can only identify the Persons of the Holy Trinity by their real relations to one another, paternity (Father), filiation (Son), and spiration of procession (Holy Spirit) through the notion and medium of our own understanding in knowledge to human affairs and relationships, the notions that are in God help people draw closer to Him for the building up of Heaven where there is eternal life and salvation. We can only understand Him to the extent of our own finite limits and qualities because He is infinity and what is limitless (Him) cannot be contained by what is limited (us), so when the Church demonstrates notions and divine things in God through its teaching because of its authority, it signifies simple forms with abstract terms, and signifies subsistent things with concrete terms, and it describes divine things through abstract names to express the simplicity of God which is divine while conveying its subsistence and completeness through concrete names. In conclusion, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas’ discourse, he says that “A notion is the proper idea whereby we know a Divine Person.” Therefore, since we know there are Three Persons in God, we obtain the proper idea as it relates to a Divine Person which comes forth from a notion in God which is received by faith which is taught by the authority of the Church (those in communion with the Seat of Peter, The Pope) and preached by those who are sent out. Whether there are five notions? The Divine Essence of God is a reality. The Three Persons of the Divine Essence of God is also a reality. The notions in God are ideas of the Persons. Since there is One Essence of God and Trinity of Persons in God, the five notions in God do not equate to five persons, but rather make the Three Persons of the One Divine Essence in God clearer for us to understand in ways some words alone cannot describe completely. Think of a sandbox that has hidden items underneath its sand with no intelligible form that is visible on the surface. For us to find the object so as to identify what they are, we must poke the sand around the object’s border until a form appears to us for eyes to see and comprehend. In the same way, notions in God help us to better understand the real relations in God which signified the Three Persons. There are five and they are: -Innascibility: Means the idea that the Father is unbegotten and from no one. The First Mover who puts all things into motion from His initial movement. This is not a relation, but an idea. -Paternity: Being the source of another, the Father’s paternity can be known in two ways; through Filiation (He has an Only Begotten Son) and Common Spiration (because the Holy Spirit is from Him). This is also a real relation. -Filiation: The Son who is known to be begotten by The Father. Moreover, the Person of the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well (and the Father). This is also a real relation. -Common Spiration: The Person of the Holy Spirit can be known by the fact that He is from the Son and the Father (to which the Holy Spirit proceeds from both). This is also a real relation. -Procession: The Person of the Holy Spirit can be known by the fact that He proceeds from the Son. The person of the Holy Spirit can be known by the fact that He proceeds from the Father. However, the Person of the Holy Spirit does not have a Divine Person proceed from Him as The Father and Son does. This is also a real relation. Furthermore, there are three personal notions in God which signify a Divine Person, they are Paternity (The Father), Filiation (The Son), and Procession (The Holy Spirit) which we know as The Holy Trinity. However, the two notions of Persons are known as Innascibility (the idea of a person which is unbegotten) and Common Spiration (belonging to Two Divine Persons). . Whether it is lawful to have various contrary opinions of notions? The notions in God are not articles of faith like belief in The Holy Trinity, the divinity of the Person of the Son, or the virgin birth of Lord Jesus Christ. There can be contrary opinions to the notions, just as long as it does not stray away from faith. For example, a false contrary opinion of notion that is heresy (determined by the authority of the Church, not an individual person’s interpretation) is believing that the Person of the Son is not divine, but a created being like humans or the angels. This would be an example of denying the faith directly. An example of a varying permissible notion in God that is not heretical could be different understandings and meanings within the parables that were taught in the gospel message. In another example, a false contrary notion in God that leads to heresy is not believing in what the scriptures tell us, such as in the slaughter of the innocents during the birth of Christ, or that John the Baptist never existed, thus calling scripture and the Word of God a liar. This would be an example of denying the faith indirectly. Furthermore, what may have been accepted in the past as up for debate, such as varying notions in God, in the absence of the Church making a definitive decision on the matter, finally becomes matters that have been decided upon and determined later in time as its consequences to the faith are made manifest, then it falls into the sphere of heresy when one strays from this decision and consensus by the Church (who have this authority through apostolic succession) by remaining in their belief and refusing to change on the matter in light of the known truth.
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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