Saturday, September 09, 2006

Q42 A3: Whether in the divine persons there exists an order of nature?

Yes. In God order exists according to origin, without priority, and this is called 'the order of nature' because principle, according to origin, without priority, exists in God (Q33, A1).

In things created, even when what is derived from a principle is co-equal in duration with its principle, the principle still comes first in the order of nature and reason, if formally considered as principle.

If, however, we consider the relations of cause and effect, or of the principle and the thing proceeding therefrom, it is clear that the things so related are simultaneous in the order of nature and reason, inasmuch as the one enters the definition of the other.

But in God the relations themselves are the persons subsisting in one nature. So, neither on the part of the nature, nor on the part the relations, can one person be prior to another, not even in the order of nature and reason.