Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Q45 A6: Whether to create is proper to any person?

No. To create is not proper to any one Person but is common to the whole Trinity because to create belongs to God according to His being, that is, His essence, which is common to the three Persons.

To create is, properly speaking, to cause or produce the being of things. And as every agent produces its like, the principle of action can be considered from the effect of the action.

Nevertheless the divine Persons, according to the nature of their procession, have a causality respecting the creation of things. For as was said above (Q14, A8; Q19, A4), when treating of the knowledge and will of God, God is the cause of things by His intellect and will, just as the craftsman is cause of the things made by his craft.

Now the craftsman works through the word conceived in his mind, and through the love of his will regarding some object. Hence also God the Father made the creature through His Word, which is His Son; and through His Love, which is the Holy Ghost.

And so the processions of the Persons are the type of the productions of creatures inasmuch as they include the essential attributes, knowledge and will.