Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Q39 A6: Whether the persons can be predicated of the essential terms?

Yes. Although adjectival terms, whether personal or notional, cannot be predicated of the essence, nevertheless substantive terms can be so predicated because of the real identity of essence and person.

The divine essence is not only really the same as one person, but it is really the same as the three persons.

Whence, one person, and two, and three, can be predicated of the essence as if we were to say, "The essence is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost."