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IN the prologue (question 27), St. Thomas lays
down the order for the whole treatise and the fitness of
his distribution of the matter is immediately apparent.
He explains: "Since the divine persons are
distinguished by the relations of origin (inasmuch as the
Son is denominated by His origin from the Father, and
the Holy Ghost by His origin from the Spirators), we
shall follow the order indicated by the matter itself when
we first consider origin or procession, secondly the
relations of origin, and thirdly the divine persons."
The treatise, therefore, is divided as follows:
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1. Concerning the divine processions (Question 27).
2. Concerning the divine relations (Question 28).
3. Concerning the divine persons (Questions 29 to
43).
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Of persons absolutely:
In common: the idea of person, the plurality of
persons, the similarities and dissimilarities of the
persons, and their knowability by us.
Individually: the persons of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost.
Of the persons comparatively: with regard to their
essence, their properties and relations, their notional
acts (generation and active spiration); the comparison
of the persons with one another with regard to their
similarity and equality and their respective missions.
St. Thomas, we see, proceeds according to the genetic
method, from that which is better known to that which is
less known. For in the Scriptures we read of
processions, indicated by the name of the Son,
proceeding from the Father, and of the Holy Ghost,
proceeding from the spirators, but we do not find the word
"person," only the personal nouns, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost. In this way St. Thomas gradually shows
that the relations are founded in the processions (for
example, filiation is based on passive generation), and
that the persons are constituted by subsisting relations.
Beginning with what is explicitly revealed, the
processions, he finds something that is implicitly
revealed and gradually progresses from the indistinct
knowledge of subsisting relations and related persons to a
defined and distinct idea. These are, as we shall see,
explicative processes, or at least subjectively illative,
and not objectively illative processes, except in those
instances where a new truth is deduced. In general in
these first questions the same truth, which is formally
revealed, is extensively explained and
unfolded.[155]
In the division of this treatise it should be noted that
the first two parts are discussed in Questions 27 and
28: the third part, treating of the divine persons, is
treated in Questions 29 to 43.
This third part is subdivided into two parts:
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1. The persons considered absolutely: a) in common;
b) individually.
2. The persons considered comparatively: a) with
regard to their essence; b) their properties; c) their
notional acts (active generation and active spiration);
d) their equality, similarity, and missions.
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At first sight it will appear that in Questions 39,
40, 41, St. Thomas seems to begin the treatise
anew, treating of the persons in common with regard to
their essence, properties, and notional acts; he seems
to be repeating what was already said in Questions 27,
28, and 29, about the processions, the relations of
origin, and the persons in common.
He is not, however, repeating himself; for what he said
earlier in an analytical exposition he explains later in a
synthetical exposition, comparing one truth with another
and penetrating more profoundly into the matter of the
treatise. Many of St. Thomas' commentators, because
of the similarity of the matter treated, explain in their
commentary on Question 27 the doctrine offered by St.
Thomas in Question 39. They follow this procedure for
the sake of clarity and brevity, but the more profound and
preferable presentation, we think, is that given by St.
Thomas.
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