|
State of the question. The Greeks applied the name
Image to the Holy Ghost as well, while the Latins use
it only for the Son.
Reply. The name Image is proper to the Son.
1. Proof from Scripture. In Sacred Scripture the
word "image" refers only to the Son, as for instance,
"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature";[398] and "Who being the
brightness of His glory, and the figure of His
substance."[399]
2. Proof from theological reason. Only the Son by
reason of His procession formally possesses that which is
similar to the Father because He proceeds as the
expressed Word. The Holy Ghost, on the other hand,
proceeds as love, but love is not a likeness of that from
which it proceeds but rather an inclination after the
manner of a weight or an impulse.
Out of respect to the Greek Fathers it may be said that
the Holy Ghost is like the Father and the Son in nature
and thus the Holy Ghost may be said to be the image of
the Father and the Son in a broad sense, but not
formally by reason of His procession.[400] For the
same reason we said above that the second procession is not
generation because of itself it does not produce something
similar to that from which it proceeds.
Durandus objected that the Son is not similar to the
Father by reason of essence, because here there is
identity, nor by reason of relation because here there is
opposition. We reply that the Son is like the Father by
reason of essence and relation at once, that is, by
reason of person, for like things agree in some things and
differ in others. Thus the Father and the Son agree in
nature and differ by relation.
Note on the third objection. Man is said to be in the
likeness of God rather than the image of God, that is,
man tends toward the likeness of God.
Recapitulation. "The Word" is the proper name of the
Son, for the Word in God is both substantial and
incommunicable, that is, He is a person, something
subsisting and incommunicable. The Word implies a
reference to creatures inasmuch as He proceeds from the
comprehensive knowledge of the divine essence, which is
the cause of creatures. Again, the Son of God is
properly the Image, an image that is natural and
intentional at the same time, as a son is the living image
of his father. Only the Son has this derived likeness of
an image by reason of His procession because He proceeds
as the expressed Word of the Father.
Therefore we read in the Scriptures, "The image of the
invisible God," "the unspotted mirror of God's
majesty, "and" the brightness of His glory and the
figure of His substance."[401]
|
|