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This article explains the words of the Creed about the
Son, who is begotten but not made from nothing, in
opposition to the Arians, who taught that the Son was a
creature. St. Thomas showed that the processions,
generation and spiration, are emanations and not creations
from nothing. This is the difference between being
begotten and being made: he who is begotten is from the
substance of the generator. For even in human generation
the son is from the seed of the father, although here we
have a multiplication of natures; in divine generation the
Son is of the substance of the Father, but here the
entire indivisible divine nature is communicated to the
Son without multiplication of the nature. That,
however, which is made, for instance by a mechanic, is
not of the substance of the workman, but it is produced by
a transformation of matter, or if it is made without any
pre-existing subject it is said to be made from nothing.
This explains why the Scriptures speak of the Son of
God not only in the broad sense, as an adopted son, but
as "His own Son, "[567] and as "the
only-begotten Son."[568]
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