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Objection 1: It would seem that the angels were created before the
corporeal world. For Jerome says (In Ep. ad Tit. i, 2):
"Six thousand years of our time have not yet elapsed; yet how shall
we measure the time, how shall we count the ages, in which the
Angels, Thrones, Dominations, and the other orders served God?"
Damascene also says (De Fide Orth. ii): "Some say that the
angels were begotten before all creation; as Gregory the Theologian
declares, He first of all devised the angelic and heavenly powers,
and the devising was the making thereof."
Objection 2: Further, the angelic nature stands midway between the
Divine and the corporeal natures. But the Divine nature is from
eternity; while corporeal nature is from time. Therefore the angelic
nature was produced ere time was made, and after eternity.
Objection 3: Further, the angelic nature is more remote from the
corporeal nature than one corporeal nature is from another. But one
corporeal nature was made before another; hence the six days of the
production of things are set forth in the opening of Genesis. Much
more, therefore, was the angelic nature made before every corporeal
nature.
On the contrary, It is said (Gn. 1:1): "In the beginning
God created heaven and earth." Now, this would not be true if
anything had been created previously. Consequently the angels were not
created before corporeal nature.
I answer that, There is a twofold opinion on this point to be found
in the writings of the Fathers. The more probable one holds that the
angels were created at the same time as corporeal creatures. For the
angels are part of the universe: they do not constitute a universe of
themselves; but both they and corporeal natures unite in constituting
one universe. This stands in evidence from the relationship of
creature to creature; because the mutual relationship of creatures
makes up the good of the universe. But no part is perfect if separate
from the whole. Consequently it is improbable that God, Whose
"works are perfect," as it is said Dt. 32:4, should have
created the angelic creature before other creatures. At the same time
the contrary is not to be deemed erroneous; especially on account of
the opinion of Gregory Nazianzen, "whose authority in Christian
doctrine is of such weight that no one has ever raised objection to his
teaching, as is also the case with the doctrine of Athanasius," as
Jerome says.
Reply to Objection 1: Jerome is speaking according to the teaching
of the Greek Fathers; all of whom hold the creation of the angels to
have taken place previously to that of the corporeal world.
Reply to Objection 2: God is not a part of, but far above, the
whole universe, possessing within Himself the entire perfection of the
universe in a more eminent way. But an angel is a part of the
universe. Hence the comparison does not hold.
Reply to Objection 3: All corporeal creatures are one in matter;
while the angels do not agree with them in matter. Consequently the
creation of the matter of the corporeal creature involves in a manner
the creation of all things; but the creation of the angels does not
involve creation of the universe.
If the contrary view be held, then in the text of Gn. 1, "In the
beginning God created heaven and earth," the words, "In the
beginning," must be interpreted, "In the Son," or "In the
beginning of time": but not, "In the beginning, before which there
was nothing," unless we say "Before which there was nothing of the
nature of corporeal creatures."
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