Whether There Are Two Filiations in Christ?
Objection 1: It would seem that there are two filiations in Christ.
For nativity is the cause of filiation. But in Christ there are two
nativities. Therefore in Christ there are also two filiations.
Obj. 2: Further, filiation, which is said of a man as being the son
of someone, his father or his mother, depends, in a way, on him:
because the very being of a relation consists _in being referred to
another;_ wherefore if one of two relatives be destroyed, the other
is destroyed also. But the eternal filiation by which Christ is the
Son of God the Father depends not on His Mother, because nothing
eternal depends on what is temporal. Therefore Christ is not His
Mother's Son by temporal filiation. Either, therefore, He is not her
Son at all, which is in contradiction to what has been said above
(AA. 3, 4), or He must needs be her Son by some other temporal
filiation. Therefore in Christ there are two filiations.
Obj. 3: Further, one of two relatives enters the definition of the
other; hence it is clear that of two relatives, one is specified from
the other. But one and the same cannot be in diverse species.
Therefore it seems impossible that one and the same relation be
referred to extremes which are altogether diverse. But Christ is said
to be the Son of the Eternal Father and a temporal mother, who are
terms altogether diverse. Therefore it seems that Christ cannot, by
the same relation, be called the Son of the Father and of His Mother
Therefore in Christ there are two filiations.
_On the contrary,_ As Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iii), things
pertaining to the nature are multiple in Christ; but not those things
that pertain to the Person. But filiation belongs especially to the
Person, since it is a personal property, as appears from what was
said in the First Part (Q. 32, A. 3; Q. 40, A. 2). Therefore there is
but one filiation in Christ.
_I answer that,_ opinions differ on this question. For some,
considering only the cause of filiation, which is nativity, put two
filiations in Christ, just as there are two nativities. _On the
contrary,_ others, considering only the subject of filiation, which
is the person or hypostasis, put only one filiation in Christ, just
as there is but one hypostasis or person. Because the unity or
plurality of a relation is considered in respect, not of its terms,
but of its cause or of its subject. For if it were considered in
respect of its terms, every man would of necessity have in himself
two filiations--one in reference to his father, and another in
reference to his mother. But if we consider the question aright, we
shall see that every man bears but one relation to both his father
and his mother, on account of the unity of the cause thereof. For man
is born by one birth of both father and mother: whence he bears but
one relation to both. The same is said of one master who teaches many
disciples the same doctrine, and of one lord who governs many
subjects by the same power. But if there be various causes
specifically diverse, it seems that in consequence the relations
differ in species: wherefore nothing hinders several such relations
being in the same subject. Thus if a man teach grammar to some and
logic to others, his teaching is of a different kind in one case and
in the other; and therefore one and the same man may have different
relations as the master of different disciples, or of the same
disciples in regard to diverse doctrines. Sometimes, however, it
happens that a man bears a relation to several in respect of various
causes, but of the same species: thus a father may have several sons
by several acts of generation. Wherefore the paternity cannot differ
specifically, since the acts of generation are specifically the same.
And because several forms of the same species cannot at the same time
be in the same subject, it is impossible for several paternities to
be in a man who is the father of several sons by natural generation.
But it would not be so were he the father of one son by natural
generation and of another by adoption.
Now, it is manifest that Christ was not born by one and the same
nativity, of the Father from eternity, and of His Mother in time:
indeed, these two nativities differ specifically. Wherefore, as to
this, we must say that there are various filiations, one temporal and
the other eternal. Since, however, the subject of filiation is
neither the nature nor part of the nature, but the person or
hypostasis alone; and since in Christ there is no other hypostasis or
person than the eternal, there can be no other filiation in Christ
but that which is in the eternal hypostasis. Now, every relation
which is predicated of God from time does not put something real in
the eternal God, but only something according to our way of thinking,
as we have said in the First Part (Q. 13, A. 7). Therefore the
filiation by which Christ is referred to His Mother cannot be a real
relation, but only a relation of reason.
Consequently each opinion is true to a certain extent. For if we
consider the adequate causes of filiation, we must needs say that
there are two filiations in respect of the twofold nativity. But if
we consider the subject of filiation, which can only be the eternal
suppositum, then no other than the eternal filiation in Christ is a
real relation. Nevertheless, He has the relation of Son in regard to
His Mother, because it is implied in the relation of motherhood to
Christ. Thus God is called Lord by a relation which is implied in the
real relation by which the creature is subject to God. And although
lordship is not a real relation in God, yet is He really Lord through
the real subjection of the creature to Him. In the same way Christ is
really the Son of the Virgin Mother through the real relation of her
motherhood to Christ.
Reply Obj. 1: Temporal nativity would cause a real temporal filiation
in Christ if there were in Him a subject capable of such filiation.
But this cannot be; since the eternal suppositum cannot be receptive
of a temporal relation, as stated above. Nor can it be said that it
is receptive of temporal filiation by reason of the human nature,
just as it is receptive of the temporal nativity; because human
nature would need in some way to be the subject of filiation, just as
in a way it is the subject of nativity; for since an Ethiopian is
said to be white by reason of his teeth, it must be that his teeth
are the subject of whiteness. But human nature can nowise be the
subject of filiation, because this relation regards directly the
person.
Reply Obj. 2: Eternal filiation does not depend on a temporal mother,
but together with this eternal filiation we understand a certain
temporal relation dependent on the mother, in respect of which
relation Christ is called the Son of His Mother.
Reply Obj. 3: One and being are mutually consequent, as is said
_Metaph._ iv. Therefore, just as it happens that in one of the
extremes of a relation there is something real, whereas in the other
there is not something real, but merely a certain aspect, as the
Philosopher observes of knowledge and the thing known; so also it
happens that on the part of one extreme there is one relation,
whereas on the part of the other there are many. Thus in man on the
part of his parents there is a twofold relation, the one of
paternity, the other of motherhood, which are specifically diverse,
inasmuch as the father is the principle of generation in one way, and
the mother in another (whereas if many be the principle of one action
and in the same way--for instance, if many together draw a ship
along--there would be one and the same relation in all of them); but
on the part of the child there is but one filiation in reality,
though there be two in aspect, corresponding to the two relations in
the parents, as considered by the intellect. And thus in one way
there is only one real filiation in Christ, which is in respect of
the Eternal Father: yet there is another temporal relation in regard
to His temporal mother.
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