Whether Word in God Is a Personal Name?
Objection 1: It would seem that Word in God is not a personal name.
For personal names are applied to God in a proper sense, as Father and
Son. But Word is applied to God metaphorically, as Origen says on
(John 1:1), "In the beginning was the Word." Therefore Word is not a
personal name in God.
Obj. 2: Further, according to Augustine (De Trin. ix, 10), "The Word
is knowledge with love;" and according to Anselm (Monol. lx), "To
speak is to the Supreme Spirit nothing but to see by thought." But
knowledge and thought, and sight, are essential terms in God.
Therefore Word is not a personal term in God.
Obj. 3: Further, it is essential to word to be spoken. But, according
to Anselm (Monol. lix), as the Father is intelligent, the Son is
intelligent, and the Holy Ghost is intelligent, so the Father speaks,
the Son speaks, and the Holy Ghost speaks; and likewise, each one of
them is spoken. Therefore, the name Word is used as an essential term
in God, and not in a personal sense.
Obj. 4: Further, no divine person is made. But the Word of God is
something made. For it is said, "Fire, hail, snow, ice, the storms
which do His Word" (Ps. 148:8). Therefore the Word is not a personal
name in God.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Trin. vii, 11): "As the Son is
related to the Father, so also is the Word to Him Whose Word He is."
But the Son is a personal name, since it is said relatively. Therefore
so also is Word.
_I answer that,_ The name of Word in God, if taken in its proper sense,
is a personal name, and in no way an essential name.
To see how this is true, we must know that our own word taken in its
proper sense has a threefold meaning; while in a fourth sense it is
taken improperly or figuratively. The clearest and most common sense
is when it is said of the word spoken by the voice; and this proceeds
from an interior source as regards two things found in the exterior
word--that is, the vocal sound itself, and the signification of the
sound. For, according to the Philosopher (Peri Herm. i) vocal sound
signifies the concept of the intellect. Again the vocal sound proceeds
from the signification or the imagination, as stated in _De Anima_ ii,
text 90. The vocal sound, which has no signification cannot be called
a word: wherefore the exterior vocal sound is called a word from the
fact the it signifies the interior concept of the mind. Therefore it
follows that, first and chiefly, the interior concept of the mind is
called a word; secondarily, the vocal sound itself, signifying the
interior concept, is so called; and thirdly, the imagination of the
vocal sound is called a word. Damascene mentions these three kinds of
words (De Fide Orth. i, 17), saying that "word" is called "the natural
movement of the intellect, whereby it is moved, and understands, and
thinks, as light and splendor;" which is the first kind. "Again," he
says, "the word is what is not pronounced by a vocal word, but is
uttered in the heart;" which is the third kind. "Again," also, "the
word is the angel"--that is, the messenger "of intelligence;" which
is the second kind. Word is also used in a fourth way figuratively for
that which is signified or effected by a word; thus we are wont to
say, "this is the word I have said," or "which the king has
commanded," alluding to some deed signified by the word either by way
of assertion or of command.
Now word is taken strictly in God, as signifying the concept of the
intellect. Hence Augustine says (De Trin. xv, 10): "Whoever can
understand the word, not only before it is sounded, but also before
thought has clothed it with imaginary sound, can already see some
likeness of that Word of Whom it is said: In the beginning was the
Word." The concept itself of the heart has of its own nature to
proceed from something other than itself--namely, from the knowledge
of the one conceiving. Hence "Word," according as we use the term
strictly of God, signifies something proceeding from another; which
belongs to the nature of personal terms in God, inasmuch as the divine
persons are distinguished by origin (Q. 27, AA. 3, 4, 5). Hence the
term "Word," according as we use the term strictly of God, is to be
taken as said not essentially, but personally.
Reply Obj. 1: The Arians, who sprang from Origen, declared that the
Son differed in substance from the Father. Hence, they endeavored to
maintain that when the Son of God is called the Word, this is not to
be understood in a strict sense; lest the idea of the Word proceeding
should compel them to confess that the Son of God is of the same
substance as the Father. For the interior word proceeds in such a
manner from the one who pronounces it, as to remain within him. But
supposing Word to be said metaphorically of God, we must still admit
Word in its strict sense. For if a thing be called a word
metaphorically, this can only be by reason of some manifestation;
either it makes something manifest as a word, or it is manifested by
a word. If manifested by a word, there must exist a word whereby it
is manifested. If it is called a word because it exteriorly
manifests, what it exteriorly manifests cannot be called word except
in as far as it signifies the interior concept of the mind, which
anyone may also manifest by exterior signs. Therefore, although Word
may be sometimes said of God metaphorically, nevertheless we must
also admit Word in the proper sense, and which is said personally.
Reply Obj. 2: Nothing belonging to the intellect can be applied to
God personally, except word alone; for word alone signifies that
which emanates from another. For what the intellect forms in its
conception is the word. Now, the intellect itself, according as it is
made actual by the intelligible species, is considered absolutely;
likewise the act of understanding which is to the actual intellect
what existence is to actual being; since the act of understanding
does not signify an act going out from the intelligent agent, but an
act remaining in the agent. Therefore when we say that word is
knowledge, the term knowledge does not mean the act of a knowing
intellect, or any one of its habits, but stands for what the
intellect conceives by knowing. Hence also Augustine says (De Trin.
vii, 1) that the Word is "begotten wisdom;" for it is nothing but the
concept of the Wise One; and in the same way It can be called
"begotten knowledge." Thus can also be explained how "to speak" is in
God "to see by thought," forasmuch as the Word is conceived by the
gaze of the divine thought. Still the term "thought" does not
properly apply to the Word of God. For Augustine says (De Trin. xv,
16): "Therefore do we speak of the Word of God, and not of the
Thought of God, lest we believe that in God there is something
unstable, now assuming the form of Word, now putting off that form
and remaining latent and as it were formless." For thought consists
properly in the search after the truth, and this has no place in God.
But when the intellect attains to the form of truth, it does not
think, but perfectly contemplates the truth. Hence Anselm (Monol. lx)
takes "thought" in an improper sense for "contemplation."
Reply Obj. 3: As, properly speaking, Word in God is said personally,
and not essentially, so likewise is to "speak." Hence, as the Word is
not common to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, so it is not true that
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one speaker. So Augustine says
(De Trin. vii, 1): "He who speaks in that co-eternal Word is
understood as not alone in God, but as being with that very Word,
without which, forsooth, He would not be speaking." On the other
hand, "to be spoken" belongs to each Person, for not only is the word
spoken, but also the thing understood or signified by the word.
Therefore in this manner to one person alone in God does it belong to
be spoken in the same way as a word is spoken; whereas in the way
whereby a thing is spoken as being understood in the word, it belongs
to each Person to be spoken. For the Father, by understanding
Himself, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and all other things comprised
in this knowledge, conceives the Word; so that thus the whole Trinity
is "spoken" in the Word; and likewise also all creatures: as the
intellect of a man by the word he conceives in the act of
understanding a stone, speaks a stone. Anselm took the term "speak"
improperly for the act of understanding; whereas they really differ
from each other; for "to understand" means only the habitude of the
intelligent agent to the thing understood, in which habitude no trace
of origin is conveyed, but only a certain information of our
intellect; forasmuch as our intellect is made actual by the form of
the thing understood. In God, however, it means complete identity,
because in God the intellect and the thing understood are altogether
the same, as was proved above (Q. 14, AA. 4, 5). Whereas to "speak"
means chiefly the habitude to the word conceived; for "to speak" is
nothing but to utter a word. But by means of the word it imports a
habitude to the thing understood which in the word uttered is
manifested to the one who understands. Thus, only the Person who
utters the Word is "speaker" in God, although each Person understands
and is understood, and consequently is spoken by the Word.
Reply Obj. 4: The term "word" is there taken figuratively, as the
thing signified or effected by word is called word. For thus
creatures are said to do the word of God, as executing any effect,
whereto they are ordained from the word conceived of the divine
wisdom; as anyone is said to do the word of the king when he does the
work to which he is appointed by the king's word.
_______________________