Whether the Notional Acts Are Voluntary?
Objection 1: It would seem that the notional acts are voluntary. For
Hilary says (De Synod.): "Not by natural necessity was the Father led
to beget the Son."
Obj. 2: Further, the Apostle says, "He transferred us to the kingdom
of the Son of His love" (Col. 1:13). But love belongs to the will.
Therefore the Son was begotten of the Father by will.
Obj. 3: Further, nothing is more voluntary than love. But the Holy
Ghost proceeds as Love from the Father and the Son. Therefore He
proceeds voluntarily.
Obj. 4: Further, the Son proceeds by mode of the intellect, as the
Word. But every word proceeds by the will from a speaker. Therefore
the Son proceeds from the Father by will, and not by nature.
Obj. 5: Further, what is not voluntary is necessary. Therefore if the
Father begot the Son, not by the will, it seems to follow that He
begot Him by necessity; and this is against what Augustine says (Ad
Orosium qu. vii).
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says, in the same book, that, "the Father
begot the Son neither by will, nor by necessity."
_I answer that,_ When anything is said to be, or to be made by the
will, this can be understood in two senses. In one sense, the
ablative designates only concomitance, as I can say that I am a man
by my will--that is, I will to be a man; and in this way it can be
said that the Father begot the Son by will; as also He is God by
will, because He wills to be God, and wills to beget the Son. In the
other sense, the ablative imports the habitude of a principle as it
is said that the workman works by his will, as the will is the
principle of his work; and thus in that sense it must be said the God
the Father begot the Son, not by His will; but that He produced the
creature by His will. Whence in the book _De Synod.,_ it is said: "If
anyone say that the Son was made by the Will of God, as a creature is
said to be made, let him be anathema." The reason of this is that
will and nature differ in their manner of causation, in such a way
that nature is determined to one, while the will is not determined to
one; and this because the effect is assimilated to the form of the
agent, whereby the latter acts. Now it is manifest that of one thing
there is only one natural form whereby it exists; and hence such as
it is itself, such also is its work. But the form whereby the will
acts is not only one, but many, according to the number of ideas
understood. Hence the quality of the will's action does not depend on
the quality of the agent, but on the agent's will and understanding.
So the will is the principle of those things which may be this way or
that way; whereas of those things which can be only in one way, the
principle is nature. What, however, can exist in different ways is
far from the divine nature, whereas it belongs to the nature of a
created being; because God is of Himself necessary being, whereas a
creature is made from nothing. Thus, the Arians, wishing to prove the
Son to be a creature, said that the Father begot the Son by will,
taking will in the sense of principle. But we, on the contrary, must
assert that the Father begot the Son, not by will, but by nature.
Wherefore Hilary says (De Synod.): "The will of God gave to all
creatures their substance: but perfect birth gave the Son a nature
derived from a substance impassible and unborn. All things created
are such as God willed them to be; but the Son, born of God, subsists
in the perfect likeness of God."
Reply Obj. 1: This saying is directed against those who did not admit
even the concomitance of the Father's will in the generation of the
Son, for they said that the Father begot the Son in such a manner by
nature that the will to beget was wanting; just as we ourselves
suffer many things against our will from natural necessity--as, for
instance, death, old age, and like ills. This appears from what
precedes and from what follows as regards the words quoted, for thus
we read: "Not against His will, nor as it were, forced, nor as if He
were led by natural necessity did the Father beget the Son."
Reply Obj. 2: The Apostle calls Christ the Son of the love of God,
inasmuch as He is superabundantly loved by God; not, however, as if
love were the principle of the Son's generation.
Reply Obj. 3: The will, as a natural faculty, wills something
naturally, as man's will naturally tends to happiness; and likewise
God naturally wills and loves Himself; whereas in regard to things
other than Himself, the will of God is in a way, undetermined in
itself, as above explained (Q. 19, A. 3). Now, the Holy Ghost
proceeds as Love, inasmuch as God loves Himself, and hence He
proceeds naturally, although He proceeds by mode of will.
Reply Obj. 4: Even as regards the intellectual conceptions of the
mind, a return is made to those first principles which are naturally
understood. But God naturally understands Himself, and thus the
conception of the divine Word is natural.
Reply Obj. 5: A thing is said to be necessary "of itself," and "by
reason of another." Taken in the latter sense, it has a twofold
meaning: firstly, as an efficient and compelling cause, and thus
necessary means what is violent; secondly, it means a final cause,
when a thing is said to be necessary as the means to an end, so far
as without it the end could not be attained, or, at least, so well
attained. In neither of these ways is the divine generation
necessary; because God is not the means to an end, nor is He subject
to compulsion. But a thing is said to be necessary "of itself" which
cannot but be: in this sense it is necessary for God to be; and in
the same sense it is necessary that the Father beget the Son.
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