Whether It Is Fitting for the Holy Ghost to Be Sent Visibly?
Objection 1: It would seem that the Holy Ghost is not fittingly sent
in a visible manner. For the Son as visibly sent to the world is said
to be less than the Father. But the Holy Ghost is never said to be
less than the Father. Therefore the Holy Ghost is not fittingly sent
in a visible manner.
Obj. 2: Further, the visible mission takes place by way of union to
a visible creature, as the Son's mission according to the flesh. But
the Holy Ghost did not assume any visible creature; and hence it
cannot be said that He exists otherwise in some creatures than in
others, unless perhaps as in a sign, as He is also present in the
sacraments, and in all the figures of the law. Thus the Holy Ghost
is either not sent visibly at all, or His visible mission takes
place in all these things.
Obj. 3: Further, every visible creature is an effect showing forth
the whole Trinity. Therefore the Holy Ghost is not sent by reason
of those visible creatures more than any other person.
Obj. 4: Further, the Son was visibly sent by reason of the noblest
kind of creature--namely, the human nature. Therefore if the Holy
Ghost is sent visibly, He ought to be sent by reason of rational
creatures.
Obj. 5: Further, whatever is done visibly by God is dispensed by the
ministry of the angels; as Augustine says (De Trin. iii, 4,5,9). So
visible appearances, if there have been any, came by means of the
angels. Thus the angels are sent, and not the Holy Ghost.
Obj. 6: Further, the Holy Ghost being sent in a visible manner
is only for the purpose of manifesting the invisible mission; as
invisible things are made known by the visible. So those to whom the
invisible mission was not sent, ought not to receive the visible
mission; and to all who received the invisible mission, whether in
the New or in the Old Testament, the visible mission ought likewise
to be sent; and this is clearly false. Therefore the Holy Ghost is
not sent visibly.
_On the contrary,_ It is said (Matt. 3:16) that, when our Lord was
baptized, the Holy Ghost descended upon Him in the shape of a dove.
_I answer that,_ God provides for all things according to the nature of
each thing. Now the nature of man requires that he be led to the
invisible by visible things, as explained above (Q. 12, A. 12).
Wherefore the invisible things of God must be made manifest to man by
the things that are visible. As God, therefore, in a certain way has
demonstrated Himself and His eternal processions to men by visible
creatures, according to certain signs; so was it fitting that the
invisible missions also of the divine persons should be made manifest
by some visible creatures.
This mode of manifestation applies in different ways to the Son and
to the Holy Ghost. For it belongs to the Holy Ghost, Who proceeds as
Love, to be the gift of sanctification; to the Son as the principle of
the Holy Ghost, it belongs to the author of this sanctification. Thus
the Son has been sent visibly as the author of sanctification; the
Holy Ghost as the sign of sanctification.
Reply Obj. 1: The Son assumed the visible creature, wherein He
appeared, into the unity of His person, so that whatever can be said
of that creature can be said of the Son of God; and so, by reason of
the nature assumed, the Son is called less than the Father. But the
Holy Ghost did not assume the visible creature, in which He appeared,
into the unity of His person; so that what is said of it cannot be
predicated of Him. Hence He cannot be called less than the Father by
reason of any visible creature.
Reply Obj. 2: The visible mission of the Holy Ghost does not apply to
the imaginary vision which is that of prophecy; because as Augustine
says (De Trin. ii, 6): "The prophetic vision is not displayed to
corporeal eyes by corporeal shapes, but is shown in the spirit by the
spiritual images of bodies. But whoever saw the dove and the fire,
saw them by their eyes. Nor, again, has the Holy Ghost the same
relation to these images that the Son has to the rock, because it is
said, 'The rock was Christ' (1 Cor. 10:4). For that rock was already
created, and after the manner of an action was named Christ, Whom it
typified; whereas the dove and the fire suddenly appeared to signify
only what was happening. They seem, however, to be like to the flame
of the burning bush seen by Moses and to the column which the people
followed in the desert, and to the lightning and thunder issuing
forth when the law was given on the mountain. For the purpose of the
bodily appearances of those things was that they might signify, and
then pass away." Thus the visible mission is neither displayed by
prophetic vision, which belongs to the imagination, and not to the
body, nor by the sacramental signs of the Old and New Testament,
wherein certain pre-existing things are employed to signify
something. But the Holy Ghost is said to be sent visibly, inasmuch as
He showed Himself in certain creatures as in signs especially made
for that purpose.
Reply Obj. 3: Although the whole Trinity makes those creatures, still
they are made in order to show forth in some special way this or that
person. For as the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are signified by
diverse names, so also can They each one be signified by different
things; although neither separation nor diversity exists amongst Them.
Reply Obj. 4: It was necessary for the Son to be declared as the
author of sanctification, as explained above. Thus the visible
mission of the Son was necessarily made according to the rational
nature to which it belongs to act, and which is capable of
sanctification; whereas any other creature could be the sign of
sanctification. Nor was such a visible creature, formed for such a
purpose, necessarily assumed by the Holy Ghost into the unity of His
person, since it was not assumed or used for the purpose of action,
but only for the purpose of a sign; and so likewise it was not
required to last beyond what its use required.
Reply Obj. 5: Those visible creatures were formed by the ministry of
the angels, not to signify the person of an angel, but to signify the
Person of the Holy Ghost. Thus, as the Holy Ghost resided in those
visible creatures as the one signified in the sign, on that account
the Holy Ghost is said to be sent visibly, and not as an angel.
Reply Obj. 6: It is not necessary that the invisible mission should
always be made manifest by some visible external sign; but, as is
said (1 Cor. 12:7)--"the manifestation of the Spirit is given to
every man unto profit"--that is, of the Church. This utility consists
in the confirmation and propagation of the faith by such visible
signs. This has been done chiefly by Christ and by the apostles,
according to Heb. 2:3, "which having begun to be declared by the
Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard."
Thus in a special sense, a mission of the Holy Ghost was directed to
Christ, to the apostles, and to some of the early saints on whom the
Church was in a way founded; in such a manner, however, that the
visible mission made to Christ should show forth the invisible mission
made to Him, not at that particular time, but at the first moment of
His conception. The visible mission was directed to Christ at the time
of His baptism by the figure of a dove, a fruitful animal, to show
forth in Christ the authority of the giver of grace by spiritual
regeneration; hence the Father's voice spoke, "This is My beloved Son"
(Matt. 3:17), that others might be regenerated to the likeness of the
only Begotten. The Transfiguration showed it forth in the appearance
of a bright cloud, to show the exuberance of doctrine; and hence it
was said, "Hear ye Him" (Matt. 17:5). To the apostles the mission was
directed in the form of breathing to show forth the power of their
ministry in the dispensation of the sacraments; and hence it was said,
"Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven" (John 20:23): and
again under the sign of fiery tongues to show forth the office of
teaching; whence it is said that, "they began to speak with divers
tongues" (Acts 2:4). The visible mission of the Holy Ghost was
fittingly not sent to the fathers of the Old Testament, because the
visible mission of the Son was to be accomplished before that of the
Holy Ghost; since the Holy Ghost manifests the Son, as the Son
manifests the Father. Visible apparitions of the divine persons were,
however, given to the Fathers of the Old Testament which, indeed,
cannot be called visible missions; because, according to Augustine (De
Trin. ii, 17), they were not sent to designate the indwelling of the
divine person by grace, but for the manifestation of something else.
_______________________