Whether the Firmament Was Made on the Second Day?
Objection 1: It would seem that the firmament was not made on the
second day. For it is said (Gen. 1:8): "God called the firmament
heaven." But the heaven existed before days, as is clear from the
words, "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." Therefore
the firmament was not made on the second day.
Obj. 2: Further, the work of the six days is ordered conformably to
the order of Divine wisdom. Now it would ill become the Divine wisdom
to make afterwards that which is naturally first. But though the
firmament naturally precedes the earth and the waters, these are
mentioned before the formation of light, which was on the first day.
Therefore the firmament was not made on the second day.
Obj. 3: Further, all that was made in the six days was formed out of
matter created before days began. But the firmament cannot have been
formed out of pre-existing matter, for if so it would be liable to
generation and corruption. Therefore the firmament was not made on
the second day.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Gen. 1:6): "God said: let there be
a firmament," and further on (verse 8); "And the evening and morning
were the second day."
_I answer that,_ In discussing questions of this kind two rules are
to be observed, as Augustine teaches (Gen. ad lit. i, 18). The first
is, to hold the truth of Scripture without wavering. The second is
that since Holy Scripture can be explained in a multiplicity of
senses, one should adhere to a particular explanation, only in such
measure as to be ready to abandon it, if it be proved with certainty
to be false; lest Holy Scripture be exposed to the ridicule of
unbelievers, and obstacles be placed to their believing.
We say, therefore, that the words which speak of the firmament as
made on the second day can be understood in two senses. They may be
understood, first, of the starry firmament, on which point it is
necessary to set forth the different opinions of philosophers. Some
of these believed it to be composed of the elements; and this was the
opinion of Empedocles, who, however, held further that the body of the
firmament was not susceptible of dissolution, because its parts are,
so to say, not in disunion, but in harmony. Others held the firmament
to be of the nature of the four elements, not, indeed, compounded of
them, but being as it were a simple element. Such was the opinion of
Plato, who held that element to be fire. Others, again, have held that
the heaven is not of the nature of the four elements, but is itself a
fifth body, existing over and above these. This is the opinion of
Aristotle (De Coel. i, text. 6,32).
According to the first opinion, it may, strictly speaking, be granted
that the firmament was made, even as to substance, on the second day.
For it is part of the work of creation to produce the substance of the
elements, while it belongs to the work of distinction and adornment to
give forms to the elements that pre-exist.
But the belief that the firmament was made, as to its substance, on
the second day is incompatible with the opinion of Plato, according to
whom the making of the firmament implies the production of the element
of fire. This production, however, belongs to the work of creation, at
least, according to those who hold that formlessness of matter
preceded in time its formation, since the first form received by
matter is the elemental.
Still less compatible with the belief that the substance of the
firmament was produced on the second day is the opinion of Aristotle,
seeing that the mention of days denotes succession of time, whereas
the firmament, being naturally incorruptible, is of a matter not
susceptible of change of form; wherefore it could not be made out of
matter existing antecedently in time.
Hence to produce the substance of the firmament belongs to the work of
creation. But its formation, in some degree, belongs to the second
day, according to both opinions: for as Dionysius says (Div. Nom. iv),
the light of the sun was without form during the first three days, and
afterwards, on the fourth day, received its form.
If, however, we take these days to denote merely sequence in the
natural order, as Augustine holds (Gen. ad lit. iv, 22,24), and not
succession in time, there is then nothing to prevent our saying,
whilst holding any one of the opinions given above, that the
substantial formation of the firmament belongs to the second day.
Another possible explanation is to understand by the firmament that
was made on the second day, not that in which the stars are set, but
the part of the atmosphere where the clouds are collected, and which
has received the name firmament from the firmness and density of the
air. "For a body is called firm," that is dense and solid, "thereby
differing from a mathematical body" as is remarked by Basil (Hom. iii
in Hexaem.). If, then, this explanation is adopted none of these
opinions will be found repugnant to reason. Augustine, in fact (Gen.
ad lit. ii, 4), recommends it thus: "I consider this view of the
question worthy of all commendation, as neither contrary to faith nor
difficult to be proved and believed."
Reply Obj. 1: According to Chrysostom (Hom. iii in Genes.), Moses
prefaces his record by speaking of the works of God collectively, in
the words, "In the beginning God created heaven and earth," and then
proceeds to explain them part by part; in somewhat the same way as
one might say: "This house was constructed by that builder," and then
add: "First, he laid the foundations, then built the walls, and
thirdly, put on the roof." In accepting this explanation we are,
therefore, not bound to hold that a different heaven is spoken of in
the words: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth," and when
we read that the firmament was made on the second day.
We may also say that the heaven recorded as created in the beginning
is not the same as that made on the second day; and there are several
senses in which this may be understood. Augustine says (Gen. ad lit.
i, 9) that the heaven recorded as made on the first day is the
formless spiritual nature, and that the heaven of the second day is
the corporeal heaven. According to Bede (Hexaem. i) and Strabus, the
heaven made on the first day is the empyrean, and the firmament made
on the second day, the starry heaven. According to Damascene (De Fide
Orth. ii) that of the first day was spherical in form and without
stars, the same, in fact, that the philosophers speak of, calling it
the ninth sphere, and the primary movable body that moves with diurnal
movement: while by the firmament made on the second day he understands
the starry heaven. According to another theory, touched upon by
Augustine [*Gen. ad lit. ii, 1] the heaven made on the first day was
the starry heaven, and the firmament made on the second day was that
region of the air where the clouds are collected, which is also called
heaven, but equivocally. And to show that the word is here used in an
equivocal sense, it is expressly said that "God called the firmament
heaven"; just as in a preceding verse it said that "God called the
light day" (since the word "day" is also used to denote a space of
twenty-four hours). Other instances of a similar use occur, as
pointed out by Rabbi Moses.
The second and third objections are sufficiently answered by what has
been already said.
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