Whether the Completion of the Divine Works Ought to Be Ascribed to
the Seventh Day?
Objection 1: It would seem that the completion of the Divine works
ought not to be ascribed to the seventh day. For all things that are
done in this world belong to the Divine works. But the consummation
of the world will be at the end of the world (Matt. 13:39, 40).
Moreover, the time of Christ's Incarnation is a time of completion,
wherefore it is called "the time of fulness [*Vulg.: 'the fulness of
time']" (Gal. 4:4). And Christ Himself, at the moment of His death,
cried out, "It is consummated" (John 19:30). Hence the completion of
the Divine works does not belong to the seventh day.
Obj. 2: Further, the completion of a work is an act in itself. But we
do not read that God acted at all on the seventh day, but rather that
He rested from all His work. Therefore the completion of the works
does not belong to the seventh day.
Obj. 3: Further, nothing is said to be complete to which many things
are added, unless they are merely superfluous, for a thing is called
perfect to which nothing is wanting that it ought to possess. But
many things were made after the seventh day, as the production of
many individual beings, and even of certain new species that are
frequently appearing, especially in the case of animals generated
from putrefaction. Also, God creates daily new souls. Again, the work
of the Incarnation was a new work, of which it is said (Jer. 31:22):
"The Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth." Miracles also are
new works, of which it is said (Eccles. 36:6): "Renew thy signs, and
work new miracles." Moreover, all things will be made new when the
Saints are glorified, according to Apoc. 21:5: "And He that sat on
the throne said: Behold I make all things new." Therefore the
completion of the Divine works ought not to be attributed to the
seventh day.
_On the contrary,_ It is said (Gen. 2:2): "On the seventh day God
ended His work which He had made."
_I answer that,_ The perfection of a thing is twofold, the first
perfection and the second perfection. The _first_ perfection is
that according to which a thing is substantially perfect, and this
perfection is the form of the whole; which form results from the
whole having its parts complete. But the _second_ perfection is the
end, which is either an operation, as the end of the harpist is to
play the harp; or something that is attained by an operation, as the
end of the builder is the house that he makes by building. But the
first perfection is the cause of the second, because the form is the
principle of operation. Now the final perfection, which is the end
of the whole universe, is the perfect beatitude of the Saints at the
consummation of the world; and the first perfection is the
completeness of the universe at its first founding, and this is what
is ascribed to the seventh day.
Reply Obj. 1: The first perfection is the cause of the second, as
above said. Now for the attaining of beatitude two things are
required, nature and grace. Therefore, as said above, the perfection
of beatitude will be at the end of the world. But this consummation
existed previously in its causes, as to nature, at the first founding
of the world, as to grace, in the Incarnation of Christ. For, "Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). So, then, on the seventh
day was the consummation of nature, in Christ's Incarnation the
consummation of grace, and at the end of the world will be the
consummation of glory.
Reply Obj. 2: God did act on the seventh day, not by creating new
creatures, but by directing and moving His creatures to the work
proper to them, and thus He made some beginning of the _second_
perfection. So that, according to our version of the Scripture, the
completion of the works is attributed to the seventh day, though
according to another it is assigned to the sixth. Either version,
however, may stand, since the completion of the universe as to the
completeness of its parts belongs to the sixth day, but its
completion as regards their operation, to the seventh. It may also be
added that in continuous movement, so long as any movement further is
possible, movement cannot be called completed till it comes to rest,
for rest denotes consummation of movement. Now God might have made
many other creatures besides those which He made in the six days, and
hence, by the fact that He ceased making them on the seventh day, He
is said on that day to have consummated His work.
Reply Obj. 3: Nothing entirely new was afterwards made by God, but
all things subsequently made had in a sense been made before in the
work of the six days. Some things, indeed, had a previous experience
materially, as the rib from the side of Adam out of which God formed
Eve; whilst others existed not only in matter but also in their
causes, as those individual creatures that are now generated existed
in the first of their kind. Species, also, that are new, if any such
appear, existed beforehand in various active powers; so that animals,
and perhaps even new species of animals, are produced by putrefaction
by the power which the stars and elements received at the beginning.
Again, animals of new kinds arise occasionally from the connection of
individuals belonging to different species, as the mule is the
offspring of an ass and a mare; but even these existed previously in
their causes, in the works of the six days. Some also existed
beforehand by way of similitude, as the souls now created. And the
work of the Incarnation itself was thus foreshadowed, for as we read
(Phil. 2:7), The Son of God "was made in the likeness of men." And
again, the glory that is spiritual was anticipated in the angels by
way of similitude; and that of the body in the heaven, especially the
empyrean. Hence it is written (Eccles. 1:10), "Nothing under the sun
is new, for it hath already gone before, in the ages that were before
us."
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