Whether the Soul Was Made or Was of God's Substance?
Objection 1: It would seem that the soul was not made, but was God's
substance. For it is written (Gen. 2:7): "God formed man of the slime
of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man
was made a living soul." But he who breathes sends forth something of
himself. Therefore the soul, whereby man lives, is of the Divine
substance.
Obj. 2: Further, as above explained (Q. 75, A. 5), the soul is a
simple form. But a form is an act. Therefore the soul is a pure act;
which applies to God alone. Therefore the soul is of God's substance.
Obj. 3: Further, things that exist and do [not] differ are the same.
But God and the mind exist, and in no way differ, for they could only
be differentiated by certain differences, and thus would be
composite. Therefore God and the human mind are the same.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine (De Orig. Animae iii, 15) mentions
certain opinions which he calls "exceedingly and evidently perverse,
and contrary to the Catholic Faith," among which the first is the
opinion that "God made the soul not out of nothing, but from Himself."
_I answer that,_ To say that the soul is of the Divine substance
involves a manifest improbability. For, as is clear from what has
been said (Q. 77, A. 2; Q. 79, A. 2; Q. 84, A. 6), the human soul
is sometimes in a state of potentiality to the act of intelligence
--acquires its knowledge somehow from things--and thus has various
powers; all of which are incompatible with the Divine Nature, Which
is a pure act--receives nothing from any other--and admits of no
variety in itself, as we have proved (Q. 3, AA. 1, 7; Q. 9, A. 1).
This error seems to have originated from two statements of the
ancients. For those who first began to observe the nature of things,
being unable to rise above their imagination, supposed that nothing
but bodies existed. Therefore they said that God was a body, which
they considered to be the principle of other bodies. And since they
held that the soul was of the same nature as that body which they
regarded as the first principle, as is stated _De Anima_ i, 2, it
followed that the soul was of the nature of God Himself. According
to this supposition, also, the Manichaeans, thinking that God was
corporeal light, held that the soul was part of that light bound up
with the body.
Then a further step in advance was made, and some surmised the
existence of something incorporeal, not apart from the body, but the
form of a body; so that Varro said, "God is a soul governing the
world by movement and reason," as Augustine relates (De Civ. Dei vii,
6 [*The words as quoted are to be found iv. 31.]). So some supposed
man's soul to be part of that one soul, as man is a part of the whole
world; for they were unable to go so far as to understand the
different degrees of spiritual substance, except according to the
distinction of bodies.
But, all these theories are impossible, as proved above (Q. 3, AA. 1,
8; and Q. 75, A. 1), wherefore it is evidently false that the soul is
of the substance of God.
Reply Obj. 1: The term "breathe" is not to be taken in the material
sense; but as regards the act of God, to breathe (spirare), is the
same as to _make a spirit._ Moreover, in the material sense, man by
breathing does not send forth anything of his own substance, but an
extraneous thing.
Reply Obj. 2: Although the soul is a simple form in its essence, yet
it is not its own existence, but is a being by participation, as
above explained (Q. 75, A. 5, ad 4). Therefore it is not a pure act
like God.
Reply Obj. 3: That which differs, properly speaking, differs in
something; wherefore we seek for difference where we find also
resemblance. For this reason things which differ must in some way be
compound; since they differ in something, and in something resemble
each other. In this sense, although all that differ are diverse, yet
all things that are diverse do not differ. For simple things are
diverse; yet do not differ from one another by differences which
enter into their composition. For instance, a man and a horse differ
by the difference of rational and irrational; but we cannot say that
these again differ by some further difference.
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