Article 2: Creation in Its Relation to the Trinity

Pohle, God the Author of Nature and the Supernatural, Part I, Chapter I, §2, Article 2 (pp. 35–40)

Though the Blessed Trinity creates per modum naturae, that is to say, qua Godhead, Creation is specially appropriated to the Father as the First of the Three Divine Persons. The fact that the Trinity cannot be demonstrated by philosophical arguments does not, rightly considered, disprove the teaching of Catholic theologians that all creatures contain some vestige of the Trinity, and that, in addition thereto, the pure spirits, and man who is endowed with reason, “represent the Trinity by way of image.”¹

Thesis I: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost created the universe not as separate Persons, but per modum naturae, i.e., in virtue of the essential Knowledge and Volition common to the whole Trinity.

Proof. This thesis, which embodies an article of faith, has been repeatedly defined by the Church.² The “Decretum pro Iacobitis,” adopted by the Council of Florence, in 1439, says: “Firmissime credit, profitetur et praedicat [Ecclesia], unum verum Deum, Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum, esse omnium visibilium et invisibilium creatorem” — The Church most firmly believes, professes, and teaches that the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is the Creator of all things visible and invisible.³ And a few lines further up: “Sed Pater et Filius non duo principia Spiritus Sancti, sed unum principium, sicut Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus non tria principia creaturae, sed unum principium” — But the Father and the Son are not two principles of the Holy Ghost, but one principle; just as the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost constitute not three principles of the creature, but one principle.⁴

We will merely outline the Biblical argument for our thesis. Holy Scripture attributes the Creation of the universe sometimes to the Father,⁵ sometimes to the Son,⁶ and sometimes to the Holy Ghost.⁷ The diacritical particles ex, per, and in (ἐκ, διά, ἐν) in Rom. XI, 36: “Ex Patre per Filium in Spiritu Sancto” — Of the Father, by the Son, in the Holy Ghost (are all things) — do not signify a difference of power, but simply the Trinitarian relation of origin. The meaning is that the Father has the creative power of Himself, the Son by Generation from the Father, and the Holy Ghost by Spiration from the Father and the Son.⁸

Certain Patristic writers say that if it were not for the Son, the Father could not create for lack of a creative word. This remark must not be misunderstood. The Fathers who make it merely wish to intimate that, if God were not Tri-une, He would not be God at all, and therefore unable to exercise creative power.⁹ St. Thomas explains this point as follows: “Processiones personarum sunt rationes productionis creaturarum, inquantum includunt essentialia attributa, quae sunt scientia et voluntas” — The divine Processions are the cause of the production of creatures, inasmuch as they include the essential attributes of Understanding and Will.¹⁰

Thesis II: Creation is properly appropriated to God the Father.

This thesis may be technically qualified as “doctrina catholica.”

Proof. A glance at the so-called Apostles’ Creed¹¹ shows that the Creation of the universe has always been appropriated to the Father. “Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem coeli et terrae” — I believe in one God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. The intrinsic reason for this appropriation is the similarity existing between the creative act and the hypostatic character of the First Person of the Trinity. Creation is the beginning of divine operation, and as such related to the Father in His character of principium sine principio (ἀρχή ἄναρχος). As a sign of divine power, which culminates in the fiat “Ipse dixit et facta sunt,”¹² Creation is related to the notional Understanding by which the begetting Father utters His Word: “Pater dicendo gignit Verbum.” Therefore Creation is rightly appropriated to the Father.¹³

Thesis III: Though the Divine Trinity is the Creator of the universe only per modum naturae, nevertheless all creatures bear within themselves vestiges of the Trinity; the spiritual creatures, moreover, are real images of the same.

This thesis forms part of the theological teaching common to all schools.

Proof. We do not assert that the created universe reflects the Trinity as such. If this were so, the mystery of the Trinity would be demonstrable from the cosmos. As a matter of fact the three Divine Persons do not create qua Triad, but qua Monad, and this is the fundamental reason why the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is incapable of demonstration.¹⁴ The meaning of our thesis is that, as productions of the Triune God, creatures reflect the same essential attributes by virtue of which there are two Processions in the Godhead, viz.: understanding and will, knowledge and love. Thus interpreted the thesis offers no difficulties. For it stands to reason, and is further confirmed by the philosophical arguments by which we can prove the existence of God, that the created universe postulates a wise Intellect and a creative Will, and these are precisely the attributes on which the two inner-divine Processions are based. Consequently all creatures contain within themselves certain vestiges¹⁵ of the Trinity. These vestiges are, however, blurred and obscure, so that, if it were not for Revelation, the human intellect could not arrive at a knowledge of the mystery. It is only after the mystery was supernaturally revealed that the mind of man was able to discover the relation existing between the Trinity and Creation.¹⁶

The second part of our thesis, viz.: that every rational creature bears within itself an image of the Trinity, is to be understood with the same limitations. The created intellect being endowed with understanding and free-will, its “internal word” (verbum mentis) reflects the Logos, while the immanent love which it entertains for itself emblems the Holy Ghost. Cfr. Gen. I, 26: “Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram” — Let us make man to our image and likeness. A still more perfect image of the Trinity is produced in the human soul by sanctifying grace¹⁷ and the beatific vision.¹⁸

Notes