Dist. 14, Art. 2, Q. 1
Book I: On the Mystery of the Trinity · Distinction 14
Articulus II. De datione Spiritus sancti.
### Quaestio I. Utrum Spiritus sanctus detur in propria persona, an tantum in effectu.
Quod detur in propria persona, sic ostenditur:
1. Ad Romanos quinto1: Caritas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis; sed nihil diffundit caritatem nisi Spiritus increatus: ergo etc.
2. Item, Augustinus quinto de Trinitate2 dicit, quod Spiritus sanctus est donum, et eo dicitur donum, quia datur: ergo si personaliter est donum, personaliter datur.
3. Item, hoc ipsum ostenditur ratione. Spiritus sanctus est amor et primus amor; sed amor est donum primum, in quo omnia3 alia dona donantur: ergo si non est ponere posterius sine priori, non est ponere dona Spiritus sancti dari, quin detur ipse Spiritus sanctus.
4. Item, Spiritus sanctus datur ad uniendum4 et colligandum membra corporis mystici; sed membra corporis mystici sunt membra invicem unita, sicut ipse Dominus petit, Ioannis decimo septimo5: Ut sint consummati in unum; sed perfecta unio non est nisi in uno simplici: ergo membra uniuntur per aliquid, quod est unum et idem in omnibus; hoc autem non potest esse donum creatum, sed increatum: ergo necesse est cum dono creato dari increatum.
Contra:
1. Virtus6 est ars recte vivendi, et gratia est donum sufficienter dirigens animam in finem: ergo videtur, quod aliud donum quam donum gratiae creatae non sit animae opportunum: ergo si non est in operibus Dei ponendum superfluum7, patet quod non est necesse dari Spiritum sanctum.
2. Item, cum aliquis sanctificatur per gratiam, nihil est in eo praeter gratiam8, quod non esset prius: ergo cum dare sit facere, quod aliquid sit in isto, quod non erat prius, non datur nisi gratia. Si dicas, quod Spiritus sanctus est in eo ut sanctus, prius erat ut Spiritus: ergo nihil aliud est quam Spiritum sanctum facere9 gratiam sanctificantem in hoc.
3. Item, quod datur post donationem est in potestate accipientis; sed Spiritus sanctus sub nullius10 potest redigi potestate: ergo non potest dari.
4. Item, quod datur alicui differenti per essentiam aut de novo creatur, aut multiplicatur, aut eius possessio transfertur, ut patet, cum do alicui cappam; sed persona Spiritus sancti nec creatur nec multiplicatur nec possessio eius transfertur, quia Deus semper habet Spiritum sanctum: ergo Spiritus sanctus non datur.
Conclusio. Spiritus sanctus datur tum in propria persona, tum in dono creato, quod est gratia.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod dare est ad aliquid habendum vel possidendum; habere autem aliquid vel possidere est, cum aliquid est in facultate habentis vel possidentis. Esse autem in facultate habentis vel possidentis est esse praesto ad fruendum vel utendum. Perfecta autem possessio est, cum homo habet illud, quo possit uti et quo possit frui11. Sed recte frui non est nisi Deo, et recte uti non contingit nisi per gratiam gratum facientem:
ergo perfecta possessio est, in qua Deus habetur et eius gratia. Sed perfectum donum est ad perfectam possessionem: ergo non est datum optimum et donum perfectum, nisi detur Donum increatum, quod est Spiritus sanctus, et donum creatum, quod est gratia. Concedendum ergo est utrumque dari.
Ad argumenta:
Ad 1. Ad illud ergo quod obiicitur de gratia, quod est ars bene vivendi: patet responsio: quamvis enim sit ars, qua utimur, non tamen est possessio, qua fruimur ut obiecto: et ideo non est perfectum donum sine illo.
Ad 2. Ad illud quod obiicitur: nihil plus est in isto quam prius; dicendum, quod dari non ordinatur ad esse, sed ad habere. Licet enim Spiritus sanctus esset prius in peccatore, non tamen habebatur ab eo, quia peccator non habebat facultatem fruendi ipso.
Ad 3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod datum est in potestate accipientis; dicendum, quod aliquid datur alicui ut finiens, sicut praemium merenti; aliquid ut perficiens, ut gratia consentienti; aliquid ut subserviens, ut equus militi. Quod autem dicitur, quod datum est in potestate accipientis, verum est de datione tertio modo dicta, non primo et secundo, quia illi sunt duo modi habendi, in quibus habens habetur. Unde homo habetur a gratia et habetur a Dono, quo fruitur.
Ad 4. Ex hoc patet ultimum: quia illud verum est de eo quod datur ut possessio limitata; sed de eo quod datur ut finiens, non, quia tale simul potest dari multis et haberi a multis, quia ad idem tendunt: et ideo, cum datur, non transfertur.
I. Mira brevitate et claritate haec quaestio sex propositionibus solvitur et probatur. — In quarta propositione dicitur: «Recte uti non contingit nisi per gratiam»; hic vocabulum recte significat meritorie. Non enim negat S. Doctor, quod etiam peccator aliqua re possit recte uti, i. e. honesto modo, immo contrarium asserit II. Sent. d. 28. a. 2. q. 3.
II. In solutione ad 2. recte dicitur, quod «licet Spiritus sanctus esset prius in peccatore, non tamen habebatur ab eo». Solummodo enim per caritatem creatura intellectualis et habetur speciali modo a Spiritu sancto et habet ipsum ad fruendum. Hoc explicat Richard. a Med. (hic a. 2. q. 1.) hac similitudine: «Si homo pauper haberet alicuius divitis pecuniam in sua domo, non propter hoc diceremus, quod haberet illam pecuniam sicut rem suam. Unde non obstante, quod illa pecunia praesens erat in domo pauperis, posset sibi dari de novo a divite; quo facto non tantummodo haberet eam per solam pecuniae praesentiam in domo, sed haberet eam sicut rem suam. A simili aliqualiter dico, quod quamvis Spiritus sanctus sit per essentiam praesens omni rei, quia tamen peccator non habet facultatem ad fruendum eo, ideo, non obstante illa praesentia, potest a Deo vere dari persona Spiritus sancti etc.» — Attentione digna est etiam doctrina in solut. ad 3, qua declaratur, nec donum increatum ullatenus transferri in potestatem accipientis ut aliquid ipsi subiectum, nec ipsam animam corpori datam per hoc proprie subiici eiusdem potestati.
III. Cfr. Alex. Hal., S. p. I. q. 73. m. 1. a. 1. — S. Thom., hic q. 2. a. 1; S. I. q. 42. a. 3. — B. Albert., hic a. 13; et d. 15. a. 2. ad 1; de hac et seq. q. 5. p. I. tr. 7. q. 32. m. 1. q. 1. et 2. incidens. — Petr. a Tar., hic q. 1. a. 5. — Richard. a Med., hic a. 2. q. 1. — Aegid. R., hic 2. princ. q. 1. — Durand., hic q. 3. — Dionys. Carth., hic quaestiunc. 2. — Biel, hic l. 2.
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Article II. On the giving of the Holy Spirit.
### Question I. Whether the Holy Spirit is given in his proper person, or only in his effect.
That He is given in his proper person is shown thus:
1. To the Romans, in the fifth [chapter]1: The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us; but nothing pours forth charity except the uncreated Spirit: therefore etc.
2. Likewise, Augustine in the fifth [book] of On the Trinity2 says that the Holy Spirit is a gift, and is called a gift because He is given: therefore if He is personally a gift, He is personally given.
3. Likewise, this same is shown by reason. The Holy Spirit is love and the first love; but love is the first gift, in which all3 other gifts are given: therefore if the posterior is not to be posited without the prior, [it is] not [to be posited] that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given, without the Holy Spirit Himself being given.
4. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is given for uniting4 and binding together the members of the mystical body; but the members of the mystical body are members united with each other, just as the Lord Himself asks, John seventeen5: That they be made perfect into one; but perfect union is only in one simple [thing]: therefore the members are united through something which is one and the same in all; this however cannot be a created gift, but an uncreated [one]: therefore it is necessary that with the created gift the uncreated be given.
On the contrary:
1. Virtue6 is "the art of right living," and grace is "a gift sufficiently directing the soul to its end": therefore it seems that no gift other than the gift of created grace is needful for the soul: therefore if nothing superfluous7 is to be posited in the works of God, it is clear that it is not necessary that the Holy Spirit be given.
2. Likewise, when someone is sanctified through grace, there is nothing in him besides grace8 which was not [there] before: therefore since "to give" is to make that something be in him which was not [there] before, nothing is given except grace. If you say that the Holy Spirit is in him as holy [whereas] before [He was] as Spirit: therefore [to give the Holy Spirit] is nothing other than to make9 the Holy Spirit a sanctifying grace in him.
3. Likewise, what is given after the giving is in the power of the recipient; but the Holy Spirit cannot be reduced under the power of anyone10: therefore He cannot be given.
4. Likewise, what is given to one differing essentially is either created anew, or multiplied, or its possession is transferred — as is clear when I give someone a cape; but the person of the Holy Spirit is neither created nor multiplied, nor is His possession transferred, since God always has the Holy Spirit: therefore the Holy Spirit is not given.
Conclusion. The Holy Spirit is given both in his proper person, and in the created gift, which is grace.
I respond: It must be said that to give is for [the sake of] something to be had or possessed; but to have something or to possess [it] is, when something is in the faculty of the haver or possessor. But to be in the faculty of the haver or possessor is to be ready for fruition or use. But perfect possession is when a man has that which he can both use and enjoy11. But to enjoy rightly is only of God, and to use rightly does not occur except through sanctifying grace:
therefore perfect possession is [that] in which God is had, and his grace. But a perfect gift is for [the sake of] perfect possession: therefore there is not "the best given thing and the perfect gift," unless the uncreated Gift, which is the Holy Spirit, be given, and the created gift, which is grace. It must therefore be conceded that both are given.
Replies to the arguments:
To 1. To that therefore which is objected concerning grace, that it is "the art of living well": the response is clear: although it is an art which we use, nevertheless it is not the possession by which we enjoy [it] as an object: and therefore it is not a perfect gift without that [other gift].
To 2. To that which is objected: there is no more in him than before; it must be said that being given is not ordered to being, but to having. For although the Holy Spirit was prior in the sinner, He was not however had by him, since the sinner did not have the faculty for fruition of Him.
To 3. To that which is objected, that what is given is in the power of the recipient; it must be said that something is given to someone as terminating [his pursuit], like a reward to one who merits; something as perfecting, like grace to one who consents; something as serving under, like a horse to a soldier. But what is said — that what is given is in the power of the recipient — is true of giving said in the third mode, not [in] the first and second, since those are two modes of having in which the haver is had. Whence a man is had by grace and is had by the Gift, by which he enjoys.
To 4. From this the last [objection] is clear: since that [point] is true of what is given as a limited possession; but not of what is given as terminating, since such a [thing] can be given simultaneously to many and had by many, since they tend to the same [end]: and therefore, when it is given, it is not transferred.
I. With wonderful brevity and clarity this question is resolved and proved by six propositions. — In the fourth proposition it is said: "To use rightly does not happen except through grace"; here the word recte signifies meritoriously. For the holy Doctor does not deny that even a sinner can rightly use something, that is, in an honorable way; indeed he asserts the contrary [in] II Sent. d. 28. a. 2. q. 3.
II. In the solution to [obj.] 2 it is rightly said that "although the Holy Spirit was prior in the sinner, nevertheless He was not had by him." For only through charity is the intellectual creature both had in a special way by the Holy Spirit and has Him for fruition. Richard of Mediavilla (here a. 2. q. 1.) explains this with the following similitude: "If a poor man had the money of some rich man in his house, we would not say on this account that he had that money as his own. Whence, notwithstanding that the money was present in the poor man's house, it could be given to him anew by the rich man; which done, he would not only have it through the mere presence of the money in the house, but he would have it as his own. By a similar [argument], in some way I say that, although the Holy Spirit is by essence present to every thing, since nevertheless the sinner does not have the faculty for fruition of Him, therefore, notwithstanding that presence, the person of the Holy Spirit can be truly given by God, etc." — Worthy of attention also is the doctrine in the solution to [obj.] 3, by which it is declared that neither is the uncreated Gift in any way transferred into the power of the recipient as something subjected to him, nor is the soul itself, given to the body, through this properly subjected to the body's power.
III. Cf. Alex. of Hales, Summa p. I. q. 73. m. 1. a. 1. — S. Thomas, here q. 2. a. 1; Summa I. q. 42. a. 3. — Bl. Albert, here a. 13; and d. 15. a. 2. ad 1; on this and the following question q. 5. p. I. tr. 7. q. 32. m. 1. q. 1. and 2. incidens. — Peter of Tarentaise, here q. 1. a. 5. — Richard of Mediavilla, here a. 2. q. 1. — Aegidius Romanus, here lect. 2. princ. q. 1. — Durand[us], here q. 3. — Dionysius the Carthusian, here quaestiuncula 2. — Biel, here lect. 2.
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- Vers. 5.Verse 5.
- Cap. 15. n. 16: Spiritus sanctus eo quo datur, habet non tantum ut donum sit, sed omnino ut sit. Cfr. etiam infra d. XVIII. lit. Magistri. — Mox post ergo si cod. bb personae haec loco personaliter.Chapter 15, n. 16: "The Holy Spirit, by the very fact that He is given, has not only that He be a gift, but altogether that He be." Cf. also below d. XVIII, the Master's text. — Soon after ergo si, codex bb [reads] personae haec in place of personaliter.
- Fide antiquiorum mss. et ed. 1 supplevimus hic omnia et paulo post ponere. Circa finem argumenti ex antiquioribus mss. et ed. 1 loco proprie substituimus ipse. Plura de hoc argumento vide infra d. 18. q. 1.On the authority of the older manuscripts and ed. 1 we have here supplied omnia and a little later ponere. Toward the end of the argument, from the older manuscripts and ed. 1, in place of proprie we have substituted ipse. For more on this argument see below d. 18. q. 1.
- Codd. L O vivificandum pro uniendum.Codices L and O [read] vivificandum in place of uniendum.
- Vers. 23.Verse 23.
- Ita recte omnes codd. cum ed. 1, dum Vat. habet Gratia.Thus rightly all the codices [read], with ed. 1, while the Vatican [edition] has Gratia.
- Aristot., I. de Caelo et mundo, text. 11. (c. 1.): Deus autem et natura nihil frustra faciunt.Aristotle, On the Heaven I, text 11 (c. 1): "But God and nature do nothing in vain."
- Sequimur cod. T ponendo praeter gratiam loco nisi gratia, quod multi codd. cum edd. 1, 2, 3 male omittunt.We follow codex T, putting praeter gratiam in place of nisi gratia, which many codices, together with editions 1, 2, 3, wrongly omit.
- Sequimur plures codd., licet aliqui ut A S T V etc. minus bene facientem; Vat. Spiritus sanctus faciens.We follow several codices, although some — such as A S T V etc. — less well [read] facientem; the Vatican [edition] [reads] Spiritus sanctus faciens.
- Ex antiquioribus mss. et ed. 1 restituimus nullius pro nulla. Mox cod. bb nec loco non.From the older manuscripts and ed. 1 we have restored nullius in place of nulla. Soon after, codex bb [reads] nec in place of non.
- Praeter fidem vetustiorum mss. et ed. 1 minus bene Vat. bis posset loco possit. Mox cod. K alio quam et cod. T in alio a pro primo nisi.Contrary to the authority of the older manuscripts and ed. 1, the Vatican [edition], less well, [reads] twice posset in place of possit. Soon after, codex K [reads] alio quam and codex T [reads] in alio a for the first nisi.