Dist. 12, Art. 2, Q. 2
Book II: On the Creation of Things · Distinction 12
Quaestio II. Utrum materia prima producta sit in die, an ante omnem diem.
Secundo quaeritur de informi materia quantum ad tempus suae productionis, et est quaestio, utrum producta fuerit in die, an ante omnem diem. Et quod ante omnem diem, videtur:
Fundamenta.
1. Primo per textum Genesis1: In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram; constans est, hoc factum fuisse ante productionem lucis, sicut ipsa Scriptura insinuat; sed cum luce coepit dies: ergo ante omnem diem fuit productio informis materiae.
2. Item, Augustinus duodecimo Confessionum2: «Informem materiam fecisti ante omnem diem».
3. Item, Hugo de S. Victore in libro de Sacramentis3: «Primo momento temporis, in quo creata est omnium visibilium invisibiliumque natura, neque nox fuit neque dies».
4. Item, ratione videtur. Qualitas temporis debet respondere qualitati rei productae; sed materia prima nec est producta omnino sub privatione formae nec sub completa distinctione4: ergo eius productio nec diei competebat nec nocti, ergo ante omnem diem.
Ad oppositum.
Sed contra: 1. Genesis secundo5: Istae sunt generationes caeli et terrae, quando creata sunt in die, quo fecit Deus caelum et terram; sed quando Deus fecit caelum et terram, tunc creavit illam primordialem materiam: ergo in die ipsam creavit.
2. Item, Creator omnium est Deus lucis6, ergo omnia quae facit, facit in luce: ergo si creavit materiam, in luce creavit, et ita in die.
3. Item, arguit Manichaeus: si Deus creavit aliquid in tenebris, erat in tenebris; quomodo ergo habitat lucem inaccessibilem7? Si ergo hoc est inconveniens, inconveniens est ipsam creasse in tenebris; et creavit in tenebris vel in die: ergo etc.
4. Item, nox et dies immediate dividunt tempus; sed materia rerum corporalium producta fuit cum tempore8, ergo cum nocte vel cum die; sed non cum nocte: ergo cum die.
Conclusio.
Materia certo producta fuit ante omnem diem secundum ordinem naturae, et probabilius etiam secundum ordinem temporis.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod creatio caeli et terrae secundum omnes fuit ante omnem diem quantum ad ordinem naturae; quantum vero ad ordinem temporis sive durationis diversimode senserunt diversi.
Opinio 1. Quidam enim senserunt, quod non fuit aliqua mora inter creationem et distinctionis inceptionem; immo statim cum producta fuit illa materia producta fuit9 et lux, quae diem faciebat, nec fuit morula aliqua intermedia.
Opinio 2 et conclusio 2. Aliis autem videtur, quod fuerit mora temporis interiacens inter terrae creationem et lucis factionem; et istud videtur magis consonum sententiae expositorum, sicut patebit in distinctione sequenti10. Utrumque tamen potuit esse verum, nec est aliquod horum usquequaque certum.
Solutio oppositorum. 1. Sustinendo tamen illud ultimum, respondendum est ad primum obiectum de textu Genesis, quod creare aequivoce sumitur in Scriptura, et ibi dicitur creatio caeli et terrae utriusque factio sive formatio; et sic exponit Augustinus super Genesim ad litteram quinto11, ubi innuit, quod creare caelum et terram dicitur dupliciter: vel informem materiam facere, vel per formas et species distinguere.
2. 3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod Deus est in luce; dicendum, quod intelligendum est, Deum esse lucem spiritualem, non corporalem, quae est lux sapientiae, et in hac fecit quidquid produxit, quia omnia in sapientia fecit12. — Et ideo quod obiicitur de tenebris corporalibus nihil facit ad propositum, quia non magis est Deus in tenebris in loco corporaliter tenebroso quam in luminoso.
4. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod nox et dies immediate dividunt tempus; dicendum, quod verum est secundum esse, quod habent nunc, quod quidem attenditur secundum revolutionem corporum caelestium. Sed tunc erat tempus secundum mutabilitatem, quae erat in materiae partibus, quae quidem mutabilitas erat absque praesentia corporis luminosi et absque umbra corporis opaci; et ideo tempus illud non erat habens vicissitudinem diei et noctis ante formationem lucis13.
Solutio secundum aliam opinionem. Si quis autem velit sustinere oppositum, plane poterit ad rationes et auctoritates ad oppositum respondere, quod intelligantur insinuare ordinem naturae, non temporis, secundum quem informis materia omnem diem antecessit.
I. Solutio huius et sequentis quaestionis facile intelligitur. Quoad rationes temporis et loci cfr. supra d. 2. p. I. a. 2; et p. II. a. 2. — De hac 2. quaestione explicite et in eadem sententia agunt Alex. Hal., S. p. II. q. 44. a. 4; B. Albert., S. p. II. tr. II. q. 45; Petr. a Tar., hic q. unica, a. 6; Richard. a Med., hic q. 7; Aegid. R., hic q. 2. a. 3; Biel, hic q. 2. in fine.
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Question II. Whether primary matter was produced on a day, or before every day.
Secondly, the question is asked concerning unformed matter as regards the time of its production, and the question is whether it was produced on a day, or before every day. And that [it was produced] before every day seems [to be the case]:
Foundations.
1. First, by the text of Genesis1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; it is established that this took place before the production of light, as Scripture itself intimates; but the day began with light: therefore the production of unformed matter was before every day.
2. Likewise, Augustine in the twelfth book of the Confessions2: «Thou hast made unformed matter before every day».
3. Likewise, Hugh of Saint Victor in his book On the Sacraments3: «In the first moment of time, in which the nature of all visible and invisible things was created, there was neither night nor day».
4. Likewise, by reason it appears so. The quality of time ought to correspond to the quality of the thing produced; but primary matter is produced neither wholly under privation of form nor under complete distinction4: therefore its production was fitting neither to day nor to night, therefore [it was produced] before every day.
For the opposite.
On the contrary: 1. Genesis chapter 25: These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created, in the day in which God made the heaven and the earth; but when God made the heaven and the earth, then He created that primordial matter: therefore He created it on a day.
2. Likewise, the Creator of all is the God of light6, therefore all things which He makes, He makes in light: therefore if He created matter, He created it in light, and so on a day.
3. Likewise, the Manichee argues: if God created anything in darkness, He was in darkness; how then does He inhabit inaccessible light7? If therefore this is unfitting, it is unfitting that He created [matter] in darkness; and He created it either in darkness or on a day: therefore etc.
4. Likewise, night and day immediately divide time; but the matter of corporeal things was produced together with time8, therefore [it was produced] together with night or together with day; but not with night: therefore on a day.
Conclusion.
Matter was certainly produced before every day according to the order of nature, and more probably also according to the order of time.
I respond: It must be said that the creation of heaven and earth, according to all [doctors], was before every day as regards the order of nature; but as regards the order of time or of duration, different [doctors] have thought differently.
Opinion 1. For some have thought that there was no delay between the creation and the beginning of distinction; nay rather, as soon as that matter was produced, the light too, which made the day, was produced9, and there was no intervening pause.
Opinion 2 and Conclusion 2. But to others it seems that there was an intervening delay of time between the creation of the earth and the making of light; and this seems more consonant with the view of the expositors, as will become clear in the following distinction10. Yet either could have been true, and none of these [views] is altogether certain.
Solution of the opposing arguments. 1. Maintaining however the latter [view], a reply must be given to the first objection drawn from the text of Genesis, [namely] that to create is taken equivocally in Scripture, and there the creation of heaven and earth is called the making or formation of both; and thus Augustine expounds in On Genesis according to the Letter, book five11, where he intimates that to create heaven and earth is said in two ways: either to make unformed matter, or to distinguish [things] through forms and species.
2. 3. To that which is objected, that God is in light: it must be said that this is to be understood [as meaning] that God is spiritual light, not corporeal — namely the light of wisdom — and in this [light] He made whatever He produced, because He made all things in wisdom12. — And therefore what is objected concerning corporeal darkness has nothing to do with the matter, because God is no more in darkness in a corporeally dark place than in an illumined one.
4. To that which is objected, that night and day immediately divide time: it must be said that this is true as regards the being which they have now, which indeed is reckoned according to the revolution of the celestial bodies. But then time was reckoned according to the changeability which was in the parts of matter — which changeability was without the presence of a luminous body and without the shadow of an opaque body; and therefore that time did not have the vicissitude of day and night before the formation of light13.
Solution according to the other opinion. But if anyone wishes to maintain the opposite, he will plainly be able to respond to the reasons and authorities [adduced] for the opposite [view] by saying that they are to be understood as intimating the order of nature, not of time, according to which unformed matter preceded every day.
I. The solution of this question and of the following is easily understood. As regards the reasons of time and place, cf. above d. 2, p. I, a. 2; and p. II, a. 2. — On this second question, expressly and to the same effect, treat Alexander of Hales, Summa p. II, q. 44, a. 4; Bl. Albert, Summa p. II, tr. II, q. 45; Petrus a Tarantasia, here, the single question, a. 6; Richard of Mediavilla, here q. 7; Giles of Rome, here q. 2, a. 3; Biel, here q. 2, at the end.
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- Cap. 1, 1.[Gen.] c. 1, 1.
- Cap. 8. n. 8.[Augustine, Confessions XII,] c. 8, n. 8.
- Ita est sensus eorum, quae Hugo dicit loc. cit. libr. I. p. 1. c. 5. seq., scil.: «Sed nec illud, quantum opinor, absurdum erit, si credimus, unum et idem prorsus momentum temporis fuisse, quo in principio simul creata sit et rerum visibilium corporaliumque materia et invisibilium in angelica natura essentia... quia eodem momento simul et visibilium materia essentialiter creata est et invisibilium natura». In seq. cap. idem repetit explicans illud verbum Gen. 1, 2: Et tenebrae erant super faciem abyssi.Such is the sense of what Hugh says at the place cited, book I, part 1, c. 5 and following, namely: «But neither, as I judge, will it be absurd if we believe that there was one and the very same precise moment of time, in which at the beginning the matter of visible and corporeal things and the essence of invisibles in their angelic nature were simultaneously created… because in the same moment the matter of visible things was essentially created together with the nature of invisibles». In the following chapter he repeats the same, explaining that word of Gen. 1, 2: And darkness was upon the face of the deep.
- Sicut ostensum est supra a. 1. q. 1-3.As was shown above, article 1, q. 1–3.
- Vers. 4; in quo textu codd. cum edd. 1, 2 creatae sunt pro creata sunt, et Vulgata Dominus Deus pro Deus.Verse 4; in which text the codices with editions 1, 2 [read] creatae sunt for creata sunt, and the Vulgate [reads] Dominus Deus for Deus.
- Ioan. 1, 3. seq. et I. Ioan. 1, 5.John 1, 3 and following, and 1 John 1, 5.
- Epist. 1. Tim. 6, 16: Lucem inhabitat inaccessibilem. — Hoc arg. insinuat August., I. de Gen. contra Manich. c. 3. n. 6: Sequitur in eodem libro; Et tenebrae erant super abyssum. Quod Manichaei reprehendunt dicentes: in tenebris ergo erat Deus, antequam faceret lucem?1 Tim. 6, 16: He inhabits inaccessible light. — This argument is intimated by Augustine, On Genesis against the Manichees I, c. 3, n. 6: There follows in the same book: And darkness was upon the deep. Which the Manichees reproach, saying: was God then in darkness, before He made light?
- Cfr. supra d. 2. p. I. dub. 2.Cf. above d. 2, p. I, dubium 2.
- In pluribus mss. et in Vat. desideratur producta fuit.In several manuscripts and in the Vatican [edition] producta fuit is wanting.
- Art. 1. q. 1. seq. — Mox cod. cc et ed. 1 potest pro potuit.[Distinction 13,] art. 1, q. 1 and following. — Just below, codex cc and edition 1 [read] potest for potuit.
- Cap. 1. n. 1. seqq. et c. 5. n. 13. seqq. — Paulo superius ex cod. cc et ed. 1 substituimus quod creare pro qua creare.[Augustine, On Genesis according to the Letter V,] c. 1, n. 1 and following, and c. 5, n. 13 and following. — A little above, with codex cc and edition 1 we have substituted quod creare for qua creare.
- Ps. 103, 24: Omnia in sapientia fecisti. — Cfr. August., I. de Gen. contra Manich. c. 3. n. 6.Ps. 103, 24: Thou hast made all things in wisdom. — Cf. Augustine, On Genesis against the Manichees I, c. 3, n. 6.
- Cfr. supra pag. 66, nota 8.Cf. above p. 66, note 8.