Dist. 20, Art. 1, Q. 1
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/1/d/20/q/bon-sent-I-d20-a1-q1
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### ARTICLE I. *On the equality of power in divine things.*
### Question I. *Whether in the divine persons power is equal as to the extension of the possibles.*

That an equality of power as to the number of possibles is to be posited there is shown thus.

1. Whatever things have the same nature have the same natural power; but whatever things have altogether the same power, whatever the one can do, the other can also; but the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have the same power: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, of whatever things have altogether the same operation, the one cannot operate anything without the other; but the Father and the Son have the same operation: therefore the Father can do nothing without the Son, John 5: *Whatever things the Father does, all these likewise does the Son*.

3. Likewise, no one can [do] more things than the omnipotent; but the Word of God is omnipotent, as is said in Wisdom 18: *Thy almighty word, O Lord*, etc. The major is plain, since he who says *all* excepts nothing.

4. Likewise, beyond the infinite no things can be posited as more; but the Son can [do] infinite things, since He cannot [do] so many but [there can be] more: therefore the Father cannot [do] more than the Son, and by like reason neither than the Holy Spirit.

**On the contrary:**

1. The more distant the things produced are, the wider or ampler is the producing power; but the power of the Father extends to the created and the uncreated, the power of the Son to the created only, and the created and the uncreated stand at a greater distance than [things] created alone: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, the Son of God and a creature are one thing and another, since a creature is something created, but the Son is uncreated essence; therefore if the Son and a creature are one thing and another, therefore [they are] more [than one]: therefore the power which can [extend] to the Son and to a creature is more powerful than that which can [extend] to a creature only, that is, is able [to extend] to more; but such is the power of the Father: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, it is as much, or equally great, or greater to produce an equal person as to produce a creature; but the Father can without the Son produce a person; therefore [He can] also produce a creature [without the Son]: therefore it seems that the power in the Father extends to more.

4. Likewise, although the Holy Spirit and the Son are not anything more, nevertheless they are more [in number] than the Son alone: therefore since in the Father the power can [extend] to the production of both, in the Son [only] to one of them, the power in the Father can [extend] to more than [the power] in the Son: therefore by extension of possibles it is greater.

> **Conclusion.** *The essential power in the divine persons is equal as to the extension of the possibles.*

**I respond:** It must be said that, speaking of the essential power, which is in respect to an essential act or production, [the power] in the Father extends to nothing to which it does not equally extend in the Son. And therefore, since equality consists with respect to essential power, it is to be conceded without cavil that the Father and the Son are equally powerful as to the extension of the possibles.

1. To that, therefore, which is objected on the contrary, that the power which can [extend] to more distant things is wider; it must be said that this is true of power said in the same way and with respect to a like manner of producing; but for the Father to be able to produce something created [pertains] to essential power and to the work of creation; whereas for the Father to be able to produce the Son [pertains] to power as in a person and to generation; therefore that argument is not valid.

2. To that which is objected, that the creature and the Son are more [than one]; it must be said that it is true that they are more, and yet they are not more produced [things]. For although the Son is other than a creature, nevertheless He is not another produced [thing]. For the Son is essence and nature, but nevertheless He is not produced essence or nature, since to produce the Son is not to produce something [a "what"], but someone. And therefore it does not follow that to produce the Son and a creature is to be able to produce more than to produce one of them.

3. To that which is objected, that He produces a person without the Son; it must be said that it is not similar; since, since to produce a creature is to produce an essence, both the production and the power are essential; and since the essence is undivided in the Father and in the Son, therefore also the power and the action, and consequently that production. But since to produce the Son is to produce a person, therefore that production and power expresses something personal; and since the Father and the Son do not agree in person, but in essence, therefore it is plain etc.

4. To that which is objected, that the Son and the Holy Spirit are more etc.; it must be said that it is true that [the Father] is also able [to extend] to more, but as to this equality or inequality is not regarded, as has been seen.