Dist. 9, 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/9/q/bon-sent-I-d9-a1-q1
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### Question I. *Whether generation is to be posited in God.*

Concerning the first, that generation is in God, is shown:

1. *First* from the lesser. Generation ought much more strongly to be in him who bestows generation upon others than in those which receive it; but generation is in creatures: therefore also in God who bestows it. And this is what is said in Isaiah, last chapter: *If I bestow generation upon others, shall I be sterile? saith the Lord,* as if to say, no.

2. *Likewise*, that same thing is shown from the posterior. For paternity is in God before it is in creatures; but paternity and generation truly is in creatures: therefore also in God. That it is there first, the Apostle says to the Ephesians chapter three: *From whom all paternity in heaven and on earth is named.*

3. *Likewise*, this very thing is shown from likeness, because everything that is of perfection is to be attributed to God, in whom is the height of all perfection; but generation is of perfection in creatures, as the Philosopher holds, because "that is perfect which can generate such as it is itself": therefore etc.

4. *Likewise*, that same thing is shown by another reason thus: the divine nature is supremely good and most actual: therefore it supremely can and wills to communicate itself; but the first and highest ground of communicating is in generation: therefore it is necessary to posit generation in God.

**On the contrary:** 1. Generation in creatures is either of perfection or of imperfection. If of perfection, then since spiritual and incorporeal substances are most noble, generation ought to be in them: therefore since it is not in them, it is not of nobility; but what is not of nobility is not in God: therefore etc.

2. *Likewise*, where there is generation, there is variation; for generation is a species of motion, and among all species of motion the variation is greater in motion according to substance, because it is of a being in potency, less in motion according to place: therefore since in God there is neither variation nor any species of motion, even that which is least, such as change of place: therefore neither generation.

3. *Likewise*, where there is generation, there is corruption; whence the Philosopher says, that "on account of standing far from the principle, in the remaining mode God completed being, making continual generation in these things"; and a sign of this kind is, that only corruptible things generate and are generated in creatures; but no corruption falls in God: therefore neither generation.

4. *Likewise*, where there is generation, there is nutrition; whence the nutritive power extends itself to as many and more things than the generative; but in God there is no nutritive power: therefore neither generative, therefore neither nutrition, nor generation: therefore generation is not in God.

> **Conclusion.** *Generation is to be posited in God; its fittingness and mode is explained.*

**I respond:** It must be said that generation is to be posited in the divine being. And the most potent ground of this is, as I believe, because every nature is communicable; and because in God, on account of his nobility, there is an aptitude joined to act, nay rather, act itself, it is necessary that the nature be communicated to many; but several cannot be from one nature, unless one is from the other, or both from a third: therefore since before the divine persons nothing is, it is necessary that one be from another. And since they are conformed in nature, and generation is an emanation according to conformity of nature: therefore I believe that it is necessary to posit generation in God.

But that it be understood by what mode, it must be noted that to generate, of its proper account, is to produce one like itself in substance and nature. But to produce one like itself happens to occur in three ways: either by the impression of its likeness in another; and thus a character is generated from a seal, light from a luminous body, a species from an object; in another mode by the eduction of a like species from another; and thus an element is generated from an element; in a third mode by the production of a like from a like or from itself; and thus a living thing is generated from a living thing; and this third mode is more perfect, whence it is found only in substances having a noble form, which is life. And this mode of generation is according to nativity and is in God and in creatures, but differently; because to produce another from oneself can be in two ways, either from oneself wholly, or from a part of oneself.

From oneself wholly only he can produce, whose essence can be in many [things] one and whole. For if it cannot be in many [things] one and whole, if the generator gives its whole substance to the generated, then the whole substance passes into the generated, and the generator loses the whole substance by generating, which cannot be. Therefore for this it is necessary that he have such a substance as is one and whole in many. But such a substance is none other than a substance having supreme simplicity; and this is only the divine essence, in which on account of supreme simplicity the supposit adds nothing to the essence, whence it neither constrains it nor limits it nor multiplies the form. And therefore in it there can be a generation communicating the same whole substance; and such generation is of every-mode perfection and is found only in God, by the reason already stated.

In another mode it happens that someone produces from himself with respect to a part of himself. Thus a natural father generates a son by transmitting and shedding a part of his substance. And this generation is necessarily with transmutation; for since the part shed does not have the act of the whole, it is necessary that through change it acquire [it]; but what acquires what it does not have, varies; therefore this generation is change and has variation joined to it. It is also with corruption annexed; for since some part of the generator is lost, the generator is one from whom removal can be made and so corruption. It is also with conservation adjoined; for since loss takes place, it is necessary that through nourishment restoration occur. And therefore generation in a creature is both of perfection and of imperfection: of perfection on the side of the power producing, of imperfection on the side of the divisible subject. And therefore it is in living things alone, which have a form of perfection, namely the soul, and a body capable of failing and being restored.

But generation in God is of every-mode perfection. For because it is not from a part, therefore it is the case that it has its species in act. And therefore there is in it neither imperfection of nature nor variation, because nothing new is acquired; nor corruption, because nothing is taken away; nor nutrition, because nothing is restored.

**And from this is clear the solution of the objections;** because generation of the whole is of such great perfection that it cannot be in any creature; but generation from a part has so great an imperfection joined to it that it cannot be about an invariable and incorruptible and simple substance, not only in uncreated nature, but even in created. The other reasons prove of the generation which is from a part.