CHAPTER 57

PROPERTIES OF THE FATHER

Such being the number of persons in God, the properties whereby the persons are distinguished from one another must be of some definite number. Three properties are characteristic of the Father. The first is that whereby He is distinguished from the Son alone. This is paternity. The second is that whereby the Father is distinguished from the other two persons, namely, the Son and the Holy Ghost. And this is innascibility; for the Father is not God as proceeding from another person, whereas the Son and the Holy Ghost do proceed from another person. The third property is that whereby the Father along with the Son is distinguished from the Holy Ghost. This is called their common spiration. But a property whereby the Father may be distinguished from the Holy Ghost alone is not to be assigned, for the reason that the Father and the Son are a single principle of the Holy Ghost, as has been shown.