Chapter 5.—Nothing is Spoken of God According to Accident, But According to Substance or According to Relation.

6. Wherefore nothing in Him is said in respect to accident, since nothing is accidental to Him, and yet all that is said is not said according to substance. For in created and changeable things, that which is not said according to substance, must, by necessary alternative, be said according to accident. For all things are accidents to them, which can be either lost or diminished, whether magnitudes or qualities; and so also is that which is said in relation to something, as friendships, relationships, services, likenesses, equalities, and anything else of the kind; so also positions and conditions,563    Rom. iv. 5    Habitus places and times, acts and passions. But in God nothing is said to be according to accident, because in Him nothing is changeable; and yet everything that is said, is not said, according to substance. For it is said in relation to something, as the Father in relation to the Son and the Son in relation to the Father, which is not accident; because both the one is always Father, and the other is always Son: yet not “always,” meaning from the time when the Son was born [natus], so that the Father ceases not to be the Father because the Son never ceases to be the Son, but because the Son was always born, and never began to be the Son. But if He had begun to be at any time, or were at any time to cease to be, the Son, then He would be called Son according to accident. But if the Father, in that He is called the Father, were so called in relation to Himself, not to the Son; and the Son, in that He is called the Son, were so called in relation to Himself, not to the Father; then both the one would be called Father, and the other Son, according to substance. But because the Father is not called the Father except in that He has a Son, and the Son is not called Son except in that He has a Father, these things are not said according to substance; because each of them is not so called in relation to Himself, but the terms are used reciprocally and in relation each to the other; nor yet according to accident, because both the being called the Father, and the being called the Son, is eternal and unchangeable to them. Wherefore, although to be the Father and to be the Son is different, yet their substance is not different; because they are so called, not according to substance, but according to relation, which relation, however, is not accident, because it is not changeable.

CAPUT V.

6. In Deo nihil secundum accidens dicitur, sed secundum substantiam aut secundum relationem. Quamobrem nihil in eo secundum accidens dicitur, 0914 quia nihil ei accidit; nec tamen omne quod dicitur, secundum substantiam dicitur. In rebus enim creatis atque mutabilibus quod non secundum substantiam dicitur, restat ut secundum accidens dicatur: omnia enim accidunt eis, quae vel amitti possunt vel minui, et magnitudines et qualitates; et quod dicitur ad aliquid, sicut amicitiae, propinquitates, servitutes, similitudines, aequalitates, et si qua hujusmodi; et situs et habitus, et loca et tempora, et opera atque passiones. In Deo autem nihil quidem secundum accidens dicitur, quia nihil in eo mutabile est; nec tamen omne quod dicitur, secundum substantiam dicitur. Dicitur enim ad aliquid, sicut Pater ad Filium, et Filius ad Patrem, quod non est accidens: quia et ille semper Pater, et ille semper Filius; et non ita semper quasi ex quo natus est Filius, ut ex eo quod nunquam desinat esse Filius, Pater non desinat esse Pater; sed ex eo quod semper natus est Filius, nec coepit unquam esse Filius. Quod si aliquando esse coepisset, aut aliquando esse desineret Filius, secundum accidens diceretur. Si vero quod dicitur Pater, ad se ipsum diceretur, non ad Filium; et quod dicitur Filius, ad se ipsum diceretur, non ad Patrem; secundum substantiam diceretur et ille Pater, et ille Filius: sed quia et Pater non dicitur Pater nisi ex eo quod est ei Filius, et Filius non dicitur nisi ex eo quod habet Patrem, non secundum substantiam haec dicuntur: quia non quisque eorum ad se ipsum, sed ad invicem atque ad alterutrum ista dicuntur: neque secundum accidens, quia et quod dicitur Pater, et quod dicitur Filius, aeternum atque incommutabile est eis. Quamobrem quamvis diversum sit Patrem esse et Filium esse, non est tamen diversa substantia: quia hoc non secundum substantiam dicuntur, sed secundum relativum; quod tamen relativum non est accidens, quia non est mutabile.