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171 Article 18 The eighteenth thing to ask is whether angels were created before the visible world. And it seems that they were.1 obj. 1. In Book II [of his Exposition of the Orthodox Faith], Damascene notes that Gregory Nazianzen says God first devised the angelic and heavenly powers, and the devising was the doing.2 Therefore he made the angels before he produced the visible world. obj. 2. But someone might say that “first” here denotes the order of nature, not of duration. On the contrary, in the same place Damascene cites two opinions on this, of which the first posits that angels were created first, while the other says the contrary. But no one ever held the opinion that the angels were not prior to visible creatures by nature. Therefore this must be understood to refer to the order of duration. obj. 3. At the beginning of the Hexameron, Basil says, Before this world there was a certain nature that our intellect can behold.3 And shortly after he discusses angels. Therefore it seems that angels were created before this world. obj. 4. At the beginning of Genesis, Scripture describes those things which were made with the visible world, but it makes no mention of angels. Therefore it seems that angels were not created with the world, but before the world. obj. 5. That which is ordered to the perfection of another as its end is posterior to that other. But the visible world is ordered to the perfection of intellectual nature, since, as Ambrose says, God, who is invisible by nature, made a visible work through which he could be 1. Here in article 18, Thomas argues that the angels were not, in fact, created before the visible world. Then, in article 19, he argues that while that is arguably the factual case, it is nevertheless true that the angels could have been created before the visible world. For parallel discussions of issues raised in both of these articles, see ST I Q. 61 and Thomas’ Treatise on Separate Substances, XVII. 2. et excogitatio fuit opus eius. John Damascene, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, II 3. John Damascene may be referring to Gregory Nazianzen’s Second Theological Oration, XXXI. 3. Basil the Great, Homilies on the Hexameron, Homily 1, no. 5. 172 On Creation known.4 But [he could be made known] only to a rational creature. Therefore a rational creature was made before the visible world. obj. 6. Anything prior to time is prior to the visible world, since time began with the visible world. But the angels were created before time, for there was no time before the day, and angels were created before the day, as Augustine says in On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis I.5 Therefore the angels were created before the visible world. obj. 7. Concerning the Epistle to Titus, Jerome says, Six thousand years of our time are not yet complete, and how many prior ages, how much time ... was there to be considered in which the angels ... served God and were under his orders.6 But the visible world began with our time. Therefore the angels existed before the visible world. obj. 8. A wise person is orderly in the production of his effects. But the angels precede visible creatures in nobility. Therefore, they ought to have been produced in being first by God, the supremely wise craftsman. obj. 9. Insofar as God is good, he makes others share7 his goodness . But angels were capable of the dignity of preceding visible creatures in duration. Therefore it seems that this was granted to them by God’s sovereign goodness. obj. 10. Man is called a lesser world since he bears a likeness to the greater world. But in man the more noble part, namely the heart, is formed before the other parts, according to the Philosopher .8 Therefore it seems that angels, who are the more noble part of the greater world, were produced before visible creatures. obj. 11. As Augustine says in the second book On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis, in the work of the second and following days, Scripture recounts the making of things in three ways.9 For first it says, “God said: Let the firmament be made”; and next, “And thus it was made”; and finally, “God made the firmament.” The first of these refers to the being of things in the Word; the second to the 4. Ambrose, The Six Days of Creation...

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