this particular soul and this particular body; and by these
is this particular man distinguished from all other men. Now it is
paternity which distinguishes the person of the Father from all other
persons. Hence this name "Father," whereby paternity is signified, is
the proper name of the person of the Father.

Reply Obj. 1: Among us relation is not a subsisting person. So this
name "father" among us does not signify a person, but the relation of
a person. In God, however, it is not so, as some wrongly thought; for
in God the relation signified by the name "Father" is a subsisting
person. Hence, as above explained (Q. 29, A. 4), this name "person"
in God signifies a relation subsisting in the divine nature.

Reply Obj. 2: According to the Philosopher (De Anima ii, text 49), a
thing is denominated chiefly by its perfection, and by its end. Now
generation signifies something in process of being made, whereas
paternity signifies the complement of generation; and therefore the
name "Father" is more expressive as regards the divine person than
genitor or begettor.

Reply Obj. 3: In human nature the word is not a subsistence, and
hence is not properly called begotten or son. But the divine Word is
something subsistent in the divine nature; and hence He is properly
and not metaphorically called Son, and His principle is called Father.

Reply Obj. 4: The terms "generation" and "paternity" like the other
terms properly applied to God, are said of God before creatures as
regards the thing signified, but not as regards the mode of
signification. Hence also the Apostle says, "I bend my knee to the
Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all paternity in heaven and
on earth is named" (Eph. 3:14). This is explained thus. It is
manifest that generation receives its species from the term which is
the form of the thing generated; and the nearer it is to the form of
the generator, the truer and more perfect is the generation; as
univocal generation is more perfect than non-univocal, for it belongs
to the essence of a generator to generate what is like itself in
form. Hence the very fact that in the divine generation the form of
the Begetter and Begotten is numerically the same, whereas in
creatures it is not numerically, but only specifically, the same,
shows that generation, and consequently paternity, is applied to God
before creatures. Hence the very fact that in God a distinction
exists of the Begotten from the Begetter as rega