according as they have appeared visibly, are said to have been visibly sent. But it does not become the Father to be sent, as Augustine makes it clear (De Trin. ii.). Neither, therefore, (does it become Him) to appear.
Obj. 2. Further, the voice gives expression to the word conceived in the heart. But the Father is not the Word. Therefore He is unfittingly manifested by a voice.
Obj. 3. Further, the Man-Christ did not begin to be Son of God at His baptism, as some heretics have stated: but He was the Son of God from the beginning of His conception. Therefore the Father's voice should have proclaimed Christ's Godhead at His nativity rather than at His baptism.
On the contrary, It is written (Matth. iii. 17): Behold a voice from heaven, saying: This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.
I answer that, As stated above (A.5), that which is accomplished in our baptism should be manifested in Christ's baptism, which was the exemplar of ours. Now the baptism which the faithful receive is hallowed by the invocation and the power of the Trinity; according to Matth. xxviii. 19: Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, as Jerome says on Matth. iii. 16, 17: The mystery of the Trinity is shown forth in Christ's baptism. Our Lord Himself is baptized in His human nature; the Holy Ghost descended in the shape of a dove: the Father's voice is heard bearing witness to the Son. Therefore it was becoming that in that baptism the Father should be manifested by a voice.
Reply Obj. I. The visible mission adds something to the apparition, to wit, the authority of the sender. Therefore the Son and the Holy Ghost Who are from another, are said not only to appear, but also to be sent visibly. But the Father, Who is not from another, can appear indeed, but cannot be sent visibly.
Reply Obj. 2. The Father is manifested by the voice, only as producing the voice or speaking by it. And since it is
