1 Objection 1: It would seem that the angel was produced by God from eternity. For God is the cause of the angel by His being: for He does not act through something besides His essence. But His being is eternal. Therefore He produced the angels from eternity.
1 Ad secundum sic proceditur. Videtur quod Angelus sit productus a Deo ab aeterno. Deus enim est causa Angeli per suum esse, non enim agit per aliquid additum suae essentiae. Sed esse eius est aeternum. Ergo ab aeterno Angelos produxit.
2 Objection 2: Further, everything which exists at one period and not at another, is subject to time. But the angel is above time, as is laid down in the book De Causis. Therefore the angel is not at one time existing and at another non-existing, but exists always.
2 Praeterea, omne quod quandoque est et quandoque non est, subiacet tempori. Sed Angelus est supra tempus, ut dicitur in libro de causis. Ergo Angelus non quandoque est, et quandoque non est, sed semper.
3 Objection 3: Further, Augustine De Trin. xiii) proves the soul's incorruptibility by the fact that the mind is capable of truth. But as truth is incorruptible, so is it eternal. Therefore the intellectual nature of the soul and of the angel is not only incorruptible, but likewise eternal.
3 Praeterea, Augustinus probat incorruptibilitatem animae per hoc, quod per intellectum est capax veritatis. Sed sicut veritas est incorruptibilis, ita est aeterna. Ergo natura intellectualis et animae et Angeli, non solum est incorruptibilis, sed etiam aeterna.
4 On the contrary, It is said Prov. 8, 22), in the person of begotten Wisdom: The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He made anything from the beginning. But, as was shown above Article 1), the angels were made by God. Therefore at one time the angels were not.
4 Sed contra est quod dicitur Prov. VIII, ex persona sapientiae genitae, dominus possedit me ab initio viarum suarum, antequam quidquam faceret a principio. Sed Angeli sunt facti a Deo, ut ostensum est. Ergo Angeli aliquando non fuerunt.
5 I answer that, God alone, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, is from eternity. Catholic Faith holds this without doubt; and everything to the contrary must be rejected as heretical. For God so produced creatures that He made them from nothing; that is, after they had not been.
5 Respondeo dicendum quod solus Deus, pater et filius et spiritus sanctus, est ab aeterno. Hoc enim fides Catholica indubitanter tenet; et omne contrarium est sicut haereticum refutandum. Sic enim Deus creaturas produxit, quod eas ex nihilo fecit, idest postquam nihil fuerat.
6 Reply to Objection 1: God's being is His will. So the fact that God produced the angels and other creatures by His being does not exclude that He made them also by His will. But, as was shown above Question 19, Article 3; Question 46, Article 1), God's will does not act by necessity in producing creatures. Therefore He produced such as He willed, and when He willed.
6 Ad primum ergo dicendum quod esse Dei est ipsum eius velle. Per hoc ergo quod Deus produxit Angelos et alias creaturas per suum esse, non excluditur quin eas produxerit per suam voluntatem. Voluntas autem Dei non de necessitate se habet ad productionem creaturarum, ut supra dictum est. Et ideo produxit et quae voluit, et quando voluit.
7 Reply to Objection 2: An angel is above that time which is the measure of the movement of the heavens; because he is above every movement of a corporeal nature. Nevertheless he is not above time which is the measure of the succession of his existence after his non-existence, and which is also the measure of the succession which is in his operations. Hence Augustine says Gen. ad lit. viii, 20, 21) that God moves the spiritual creature according to time.
7 Ad secundum dicendum quod Angelus est supra tempus quod est numerus motus caeli, quia est supra omnem motum corporalis naturae. Non tamen est supra tempus quod est numerus successionis esse eius post non esse, et etiam quod est numerus successionis quae est in operationibus eius. Unde Augustinus dicit, VIII super Gen. ad Litt., quod Deus movet creaturam spiritualem per tempus.
8 Reply to Objection 3: Angels and intelligent souls are incorruptible by the very fact of their having a nature whereby they are capable of truth. But they did not possess this nature from eternity; it was bestowed upon them when God Himself willed it. Consequently it does not follow that the angels existed from eternity.
8 Ad tertium dicendum quod Angeli et animae intellectivae, ex hoc ipso quod habent naturam per quam sunt capaces veritatis, sunt incorruptibiles. Sed hanc naturam non habuerunt ab aeterno; sed data fuit eis a Deo quando ipse voluit. Unde non sequitur quod Angeli sint ab aeterno.