In my posts of August 11th and 14th, we learned that God’s knowledge, insofar as His will is joined to it in the divine essence, is the cause of all other existing things. So now, having touched on God’s knowledge and Truth, we move on to learning about God’s will, which is His own essence, just as His intellect is.
Just as there is intellect in God, there is will in God since will follows upon intellect. We see this even in our own creative activity: we think of something (a book, a painting, a cake, a house, a garden, a table, a chair, etc.) before we choose to make it. Will is in God because the object of the will is the good, and since God, as we saw in my July 16th post, is absolute goodness itself, the principal object of the will of God is His absolute goodness, that is, God Himself (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 19, a. 1).
God Wills All Things
God wills not only Himself, but every created thing apart from Himself. The distinction between the two is that God wills Himself to be as the end of all created things, and He wills all created things to be destined to Himself as their supreme and total happiness.
The divine will, like the divine intellect, is identical with the divine essence, yet it differs from the divine intellect in our ways of understanding and expressing each. When we say that God exists, we imply no relation of God to any other object; when we say that God wills, we imply God’s relation to others as effects of His willing because, although God is not anything apart from Himself, He wills things apart from Himself by willing His own absolute goodness (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 19, a. 2).
Is It Necessary for God to Will Other Things?
God’s willing things other than Himself is not absolutely necessary for Him because His goodness is perfect and, therefore, requires nothing more to improve upon itself. Nonetheless, God, Who is His goodness, even though He can exist without other things, freely chooses to will the existence of things other than Himself. We and all other things in the universe exist, not because God necessarily had to will our existence, but because He freely chose to will it (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 19, a. 3). God possesses the perfection of free will in an infinitely eminent degree. Without any change in Himself or in His eternal act of willing, God freely chooses whether or not creatures shall exist and what type of existence they shall have. Free will is an absolute and positive perfection, most fully realized in the Supreme Being (See “God, The Nature and Attributes of”, II, D, 2, online at www.newadvent.org/cathen/06612a.htm).
The Will of God is the Cause of All Things
The will of God is the cause of all things inasmuch as in one infinite and eternal act He knows and understands them in Himself and freely chooses to will them to be. If the human being can create a work of art, or a great invention, or a beautifully crafted piece of furniture by conceptualizing it, then willing it through his/her creative activity, how infinitely more so can God, whose essence is His intellect and will, know and will in Himself the incalculable effects of His creative causality.
The Will of God is Always Fulfilled
When St. Paul writes in his first letter to Timothy (2:3-4): “This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved”, does he mean that, by the very fact that God wills this, everyone will be saved?
Actually, what Paul refers to here is God’s will by which He creates all humankind to attain salvation while providing and intending the necessary means of salvation for all, abstracting from those conditions and circumstances apart from God which may interfere with the will of God. God creates all human beings with free will and sincerely hopes that all will achieve salvation and eternal happiness with Him by cooperating with the graces that He provides for that end.
St. Augustine put it this way: “God wills all men to be saved that are saved, not because there is no man whom He does not wish saved, but because there is no man saved whose
salvation He does not will.” God’s will that all human beings be saved applies to all classes of humanity – males and females, Jews and non-Jews, rich and poor, great and small – but not to every individual in each class, not to all of every condition.
God is so intent on the salvation of all humankind that He sent His only begotten Son, the Incarnate Word of God, Jesus the Christ, to Earth to pay to the Father the infinite debt of human sin (failure to accept and to fulfill God’s will for their lives) by offering the infinite sacrifice of His passion and death in atonement for all sin. Not only that, but Jesus gifted all human beings from that time forward with a clear revelation of the nature and will of the Trinity and detailed teachings on how to fulfill the will of His Father and, in doing so, to enter the kingdom of God, that is, eternal participation in the life of the Blessed Trinity.
The Will of God is Unchangeable
My July 21st post on the Unchanging God pointed out that the essence of God, who has no limitation or imperfection in His existence, but only pure, unadulterated actuality, cannot change. In today’s post, we’ve already established that God’s will, as well as God’s intellect, is God’s essence, which is forever unchanging.
God’s will, just as His essence, is infinite and eternal and absolutely perfect; and, therefore, incapable of change. How can to add to or subtract from the single, infinite, eternal and absolutely perfect act of God’s will? God, who is defined as absolute goodness, wills all things eternally in Himself as the perfect object of the perfect will. To will otherwise would be an imperfection, which is impossible in Absolute Perfection Himself.
Does God Will Evil?
As was stated early in this post, “Will is in God because the object of the will is the good, and since God, as we saw in my July 16th post, is absolute goodness itself, the principal object of the will of God is His absolute goodness, that is, God Himself”. Now God wills no good more than He wills His own goodness; yet He wills one good more than another. So, He can in no way will the evil of sin, which is the absence or privation of right order towards the divine good (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 19, a. 9).
God can and does will, however, the evil of natural defect, or of punishment, by willing the good to which such evils are attached: for example, in willing justice God wills punishment; and in willing the preservation of the natural order, he wills some things to be naturally corrupted. For example, a result of humankind’s abuse of the Earth’s natural resources, might produce the evil of global warming, which, in turn, might effect an increase in the number and severity of natural disasters all over the planet, resulting in the evil of human deaths. The evil is not willed by God, but is a consequence of human neglect toward the preservation of the natural order. Evil, of itself, is not is not ordered essentially to good; but only accidentally in that some good may follow from the evil, though not intended by the one who causes deliberately or unintentionally the evil effect.
God neither wills evil to be done, nor wills evil not to be done, but wills to permit evil to be done as a corruption of the natural order of His creation.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
The Not-So-Ordinary Time: September, 2008
Charitable correction of our brother or sister in Christ who sins, and our Christian solidarity in prayer, forgiveness of others who sin against us, the equality of all in God’s kingdom, and doing God’s will for our life, are the four diverse, yet related themes of September's Not-So-Ordinary Time Liturgy of the Word.
September 7, 2008
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 18:15-20)
Jesus instructs His disciples on dealing with a fellow disciple who sins but hasn’t left the church community. Today, this entire process, at the discretion of the pastor, is passed up to the diocesan level according to the law of the Church. Still, it doesn’t relieve us of the responsibility of being concerned for the spiritual welfare of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Afterward, Jesus reminds His disciples that if two of them agree to pray about something, it will be granted to them by His heavenly Father because where two or three are gathered together in Jesus’ name, He is among them.
September 14, 2008
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 18:21-35)
The theme is forgiveness. Peter asks Jesus how many times he must forgive the sins of his brother. Jesus tells of the unforgiving servant, who was forgiven a huge debt, only to suffer imprisonment later when he failed to forgive another. “So will my heavenly Father do to you,” Jesus warns, “unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” This puts into story form the fifth petition of the Our Father: “and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”. Both indicate how critical our forgiveness of others’ sins is to entry into God’s kingdom.
September 21, 2008
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 20:1-16a)
Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a winemaker who goes out five times during the day to hire laborers to pick grapes in his vineyard. At day’s end, he assembles the laborers, and pays each the same full-day’s wage. Jesus concludes, saying, “Thus the last will be first, and the first will be last,” indicating that, through the divine munificence, all Jesus’ disciples will enjoy equality in God’s kingdom.
September 28, 2008
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 21:28-32)
The chief priests and elders of the people question Jesus’ authority to preach in the Temple. He responds with a parable about another winemaker who asks his two sons to work in the vineyard. It’s all about doing the Father’s will. “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you,” Jesus tells them, “When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him, but tax collectors and prostitutes did.” The way of righteousness, which is doing what the Father wills for our lives, will give us admission to God’s kingdom.
September 7, 2008
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 18:15-20)
Jesus instructs His disciples on dealing with a fellow disciple who sins but hasn’t left the church community. Today, this entire process, at the discretion of the pastor, is passed up to the diocesan level according to the law of the Church. Still, it doesn’t relieve us of the responsibility of being concerned for the spiritual welfare of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Afterward, Jesus reminds His disciples that if two of them agree to pray about something, it will be granted to them by His heavenly Father because where two or three are gathered together in Jesus’ name, He is among them.
September 14, 2008
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 18:21-35)
The theme is forgiveness. Peter asks Jesus how many times he must forgive the sins of his brother. Jesus tells of the unforgiving servant, who was forgiven a huge debt, only to suffer imprisonment later when he failed to forgive another. “So will my heavenly Father do to you,” Jesus warns, “unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” This puts into story form the fifth petition of the Our Father: “and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”. Both indicate how critical our forgiveness of others’ sins is to entry into God’s kingdom.
September 21, 2008
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 20:1-16a)
Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a winemaker who goes out five times during the day to hire laborers to pick grapes in his vineyard. At day’s end, he assembles the laborers, and pays each the same full-day’s wage. Jesus concludes, saying, “Thus the last will be first, and the first will be last,” indicating that, through the divine munificence, all Jesus’ disciples will enjoy equality in God’s kingdom.
September 28, 2008
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 21:28-32)
The chief priests and elders of the people question Jesus’ authority to preach in the Temple. He responds with a parable about another winemaker who asks his two sons to work in the vineyard. It’s all about doing the Father’s will. “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you,” Jesus tells them, “When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him, but tax collectors and prostitutes did.” The way of righteousness, which is doing what the Father wills for our lives, will give us admission to God’s kingdom.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
God Is Truth
From what we’ve learned in my August 11th post about God’s knowledge, understanding and comprehension, it is evident that God Himself is the absolute Truth. Infinite intelligence is an essential perfection of God, in which He knows and comprehends everything about everything that ever was, is now and ever will be or can be; so, it follows that God’s understanding of the reality of everything is perfect in Himself. As the self-subsistent, supreme being, the uncaused cause of all that is, God is knowledge. And as the all-knowing creator of all that is, God is also Truth, because truth is knowledge of things exactly as they really are or are knowable (Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 60).
God is Pure Truth, in which there is no falsehood or deception, because pure, perfect truth is incompatible with falseness of any kind. Since God’s intellect knows everything perfectly in Himself, it is impossible for any falsehood, error or deception to exist in the divine knowledge. And since the divine intellect comprehends all things – together and all at once, not successively - in Himself as their first efficient cause, God needs no discursive reasoning to know them, but knows them in Himself forever because He caused them and sustains them all in existence, and because, in God, there is only one infinite and eternal act of understanding of all things, all at once (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a; Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 61).
Reflection
Think back on the divine revelation given in the Old Testament writings and prophecies; and then in the teachings and revelations of Jesus, the Messiah, the Word and Son of God, set down in the writings of the New Testament. These writings are divinely inspired by God, Who is Truth itself, incapable of falsehood or deception.
The Old Testament writings, from The Book of Genesis through The Book of Malachi, ultimately form a prophetic pathway to the coming of humankind’s salvation, Jesus the Messiah. The New Testament writings, from The Gospel According to Matthew through The Book of Revelation, inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life of God, and by guidance from God the Holy Spirit, reveal to all humankind God’s Way, Truth and Life that leads us to the eternal rapture of participation in the Trinitarian communion that awaits those who follow Jesus’ Way, believing His Truth and imitating His Life.
God is Pure Truth, in which there is no falsehood or deception, because pure, perfect truth is incompatible with falseness of any kind. Since God’s intellect knows everything perfectly in Himself, it is impossible for any falsehood, error or deception to exist in the divine knowledge. And since the divine intellect comprehends all things – together and all at once, not successively - in Himself as their first efficient cause, God needs no discursive reasoning to know them, but knows them in Himself forever because He caused them and sustains them all in existence, and because, in God, there is only one infinite and eternal act of understanding of all things, all at once (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a; Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 61).
Reflection
Think back on the divine revelation given in the Old Testament writings and prophecies; and then in the teachings and revelations of Jesus, the Messiah, the Word and Son of God, set down in the writings of the New Testament. These writings are divinely inspired by God, Who is Truth itself, incapable of falsehood or deception.
The Old Testament writings, from The Book of Genesis through The Book of Malachi, ultimately form a prophetic pathway to the coming of humankind’s salvation, Jesus the Messiah. The New Testament writings, from The Gospel According to Matthew through The Book of Revelation, inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life of God, and by guidance from God the Holy Spirit, reveal to all humankind God’s Way, Truth and Life that leads us to the eternal rapture of participation in the Trinitarian communion that awaits those who follow Jesus’ Way, believing His Truth and imitating His Life.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Does God Know Everything?
We, as created intelligent beings, are able to form immaterial ideas about things which first are delivered to our intellect by our senses in such a way that the idea of the thing known is in us. In fact, it’s the immaterial essence of a thing that makes it knowable by us. Even though the image of its materiality first is presented to our intellect by our senses, it is through the immaterial essence of a thing that we ultimately come to know it. But since senses can receive images of things free from material considerations, and since our intellect is separated from matter, it is able to know immaterial things. As a result of this, God Who is purely spiritual, without any materiality, is knowable to us.
God’s Way of Knowing
“In God”, as St. Thomas Aquinas put it, “there exists the most perfect knowledge.” Knowledge doesn’t exist in God as it does in His intelligent creatures. Intelligence and knowledge are essential to God. It is in God’s perfect nature to know all that is, was, will be and can be - God is knowledge. God knows everything by one, simple, everlasting and unchanging act of knowing, understanding and comprehending (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 1).
Does God Understand Himself?
God understands Himself through Himself because the divine nature is pure self-subsistent existence, without limitation, so that what God knows is the divine intellect itself, in which everything knowable exists. God’s intellect and its object (Himself), both being totally immaterial, are altogether the same (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 2).
Does God Comprehend Himself?
God comprehends Himself perfectly. Something is comprehended when complete knowledge of it is attained, when it is known as perfectly as it is knowable. God knows Himself as perfectly as He is perfectly knowable because the power of God’s intelligence and knowledge is as great as the actuality of His existence, which is perfectly infinite, eternal and everywhere present; so He perfectly comprehends Himself. God is said to be in Himself inasmuch as He is not contained in anything outside Himself; likewise, He is said to be comprehended by Himself inasmuch as nothing in Him is hidden from Himself (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 3).
God Is Perfect Knowledge
Infinite, perfect knowledge and understanding is an essential perfection of the divine nature. It is, therefore, one with the essence of God. God’s essence, existence and knowledge are all the same; it could not be otherwise, as we’ve seen from the previous chapters on God’s simplicity and immateriality, absolute perfection and goodness, infinity, eternity, omnipresence and immutability, all of which also are one with the divine nature which makes God to be God (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 4).
Does God Know All of His Creatures?
As the first efficient cause and sustainer of all that is, God necessarily must know all of His creation. Since God is, as we’ve said, perfect knowledge, understanding and comprehension, He knows, understands and comprehends Himself primarily and essentially and knows, understands and comprehends in Himself all other things in His creation because He created them and constantly sustains them in being.
God knows, understands and comprehends all things in Himself not merely in general, but also in particular, because to know a thing in general and not in particular is to have imperfect knowledge of that thing. If God were to know all things only in general, without knowing each of them singularly, His knowledge – which is His essence – would not be absolutely perfect, and so, He would not be God. Instead, God knows all things in Himself individually, in their distinction from each other (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 5, 6 & 11).
Does God Know Things Discursively?
No. God’s knowledge does not move from topic to topic, randomly or coherently; instead, He comprehends all things – together and all at once, not successively - in Himself as their first efficient cause. As such, God needs no discursive reasoning to know them; He knows them in Himself forever because He caused them and sustains them all in existence, and because, in God, there is only one infinite and eternal act of understanding of all things, all at once (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 7).
Is God’s Knowledge the Cause of All Things?
From what has been said before, it is clear that God causes things by His intellect since His being is His infinite and eternal act of understanding. God’s knowledge, in so far as His will is joined to it in the divine essence, is the cause of all other existing things – in the past, now and in the future.
Regarding God’s knowledge of things future, God foreknows all future things, not because they cause God to know them, but because God causes them to be and, therefore, knows them from all eternity since they are always in His design, but not always in existence. Whatever can be made, or thought or said by a creature, as also whatever God Himself can do, are known to God, even though they aren’t actual. God has knowledge of whatever is possible to Him, even though it is not yet actual. Remembering that the knowledge of God, joined to His will, is the cause of all things, we can see that it is not necessary that whatever God knows is or was or will be; it is necessary only that God knows what He wills to be, or permits to be, and that it is in the knowledge of God not that they be, but that they be possible (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 8 & 9).
Does God Know Evil Things?
God would not know good things perfectly, unless he knew evil things since the essence of evil is the privation of good as darkness is the privation of light. However, God’s knowing evil in no way implies that God causes that evil. The knowledge of God is not the cause of evil, but the cause of the good in contrast to which the corruption or evil is known. Putting it another way, evil is not opposed to the divine essence, which cannot be corrupted by evil; it is opposed to all the creatures of God, which He knows by His essence; and in knowing them, He knows their opposite evils. Inasmuch as it is the very nature of evil to be a privation of good, evil can neither be defined nor known except by good (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14. a. 10).
Reflection
At your convenience, take some quiet time to meditate on what you’ve learned in this post about the infinity, eternity and omnipresence of the divine intelligence.
It is in God’s nature alone to have and to be perfect knowledge: to know through one, simple, infinite, eternal and unchangeable act of knowing, understanding and comprehending all that exists, actually or conceivably. That, by knowing, understanding and comprehending Himself perfectly as He exists in Himself, God’s essential intellect and will caused every good thing outside of Himself that ever existed, exists now, or ever will exist for all eternity – not merely in some general way, but each thing in a very singular, very particular way. In other words, God knows each of us as His creations in a very intimate and personal way. This will become all the more apparent as we learn more about God’s perfection in my subsequent posts.
God’s Way of Knowing
“In God”, as St. Thomas Aquinas put it, “there exists the most perfect knowledge.” Knowledge doesn’t exist in God as it does in His intelligent creatures. Intelligence and knowledge are essential to God. It is in God’s perfect nature to know all that is, was, will be and can be - God is knowledge. God knows everything by one, simple, everlasting and unchanging act of knowing, understanding and comprehending (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 1).
Does God Understand Himself?
God understands Himself through Himself because the divine nature is pure self-subsistent existence, without limitation, so that what God knows is the divine intellect itself, in which everything knowable exists. God’s intellect and its object (Himself), both being totally immaterial, are altogether the same (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 2).
Does God Comprehend Himself?
God comprehends Himself perfectly. Something is comprehended when complete knowledge of it is attained, when it is known as perfectly as it is knowable. God knows Himself as perfectly as He is perfectly knowable because the power of God’s intelligence and knowledge is as great as the actuality of His existence, which is perfectly infinite, eternal and everywhere present; so He perfectly comprehends Himself. God is said to be in Himself inasmuch as He is not contained in anything outside Himself; likewise, He is said to be comprehended by Himself inasmuch as nothing in Him is hidden from Himself (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 3).
God Is Perfect Knowledge
Infinite, perfect knowledge and understanding is an essential perfection of the divine nature. It is, therefore, one with the essence of God. God’s essence, existence and knowledge are all the same; it could not be otherwise, as we’ve seen from the previous chapters on God’s simplicity and immateriality, absolute perfection and goodness, infinity, eternity, omnipresence and immutability, all of which also are one with the divine nature which makes God to be God (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 4).
Does God Know All of His Creatures?
As the first efficient cause and sustainer of all that is, God necessarily must know all of His creation. Since God is, as we’ve said, perfect knowledge, understanding and comprehension, He knows, understands and comprehends Himself primarily and essentially and knows, understands and comprehends in Himself all other things in His creation because He created them and constantly sustains them in being.
God knows, understands and comprehends all things in Himself not merely in general, but also in particular, because to know a thing in general and not in particular is to have imperfect knowledge of that thing. If God were to know all things only in general, without knowing each of them singularly, His knowledge – which is His essence – would not be absolutely perfect, and so, He would not be God. Instead, God knows all things in Himself individually, in their distinction from each other (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 5, 6 & 11).
Does God Know Things Discursively?
No. God’s knowledge does not move from topic to topic, randomly or coherently; instead, He comprehends all things – together and all at once, not successively - in Himself as their first efficient cause. As such, God needs no discursive reasoning to know them; He knows them in Himself forever because He caused them and sustains them all in existence, and because, in God, there is only one infinite and eternal act of understanding of all things, all at once (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 7).
Is God’s Knowledge the Cause of All Things?
From what has been said before, it is clear that God causes things by His intellect since His being is His infinite and eternal act of understanding. God’s knowledge, in so far as His will is joined to it in the divine essence, is the cause of all other existing things – in the past, now and in the future.
Regarding God’s knowledge of things future, God foreknows all future things, not because they cause God to know them, but because God causes them to be and, therefore, knows them from all eternity since they are always in His design, but not always in existence. Whatever can be made, or thought or said by a creature, as also whatever God Himself can do, are known to God, even though they aren’t actual. God has knowledge of whatever is possible to Him, even though it is not yet actual. Remembering that the knowledge of God, joined to His will, is the cause of all things, we can see that it is not necessary that whatever God knows is or was or will be; it is necessary only that God knows what He wills to be, or permits to be, and that it is in the knowledge of God not that they be, but that they be possible (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14, a. 8 & 9).
Does God Know Evil Things?
God would not know good things perfectly, unless he knew evil things since the essence of evil is the privation of good as darkness is the privation of light. However, God’s knowing evil in no way implies that God causes that evil. The knowledge of God is not the cause of evil, but the cause of the good in contrast to which the corruption or evil is known. Putting it another way, evil is not opposed to the divine essence, which cannot be corrupted by evil; it is opposed to all the creatures of God, which He knows by His essence; and in knowing them, He knows their opposite evils. Inasmuch as it is the very nature of evil to be a privation of good, evil can neither be defined nor known except by good (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 14. a. 10).
Reflection
At your convenience, take some quiet time to meditate on what you’ve learned in this post about the infinity, eternity and omnipresence of the divine intelligence.
It is in God’s nature alone to have and to be perfect knowledge: to know through one, simple, infinite, eternal and unchangeable act of knowing, understanding and comprehending all that exists, actually or conceivably. That, by knowing, understanding and comprehending Himself perfectly as He exists in Himself, God’s essential intellect and will caused every good thing outside of Himself that ever existed, exists now, or ever will exist for all eternity – not merely in some general way, but each thing in a very singular, very particular way. In other words, God knows each of us as His creations in a very intimate and personal way. This will become all the more apparent as we learn more about God’s perfection in my subsequent posts.
Monday, July 21, 2008
The Comfort of an Unchanging God
The essence of God is forever the same.
That’s very comforting: a God who is the perfection of existence cannot change. Stating it positively, God is forever steady, stable, constant, consistent, abiding and permanent.
But why can’t God change?
In order to change, a being must be able to increase or decrease in some way the perfection of its existence. Humans, for example, change by growing or diminishing physically, mentally or emotionally, or by moving in space from one place to another, or by passing through time, from day to day, year to year. We do these things because we are limited beings, full of imperfections.
God, who has no limitation or imperfection in His existence, but only pure, unadulterated actuality, cannot change. How can you add to or take away from a perfect, limitless existence?
Can God change in time or space? No, God caused time and space and, so, pre-existed them and co-exists with them. God can never change because, as Perfect Self-Existence, He is, as we’ve seen in my previous posts of June 25th and 26th and July 16th, 17th and 18th, one, simple, indivisible, perfect, infinite, eternal and omnipresent.
Did the act of Creating All That Is or the Incarnation of Christ Change God?
What about the creation of the universe or the Incarnation of the Word of God in Jesus Christ, surely these changed God? On the contrary, whatever change took place, was solely in the created objects: the universe and the human body and nature of the divine Person Jesus, respectively.
Does Our Prayer Change God’s Will?
What about God’s answering our prayers of petition efficaciously? (When we pray to God, for example, to heal a loved one of their cancer and, in response to those prayers, God responds by actually healing the loved one, those prayers are said to be efficacious.) Wouldn’t this be contradictory to the doctrine of God’s absolutely unchangeable providence?
St. Thomas Aquinas demonstrated how the efficacy of our prayers can be compatible with God’s unchangeable providence. First, he points out in Summa Theologica, 2-2, 83, 2c, that divine providence decrees not only what effects shall take place, but also from what causes and in what order they will take place. So, when we pray not with the intention of changing the divine decree, but that we might obtain through our prayers that which God has decreed to be fulfilled by our prayers, we, by asking, receive what Almighty God from eternity has decreed to give.
Our prayers of petition should not be made in an attempt to change God’s unchangeable providence, but to bring about the desired effect, which we hope God has ordained to follow from our prayers. Jesus Himself taught us by example when, in the garden of Gethsemane, He begged the Father to remove the cup of His crucifixion from Him, but with the proviso that not His own will, but His Father’s will be done. It is the very same thing He taught us in His model prayer, the Our Father: “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
So we see that the efficacy of human prayer is not opposed to God’s unchangeable providence, but is included within it. At this point, one might raise the question: If every human act (including prayers of petition) fall within the scope of God’s totally unchangeable providence, then how is it possible for any human act to be genuinely free?
That must be the topic of its own future post on this blog. Suffice it to say here that divine providence is so all-comprehensive that it extends not only to what we do, but also to the way in which we do it – not only to our acts themselves, but also to the very freedom with which we are able to do them. What an awesome and mysterious God!
In the meantime, as I stated at the beginning of this post, how comforting it is to know that God is eternally unchangeable. He does not flip-flop; He is steadfast, constant and supremely dependable, always doing for us what, in His infinite wisdom, He knows is best for our eternal life.
That’s very comforting: a God who is the perfection of existence cannot change. Stating it positively, God is forever steady, stable, constant, consistent, abiding and permanent.
But why can’t God change?
In order to change, a being must be able to increase or decrease in some way the perfection of its existence. Humans, for example, change by growing or diminishing physically, mentally or emotionally, or by moving in space from one place to another, or by passing through time, from day to day, year to year. We do these things because we are limited beings, full of imperfections.
God, who has no limitation or imperfection in His existence, but only pure, unadulterated actuality, cannot change. How can you add to or take away from a perfect, limitless existence?
Can God change in time or space? No, God caused time and space and, so, pre-existed them and co-exists with them. God can never change because, as Perfect Self-Existence, He is, as we’ve seen in my previous posts of June 25th and 26th and July 16th, 17th and 18th, one, simple, indivisible, perfect, infinite, eternal and omnipresent.
Did the act of Creating All That Is or the Incarnation of Christ Change God?
What about the creation of the universe or the Incarnation of the Word of God in Jesus Christ, surely these changed God? On the contrary, whatever change took place, was solely in the created objects: the universe and the human body and nature of the divine Person Jesus, respectively.
Does Our Prayer Change God’s Will?
What about God’s answering our prayers of petition efficaciously? (When we pray to God, for example, to heal a loved one of their cancer and, in response to those prayers, God responds by actually healing the loved one, those prayers are said to be efficacious.) Wouldn’t this be contradictory to the doctrine of God’s absolutely unchangeable providence?
St. Thomas Aquinas demonstrated how the efficacy of our prayers can be compatible with God’s unchangeable providence. First, he points out in Summa Theologica, 2-2, 83, 2c, that divine providence decrees not only what effects shall take place, but also from what causes and in what order they will take place. So, when we pray not with the intention of changing the divine decree, but that we might obtain through our prayers that which God has decreed to be fulfilled by our prayers, we, by asking, receive what Almighty God from eternity has decreed to give.
Our prayers of petition should not be made in an attempt to change God’s unchangeable providence, but to bring about the desired effect, which we hope God has ordained to follow from our prayers. Jesus Himself taught us by example when, in the garden of Gethsemane, He begged the Father to remove the cup of His crucifixion from Him, but with the proviso that not His own will, but His Father’s will be done. It is the very same thing He taught us in His model prayer, the Our Father: “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
So we see that the efficacy of human prayer is not opposed to God’s unchangeable providence, but is included within it. At this point, one might raise the question: If every human act (including prayers of petition) fall within the scope of God’s totally unchangeable providence, then how is it possible for any human act to be genuinely free?
That must be the topic of its own future post on this blog. Suffice it to say here that divine providence is so all-comprehensive that it extends not only to what we do, but also to the way in which we do it – not only to our acts themselves, but also to the very freedom with which we are able to do them. What an awesome and mysterious God!
In the meantime, as I stated at the beginning of this post, how comforting it is to know that God is eternally unchangeable. He does not flip-flop; He is steadfast, constant and supremely dependable, always doing for us what, in His infinite wisdom, He knows is best for our eternal life.
Friday, July 18, 2008
God, Always and Everywhere, All at Once
In my previous post, we considered the infinity of God as a view of the essence of the self-existent, focusing on God’s absolute perfection, which excludes any limitation whatsoever. God’s very nature is to be, in the fullness of being and perfection, unlimited in every way. Therefore God is His own existence: God alone (without peer), a simple existence (without compounds or components), an indivisible existence (unable to be divided into parts), a spiritual existence (immaterial and incorporeal), an infinite existence (without any spatial limitation); and, therefore, perfection and goodness itself.
What else?
As other corollaries to God’s absolute perfection, God is always (eternal) and everywhere all at once (omnipresent). God’s essence transcends time, space, matter and energy. He pre-existed them; He created them in the primordial singularity, or whatever. God’s eternity and omnipresence flow from the infinity of the divine essence.
God is Eternal
The eternity of God is a perfection of His essential self-existence and a corollary of His infinity. Being necessarily His own existence, as we’ve said many times before, God cannot be limited in any way. The fullness of Being, God is, by His very nature, beyond the realm of time as the uncaused cause of all that is, including time itself. Since time is the measure of finite existence, the infinite being transcends it. God co-exists with time as He co-exists with all of His creation, but He does not exist in time. His self-existence is timeless, eternal. When applied to God, the word “eternity” means “the possession in full entirety and perfection of life, without beginning, end or succession”. The phrase “without . . . succession” refers to God’s possession of the full entirety and perfection of life not in a sequence of events as His creatures do, but all at once in the eternal now. Do you remember God’s self-definition, “I AM”, discussed in my May 1st post, “What Makes God to Be God?” In this unique way, He was revealing to humankind through Moses His essential, ever-present, eternal existence.
God is Omnipresent
As God’s eternity is to time, so His omnipresence is to space. Since space is another measurement of finite existence, God’s infinite self-existence transcends space. As was said of His co-existence with time, God co-exists with space as He does with His creatures, but God transcends all the limitations of space.
On the one hand, as the first cause and sustainer of His entire creation, God is necessarily present in space; on the other hand, as the uncaused cause who pre-existed His entire creation, God transcends the limitations of actual and possible space, and cannot be circumscribed or measured or divided by any finite spatial relations. As someone once said: “God’s center is everywhere; His circumference is nowhere.”
God, Eternal and Omnipresent
All of this, of course, is God’s essence as the Self-existent. As pure existence, God is the Supreme Being, purely spiritual, limitless in every way, absolute perfection, absolute
goodness, eternal and everywhere all at once.
Try to imagine a Supreme Being Who exists always and everywhere – all at once. All that happened billions of years ago, all that is happening in the vastness of creation now and all that will happen forever, are forever present to God because His very essence is to be prior to and the cause of all that is, including time and space.
What can we learn from God’s eternity and omnipresence for the advancement of our spiritual life?
First, we can gain increased faith in our eternal and omnipresent God Who truly has the “big picture” of creation’s history and destiny, yet knows at every moment what each of us is going through in our own lives on this little planet in this vast ocean of the known universe. He put us here as part of His divine plan for His entire creation. He knows what has happened to us in our past, what is happening to us now and what will happen to us for the rest of eternity. He knows what we need to fulfill His plan for us. He will supply it when we need it. All else is non-essential to His purpose for us.
Secondly, we can gain increased hope that our eternal and omnipresent God, knowing fully who we are, where we’re headed, and what we need to achieve His goal for us, will supply all that we need to live our life according to His will so as to attain participation in the divine life for all eternity.
Finally, we can gain increased gratitude and love for our eternal and omnipresent God by realizing that it is He Who, as the first cause and sustainer of His entire creation, is necessarily always and everywhere present to us in time and space. Whether or not we sense His presence, His essence and perfection assures that God is with us always and everywhere.
What else?
As other corollaries to God’s absolute perfection, God is always (eternal) and everywhere all at once (omnipresent). God’s essence transcends time, space, matter and energy. He pre-existed them; He created them in the primordial singularity, or whatever. God’s eternity and omnipresence flow from the infinity of the divine essence.
God is Eternal
The eternity of God is a perfection of His essential self-existence and a corollary of His infinity. Being necessarily His own existence, as we’ve said many times before, God cannot be limited in any way. The fullness of Being, God is, by His very nature, beyond the realm of time as the uncaused cause of all that is, including time itself. Since time is the measure of finite existence, the infinite being transcends it. God co-exists with time as He co-exists with all of His creation, but He does not exist in time. His self-existence is timeless, eternal. When applied to God, the word “eternity” means “the possession in full entirety and perfection of life, without beginning, end or succession”. The phrase “without . . . succession” refers to God’s possession of the full entirety and perfection of life not in a sequence of events as His creatures do, but all at once in the eternal now. Do you remember God’s self-definition, “I AM”, discussed in my May 1st post, “What Makes God to Be God?” In this unique way, He was revealing to humankind through Moses His essential, ever-present, eternal existence.
God is Omnipresent
As God’s eternity is to time, so His omnipresence is to space. Since space is another measurement of finite existence, God’s infinite self-existence transcends space. As was said of His co-existence with time, God co-exists with space as He does with His creatures, but God transcends all the limitations of space.
On the one hand, as the first cause and sustainer of His entire creation, God is necessarily present in space; on the other hand, as the uncaused cause who pre-existed His entire creation, God transcends the limitations of actual and possible space, and cannot be circumscribed or measured or divided by any finite spatial relations. As someone once said: “God’s center is everywhere; His circumference is nowhere.”
God, Eternal and Omnipresent
All of this, of course, is God’s essence as the Self-existent. As pure existence, God is the Supreme Being, purely spiritual, limitless in every way, absolute perfection, absolute
goodness, eternal and everywhere all at once.
Try to imagine a Supreme Being Who exists always and everywhere – all at once. All that happened billions of years ago, all that is happening in the vastness of creation now and all that will happen forever, are forever present to God because His very essence is to be prior to and the cause of all that is, including time and space.
What can we learn from God’s eternity and omnipresence for the advancement of our spiritual life?
First, we can gain increased faith in our eternal and omnipresent God Who truly has the “big picture” of creation’s history and destiny, yet knows at every moment what each of us is going through in our own lives on this little planet in this vast ocean of the known universe. He put us here as part of His divine plan for His entire creation. He knows what has happened to us in our past, what is happening to us now and what will happen to us for the rest of eternity. He knows what we need to fulfill His plan for us. He will supply it when we need it. All else is non-essential to His purpose for us.
Secondly, we can gain increased hope that our eternal and omnipresent God, knowing fully who we are, where we’re headed, and what we need to achieve His goal for us, will supply all that we need to live our life according to His will so as to attain participation in the divine life for all eternity.
Finally, we can gain increased gratitude and love for our eternal and omnipresent God by realizing that it is He Who, as the first cause and sustainer of His entire creation, is necessarily always and everywhere present to us in time and space. Whether or not we sense His presence, His essence and perfection assures that God is with us always and everywhere.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
God is Absolutely Infinite
How often do we say something is infinite when what we really mean is that it is immense, incalculable or immeasurable? In this sense, the thing might be infinite in only one respect or partially infinite, as in the case of the ideal space of the universe or the duration of an immortal human soul.
In speaking of the theological concept of God’s infinity, however, we apply “infinite” in the negative sense, meaning that which is “not finite”, but is without beginning, without end, without limit, without boundary, without circumscription and, therefore, immeasurable by any finite standard. Infinity, applied to God alone, is an absolute perfection of existence which cannot be increased or decreased. It is in this sense that we say that God is absolutely infinite, that is, unlimited in every perfection. God’s absolute infinity, just as His absolute perfection and absolute goodness mentioned in my June 26th and July 16th posts, is deducible from God’s unique nature of self-existence. As the perfection of existence or actuality, God is without limitation since He is, as pointed out in my June 25th post: one, simple and indivisible. God’s perfect essence is, therefore, infinite existence.
Our frustration in approaching the topic of God’s infinity, of course, is that human knowledge of the Infinite is so inadequate since our minds are only finite. Consequently, when we speak of the Infinite Being, we attribute to that perfect essence the infinite magnitude of every perfection, remembering, of course, that we are applying many perfections in a very human way to the one, simple, indivisible, unlimited and unchangeable essence of the Perfect Being. In this way we say that God is infinitely good, intelligent, wise, just, holy, etc., realizing that the self-existent must be infinite in all perfection. Self-existence, as absolutely positive being, cannot contradict and, therefore, cannot limit itself.
Relative to God’s infinity, we must distinguish carefully the concept of absolute infinity from either of two other concepts: “all-being” and the indeterminate. The indeterminate (the immense, incalculable, immeasurable, but not absolutely infinite) often is misunderstood for the infinite. The indeterminate being does not possess true infinity or eternity, but only a great immensity that cannot be calculated or measured.
The concept of “all-being”, when applied to God, becomes the fundamental principle of pantheism which, taken in its strictest sense, holds that God and His creation are one. Beneath the diversity and multiplicity of things in the universe, there is one only being absolutely necessary, eternal and infinite. Pantheism declares that there is no supreme, all-wise and all-provident divine being distinct from the universe; God is one with nature and therefore subject to change; He becomes God in man and the world; all things are God and have His substance; God is identical with the world, spirit with matter, necessity with freedom, truth with falsity, good with evil, justice with injustice.
The absolute infinity of God in every respect is Catholic dogma. The First Vatican Council declared at its third session that God is almighty, eternal, immense, incomprehensible, infinite in intellect and will and every perfection, really and essentially distinct from the world, infinitely blessed in Himself and through Himself, and inexpressibly above all things that can exist and be thought of besides Him.
Many human views of God’s attributes are simply His infinity manifest in a particular respect, for example, as omnipotence, the infinity of God’s power, or as omniscience, the infinity of God’s knowledge, or as eternity, the infinity of God’s transcendence of time.
When applied to our relationship with God, the realization of God’s infinity gives us powerful insight into the malice of sin, which becomes objectively infinite when you consider Who is offended by our sin, as well as the infinite majesty and boundless value of the merits and satisfaction of the Incarnate Word and, therefore, the necessity of His sacrificial death to satisfy God’s justice requiring an infinite expiation for sin against Him.
In speaking of the theological concept of God’s infinity, however, we apply “infinite” in the negative sense, meaning that which is “not finite”, but is without beginning, without end, without limit, without boundary, without circumscription and, therefore, immeasurable by any finite standard. Infinity, applied to God alone, is an absolute perfection of existence which cannot be increased or decreased. It is in this sense that we say that God is absolutely infinite, that is, unlimited in every perfection. God’s absolute infinity, just as His absolute perfection and absolute goodness mentioned in my June 26th and July 16th posts, is deducible from God’s unique nature of self-existence. As the perfection of existence or actuality, God is without limitation since He is, as pointed out in my June 25th post: one, simple and indivisible. God’s perfect essence is, therefore, infinite existence.
Our frustration in approaching the topic of God’s infinity, of course, is that human knowledge of the Infinite is so inadequate since our minds are only finite. Consequently, when we speak of the Infinite Being, we attribute to that perfect essence the infinite magnitude of every perfection, remembering, of course, that we are applying many perfections in a very human way to the one, simple, indivisible, unlimited and unchangeable essence of the Perfect Being. In this way we say that God is infinitely good, intelligent, wise, just, holy, etc., realizing that the self-existent must be infinite in all perfection. Self-existence, as absolutely positive being, cannot contradict and, therefore, cannot limit itself.
Relative to God’s infinity, we must distinguish carefully the concept of absolute infinity from either of two other concepts: “all-being” and the indeterminate. The indeterminate (the immense, incalculable, immeasurable, but not absolutely infinite) often is misunderstood for the infinite. The indeterminate being does not possess true infinity or eternity, but only a great immensity that cannot be calculated or measured.
The concept of “all-being”, when applied to God, becomes the fundamental principle of pantheism which, taken in its strictest sense, holds that God and His creation are one. Beneath the diversity and multiplicity of things in the universe, there is one only being absolutely necessary, eternal and infinite. Pantheism declares that there is no supreme, all-wise and all-provident divine being distinct from the universe; God is one with nature and therefore subject to change; He becomes God in man and the world; all things are God and have His substance; God is identical with the world, spirit with matter, necessity with freedom, truth with falsity, good with evil, justice with injustice.
The absolute infinity of God in every respect is Catholic dogma. The First Vatican Council declared at its third session that God is almighty, eternal, immense, incomprehensible, infinite in intellect and will and every perfection, really and essentially distinct from the world, infinitely blessed in Himself and through Himself, and inexpressibly above all things that can exist and be thought of besides Him.
Many human views of God’s attributes are simply His infinity manifest in a particular respect, for example, as omnipotence, the infinity of God’s power, or as omniscience, the infinity of God’s knowledge, or as eternity, the infinity of God’s transcendence of time.
When applied to our relationship with God, the realization of God’s infinity gives us powerful insight into the malice of sin, which becomes objectively infinite when you consider Who is offended by our sin, as well as the infinite majesty and boundless value of the merits and satisfaction of the Incarnate Word and, therefore, the necessity of His sacrificial death to satisfy God’s justice requiring an infinite expiation for sin against Him.
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