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August 01, 2005
Ch.VII. Q.44. Divine Self-Existence
THE self-existence of God is that whereby He is without origin and uncreate. He simply is.1 God is not self-caused, but uncaused. His being and mode of subsistence are not the product of His will, but facts of His essence. By that He is determined, since nothing else determines Him and He is not indeterminate.2
2. To deny the self-existence of God is to deny that He is supreme, for, if He were not self-existent, His existence would be caused by another, to whom He would be inferior. The cosmological argument for the existence of God is also an argument for His self-existence.
3. God is a LIVING God, for He is the Author of life to His creatures;3 and since He is self-existent, He has life in Himself.4
1 Strong, Syst. Theol., pp. 123-124; Pearson, De Deo, V., p. 47; Mason, Faith of the Gospel, i. 9; St. Anselm, Monologium, ch. v., vi. Cf. Exod. iii. 14; John v. 26; viii. 58; Acts xvii. 24-25. Also Q. xlii. 3.
2 St. Thos., Summa, I., iii. 4; Pearson, IV, pp. 35, 36.
3 Gen. ii. 7; Deut. v. 26; Josh. iii. 10; Acts xvii. 25, 28; Col. iii. 3.
4 Owen, Dogmatics, ch. iv. § 10; Pearson, XIV., pp. 137-143; St. Thos., I., xviii. Cf. John i. 4; v. 26.
Posted by Debra Bullock at August 1, 2005 09:23 PM
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