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August 01, 2005
Ch.VII. Q.45. Divine Perfection
THE perfection of God signifies that every excellence proper to the Divine nature is found in Him in unlimited degree. Nothing falls short according to the mode of Divine perfection. Divine perfection is involved in Divine infinity, for He who is not limited by anything external to Himself must be perfect in Himself. 1
2. All the perfections of every creature have God for their Author, and are evidences of His perfection. They are not, however, reproductions of Divine perfection, but shadows of it. The perfection of God is not the totality of creaturely perfection, although the cause of it; but is peculiar to Himself and simple. "Not all the excellencies of all (creatures) can so fully represent His nature as an ape's shadow doth a man's body. But . . . infinite variety best sets forth the admirable excellency of His indivisible unity. . . . So all plurality be excluded, we express His being and perfection best by leaving them, as they truly are, without all quantity." 2
3. By virtue of His infinite perfection, God is self-sufficient. Nothing is wanting to His essence which is needed for His blessedness. Neither His knowledge, nor His will, nor His love, depend upon the existence of the creature, but have sufficient scope for their activity in the eternal relations subsisting between the Persons of the Trinity. Creation is an act of the Divine will, not the result of necessity. 3
4. God is the Summum Bonum, the devout contemplation and enjoyment of which is the true and chief end of man; for, as the infinitely Perfect One, and the source of all good, He comprehends in His own essence all that is needed for our eternal blessedness.4
1 St. Thos., Summa, I., iv.; Jackson, Works, Vol. V., ch. iv.; Pearson, De Deo, VI., pp. 55-60; VII. pp. 67-73; Petavius, De Dogmatibus, T. I., lib. vi., ch. 7; Schouppe, Elementa, Tr. V., §§ 105-110; Wilhelm and Scannell, Manual, Vol. I., pp. 177-179, 186.
2 Jackson, pp. 36, 37; St. Thos., I., iv. 2.
3 Strong, Syst. Theol., pp. 125, 126. Cf. Acts xvii. 25; and Q. lix.
4 St. Thos., I., vi. 1, 2; Pearson, pp. 70, 71; Westminster Catechism, 1st Ans. Cf. Psa. Ixxiii. 24-26; John xvii. 22, 24; Rom. xi. 35, 36.
Posted by Debra Bullock at August 1, 2005 09:38 PM
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