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August 02, 2005
Ch.VII. Q.47. Divine Simplicity and Spirituality
THE Simplicity of God signifies (a) His spiritual essence; (b) that He is pure form; (c) the identity of His essence and attributes with Himself.1
2. That God is incorporeal, and therefore without parts or extension is argued because (a) He is the Prime Mover of all things; but bodies, in themselves are inert; (b) He is the most eminent of beings; but the eminence of bodies is entirely due to the life which is in them. This life is not corporeal.2
3. The spirituality of the Divine essence signifies more than the absence of corporeity. It means, positively, that attribute by virtue of which, God is a living God. Because the Spirit is life, it can assume that which is not spirit into hypostatic union with itself. The Incarnation was such an event.3
4. By form, forma, is meant the actuality of a thing; by matter, materia, its potential principle. God is pure form; actual but not potential. He is, and always has been, in essence what He can be. There is no foundation (prior) for what He is. The distinction between power and energy, δύναμις και ενεργεια, is misleading in connection with God. He is absolute energy, purus actus.4
5. The attributes of God, as we have seen,5 do not differ from each other in re, but in ratione, although they are true distinctions rooted in His inmost essence. For instance, His goodness is a distinct reality, as is also His immutability; but the two are one, ontologically speaking, and inseparable. Furthermore, God is not merely good, but more exactly, He is goodness and the source of it. When we speak of the Divine Nature, we speak of the Divine Being.6
1 St. Thos., Summa, I., iii.; Wilhelm and Scannell, Manual, Vol. I., pp. 182-185; Forbes, Creed, pp. 40, 41; Owen, Dogmatics, ch. iv. § 4; Petavius, De Dogmatibus, T. I. lib. ii., ch. 1, 2; Schouppe, Elementa, Tr. V., §§96-104; Lacey, Elem. of Doctrine, p. 74; Weidner, Theologia, p. 34. Cf. Deut. iv. 16; John iv. 24.
2 St. Thos., I., iii. 1; Mason, Faith of the Gospel, ch. I., §8; Pearson, De Deo, V., pp. 47-51; Schouppe, § 101.
3 Cf. Q. xliv. 3.
4 St. Thos., I., iii. 2; Pearson, p. 46; Schouppe, § 103; Wilhelm and Scannell, p. 183.
5 Cf. Q. xliii. 3, 4.
6 St. Thos., I., iii. 3, 4, 6, 7; Jackson, Works, Vol. V., pp. 38-42; Pearson, p. 52; Wilhelm and Scannell, pp. 184-5.
Posted by Debra Bullock at August 2, 2005 10:31 PM
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