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August 02, 2005
Ch.VIII. Q.52. Divine Omniscience and Omnipresence
THE Omniscience of God is His infinite knowledge of all things which can be objects of knowledge. It is a knowledge the limitations of which, in range and method, arise only from the intrinsic nature of knowledge in its perfection.1
2. Divine knowledge is (a) intuitive, without mental process; (b) immediate, independent of external media; (c) eternal, without temporal limitation; (d) actual, not a mere power of knowing, nor ever suppressed; (e) universal, including all knowable things in its range, real or possible, internal or external to Himself, general or particular; (f) perfect, without possibility of development or forgetfulness.
3. God knows all things, past, present, and future, as such, for He has created and entered into real relations with the temporal. But His knowledge of them all is simultaneous. He is said to fore-know,2 but there is no temporal interval between His act of knowing and the event known. The interval exists only in our temporal point of view, from which we see that His knowledge touching any effect in time did not originate at that time, or at any time.3
4. God also knows things everywhere, and their spatial relations, but there is no spatial separation between Himself and what He knows. The OMNIPRESENCE of God is deduced from (a) this omniscience;4 (b) His immensity;5 (c) His operations.6
5. The Divine omnipresence is (a) free, for the created things which it presupposes came into existence by the will of God; (b) actual and not potential merely; (c) penetrative, but not diffusive or expansive; (d) indivisible and entire in every thing.
"Though God extends beyond creation's rim,
Each smallest atom holds the whole of Him."
6. If God were omnipresent simply, communion with Him would be impossible. But He has revealed to us special and limited modes of presence, according to which He wills to be present to His creatures. He is present (a) in glory, to the adoring hosts of heaven;7 (b) with efficiency, in the natural order;8 (c) providentially, in the affairs of men;9 (d) attentively, to those who seek him;10 (e) judicially, to the consciences of the wicked;11 (f) bodily, in the Incarnate Son;12 (g) mystically, in the Church of Christ;13 (h) officially, with His Ministers;14 (i) sacramentally and adorably, in the Holy Eucharist.15
1 Wilhelm and Scannell, Manual, Vol. I., pp. 214-224; Forbes, Creed, pp. 52-56; Strong, Syst. Theol., p. 133; Owen, Dogmatics, ch. iv., § 11; Pearson, De Deo, XV.-XIX., pp. 149-205; St. Thos. Summa, I. xiv.; Petavius, De Dogmatibus, T. I., lib. iv.; Schouppe, Elementa, Tr. V., §§ 136-154; Mason, Faith of the Gospel, ch. I., § 11; Clarke, Outline of Theol., pp. 80-85; Powell, Prin. of the Incarn., pp. 126-132; Weidner, Theologia, pp. 35-37. Cf. I. Sam. ii. 3; I. Kings viii. 39; I. Chr. xxviii. 9; Job xxvi. 6; xxviii. 10, 24; Psa. xxxiii. 13, 14; xciv. 1-11; cxxxix. 1-24; cxlvii. 4, 5; Isa. xlvi. 9, 10; Jerem. xxiii. 24; Ezek. xi. 5; Matt. vi. 8; x. 29, 30; Acts ii. 23; xv. 8, 18; Rom. xi. 33; Heb. iv. 12, 13; I John iii. 20.
2 Isa. xlii. 9; xlvi. 10; Jerem. i. 5; Acts xv. 18; Rom. viii. 29.
3 Wilhelm and Scannell, pp. 219-224.
4 Psa. cxiii. 5, 6.
5 Jerem. xxiii. 23, 24; I. Kings viii. 27.
6 Psa. cxxxix. 7-13. Forbes, p. 51; Owen, ch. IV. §9; Pearson, VIII., pp. 76-86; St. Thos., I. viii.; Petavius, T. I., lib. iii. ch. 7-10; Strong, p. 132; Wilhelm and Scannell, pp. 211-213; Clarke, pp. 79, 80; 81, 82; Weidner, pp. 34-35; St. Anselm, Monologium, ch. xx.-xxiv. Cf. Isa. Ixvi. 1; Acts xvii. 24, 27, 28; Ephes. i. 23.
7 Isa. vi. 1-3; Rev. vii. 9-12.
8 Nah. i. 3-5.
9 Psa. Ixviii. 7-8.
10 Matt, xviii. 19, 20; Acts xvii. 27.
11 Gen. iii. 8; Psa. Ixviii. 1, 2.
12 Col. ii. 9.
13 Ephes. ii. 12-22.
14 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.
15 John vi. 56; Luke xxii. 19, 20. Martensen, Dogmatics § 48.
Posted by Debra Bullock at August 2, 2005 11:37 PM
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