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Whether there is knowledge?
In God, the pure perfection of His substance is absolute knowledge and not comparable to any quality, deficiency, potentiality, habitual tendency, or marker and signal. The knowledge or brilliance of a man, although admirable among men, while works are worthy of material rewards, these perfections exist in a higher state in God than man himself, and we see the perfections of these attributes man displays as being pre-existent in God in a much higher way. Additionally, the perfections in knowledge, knowing, and wisdom that flows from the Living God are not qualities of Him as we see qualities in other things and people, but merely His substance which is pure act, for they are natural to Him, and part of His Essence and Essential Being. It also happens that God occupies the highest place in knowledge because He is immaterial, and infinity. The cognitive is a function of the immaterial, which is found in the rational creature and is what we know as an intelligent being which is not only limited to its form. In the irrational creatures and things, such as plants, which are purely material, you cannot find the light of rationale or intelligence like you would if the plant was compared to the bear. For the plant is closer to the material principle in its pureness more than the bear, because the bear displays cognitive functions so as to find food for itself and preserve its own life, while also caring for its young, and weighing risk/reward with its actions - thus demonstrating a higher immaterial cognitive function than the plant. In the same way, the immaterial principle, the more it strays from the corporeal forms of the world, the higher it is raised up in knowledge, as we see the composite human who is a mixture of soul (intellect) fashioned to a body of corporeal organs and parts. Whether God understands Himself? God understands Himself by way of Himself through His own understanding of Himself which is a kind of knowledge that pre-exists all knowledge and is the highest form of knowing. For God is a subsisting Essential Being in Actuality, whose actions is pure act, as opposed to the creature's actions, which is act in potentiality (accidents) and who are beings by participation in that they participate in existence by way of God who provides life, being and existence to everything that never was. In other words, He called forth those who “were not” by His pure love for them, a love that transcends and is higher than all love known to creatures, for creatures cannot love something they do not know to exist, but God is capable of this as He took those who did not exist and put them into existence by way of His agency and great love for them. Whether God comprehends Himself? God is free from all matter and potentiality, as He is cognitive and spirit, which is not confined to the principle forms and constraints of matter. Thus, He is the maximum of “knowing” or “knowledge” in that He alone is in the order of the infinite (which is of His own order, not occupied by anything else like Him), as all things which come forth from Him such as creatures are in the order of the finite, and subdivided by their order of genus and species, and marked by their measures and modes of operation according to their likeness which are subjected to the principle of matter and time - which has a start and end (the measure of matter from start to finish, life and death), and is subject to corruption and death, as opposed to the infinite which has no beginning or end (God), and is whole lacking in no parts (also God), and with the angelic substance such as aeviternity where there is beginning but no end. Thus, He comprehends Himself and knows everything about Himself because He is all knowing and pre-exists all knowledge that there is to know. Whether the act of God’s intellect is His substance? God is of His own Essence, simple, and within Himself, possessing all knowledge, while fully comprehending Himself, for He is of His own order as an Essential Being in actuality whose Substance is subsisting within Himself. Whether God knows things other than Himself? God must know Himself perfectly because He is the maximum of all knowledge pre-existing all knowledge as it can be known to anything that is created. Since all things come forth from Him, and that He alone has knowledge of everything going forth into existence, for they were in Him prior to their occurrence of being, it so happens that God knows all things even outside Himself, for since He knows Himself completely, and all things must come from Him as they were made from Him, He necessarily knows things other than Himself because those things pre-exist in Him. As for the freewill, what occurs or comes forth from free will choices of the creature, is pure potentiality and not actual (the decisions and choices made by God), thus they are called accidents (the free will choices of creatures not caused by God). Finally, since God sees and knows Himself through Himself because of His own Essence, which He fully understands, it occurs that He also sees other things from the viewpoint of Himself, and not exactly from the viewpoint of self which comes forth from the created as the creature would see itself, for the creature pre-existed in God before the creature itself was aware of its own existence, as the creature existed in the form of an idea coming from the Essence of God, which was non-existent before God decided to put forth the created into existence by pure act. Whether God knows things other than Himself by proper knowledge? Having proper knowledge of something means to know the general idea of something so as to understand what makes it work, its purpose, its components, and what kind of activity it engages in and why - additionally, having general knowledge of something can also help one to better incorporate it into their reality, for the one who doesn’t have any knowledge of something becomes ignorant and oblivious to its reality and existence. Regardless, just because a creature does not have general knowledge of a specific thing, does not mean that thing shall cease to exist. It shall exist regardless, and the creature will just remain ignorant. As we see with those who subscribe to the false belief of atheism - their lack of proper knowledge in things is not a pursuit of learning or correction, but a way of life, which is a pseudo-cult of the worm, the religion of unbelief, and the belief that SOMETHING can come from NOTHING, which is impossible. Additionally, atheists do not have special knowledge of spiritual things because they reject them, and do not wish to understand them because of innate bias (often provoked by demonic entities attracted to their sins and idol worship of their material possessions). As for God, who has proper knowledge of Himself, most definitely has proper knowledge of all things, because all things came forth from Him. Moreso, He also has special knowledge of things - not in the way creatures have them, but in the special way that nothing is invisible to His sight, nor is any creature hidden from His gaze. For the Lord God knows the parts of the creature, the creature’s heart, the creature’s intentions, and the creature’s thoughts - because God infinitely is the maximum of all things, including all subsets of knowledge. Whether the knowledge of God is discursive? The divine knowledge that is God’s “knowing” is not discursive like human knowledge is. For humans, we arrive at a conclusion from start to finish by many successive movements. Once we learn something about a subject, we go on to the next subject, often taking some things we learned from the previous subject and applying it to the next subject in a different way we can understand it. Often enough, this isn’t appropriate - but for the laborer who studies and writes, he must feel that his works are producing some kind of fruit, regardless of their origin, so he applies what he shouldn’t apply just for the sake of applying it in a discursive fashion for the purposes of a point or goal that is conjured in the man’s head - often related to a reward or a principle the man adopted that he is sticking to, regardless of how many texts he comes across to the contrary. In another way, by way of principles we arrive at conclusions of things. This is not applied to God because God sees everything as a whole for what they are through Himself all at once (eternity), which is perfect, and lacking in no parts - as man must seek parts to add from many different subjects in successive movements (time). Whether the knowledge of God is the cause of things? Natural things in the universe as we know them is the mean between knowledge of God and our knowledge. What we know to be natural to us by way of matter is caused by God’s knowledge, for God’s knowledge alone is the cause of all things. Just as a designer has knowledge of the design in her head, the design exists in ideas through her knowledge. From there, the designer uses her hands to transfer the knowledge of the design which exists as an idea from her knowledge to the paper, thus the design now exists in the material world and becomes observable by all things around it. So it is for God, whose knowledge of creatures and created things pre-exist the creatures being existent in the material principle and even before they become aware of themselves. Does it mean the created creature is infinite? No, but the knowledge of the created remains in the idea of the creator before and after, even if the created do not perceive or no longer exist in the way they were originally created because of death, which is change and a different time of movement that is successive. For anything that must live in the spirit, must also die in the flesh. In the same way, for a flower to blossom, its seed must die, thus it shall be changed. Whether God has knowledge of things that are not? The things that are not actual, but are true, exist in what is potential, and even in this God knows it. How? Because He is actual existence, while the created things that come forth which are in being exist in potentiality in that they experience their being by way of God’s agency, who is an Essential Being, as compared to the creature, who is a being by participation. As for things that are not, but are potential, such as the ideas or imagination of creatures, even God knows this, because He knows Himself, and it so has it that everything has come from God in that their being pre-exists in Him, thus nothing is hidden from His sight - even things that have not come into being, but are merely the thoughts of the man who is planning to carry out something in the future. If this wasn’t so, and if something was actually hidden from God or void of His knowledge or knowing - then He wouldn’t be God, but a mere creature appearing in knowledge of things that are whole, but lacking in something that isn’t noticeable to lower intellects. This is the way it is for those who worship demons and proclaim them as Gods - even though spiritual creatures with higher intelligences and strength than corporeal humans in the flesh, nonetheless they are still creatures, and although they may have a higher knowing compared to us, their knowledge is not in the same order as God, who is of His own order and Essence, and whose knowledge pre-exists everything in the universe, beyond the universe, creatures, plants, animals, thoughts and ideas. Whether God knows evil things? God sees evil and darkness through light. Just as He is the good and knows the good, He too also knows evil, for evil is a deficiency of the good, and God made all things good according to their likeness, measure, genus, order, and species. Because He made the good, it does not mean that He shall be ignorant of evil, for what a creature lacks in fullness, God is also aware of, and this is also what we know to be as “evil.” Furthermore, the knowledge of God is not the cause of evil, but is the cause of good whereby evil is known. Things are known by way of surpassing or lacking in something - so it can be said that righteousness is beyond the good or is the imitation of the good, while sinning or falling short of the good is what we know as evil - thus a deficiency of the good, and it so has it that God is also aware of what falls short of the marker that is a perfect good according to the likeness of something. Whether God knows singular things? God knows singular things because all singular things pr-exist in Him in a much higher way. To recognize, know, and understand a singular concept for the man - such as the beauty of a forest, or the evil of an action so justice may be rendered fittingly and appropriately, is to seek the perfection in something that is sought and knowable. How can a judge become more perfect in rendering justice if he is not aware of the evil and injustice or crimes that come across his presence? The just judge must be aware of these things - not so that he may imitate them, but so that he can understand the parts of the act so as to justly render appropriate decisions, hence the singular concept of justice. As for God, He already knows all these things better than us, and any good in this effort we display is a quality already found in Him in a more perfect and higher way. God knows discord, and even though the perfections humans display that are divided among each other in a lesser way conflict with one another in the singular concept, as if they were opposed or united to each other - God possesses them and holds them unitedly, knowing the singular concepts without any lack of knowing by way of His simple intellect which is knowledge of both material and immaterial things that ever could exist and ever shall exist going forward. Therefore, God is the cause of things by His knowledge - extending to the material and immaterial principle, consisting of singular concepts and things - individualized in matter by His own Essence. Whether God can know infinite things? There is no boundary of knowledge for God, for His knowledge has no boundaries, and if His knowledge did have a boundary, then He would have placed it there. Even in that, He would know where those boundaries lie, and even in this, He could move those boundaries wherever He wishes. Therefore, the knowledge of God extends to infinite things, for this is the domain of the eternal, which has no beginning or end and is simultaneously lacking in no parts, but made whole completely - including knowledge. The idea of infinite things is in relation to quantity, and the idea of quantity consists of parts. Knowing things part by part is to know all of them successively. But to know something infinitely does not belong to the creature, but to God, who also knows part by part up to infinity according to His measure or rule. Knowing that He alone sets the measure or quantity of parts that should be known, it is proper to say that He knows infinite things. Why, and how can this be, says the atheist? Because the knowledge of God is simply the measure of all things, so it would be proper to Him that He would know them, just as a landowner may set up land markers around His plot of land and remember where the boundary markers are set. Whether the knowledge of God is of future contingent things? The works of men and creatures are subjected to freewill. God himself has fashioned the creature and given it a freewill, thus the decisions that are made and carried out by creatures are known by God. Additionally, ideas that belong to the creature which result in measurable practical action is also known by God, even before they occur. This is possible because God has knowledge of all contingent things that are dependable upon another, and as stated earlier, the decisions of creatures are subjected/dependent/contingent upon the freewill which has been gifted to them by God. Furthermore, God resides in eternity. The corporeal creature (man and animal) resides in time (the successive movement from start to finish - subject to decay, corruption, and death) which is lesser than eternity. As it was stated before, eternity is the simultaneous whole lacking in no parts or knowledge where there is no beginning or end. Time is a successive measure where one thing may be known by coming to know it part by part by way of successive bounding. For example, if one wishes to fix the engine of a car, he must first know how to identify the problem (first part), then from there disassemble what is necessary so as to replace what is broken (second part), then finally reassembling the engine and testing the result (final part). When all parts are combined, the engine shall work, which is a practical function which was originally contingent upon the idea of the man knowing the car needed to be fixed so it can be put into operation once again. The freewill of the man chose to engage in this action, and he reached this action by many successive movements (subjected to time). For God, who dwells in eternity and is not subjected to time alone, is already lacking in no parts by way of understanding. For example, picture a taxi driver driving a cab (time) from point A to point B in the city. He knows where to go in his head, but he gets there turn by turn and road by road. While this is going on, the blimp above him with cameras can observe and know what is going on at point A, while also being observant of point B, while also seeing the path of the taxi driver and the many streets he has passed and will be encountering shortly as he continues to drive. So it is for God, who knows dependent things from a higher and more perfect position lacking in nothing as compared to the creature’s perspective. Whether God knows enunciable things? It is within the realm of the human intellect to form enunciations (ideas, proposals, thoughts, plans, concepts, judgements and opinions). If the man can think it, then God knows it, even if it were to never be carried out. What the man may think in the future that exists in potentiality, but hasn’t been realized yet either in thought or action, God also knows this as well. Man can know something by way of his own intellect successively in the order of one; for example, man looks at an animal and identifies its species to understand what he is looking at. Division of the intellect and ideas of understanding is the process of the creature, who understands something successively by idea one at a time. For God, His essence is simple and He truly knows all things by their own essence by way of His intellect which is also simple, and can understand all things known to the specific thing or creature all at once, because His knowing and intellect is not lacking any parts of knowledge, nor is there a beginning or end to such knowledge in Him. Therefore, the species of the divine intellect is capable of understanding and knowing all things in their fullness without any lack of knowing. Whether the knowledge of God is variable? God’s knowledge is also His substance. It is not so much that God changes or His knowledge of something changes because of the variations of something such as creatures, plants, and elements within the universe, but that those variations or species and orders are from God, and exist in the form of variety in the way which He ordained to be so which cannot be variable to God. His knowledge of this does not shift or change, rather, it is the created who shifts in accordance with the Creator’s divine providence (His intervention in the universe) and will. Therefore, God’s knowledge is invariable and never changing, but pre-exists all knowledge that is knowable to any created intellect - even if the created think they are changing in a specific manner and have the ability to do so by way of freewill. We see this error among the pagans and atheists who believe they can become something they were never made to be or meant to be - such as man to woman and woman to man, or human to dolphin or man to cat, as we see with some people in the Moderni age who spend time, blood, and treasure subjecting themselves to many surgeries to install features of an animal to their body, such as altered cheeks and whiskers, splitting of the tongue so as to imitate a lizard, and having surgeons install claws or fangs into their hands and feet. God’s knowledge surpasses the knowledge of anything created, and just because a man thinks he can become a woman or a cat does not mean they will now become such a thing, nor will God ever change what He ordained someone to be. Whether God has a speculative knowledge of things? Speculative knowledge has reference to the truth for the sake of itself, while practical knowledge references the truth for the sake of making or doing something. There is also a mixture of speculative and practical knowledge which can be referenced for a stated purpose. Knowing this, we see the three elements of speculative knowledge: One, is the knowledge of something known. Two, the manner in which something is known by. Three, The end part where speculative knowledge considers a truth to be had or taken, as opposed to practical knowledge where an operation has come to its final conclusion or something is made. God most definitely has a speculative knowledge of things because He is the truth which is absolute, and in the same way He is fully capable of considering and observing the truth of His own Essence which is simple, as He is fully aware of Himself in every way, along with other things which come forth from Him as well. God (Essential Being) also has a practical knowledge of what He can make (actuality) or is made by another in a period of time (accidents occurring in potentiality), even if something else is made by creatures/humans (beings by participation) according to their free will (potentiality) that is not attributed to Him (accidents); including evil (deficiency). For the Lord’s practical knowledge in this sense isn’t that He is the cause of evil or implements it, but in the sense we can understand it, He is the skilled craft worker who is called in to fix a deficient part of the building by way of His skill and what comes natural to Him.
I am blessed to be a Third Order Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed in this post are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole.
Commentary regarding Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae derived from: ST part (I), Q. 1-26 from newadvent.org with permission. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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mr. scott lowry, op
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