SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS’ THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD

2/1/2024

Categories

Whether God is Altogether Immutable?

It is impossible that God is changeable from the perspective of movement, in that He alone is the Unmoved, and that there is nothing more to gain or lose, add or take away as it pertains to Him by any movement alone that may occur in potentiality by Him because He alone has already been there since before the beginning was a beginning. In other words, movement is not of His order for He is the Unmoved who puts all things into motion. This also confers His simplicity. Claims or instances in scripture where God appears to change or is changeable in the sense to a human is either metaphorically described within its context or misunderstood by the human intellect in the sense that He moves or changes in a way we perceive it to be, when this isn’t what is occurring. In the same way the sun is said to move into a house, not literally, for if that were the case, everything in its path and presence would be burned up - but in that its sun rays enter and shine upon the objects and areas within the path of its rays.

Whether to Be Immutable Belongs to God Alone?

The creature and the created can be silenced by God at any given time according to His will or for any purpose He deems necessary. This is so because all things come forth from God and that their very being of existence is dependent on the will of another, which in this case is God alone. If He were to cease causing the existence of something, then that something (whether a natural or spiritual body) would truly cease to exist. Therefore, it is evident that only God alone is immutable because His existence is not subjected to anything else. On the other hand, creatures and created bodies are subjected to a First and Last Efficient Cause - which is God, who draws all things of an order, species, and genus to their calculated end, who is the First Principle, and who is also the Unmoved who puts all things into motion as a being in actuality (real) as opposed to created things who are beings in potentiality (accidents - freewill choices).

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.

0 Comments

summa theologiae reflections