SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS’ THE POWER OF GOD

2/6/2024

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Whether there is power in God?

God is power to the highest degree. Power can be thought of in two ways: one, passively which is not in God (the governments, authority, influences, and rules of men); two, active power in God which is the maximum of all power set forth into existence. It is important to realize that God is simple, He alone is Actual Being (as opposed to creatures who are potential being), the maximum of all perfections, of His own Divine Essence which is His will, His knowledge, His wisdom, and His Intellect, the Unmoved who is The First Mover who puts all things into motion, the Primary Cause of all causes - for secondary contingent causes are allowed by His agency, and of course the First and Last Principle of all things. Furthermore, what is the principle of something is the cause of something, for something cannot be something without this leading it to its calculated end. Now, because of this, He truly is power that is of its own order to which nothing compares, and in this way there truly is power in God.

Whether the power of God is infinite?

Active power exists in something as much as it can be measured. For example, a flame thrower being used to clear out enemy machine-gun emplacements on a beachhead will be received in the measure according to its likeness, in that scorching hot flame shall reach upwards of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit at a distance of twenty to thirty feet charring everything in its path until its fuel is expended. In this, the flamethrower being put into service in wartime has a finite use and purpose and its power is demonstrated for a time as it is employed correctly. Now in God, who is infinite, there can not be a measure in comparison to anything we understand, nor is there anything (both items, natural bodies, creatures of spirit and flesh) that can receive or comprehend His infinity. For His measures are the stars, the laws of the universe, and all causes and happenings start to finish. These things can not be manipulated by creatures or anything we truly can measure in our own perception of understanding. Therefore, in this way, God’s power is truly infinite.

Whether God is omnipotent?

God is said to be omnipotent in that nothing shall escape His sight or Essence of knowing, which is one aspect of omnipotence. For when a tick enters a deer, He knows it. When a fly is squished up against a wall, He knows it. When the evil man fosters schemes in his heart to oppress his neighbor so as to extract sorted gain for himself, He knows it. Furthermore, it is said that God can do all things absolutely according to His will and that His purposes shall never fail, for the building up and ordering of the universe. Also in these ways, God is known to be omnipotent as we can understand it. Finally, the true infinite form of His omnipotence is not perceivable by creatures in any measurable sense, so another proper word to describe the omnipotent perpetual state of God is infinity, to which He has power alone absolutely, which is immeasurable and inconceivable by anything which is set forth into existence from Him by way of His Agency.

Whether God can make the past not to have been?

A contradiction is impossible in the Divine Essence of God. To think something can be undone which has been done implies a contradiction, because what has been or not been in the past, so as to do or undo it, does not fall under the Divine Power. In the same way, someone who has been forgiven of past sins is forgiven and must move forward. That person has still sinned, and just because they are forgiven, does not mean they have not sinned in the past, for such a thing which had occurred in reality cannot be removed, nor is it the prerogative of God to undo what has already been done. This should not be confused with His mercy, which is greater than His wrath, because He is happy to forgive and pardon those who are truly contrite of their offenses towards Him so they may receive eternal life in Him, but in no way does it mean the thing which occurred never occurred, for this would be a contradiction and a lie. In more serious terms, a subjective reality based on untruth, and it so happens that God is objective, reality itself, and the truth to the highest degree, and there is no lack of being in Him, for He is the maximum of all perfections as we know them.

Whether God can do what He does not?

God does what He does in accordance with His absolute power. His power does not come forth from His will, but from His very nature, and in this God does what He wills to do because He can do whatever He wills so as to achieve the Divine Goodness which exceeds beyond the measure of creation. Even if He does not do something, this does mean he was incapable of doing it, but rather by way of His will, His actuality, His Divine Essence, His wisdom, His Divine Power and His Providence - which are all one in the same simply, He chose to simply not do what He could have done or put off what might be done in order for secondary causes to be utilized to which He allows within His Primary Causes of things for the just ordering and building up of the universe and beautification of His holy ones and creation. Surely, He could have done what He did not do, but by way of His wisdom which is carried out by His will, He chose to do what He has done. Therefore, God can do what He does not.

Whether God can do better than what He does?

In what is good or could be better, it could be understood in two ways: one, the essence of something is in accordance with its likeness (a tree must be a tree, and if it were cut down and changed into lumber for the building up of a house, it would no longer be a tree), for if this were altered, then the thing would seize to be the thing for which it was meant to be, and would become something else, and this is impossible (in that something wasn’t made as it was supposed to be in its natural state that it is in); two, attaining betterment for something that is already in the state it is in, so as to achieve greater goodness and beatitude, for God can make better what He has already created. Indeed, God can do better than what He does in this sense, in that He shall instill virtue and wisdom into the unbeliever by way of the Holy Spirit and Providence so this one shall be in a better state than before, ready for any good work for building up of the Kingdom of God, and preparing the soul for glory in His presence from a state that was otherwise detestable or dying by way of its free will choices to sin and do what is improper.

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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