SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS’ THE WILL OF GOD

2/6/2024

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Whether there is will in God?

As there is intellect in the human who was made as an intelligible being, so there must follow a will from that same intellect. If this is the case for the created, then all the more shall it be for the Creator - the One alone who fashions the intellect so as to make a hospitable environment for the will. Because of this, God must have a will, because He also has a Divine Intellect which pre-exists all intellects that have come forth into being by His intellect and will which called his creation forth into existence. For what is natural and living exists by way of its form, so intelligence shall exist by way of its intelligible form. In the same way, there has to be a will in God because there is intellect in Him and it so has it that God’s intellect is also His will and existence.

Whether God wills things apart from Himself?

God wills Himself and other things apart from Himself. This is so for the following reasons: One, natural things experience their own inclination to their own proper good and when that proper good is achieved, the thing finds rest in it. When the natural thing is still seeking its own proper good and has not yet achieved it, then the natural thing must be inclined to move towards it until it is found so as to achieve rest in it. The most basic example is hunger, for the woman athlete must feed herself and nurture her body in order to perform at the level which is expected of her. Additionally, her body must heal after the competition through rest and proper nutrition, for this is the proper good of her body - to feed herself and rest so as to heal her body in order to do it all over again for as long as she wills it. Second, once the proper good is achieved, it is in the heart of the created to spread that proper goodness with others so those around them can share in its goodness. For example, the woman athlete competes in a sport and takes first place through her hard work and efforts. It is expected that those around her such as her family and friends will witness her accomplishment and find joy in it for its own sake. Thirdly, just as it is for natural things and the woman athlete who won the competition to enjoy their proper goodness so as to spread it to others, so it is for the Divine Will which is God, who wills it that the goodness of God be spread to others according to His likeness as well so the joy of His creation may be made complete through God in order to achieve beatitude, which is all of creation’s ultimate end and cause which finds its rest in God as the only start and finish to which God ordains and wills to be so other things partake in His glory.

Whether whatever God wills He wills necessarily?

If a man is to protect his muscles, organs, veins, and nervous system, then it must be absolutely necessary that he has a protective layer of skin over his body. In the same way, a computer monitor must have a screen so the user can see what the computer is doing in order for the user to guide its actions. In these examples, what is necessary is absolute. In another way, what is necessary can be by supposition, in that the man can decide whether or not to cover his body with a jacket or a long sleeve shirt and for the computer user to decide which type of monitor he shall use in order to use his computer. For the computer to be put into use, using a monitor is necessary. For the man to protect his body, he must wear a protective layer of something. Furthermore, while keeping these examples in mind as it pertains to the will of God necessarily, it follows that since God wills His own absolute necessity, such as His goodness and His calculated efficient cause and purpose for all creation while providing His creatures with joy, happiness, food, and ability to multiply themselves through offspring, the laws of nature and the universe, gravity, orbital cycles, sense of smell to the nose, and sense of feeling to the touch, He does not necessarily will whatever He wills. Through necessity by supposition, God wills that things or causes are ordered to His own goodness as their end so as by way of another will (His creatures), the choice can be made to arrive at the calculated end as they see fit, so as long as it is ordered to Him as their end in truth. For example - which path shall you choose? The long hard bumpy road of despair and sin which can be navigated successfully through faith, penance, and endurance, or the long hard smoother road of denying oneself so as to do what He says as opposed to what others say? Regardless of which - trials and tribulations are on every path, so it seems for most. However, in this, His perfection stands that no other perfection can add up to the height of His maximum, and that through His wisdom and will, which is unchangeable, He allows for His will which is necessary while also allowing the wills of creatures to reach their final end which is in Him, and in turn this becomes His will which is necessary by supposition (creatures choosing which path to follow that is allowed by God in order to lead back to Him).

Whether the will of God is the cause of things?

The Divine Being of God is not limited to form, shape or any boundaries such as the created, and within Himself contains the fullness of perfection in being. Through this, the effects of His infinite perfection by way of His will and intellect guides the bullet from the rifle to the target, whereas the rifle becomes His will, and the target becomes its intended effect or calculated end, and the bullet which is fired from the rifle being the other wills of His creation as they are acting in potentiality (freedom to choose by their own will) through the agency of ACTUALITY - which is God, who is true being and true existence, first in the order of intellect where everything created in idea and material matter pre-exist in Him by way of his ideas of them, not attributed to or of a lesser order than anything in existence. In this way, God’s intellect and will is what causes something to be, do, or know and not the necessity of His nature. Although God does not always act by necessity through His will in others, by supposition we see His effects and intended trajectory (such as the flight path of a bullet heading towards its target). In this way, either directly or indirectly, the will of God, and not the nature of God (because God is intellect and will), is the cause of things.

Whether any cause can be assigned to the divine will?

Causes and happenings can be secondary to the Primary Cause, which is the Divine Will that is God’s, whose ordered causes set forth in motion throughout the universe spreads forth in a reasonable fashion, and therefore allows for secondary causes to be on the account of another. The problem where one shall go wrong or stray from truth in error, is to believe their secondary causes and effects to God’s Divine Will is above His Primary Cause, or not related or attributed to it in any way through effects that come forth from God by way of His Divine Will which allows for the secondary cause to occur. For example, the man believes he can become a mother and breastfeed his adopted or surrogate child. The Primary Cause through the Divine Will ordained that man shall carry seed for the woman, so as to impregnate her and bring forth life. The man shall not bear young and produce milk for them as a mother would. However, by secondary cause, and the error of the man who denies the Divine Will’s primary cause, which is His genetic makeup and what the man is by nature, as willed by the Life Giving Spirit which is God, the man denies the truth and earnestly believes he can produce milk as a mother could. When it does not occur, because of its impossibility both to logical reasoning and the laws of nature, the man who wants to be a mother and produce milk is thrusted into despair. In his confusion, he attributed his secondary cause, which was rooted in ignorance, to the Primary Cause, which is chiefly sourced in God, who says that man is man and shall carry seed, and that woman is woman and shall bear young and provide milk for her babies. As we see, the will comes forth from the intellect in the man, who believes in something false, but wills it anyway that he should engage in such an action that cannot occur. In the same way, the Divine Intellect belongs to God, which pre-exists and is above all created intellects, and it just so happens that His will which is PRIMARY springs forth from that same intellect, while also allowing the effects of His Primary Intellect to be seen and witnessed and experienced in secondary causes that are not directly attributed to Him, while others receive no effects whatsoever, as we see with the man who tries to produce breast milk as a mother would and cannot perform the task. However; on the other hand, the Primary Effects from God’s Divine Will is seen in the secondary cause which came forth from the woman, who decided to have children and produce milk for her young. The effects of God’s will in the secondary cause by way of the woman’s will is that she produces milk which was ordained by God’s Will alone, which is Primary and not secondary.

Whether the will of God is always fulfilled?

The will of God must always be fulfilled; either now, in the future, or in the end, when all causes and creatures, by way of sin, who strayed away from the Divine Will, are called back into order by the Universal Cause which pre-exists all other causes (human secondary actions initiated by the freewill) by way of JUSTICE through punishment. For what must be reordered to the Universal Form in the end is what we know as justice, thus making right what is wrong, and equal what is imbalanced.

Whether the will of God is changeable?

The will of God is an immovable rock, and it does not change. Rather, it is God’s will that certain things should change, in that what is created in a certain likeness shall later become a better or different likeness as He originally intended through His will. When the Lord uses words as we understand them to say that He “regrets” or “repents” of something, it must be taken metaphorically because it is a similitude that addresses change in a way we as humans can better understand Him according to our own likeness and understanding. This should not come as a surprise when somebody really ponders this reality about God, for man creates things all the time in his environment for the intentions of tearing it down or changing it. For example; temporary bridges for military use, ammunition, disposable diapers and the like. Furthermore on a grander scale, change throughout faith history can be witnessed from the original grace/covenants/promises through the Patriarchs to the Law of Moses and ultimately the new covenant through the Blood of Christ. In another way, just because the artist makes an ice sculpture for other people to witness and admire, only to have it melt in the heat later on, does not mean that the artist never intended by way of her will to create a piece of art. Rather, the will of the artist was immovable and unchangeable from the moment her intellect conjured the contemplative idea of what the ice sculpture shall appear to be, and by way of her will, transferred the idea to her hands, thus transitioning her idea to the material principle (which is her ice sculpture) viewable by everyone around her. For the artist, her work has twelve hours of existence for all to enjoy. On the other hand, for the viewer, this might only be ten minutes of existence as they perceive it, when they only take a glance at the work of art and move about their business. In this way, since time is relative in this sense, it would appear the will of the artist for her ice sculpture to exist lasted much longer than the viewer who simply glanced at the piece of work and simply forgot about the idea shortly after. So it may appear because something lasts for a long period of time, that it should not change, or that God never willed it. However, if God willed that it should change, then it will change, thus rendering His will in the end from which was intended from the beginning. Thus the will of God is unchangeable. However, this does not mean that God’s will shall not allow for inferior intermediate causes which produce effects by way of the freewill. For example, the Universal Cause for salvation ordains that His Son shall be glorified, and that we shall go through Him to the Father. How a believer does this through their choices has many effects, and exists in many forms interior to the superior form of God’s will, such as BAPTISM, the SACRAMENTS of the Church as a means of grace, and our DEEDS, for which everyone shall render an account to their Creator.

Whether the will of God imposes necessity on the things willed?

The universe must be built up and contain things for its ordering. This is not an accident, nor a series of random chance events, occurrences, or happenings as the atheist believes and at the same time preaches to others around him. No, God’s intellect and ideas are perfect. Furthermore, He alone is capable of carrying them out by way of His Divine Will, which shall never fail. It just so happens that the way God orders the universe and causes to happen by way of His Universal Form, which is the Primary Cause according to His will, allows for secondary causes (by will of creatures) which have contingent effects. God wills that some things are carried out by His necessary will and Primary Cause and also through secondary causes with attached effects that shall ultimately lead back to His Primary Cause in a different way. Simply put, if the Lord wills it to be this way, then it shall be that way, all for the good ordering of the universe which shall contain its end or rest in Him.

Whether God wills evils?

God neither wills evil to occur or not occur, rather, he permits it for a greater good according to His will. For example, there is justice because of punishment. For those who do wrong, an imbalance occurs. The wrong which may have been done was more than likely executed for a purpose the person thought was a greater good, even though an evil occurred (such as the crime for which the punishment is due). God, even though permitting it, did not cause the evil of the crime to occur, rather, He makes good come of it by way of justice and punishment in order to balance what is imbalanced. In the same way, secondary causes as a result of the person’s actions shall manifest around those who are exposed to the specific crime or conviction of it, and ultimately come out of it with something new (either understanding or material event) that wasn’t realized before the evil occurred. In another way, it can be said that the crime which was committed was evil, but according to the one who committed the crime, he did it for what he deemed as a greater good (money, stolen goods etc.). In this way, the evil that is brought on is by accident (the one who committed the crime used freewill to make a decision) as it pertains to the freewill and cause of evil, not in the sense that the criminal is innocent of something he did which clearly occurred. Furthermore, as it was said earlier, God made all things good, and it is not natural for things to become evil or do evil, rather, it is by way of accident that evil occurs in the pursuit of something. Now, in all of this, God sees the decision making of mankind (accidents), by way of their free will in pursuit of the good by way of their appetites, and as a result, He also witnesses evil being done, which is the absence of good - thus he makes good come out of evil that is incurred by the freewill and in this way he neither wills or wills what evil may occur, but rather He takes what is evil by way of accident (freewill of creatures) and turn it into a cause for good according to His design by way of His will which shall never fail.

Whether God has free-will?

God necessarily wills His own Goodness, for He alone made all things good. As stated earlier, evil comes from the good by way of accident (choices) in the freewill. When creation engages in causes and decisions which are improper to the Universal Cause (which is God’s intentions for them), deficiency (sin) occurs. It is important to remember that even though God allows a secondary cause within His Primary Cause (His Goodness in general), it is permitted for the purpose of the secondary cause to experience effects which shall ultimately lead back to an end within Him where the created finds its rest. In other words, God has a free will to go about such things in a way He deems proper according to His design which allows for a Universal Cause and secondary causes which originates in the freewill of the created. Finally, on no occasion does God will evil or sin, for such occurrences and decisions are the opposite of His Being, which is life itself, as opposed to sin, which is death - for all who hate Him love death. Rather, He makes good come from evil, and abundance comes from what is absent (put another way; sin is the lacking or absence of fullness in something as it were meant to be).

Whether the will of expression is to be distinguished in God?

Expressions of God in scripture and on the tongue are either conveyed by way of metaphor or in the literal sense in accordance to the emotional state or feeling of the one who is demonstrating the message or describing the event. For example, humans have an expression of anger when something unjust is occurring, so in that anger, punishment is described by way of words so as to better express the severity of context in what is being said. As for God and man, there is will and passion, and when a human trait or emotion is used to describe God carrying out or willing an action, the words used are more of a reflection of our own passion and is never fully expressed in God properly to its fullness. Furthermore, it must be distinguished that there is God’s will in the proper sense, and His will by metaphor. Saint Thomas Aquinas differentiates this concept by calling the proper sense of God’s will “the will of good pleasure” and God’s will metaphorically taken as “the will of expression.”

Whether five expressions of will are rightly assigned to the divine will?

The five expressions of the will are prohibition, precept, counsel, operation, and permission. Through these expressions, we demonstrate to those around us our intentions and will. Furthermore, this can be demonstrated either DIRECTLY, INDIRECTLY, or ACCIDENTALLY. When someone approaches another and gives that person an order, the will of that person is being demonstrated directly. When someone fails to prevent an action from occurring willingly, or allows private space for an event to happen, there is omission (by way of allowing an action). Additionally, permission by way of granting someone else the right to do something on your property is the expression of will by accident, in that the owner of the property removes an obstacle in place for you so as to carry out your own will, and in this case - allowing a venue for an event that may convey or support positions the owner of the property does not support or condone, but gladly allows so as to receive a profit for the rented space. Saint Thomas Aquinas calls this removal of an obstacle to the freewill an “accidental mover” and should not be confused with the concept of “The First Mover (God),” who puts all things into motion from His initial movement which was stated earlier. Going forward, a person shall declare his will by means of an agent or a hired hand so as to perform a function in accordance with the originator’s will and this is by precept. Prohibition is in opposition to precept in that someone may hire a woman to do the work, but give her instructions on what not to do in accordance with that work, and in this way, prohibition and precept work hand and in hand together so as to setup boundaries and blueprints for the intentions of another by way of their will to have something performed or carried out. Finally, persuasion is found in counsel in that a group of advisors renders calculated/educated opinions to the decision maker so as to persuade Him to follow through upon their suggestions for a stated purpose. Now, taking all of this into account, the will of the man is made known. As for the Divine Will, these points can be delegated and denominated in accordance with the Universal Form which is God’s will, which allows for secondary contingent causes (free will decisions of creatures) which shall lead back to Him so that the creature finds rest in their calculated end through God, who is the First and Last Cause. From here, we enter OPERATION, which can be referred to as the Goodness of God either in the present or future by way of the expressions of the will in creatures, and to which Saint Thomas Aquinas also describes as “the will of Good Pleasure” as stated earlier in which the Divine Will transfers itself through the freewill of creatures by way of their denominated wills (counsel, precept, permission, and prohibition) manifesting themselves into an operation so as to carry out the goodness of God’s will in accordance to His design. It is important to remember that rational creatures have freewill (which is the intellect or soul), and that they shall account for their ways and decisions because of their special election by God; this includes humans and angels. Keeping this in mind, it so happens that God has granted them special expressions (as stated earlier) of the Divine Will (which are denominated unto them) which shall be assigned to their actions and deeds. Other lower creatures/material objects who act by sense (such as the animals who move for hunger) or objects such as branches and rocks demonstrate movement solely by way of the moving things around them are subjected to the Divine Operation which also allows things (permission) or disallows (prohibition) by way of function; for example a tree swaying by the wind is permitted to rock back and forth, but it isn’t permitted to remove itself into the air and float. In conclusion, it is important to point out that the evil of sin is not in unison with the Divine Will and because of this the only expression to which it is assigned is PROHIBITION, in that someone should not do what is improper or opposed to the will of God such as murder, robbery, lying, genital mutilation, consulting the dead, cursing others by way of mouth and divination, oppression and the like.

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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