Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth. We’ve been looking at the doctrine of God and the Summa Theologica and right now, we’re studying the Simplicity of God and chances are, a lot of you might not be finding it simple. That’s okay. Even for those of us who study theology professionally, this is nothing simple. Those who do not have a copy of the Summa are invited to go to newadvent.org and read the copy online. First however before we begin tonight, I have my prayer requests. I ask that you pray for my Christlikeness. There is much that needs to be taken care of and I am remembering that Chesterton said angels can fly because they take themselves lightly. I ask for prayers with my finances. I finally ask for prayers in a third related area of my life. For now, let’s get to the third question in the chapter on simplicity.
We all have a nature. I as a human being possess human nature. Christians believe Jesus was one person who had a divine nature and a human nature and still has both. A cat has the nature of a cat and a dog the nature of a dog. The same applies to angels as angels have their own natures as well, but that’s another topic.
What of God? The question we have before us tonight is if God is his nature. This is important for the question of if God submits to the good or if God is the good. Is the good that which is external to himself or is the good God himself? In order to avoid circular reasoning, I believe it’s best to establish what the definition of good is and then we end up realizing that that corresponds to God in the highest sense. In this case, the good is that which is desirable for its own sake. Everything desires the perfection of its being and God is the ultimate perfection of being so God is the greatest good.
Humans are differentiated because we have this matter or that matter. We do not have that matter as part of our form however. They are in our reality as it were, but this particular matter is not essential to my being. I will lose some matter of me throughout the next 24 hours and gain other matter.
Where this is not the case, since the possessors of the forms are not differentiated by matter, then each form must be identical to the one who has that form. This is one reason each angel is essentially its own species. As Peter Kreeft says, when they made Michael, they broke the mold. Angels have much in common, but Michael bears Michael-nature. No other angel can for there is no matter by which they can be differentiated.
The same applies to God. Since there is no matter but is only a form, whatever that form is, it must be equal to God. We can say this is in God, but Aquinas will tell us that we are speaking analogically, the only way we can. Now having said this, we can see that angels are in some sense simple. However, are angels as simple as God is?
We shall see about that tomorrow.
Support Deeper Waters on Patreon!
