Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth. We are going to resume tonight our study on the doctrine of God in Christian thought. Our guide for this has been the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. This can be read online at newadvent.org. We’re discussing the topic of the will of God. Tonight, we’re going to be asking if God wills things other than himself.
What can you get the man who has everything? The answer would be nothing we say. If he has everything, what more does he need? While this is true, it does not follow that he would not want something else. Something can be desired out of need, the way we desire food and water, and some out of want, such as material objects, friends, pleasure, etc.
What about God? Scripture makes it clear that he needs nothing. Does he want some things? Scripture makes it clear that he wants some things as well, which is why he sends the prophets and he sent the apostles. God wanted his message to be known that men might come to salvation.
However, there is nothing outside of God that he needs. He only wants other things. He is not dependent on us for anything at all. We cannot alter him in any way. We cannot reduce him to something lower than what he is. (We can lower him in our minds of course, but not in actuality.) We cannot make him greater than what he is.
Yet the question can be why does God will things other than himself? An obvious answer to the question of if he can can be answered by looking at the fact that we are here, but the medievals would not accept such an explanation. They wanted to look at the philosophical implications of what was said. It was not enough to say “The case is true.” It also had to be “Why is the case true but it doesn’t conflict with the other theology here?”
For Aquinas, when God wills something other than himself, it is because all creatures not just seek their own goodness but to multiply their goodness. Hence, all beings that are alive in some way seek to take part in reproduction. If a human does not directly take part, he tends to what to make sure that others can and favors the spread of human life. Those that do not are anomalies.
This is the same way in which God multiplies his goodness. God does not create out of necessity but rather out of abundance and this creation is his will. You are alive because God willed for you to be alive. You serve an important part in the plan for him. You are not an accident. As the Psalmist says, you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Christian. Take comfort in knowing that God created you out of an abundance of love and that you are invited to share in that love. If you are sharing in that love, why not take time today to enjoy your life. It is his gift to you and all good and perfect gifts come from him and he gives all good things to us for our enjoyment, including our lives.
We shall continue tomorrow.
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