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050 - L That God Has Proper Knowledge Of All Things · Summa Contra Gentiles, First Book (On God)

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty of Suma Contragentilees, First Book on God by
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  Speaker 1: Saint Thomas aquinas translated by the Fathers of the English
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  Speaker 1: Dominican Province. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty. That God has proper knowledge of all things. Since, however,
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  Speaker 1: some have said that God has none but a universal
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of other things, in the sense that He knows
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  Speaker 1: them as beings through knowing the nature of a being
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  Speaker 1: from his knowledge of himself. It remains to be shown
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  Speaker 1: that God knows all other things as distinct from one
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  Speaker 1: another and from God. This is to know things by
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  Speaker 1: their proper ideas. In evidence of this, let us suppose
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  Speaker 1: that God is the cause of every being, which is
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  Speaker 1: clear to a certain extent from what has been said above,
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  Speaker 1: and will be more fully proved further on. Accordingly, then
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  Speaker 1: there can be nothing in a thing without its being
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  Speaker 1: caused by Him, indirectly or directly. Now, if the cause
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  Speaker 1: be known, its effect is known. Wherefore all that is
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  Speaker 1: in anything whatsoever, can be known if God be known,
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  Speaker 1: as well as all the causes intervening between God and
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  Speaker 1: that thing. Now God knows himself and all the causes
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  Speaker 1: that intervene between him and anything whatever. For it has
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  Speaker 1: been shown already that He knows himself perfectly, and through
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  Speaker 1: knowing himself, he knows whatever proceeds from him immediately. And again,
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  Speaker 1: through knowing this he knows whatever proceeds therefrom immediately, and
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  Speaker 1: so on, as regards every intervening cause until the ultimate effect. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: God knows whatever is in a thing. Now this is
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  Speaker 1: to have a proper and complete knowledge of a thing, namely,
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  Speaker 1: to know whatever is in a thing, whether common or proper. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: God has proper knowledge of things according as they are
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  Speaker 1: distinct from one another. Further, whatever acts by intellect as
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of what it does, as regards the proper idea
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  Speaker 1: of the thing done, because the knowledge of the doer
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  Speaker 1: appoints the form to the thing done. Now, God is
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  Speaker 1: cause of things by his intellect, since his being is
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  Speaker 1: his active intelligence, and every thing acts in so far
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  Speaker 1: as it is actual. Therefore he knows his effect properly
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  Speaker 1: according as it is distinct from others. Moreover, the distinction
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  Speaker 1: of things cannot arise from chance, for it has a
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  Speaker 1: fixed order. Hence, it follows that the distinction among things
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  Speaker 1: proceeds from the intention of some cause. But it cannot
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  Speaker 1: proceed from the intention of a cause that acts from
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  Speaker 1: natural necessity, because nature is determined to one thing, so
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  Speaker 1: that nothing that acts from natural necessity can have an
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  Speaker 1: intention in relation to several things considered as distinct from
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  Speaker 1: one another. It remains, therefore, that the distinction among things
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  Speaker 1: arises from the intention of a cause endowed with knowledge. Now,
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  Speaker 1: it would seem proper to an intellect to consider the
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  Speaker 1: distinction among things. Wherefore an Exagoras declared that an intellect
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  Speaker 1: was the principle of distinction. But taken as a whole,
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  Speaker 1: the distinction of things cannot proceed from the intention of
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  Speaker 1: any second cause, since all such causes are included in
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  Speaker 1: the universality of distinct effects. Wherefore it belongs to the
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  Speaker 1: first cause, which is of itself distinct from all others,
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  Speaker 1: to intend the distinction among all things. Therefore, God knows
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  Speaker 1: things as distinct. Again, whatsoever God knows, he knows most
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  Speaker 1: perfec For in him are all perfections, as in that
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  Speaker 1: which is simply perfect, as shown above. Now, that which
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  Speaker 1: is known only in general is not known perfectly, since
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  Speaker 1: the chief things belonging thereto are ignored, namely its ultimate perfections.
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  Speaker 1: Whereby its own being as perfected. Wherefore, by such knowledge
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  Speaker 1: as this, a thing is known potentially rather than actually Accordingly.
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  Speaker 1: If God, by knowing his essence, knows all things in general,
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  Speaker 1: it follows that he has also proper knowledge of things. Further,
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  Speaker 1: whoever knows in nature knows the per se accidence of
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  Speaker 1: that nature. Now, the per se accidents of being as
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  Speaker 1: such are one and many, as is proved in the
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  Speaker 1: Fourth Book of Metaphysics. Wherefore, if God, by knowing his essence,
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  Speaker 1: knows the nature of being in general, it follows that
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  Speaker 1: he knows multitude. Now multitude is inconceivable without distinction. Therefore
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  Speaker 1: he understands things as distinct from one another. Moreover, whoever
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  Speaker 1: knows perfectly a universal nature knows the mode in which
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  Speaker 1: that nature can be had. Thus, he who knows whiteness
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  Speaker 1: knows that it is subceptive of increase and decrease. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the various degrees of being result from various modes of being. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: if God, by knowing himself, knows the universal nature of being,
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  Speaker 1: and this not imperfectly, since all imperfection is far removed
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  Speaker 1: from him, as we have proved above, it follows that
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  Speaker 1: he knows all the degrees of being, and so he
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  Speaker 1: has proper knowledge of things other than himself. Further, whoever
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  Speaker 1: knows a thing perfectly knows all that is in that thing.
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  Speaker 1: Now God knows himself perfectly. Therefore he knows all that
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  Speaker 1: is in him in relation to his active power. But
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  Speaker 1: all things, according to their proper forms, are in him
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  Speaker 1: in relation to his active power. Since He is the
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  Speaker 1: principle of all being, therefore he has proper knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: all things. Again, whoever knows a nature knows whether that
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  Speaker 1: nature is communicable. For one would not know the nature
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  Speaker 1: of an animal perfectly unless one knew that it is
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  Speaker 1: communicable to several Now, the divine nature is communicable according
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  Speaker 1: to likeness. Therefore, God knows in how many ways the
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  Speaker 1: things can be like his essence. But the diversity of
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  Speaker 1: forms arises from the different ways in which things reflect
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  Speaker 1: the divine essence. Wherefore the philosopher calls a natural form
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  Speaker 1: a godlike thing. Therefore, God has knowledge of things in
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  Speaker 1: reference to their proper forms. Moreover, men and other beings
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  Speaker 1: endowed with knowledge, know things as many and distinct from
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  Speaker 1: one another. Accordingly, if God knows not things as distinct
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  Speaker 1: from one another, it follows that he is most foolish,
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  Speaker 1: as in the opinion of those who asserted that God
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  Speaker 1: is ignorant of discord, which all know, an opinion that
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  Speaker 1: the philosopher considers inadmissible. We are also taught this by
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  Speaker 1: the authority of canonical scripture, for it is stated in
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  Speaker 1: Genesis chapter one, verse thirty one. God saw all the
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  Speaker 1: things that he had made, and they were very good.
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  Speaker 1: And in Hebrews chapter four, verse thirteen, neither is there
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  Speaker 1: any creedure invisible in his sight. All things are naked
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  Speaker 1: and open to his eyes. End of Chapter fifty, read
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  Speaker 1: by Michael Shane, Craig, Lambert Elsie