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043 - Xliii That God Is Infinite · Summa Contra Gentiles, First Book (On God)

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty three of Summa Contragentilees, first Book on God,
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  Speaker 1: by Saint Thomas aquinas translated by the Fathers of the
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  Speaker 1: English Dominican Province. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty three that God is infinite now, while the
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  Speaker 1: infinite is a sequel of quantity. As philosophers teach, infinity
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  Speaker 1: cannot be ascribed to God in respect of multitude, seeing
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  Speaker 1: that it has been proved that there is but one God,
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  Speaker 1: and that there is no composition either of parts or
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  Speaker 1: of accidents in him. Nor may we say that He
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  Speaker 1: is infinite in respect of continuous quantity. Since we have
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  Speaker 1: shown that He is incorporeal. It remains therefore to inquire
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  Speaker 1: whether infinity is becoming to him in respect of spiritual magnitude.
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  Speaker 1: This spiritual magnitude is referable to two things, namely, to
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  Speaker 1: power and to the goodness or perfection of a thing's
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  Speaker 1: very nature. For a thing is said to be more
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  Speaker 1: or less white according to the degree of perfection in
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  Speaker 1: its whiteness, And the magnitude of power is gaged from
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  Speaker 1: the magnitude of deeds or of things made. Now in
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  Speaker 1: these things, the magnitude of one follows the magnitude of
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  Speaker 1: the other, because from the very fact that a thing
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  Speaker 1: is in act, it is active, and consequently, according to
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  Speaker 1: the degree in which it is perfected in its act
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  Speaker 1: is the degree of magnitude in its power. Wherefore, spiritual
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  Speaker 1: things are said to be great according to their degree
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  Speaker 1: of perfection. For Augustine says that in things which are
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  Speaker 1: great not by bulk, to be great is to be good. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: we have to show that God is infinite according to
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  Speaker 1: this kind of magnitude, not, however, so that infinite be
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  Speaker 1: understood privatively, as in demensive or numerical quantity. For a
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  Speaker 1: quantity of this kind is naturally finite, so that we
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  Speaker 1: speak of infinity by subtraction of that which it has
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  Speaker 1: by nature. And for this reason, infinity and those quantities
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  Speaker 1: denotes imperfection. But in God the infinite is understood only negatively,
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  Speaker 1: because there is no bound or end to his perfection,
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  Speaker 1: and he is the supremely perfect being. And it is
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  Speaker 1: thus that the infinite should be ascribed to God. For
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  Speaker 1: whatever is finite by its nature is confined to some
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  Speaker 1: generic notion. Now God is in no genus, and his
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  Speaker 1: perfection contains the perfections of all genera, as we have
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  Speaker 1: shown ab Therefore he is infinite. Moreover, every act inherent
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  Speaker 1: to something else receives its limitation from that in which
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  Speaker 1: it is, since that which is in another is in
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  Speaker 1: it according to the mode of the recipient. Wherefore, an
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  Speaker 1: act that exists in no subject has no limitations. For instance,
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  Speaker 1: if whiteness were per se existent, the perfection of whiteness
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  Speaker 1: therein would not be limited from having whatever it is
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  Speaker 1: possible to have of the perfection of whiteness. Now, God
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  Speaker 1: is an act nowise existing in another, because neither is
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  Speaker 1: he form in matter, as we have proved, nor is
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  Speaker 1: his being inherent to any form or nature, since he
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  Speaker 1: is his own being as we have shown above. Therefore
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  Speaker 1: it follows that He is infinite. Again, in things, we
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  Speaker 1: find something that is pure potentiality as primary matter, something
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  Speaker 1: that is pure act, namely God as we have shown above,
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  Speaker 1: and something that is act and potentiality namely other things.
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  Speaker 1: Now as potentiality, since it bears relation to an act,
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  Speaker 1: cannot exceed that act in any particular thing, so neither
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  Speaker 1: can it. Simply Therefore, since primary matter is infinite in
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  Speaker 1: its potentiality, it follows that God, who is pure act
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  Speaker 1: is infinite in his actuality. Again, an act is the
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  Speaker 1: more perfect according as it is less mingled with potentiality. Wherefore,
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  Speaker 1: every act that has an admixture of potentiality has limit
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  Speaker 1: to its perfection, while the act which has no admixture
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  Speaker 1: of potentiality has no limit to its perfection. Now God
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  Speaker 1: is pure act without any potentiality, as we have proved above.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore he is infinite. Again, being itself considered absolutely is infinite,
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  Speaker 1: for it can be participated by an infinite number of
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  Speaker 1: things in an infinite number of ways. Hence, if we
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  Speaker 1: take a thing with finite being, this being must be
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  Speaker 1: limited by some other thing, which is in some way
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  Speaker 1: the cause of that being. Now there can be no
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  Speaker 1: cause of God's being, since he is necessary of himself.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore he has infinite being, and himself is infinite. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: whatever has a particular perfection is the more perfect, according
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  Speaker 1: as more fully participates in that perfection. Now there cannot be,
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  Speaker 1: nor even be imagined, a way in which a perfection
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  Speaker 1: is possessed more fully than by that which is perfect
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  Speaker 1: by its essence, and whose being is its goodness, and
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  Speaker 1: such as God. Therefore, in no way can anything be
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  Speaker 1: imagined better or more perfect than God. Therefore he is
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  Speaker 1: perfect in goodness. Further, our intellect reaches the infinite and understanding,
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  Speaker 1: a sign of which is that given any finite quantity,
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  Speaker 1: our intellect can imagine a greater Now, it would be
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  Speaker 1: to no purpose for the intellect to be thus directed
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  Speaker 1: to the infinite unless there were infinite intelligible being. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: there must be some infinite intelligible thing which must needs
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  Speaker 1: be the greatest of all beings, and this we call God.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore God is infinite. Again, an effect cannot extend beyond
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  Speaker 1: its cause. Now our intellect cannot be but from God,
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  Speaker 1: who is the first cause of all things. Therefore our
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  Speaker 1: intellect cannot think of anything greater than God. If then
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  Speaker 1: it is possible to think of something greater than every
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  Speaker 1: finite thing, it follows that God is not finite. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: infinite power cannot be in a finite essence, because everything
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  Speaker 1: acts by its form, which is either its essence or
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  Speaker 1: part thereof, and power denotes a principle of action. But
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  Speaker 1: God has not a finite active power, for he moves
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  Speaker 1: in infinite time, and this cannot be save from an
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  Speaker 1: infinite power. As we have shown above, Therefore it follows
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  Speaker 1: that God's essence is infinite. This argument, however, avails for
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  Speaker 1: those who hold to the eternity of the world, And
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  Speaker 1: if this be not supposed, our opinion about the infinity
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  Speaker 1: of the divine power is confirmed yet more. For every
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  Speaker 1: agent is the more powerful to act, according as it
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  Speaker 1: reduces to act a potentiality the further removed from act.
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  Speaker 1: Thus a greater power is needed to heat water than air.
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  Speaker 1: Now that which is not at all is infinitely distant
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  Speaker 1: from act, nor is it in any way in potentiality. Wherefore,
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  Speaker 1: if the world was made after previously not being at all,
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  Speaker 1: the maker's power must needs be infinite. This argument, even
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  Speaker 1: for those who hold to the atternity of the world,
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  Speaker 1: avails to prove the infinity of the divine power, for
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  Speaker 1: they confess that God is the cause of the substance
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  Speaker 1: of the world, although they aware that it is eternal.
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  Speaker 1: Since they say that the eternal God is the cause
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  Speaker 1: of an eternal world, in the same way as a
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  Speaker 1: foot would have been from eternity the cause of a
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  Speaker 1: footprint if it had trod on the dust from eternity.
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  Speaker 1: Now this opinion being presupposed, it follows nonetheless from the
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  Speaker 1: argument stated above that the power of God is infinite.
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  Speaker 1: For whether He fashioned things from time as we hold
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  Speaker 1: or from eternity as they maintain, there cannot be in
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  Speaker 1: things anything that He has not produced, since He is
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  Speaker 1: the universal source of being, and so he produced them
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  Speaker 1: without any pre existing matter or potentiality. Now, active power
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  Speaker 1: must needs be in proportion to passive potentiality, because the
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  Speaker 1: greater the passive potentiality that is preexistent or presupposed, the
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  Speaker 1: greater the act of power which completes its actuality. Hence,
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  Speaker 1: it follows, since a finite power produces an effect if
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  Speaker 1: we presuppose the potentiality of matter, that God's power, which
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  Speaker 1: presupposes no potentiality, is not finite but infinite, and that
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  Speaker 1: consequently his essence is infinite. Moreover, a thing lasts so
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  Speaker 1: much the longer as its cause is more efficacious. Consequently,
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  Speaker 1: a thing which is of infinite duration must have being
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  Speaker 1: through a cause of infinite efficacy. Now God is of
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  Speaker 1: infinite duration, for it has been shown above that he
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  Speaker 1: is eternal. Since then he has no cause of his
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  Speaker 1: being besides himself, it follows that he is infinite. The
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  Speaker 1: authority of Holy writ bears witness to this truth. For
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  Speaker 1: the Psalmist says, great is the Lord, and greatly to
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  Speaker 1: be praised, and of his greatness there is no end.
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  Speaker 1: The same truth is attested by the statements of the
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  Speaker 1: oldest philosophers, since all of them, compelled, as it were,
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  Speaker 1: by truth itself, asserted that the first principle of things
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  Speaker 1: is infinite, for they knew not what they said, believing
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  Speaker 1: the infinity of the first principle to be after the
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  Speaker 1: manner of a discreet quantity, as Democritus maintained, asserting an
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  Speaker 1: infinite number of adams to be the principles of things,
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  Speaker 1: and as an Axagorus held, stating that the principles of
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  Speaker 1: things are an infinite number of similar parts, or after
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  Speaker 1: the manner of continuous quantity, as those who held that
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  Speaker 1: some element or some undefined infinite body is the first
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  Speaker 1: principle of all. But since it was proved by the
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  Speaker 1: researches of subsequent philosophers that there is no infinite body,
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  Speaker 1: and if to this we add that the first principle
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  Speaker 1: must needs be infinite in some way, it follows that
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  Speaker 1: the infinite, which is the first principle, is neither a
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  Speaker 1: body nor a power. Residing in a body. End of
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  Speaker 1: chapter forty three, read by Michael Shane, Craig Lambert, L. S.