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044 - Xliv That God Is An Intelligent Being · Summa Contra Gentiles, First Book (On God)

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty four of Suma Contrigentilees, 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 four that God is an intelligent being. It
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  Speaker 1: may be shown from the above that God is an
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  Speaker 1: intelligent being. For it was proved that it is impossible
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  Speaker 1: to proceed to infinity in movers and things moved, and
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  Speaker 1: that all things moved must be reduced, as is probable
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  Speaker 1: to one self moving principle. Now, a self mover moves
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  Speaker 1: itself by appetite and apprehension. For such like things alone
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  Speaker 1: are found to move themselves, since it is in them
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  Speaker 1: to be moved and not to be moved. Wherefore, the
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  Speaker 1: moving part in the first self mover must needs be
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  Speaker 1: appetitive and apprehensive. Now, in that movement which is by
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  Speaker 1: appetite and apprehension, the appetent and apprehender is a moved mover,
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  Speaker 1: while appetible and apprehended is a mover not moved. Since
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  Speaker 1: then that which is the first mover of all, which
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  Speaker 1: we call God, is a mover altogether unmoved. It follows
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  Speaker 1: that it is compared to the motor, which is a
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  Speaker 1: part of the self mover, as the appetible to the appetent, not, however,
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  Speaker 1: as the appetible to the sensitive appetite, because the sensitive
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  Speaker 1: appetite is not of the good simply, but of this
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  Speaker 1: particular good, since also sensitive apprehension is only of the particular,
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  Speaker 1: and that which is good and appetible simply is prior
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  Speaker 1: to that which is good and appetible. Here and now, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: the first mover must be the appetible as an object
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  Speaker 1: of the understanding, and consequently the mover that desires itself
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  Speaker 1: must be an intelligent being. Much more, therefore is the
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  Speaker 1: very first appetible and intelligent being, because that which desires
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  Speaker 1: it becomes actually understanding through being united to it as
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  Speaker 1: an intelligible object. Therefore, it follows that God is intelligent
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  Speaker 1: if it be supposed that the first mover moves itself,
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  Speaker 1: as the early philosophers maintained, again, the same conclusion follows
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  Speaker 1: necessarily if movable things be reduced not to some first
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  Speaker 1: self mover, but to a mover that is utterly immovable.
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  Speaker 1: For the first mover is the universal principle of movement. Wherefore,
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  Speaker 1: since every mover moves by some form which it intends
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  Speaker 1: in moving. It follows that the form by which the
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  Speaker 1: first mover moves must be the universal form and universal good.
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  Speaker 1: Now a form is not found under conditions of universality
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  Speaker 1: save in the intellect. Therefore the first mover, which is God,
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  Speaker 1: must be intelligent. Moreover, in no order of movers do
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  Speaker 1: we find that a mover by the intellect is the
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  Speaker 1: instrument of that which moves without intellect, but rather the opposite. Now,
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  Speaker 1: all movers that are in the world are compared to
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  Speaker 1: the first mover, which is God, as instruments to the
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  Speaker 1: principal agent. Since then we find in the world many
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  Speaker 1: movers by intellect, it is impossible that the first mover
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  Speaker 1: move without intellect. Therefore God must of necessity be intelligent. Again,
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  Speaker 1: a thing is intelligent from the fact of its being
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  Speaker 1: without matter, in sign of which forms become understood by
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  Speaker 1: being abstracted from matter. Hence, also understanding is of universals
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  Speaker 1: and not of singulars, because matter is the principle of individualization. Now,
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  Speaker 1: forms actually understood become one with the intellect actually understanding. Wherefore,
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  Speaker 1: if forms are actually understood from the very fact that
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  Speaker 1: they are without matter. It follows that a thing is
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  Speaker 1: actually intelligent from the fact that it is without matter.
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  Speaker 1: Now it was shown above that God is absolutely immaterial,
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  Speaker 1: therefore he is intelligent. Again, God lacks no perfection that
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  Speaker 1: is to be found in any genus of things, as
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  Speaker 1: we have proved above, Nor does it follow from this
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  Speaker 1: that there is any composition in him, as was also
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  Speaker 1: shown above. Now, the greatest among the perfections of things
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  Speaker 1: is that a thing is intellectual, because thereby it is,
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  Speaker 1: after a fashion, all things, having in itself the perfection
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  Speaker 1: of all. Therefore God is intelligent. Moreover, whatever tends definitely
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  Speaker 1: to an end, either prescribes that end to itself or
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  Speaker 1: that end is prescribed to it by another, also would
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  Speaker 1: not tend to this end rather than to that. Now,
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  Speaker 1: natural things tend to definite ends, for they do not
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  Speaker 1: pursue their natural purposes by chance, since in that case
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  Speaker 1: those purposes would not be realized always, or for the
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  Speaker 1: most part, but seldom, for of such is chance. Since
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  Speaker 1: then they do not prescribe the end to themselves, for
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  Speaker 1: they do not apprehend the notion of end. It follows
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  Speaker 1: that the end is prescribed to them by another, who
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  Speaker 1: is the author of nature. This is he who gives
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  Speaker 1: being to all, and who necessarily exists of himself, whom
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  Speaker 1: we call God. As shown above. Now, he would be
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  Speaker 1: unable to prescribe nature its end unless he were intelligent.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore God is intelligent. Moreover, whatever is imperfect originates from
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  Speaker 1: something perfect, because the perfect naturally precedes the imperfect, as
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  Speaker 1: act precedes potentiality. Now, the forms that exist in particular
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  Speaker 1: things are imperfect since their existence is limited and does
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  Speaker 1: not extend to the full universe of their nature. Wherefore
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  Speaker 1: they must needs originate from certain perfect and not limited forms. Now,
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  Speaker 1: such forms are impossible except as an object of the understanding,
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  Speaker 1: since no form is found in a state of universality
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  Speaker 1: except in the intellect. Consequently, those forms must be intelligent
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  Speaker 1: if they are subsistent, for in no other way can
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  Speaker 1: they be operative. Therefore, it follows that God, who is
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  Speaker 1: the first subsistent act from which all others derive, is intelligent.
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  Speaker 1: The Catholic faith confesses this truth, for it is said
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  Speaker 1: of God in Job chapter nine, verse four, he is
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  Speaker 1: wise in heart and mighty in strength, And in chapter twelve,
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  Speaker 1: verse sixteen, with him is strength and wisdom. And in
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  Speaker 1: the Psalm thy knowledge is become wonderful to me. And
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  Speaker 1: in Romans eleven, verse thirty three, or the depth of
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  Speaker 1: the riches, of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God.
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  Speaker 1: The truth of this belief took such hold on men
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  Speaker 1: that they named God from understanding, for theos, which is
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  Speaker 1: the Greek for God, is derived from theasthi, which means
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  Speaker 1: to consider or to see. End of Chapter forty four,
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  Speaker 1: read by Michael Shane Craig Lambert l SI