The Nature of God

a) Meaning of Nature

By the nature of a thing we mean its essence considered as the root and source of its proper activities. Thus we say that thinking and reasoning is in accordance with the nature of man, that it belongs to the nature of fire to burn, that it is the nature of the eye to see colored objects, that it is natural for animals to move about, and so on. When we observe an activity that is always and everywhere characteristic of a thing, we have an index to the nature of that thing; we learn what a thing is from the manner in which it acts. Thus, by studying the characteristic activities of a thing we learn to define the thing itself, to declare just what sort of thing it is; to formulate, in a word, a definition of its nature.

b) God’s Nature

The activity of God is made manifest to human reason through experience of the world around us. This experience shows us that there must be a first cause, itself uncaused, and that this must be a necessary being. This First Cause and Necessary Being is God. All this we have learned in the Chapter on God’s existence. Here we study the matter further to find its implications, its fuller meaning, so that we may formulate a satisfactory definition of God, and state just what God’s nature is. i. God is necessary being; He cannot not-be; He must exist; existence belongs to His very essence. We conclude perforce that God is Self-Existent Being. Obviously, God is not self-caused; the term is a contradiction : it really means that a thing exists first and then gives itself existence—an obvious absurdity. God is not caused at all. He exists, not from Himself, but of Himself. He is Sub sistent Being Itself. Now, since God is wholly uncaused, and since there is no causality at all which is not rooted in Himself, there is nothing in God that is subject to the action of any cause. There is, in other words, nothing potential in God which the action of due cause could render actual; nor is there anything in God which can be reduced from actuality to potentiality through the operation of adequate cause. For the “due cause” and “adequate cause” of which we speak do not exist, npr is there anything in God that could be subject to their action if they did. In a word, there is nothing potential about God at all; He is Pure Actuality; He is the Pure Actuality of Existence. 2. Since God is the Pure Actuality of Existence, there is nothing conceivable that can be imagined as added to God, in such wise as to make Him greater or more perfect; nor can anything be thought of as removed from God, in such a way as to make Him less perfect. For, since God is itot subject to causal action, there is no cause that could produce an increase or diminishment in Him. Again, even if there were such a cause it would have to come from God Himself, and God, subjecting Himself to its action, would be selfchanged thereby. Now, self-change is as contradictory in a necessary Being as self-cause. Finally, only the absolute fulness, completeness, plenitude of being (i.e., of perfection) can require existence; and hence a necessary Being must have the plenitude of all being. Now, that which has absolute plenitude of being, which can neither be increased nor decreased in perNATURE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD fection, must be infinite. Therefore, God is infinite, or infinitely perfect. God’s infinity or “limitlessness” in perfection is not a mere negation of limiting causes or boundaries; it is the positive fulness of being in pure and absolute actuality. 3. Obviously, there cannot be a plurality of infinite beings. An infinite being has the absolute fulness and plenitude of being. There is, so to speak, no being “left over” for another thing to possess of itself and in its own absolute right. If there were two infinite beings, there would be perfection proper to the first which the second did not possess, and similarly there would be the proper perfection of the second which would necessarily be absent from the first: as a fact, neither of the two “infinite beings” would be infinite. Therefore, it follows directly from the fact of God’s infinity that He is one God and that there are no others equal to Him. God is the one and only God. This truth we express by the term unity of God. 4. Since God is infinite and uncaused, it follows that He is simple, i.e., not composed of parts or elements. In other words, God is not a composite or compounded being. Every composite being is contingent upon the union of its parts and requires a uniting cause to bring these parts into union. But in God there is neither contingency nor subjection to causality. Again, the parts of a composite being are logically or naturally prior to their union; and there is nothing prior to the eternal God, the necessary First Cause. God, therefore, is simple. He has no possessed parts or perfections; His perfections are one with His undivided essence; all that God has, He is. Thus, properly speaking, God does not have wisdom; God is Wisdom. Wisdom is one with the infinite essence of God, and hence God is Infinite Wisdom. Similarly, God is Infinite Justice, Infinite Mercy, Infinite Power, etc. 5. Since God is simple, He is spiritual. For a real, subsistent being must be either bodily or spiritual. Now, a bodily being is always made up of bodily parts, is contingent upon these parts and upon their union, is composite. But, as we have seen, God is not composite, but simple. He is therefore not bodily; it remains that He is spiritual. And, being infinite in all perfection, He is a Spirit infinitely perfect. To sum up: Our fundamental idea, our basic grasp of God is this: God is Self-Existent Being; He is Subsistent Being Itself. This is a metaphysical definition of God—metaphysical, because it consists of the essential realities that are understood to make up the very idea of God. In the physical order God is a real being, infinite and spiritual; and we express this fact in the physical definition of God: God is a Spirit infinitely perfect. In answer therefore to the question, What is God? we say: God is Self-Existent Being; God is Subsistent BeNATURE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD ing Itself (the metaphysical essence of God, expressed in metaphysical definitions) ; or God is Infinite Spirit; God is a Spirit Infinitely Perfect (the physical essence of God, expressed in physical definitions).

Summary of the Article

In this Article we have discussed the meaning of nature. We have studied the nature of God, proceeding first to discover the content of the very idea or concept of a necessary being, and so we found the metaphysical essence of God and expressed this in a metaphysical definition. Then we studied the direct, objective nature of the Self-Existent Being, and found that this must be one, infinite, simple, spiritual; so we found the physical essence of God and gave it expression in a physical definition. Our reasoning in this Article has been somewhat involved, but it has been clear and inevitable. It is as incontrovertible as the reasoning which leads to the demonstration of a theorem in geometry. The Catholic apologist should appreciate the worth and dignity of this reasoning, and he should require his auditors to appreciate it. There is not a shred of sentiment about it, nor is it marked by deviousness or word-juggling. It is coldly scientific.