41. God's Knowledge, Names, and the Structure of Theology

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Three-Fold Structure of Theological Inquiry #

• Thomas divides the consideration of God into three parts:
  1. God’s existence (Question 2): That God is
  2. God’s substance (Questions 3-11): What God is—simple, perfect, infinite, unchanging, one
  3. God’s operations (Questions 14+): What God does—His understanding and willing
• These three are not distinct in God himself but are distinct in our mode of knowing
• The distinction arises because we know God through creatures, which have genuinely distinct existence, substance, and operations

Why Three Parts Despite God’s Simplicity? #

• In creatures: existence ≠ substance ≠ operations (all distinct)
• In God: existence = substance = operations (perfectly identical)
• Yet we must consider them separately because we approach God from below, beginning with creatures that are composed
• As we ascend from the many and composed to the one and simple, our knowledge remains threefold even though the object is absolutely unified

The Relationship Between Things, Knowledge, and Names #

• Threefold order:
  1. Things (ontological reality)
  2. Our knowledge of things (epistemological access)
  3. Names we place upon things (linguistic expression)
• Principle: “We name things as we know them” (nominamus res sicut cognoscimus eas)
• The order in naming follows the order in knowing, not the order in things themselves
• Example: “Water” is known and named before “hydrogen” because water is sensible; yet hydrogen is prior in the order of things (water is H₂O)

The Problem of Naming God #

• Every name we give to God expresses something about Him, but not all
• No single name is adequate to God’s perfection
• This inadequacy will be explored in Questions 12-13 (knowing God) and later in Questions 14-15 (operations leading to Trinity)

Key Arguments #

Why God’s Knowledge and Willing Are the Same Thing #

• In creatures: understanding and loving are different acts and powers
  • “My understanding what wisdom is ≠ my loving what wisdom is”
• In God: understanding and willing are identical with His substance
  • What God understands is Himself
  • Understanding Himself, He understands His understanding (by the same act)
  • “God’s understanding what He is = God’s loving Himself”
• This unity is incomprehensible to us but logically necessary given God’s absolute simplicity

God Understands All Things by One Act #

• God does not understand creatures sequentially or through multiple thoughts
• All creation—dogs, cats, horses, dragons—is known by one simple act of understanding
• Moreover, God knows His act by the same act that constitutes it
• Creatures cannot do this; we have multiple sequential thoughts

God Comprehends vs. Creation Sees #

• Comprehension (comprehensio): Knowing God as much as He is knowable—only God does this
• Vision (visio): Seeing God’s essence—created intellects can do this through grace
• Objections that deny creatures know God actually deny they comprehend God, not that they see Him

Important Definitions #

The Light of Glory (lumen gloriae) #

• A created grace that elevates the power of the created intellect
• Not to make God understandable (He is self-explanatory) but to raise the mind’s capacity
• Enables the created intellect to receive God as the form (species) by which it sees Him
• Corresponds to the light of faith and natural reason as perfect gifts from the Father of Lights

The Beatific Vision #

• The vision of God’s essence (essentia Dei) promised to the blessed
• Constitutes beatitude (the highest operation of intellect)
• Will be one simultaneous act of seeing all things in God
• Fulfills the natural desire to know first causes

Examples & Illustrations #

The Point and the Three Lines #

• A single point is simultaneously the end of three different lines without being divided into three
• Similarly, the one simple God is the source from which we conceptually distinguish:
  • His existence (end of one line of inquiry)
  • His substance (end of another line)
  • His operations (end of a third line)
• The threefold distinction arises from our mode of approach, not from God’s nature

The Center of a Circle (from Aquinas) #

• All points on the circumference are equidistant from the center
• Analogously, all moments of time (past, present, future) are equally present to God’s eternal now
• Yet these moments are not present to each other
• Shows how God’s knowledge differs fundamentally from ours

Modern Physics and Complementarity #

• Historical development: Light was understood as wave-like until Einstein showed it behaves as particles in the photoelectric effect
• Complementarity: Light is neither simply particle nor simply wave; both descriptions correspond to reality but neither alone is adequate
• Bohr’s recommendation: Read Kierkegaard’s Symposium to understand complementarity philosophically
  • A woman is simultaneously mother, sister, daughter, lover—each perspective true but incomplete
  • One cannot simultaneously view one’s wife and daughter in identical ways, yet she is both
• Parallel to theology: Different thoughts about God (infinite, simple, one, good) all correspond to His reality but no single thought comprehends Him

The Electron and Our Knowledge #

• Knowing the electron is difficult because it exists (excess of actual being)
• Knowing God is difficult because He exceeds existence (deficiency of our intellect)
• Yet both difficulties illustrate how reality can exceed our categories of understanding

Water and Hydrogen #

• Water is named and known before hydrogen (water is sensible; hydrogen was discovered only in the 18th century by Lavoisier)
• Yet in the order of things, hydrogen is prior (water is H₂O)
• This demonstrates the divergence between the order of knowing/naming and the order of being

Notable Quotes #

“We name things as we know them” (nominamus res sicut cognoscimus eas) — Thomas Aquinas

“In God, understanding and loving are the same thing.” — Berquist, explaining God’s absolute simplicity

“God understands what a dog is, what a cat is, what a horse is, what a dragon is—all by one act.” — Berquist, on God’s unified knowledge of all creation

“I won’t really understand it until I see Him as He is.” — Berquist, on the limits of human knowledge of God’s identity of understanding and willing

“Every perfect gift descends from the Father of Lights.” — James 1 (Catholic Epistles), cited for the threefold light: reason, faith, glory

“In your light, you shall see light.” — Psalms, cited on the light of glory enabling vision of God

Questions Addressed #

Why does Thomas treat existence, substance, and operations separately if they are identical in God? #

• Answer: Because we know God through creatures, in which these three are genuinely distinct. Our threefold consideration mirrors our epistemological access, not God’s nature. As we progress through the inquiry, we discover their ultimate identity.

How can our knowledge of God be adequate if God is infinite? #

• Answer: Our knowledge can never be comprehensive (comprehensio) but can be true and real through grace. Different perspectives (God as simple, perfect, infinite, one, unchanging) are all true but mutually incomplete—like complementary descriptions in physics.

Do creatures see God’s essence, or only comprehend that He is? #

• Answer: Creatures can see God’s essence through the light of glory, but they do not comprehend it (i.e., they do not know all that is knowable about Him). Patristic objections deny comprehension, not vision.

Is God’s essence knowable by created intellects through natural powers? #

• Answer: No. Only God naturally sees Himself as He is. Created intellects require elevation by grace (lumen gloriae) to see God’s essence.

Will the blessed know all things when they see God? #

• Answer: Yes, insofar as all things are knowable through their participation in God. They will see all things together in one act, as they exist in God’s simple knowledge—not as a succession of thoughts but as simultaneity.

Why does Thomas discuss knowing and naming God before discussing God’s operations? #

• Answer: Because understanding how we know God is necessary for understanding how we name Him. Only when we grasp our cognitive limitations can we appreciate why no single name adequately expresses God’s perfection. Moreover, understanding God’s operations (especially His understanding and willing) is necessary to understand the Trinity, which will follow.