Truths From The Text

Ep. 11 - Q&A on Angels, Evil, Sons of God, and Thomism

In this episode we pause to answer a handful of listener questions. You can send your questions to aaron@christcovenantcentralia.com and we may answer them when we do our next Q&A episode.

Ep. 10 - Superlative Names

Ep. 9 - Mixed Perfections & God's Laughter

St. Thomas Aquinas (De ver q 2 a 1 ad 4):

What is in God without imperfection is found with some defect in creatures. Hence, if we attribute to God something found in creatures, we must entirely remove everything that smacks of imperfection so that only what is perfect will remain; for it is only according to its perfection that a creature imitates God. I point out, therefore, that our scientific knowledge contains both some perfection and some imperfection. Its certitude pertains to its perfection, for what is known scientifically is known with certainty. To its imperfection belongs its progression from principles to the conclusions contained in that science; for this progression happens only because the intellect, in knowing the premises, knows the conclusions only potentially. If it actually knew the conclusions, there would be no need of it to go further, since motion is simply the passage from potency to act. Knowledge is said to be in God, therefore, because of its certitude about things known, but not because of the progression mentioned above, for, as Dionysius says, this is not found even in angels.

St. Thomas Aquinas (https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~ST.I.Q14.A1):

Because perfections flowing from God to creatures exist in a higher state in God Himself (Q. 4, A. 2), whenever a name taken from any created perfection is attributed to God, it must be separated in its signification from anything that belongs to that imperfect mode proper to creatures. Hence knowledge is not a quality of God, nor a habit, but substance and pure act.

Whatever is divided and multiplied in creatures exists in God simply and unitedly (Q. 13, A. 4). Now man has different kinds of knowledge, according to the different objects of His knowledge. He has intelligence as regards the knowledge of principles; he has science as regards knowledge of conclusions; he has wisdom, according as he knows the highest cause; he has counsel or prudence, according as he knows what is to be done. But God knows all these by one simple act of knowledge, as will be shown (A. 7). Hence the simple knowledge of God can be named by all these names; in such a way, however, that there must be removed from each of them, so far as they enter into divine predication, everything that savors of imperfection; and everything that expresses perfection is to be retained in them. Hence it is said, With Him is wisdom and strength, He hath counsel and understanding (Job 12:13).

Ep. 8 - Simple and Mixed Perfections

Key Takeaway

When it comes to positive divine names, we can distinguish between:

1) Simple Perfections (no negation needed)

2) Mixed Perfections (some negation needed, remove the aspect of imperfection and retain the perfection)

3) Metaphorical/Symbolic Names (total negation of predicate, ie. "God is a rock, lion, wrath, other passions, etc..")

Ep. 7 - God's Passions (Part 2)

Ep. 6 - God's Passions (Part 1)

Key Takeaway:
Just as Scripture makes us to say that God is not a body (John 4:24), and therefore hands, feet, nose, ears, eyes, etc. are to be understood metaphorically, so also bodily passions/emotions are said of God metaphorically, such as wrath, sorrow, anger, fear, joy, pity, compassion, mercy, etc.

Genesis 6:5-7
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

St. Thomas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 1. C.91
Love is the source of all the emotions. For joy and desire are only of a good that is loved; fear and sorrow are only of evil that is contrary to the beloved good; and from these all the other emotions arise.

St. Augustine, Eighty-Three Different Questions, Question 52 ON THE SCRIPTURE: "I AM SORRY THAT I HAVE MADE MAN'
To raise us from the earthly and human meaning up to the divine and heavenly, the divine Scriptures have [themselves] come down to those words which even the most simple customarily use among themselves. And so those men through whom the Holy Spirit has spoken have not hesitated to employ in those books, as the occasion best demands, names of even those passions which our soul experiences and which the man who knows better already understands to be completely foreign to God. For example, because it is very difficult for a man to avenge something without experiencing anger, the authors of Scripture have decided to use the name wrath for God's vengeance, although God's vengeance is exercised with absolutely no such emotion. Again, since husbands are wont to protect the chastity of their wives through jealousy, the Scripture writers have used the expression the jealousy of God to indicate that providence of God whereby he admonishes the soul and seeks to prevent its corruption and, as it were, its prostitution through following after various other gods. In the same manner they also use the expression the hand of God for that power whereby he acts, the feet of God for that power whereby he perseveres in sustaining and governing all things, the ears of God or the eyes of God, for that power whereby he perceives and understands all things, the face of God for that power whereby he manifests himself and is known, and so on. The reason for this is that we, the people to whom this word comes, are accustomed to working with our hands, walking with our feet, going where our mind directs, perceiving physical objects with our ears and eyes and other bodily senses, and being recognized by our face; and the same holds true for anything else which comes under a kind of rule like this. Therefore, in accord with this rule, since we are not easily accustomed to changing something begun and to turning to something else, except with regret, and although Divine Providence appears to observers of clear mind to administer all things by an absolutely fixed order, nonetheless, in a manner most suited to insignificant human understanding, those things which begin to be but do not continue as long as it was hoped that they would continue are said to be stopped by a kind of regret on the part of God.

Ep. 5 - God's Body Parts

Overview: If God is not a body (He is incorporeal/spirit), then what does it mean when Scripture attributes body parts to God? That is the question we tackle in this episode.

Aquinas on incorporeality: https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~ST.I.Q3.A1

Aquinas on Psalm 8: https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~Psalm.Ps8.n54.4

St. John of Damascus (On the Orthodox Faith, Chapter 11):

Since we find many terms used symbolically in the Scriptures concerning God which are more applicable to that which has body, we should recognize that it is quite impossible for us men clothed about with this dense covering of flesh to understand or speak of the divine and lofty and immaterial energies of the Godhead, except by the use of images and types and symbols derived from our own life. So then all the statements concerning God, that imply body, are symbols, but have a higher meaning: for the Deity is simple and formless.

• Hence by God's eyes and eyelids and sight we are to understand His power of overseeing all things and His knowledge, that nothing can escape: for in the case of us this sense makes our knowledge more complete and more full of certainty.
• By God's ears and hearing is meant His readiness to be propitiated and to receive our petitions: for it is this sense that renders us also kind to suppliants, inclining our ear to them more graciously.
• God's mouth and speech are His means of indicating His will; for it is by the mouth and speech that we make clear the thoughts that are in the heart:
• God's food and drink are our concurrence to His will, for we, too, satisfy the necessities of our natural appetite through the sense of taste.
• And God's sense of smell is His appreciation of our thoughts of and good will towards Him, for it is through this sense that we appreciate sweet fragrance.
• And God's countenance is the demonstration and manifestation of Himself through His works, for our manifestation is through the countenance.
• And God's hands mean the effectual nature of His energy, for it is with our own hands that we accomplish our most useful and valuable work.
• And His right hand is His aid in prosperity, for it is the right hand that we also use when making anything of beautiful shape or of great value, or where much strength is required.
• His handling is His power of accurate discrimination and exaction, even in the minutest and most secret details, for those whom we have handled cannot conceal from us aught within themselves.
• His feet and walk are His advent and presence, either for the purpose of bringing succour to the needy, or vengeance against enemies, or to perform any other action, for it is by using our feet that we come to arrive at any place.
• His oath is the unchangeableness of His counsel, for it is by oath that we confirm our compacts with one another.
• His anger and fury are His hatred of and aversion to all wickedness, for we, too, hate that which is contrary to our mind and become enraged thereat.
• His forgetfulness and sleep and slumbering are His delay in taking vengeance on His enemies and the postponement of the accustomed help to His own.
• And to put it shortly, all the statements made about God that imply body have some hidden meaning and teach us what is above us by means of something familiar to ourselves, with the exception of any statement concerning the bodily sojourn of the God-Word. For He for our safety took upon Himself the whole nature of man, the thinking spirit, the body, and all the properties of human nature, even the natural and blameless passions.

Ep. 4 - Positive & Negative Divine Names

Quotation:

John 4:24 
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

St. Thomas, On Separate Substances (De substantiis) c 19.
“Scripture habitually designates something [to be] incorporeal through the name spirit.”

Key Takeaways:

1. Holy Scripture makes us to say many names/predicates about God. The first and most fundamental distinction that organizes all divine names is whether we affirm or negate these predicates of God, saying either "God is [insert predicate]" or "God is not [insert predicate]."

2. A Positive Divine Name is an affirmation about God. For example, "God is love." "God is wise." "God is good." etc.

3. A Negative Divine Name is a negation about God. For example, "God is not a body." "God is not finite." "God is not composed of parts." etc.

4. In theology and in Holy Scripture, many negative names are stated periphrastically (rephrased/restated) in positive terms. For example, "God is a spirit" sounds like a positive name, but it is actually identical in meaning to the negation, "God is not a body."

5. We must be careful then to not "positivize" our negative names. We must remember that saying "God is not a body" or "God is incorporeal" or "God is a spirit," are all identical in meaning and are negative names that tell us nothing about God except what He is not.

For further reading on Incorporeality: https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~ST.I.Q3.A1

https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~SCG1.C20