Omnipotence and Creation

Intro
WELCOME TO MY PRESENTATION!
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CHAPTER XIII
OMNIPOTENCE AND
CREATION
Intro Contents
CONTENTS
TOPIC 1 : The Notion of Omnipotence TOPIC 6: Proof of Creation
TOPIC 2 : Existence of God’s TOPIC 7: God Alone Can Create

Omnipotence
TOPIC 3 : The Foundation’s of TOPIC 8: Eternity of Creation
Possibles
TOPIC 4 : The Notion of Creation TOPIC 9: Infinite Number of Creatures
TOPIC 5: Opponents of Creation

Intro Contents
OMNIPOTENCE AND CREATION
As a matter of fact, creatural beings do exist. We ourselves, for

instance, and many other beings have existence. The problem
therefore, arises: How did creatural beings come into existence
originally? The solution to this problem is: through the omnipotent,
creative activity of God. Omnipotence and Creation.
Intro Contents
TOPIC 1 : The Notion of Omnipotence
 Omnipotence, as the word indicates (Lat., omne, all, everything; potentia,

power), means that God can produce everything.
 Since there can be no ‘passive power’ in God, namely, the power to receive
some perfection from some other being, omnipotence necessarily means ‘active
power,’ namely, the power to produce all effects through efficient causality.
 And when it is stated that God can produce ‘everything,’ it is well to note the
word ‘thing.’
 The word thing is equivalent to being, and ‘being’ means whatever can exist.
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 Omnipotence, therefore, implies that God can give existence to

whatever can exist. In other words, God can produce whatever is
possible.
 The statement that God is omnipotent means that he can give existence
to any possible being without exception, and a ‘possible being’ is one
that does not contain a contradiction in its very concept or term.
 Like other perfections of God, His omnipotence is formally immanent but
virtually transient; that is to say, His omnipotence, considered from the
viewpoint of its reality, is identical with God’s essence, but it can
produce beings distinct from the divine essence.
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 God’s omnipotence is ‘extensively’ and ‘intensively’ infinite.

 It is extensive because God’s power can bring into existence anything
and everything ‘possible’ and because it can never be exhausted.
 In other words, God can never come to a point where there would be
nothing more to make, since there is absolutely no limit to His efficient
causality.
 The intensive infinity of God’s power consists in this that He produces
beings with perfect independence; hence, He causes them without the
assistance of an instrumental cause, without the influence of any
extraneous causality, without difficulty or exertion.
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 Having specified the meaning of omnipotence, its existence in God must

be proved
Intro Contents
TOPIC 2 : Existence of God’s Omnipotence
God is omnipotent.
 In God there can be no composition of power and essence.
 God’s power is identical with the divine essence; and since the divine
essence is infinite, the divine power must be infinite.
 Now, infinite power must be omnipotent; that is, it must be able to bring
to existence whatever can intrinsically have existence.
 Everything, however, which does not involve a contradiction in its
concept is absolutely possible and as such can intrinsically existence.
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 God’s infinite power, therefore, must be able to give existence to all that
is absolutely possible.
 But to give existence to a thing is to produce it.
 Consequently, God’s infinite power must be able to produce all that is
absolutely possible. And that is the meaning of ‘omnipotence.’
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God’s power is inexhaustible.

 If ever God reached a point where His power would be exhausted in its
productivity, so that nothing more could come into existence through His
efficient causality, the power of God would be gone.
 However, together with the cessation of God’s power, His essence
would be gone and cease to exist.
 This would be inevitable, because the divine power is identical with the
divine essence.
 Hence, if God’s power would be exhausted, God himself would cease to
exist. That, however, is impossible.
Intro Contents
 Consequently, God’s power cannot be exhausted in its productivity.

 One cannot say that God’s power would be exhausted if there were no
object to produce. In such case the divine power would not really be
exhausted; the store of possibles would simply be exhausted.
 However, even this latter assumption cannot be consistently maintained.
 Since the divine essence is infinite in perfection, its imitability by
creatural realities must also be without limit.
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 As a result, the store of possibles could be exhausted only if the divine

essence were limited in its perfections or if the actual number of
imitations were infinite.
 The “infinite” perfection of God cannot be “limited”; if it were, the
“infinite” would be “finite” ; and that is contradiction.
 Therefore , the store of possibles is inexhaustible, and God’s power is
also inexhaustible.
 It follows, then, that God’s power can produce whatever is intrinsically
possible, and it is inexhaustible in its productivity.
 God, therefore, is truly omnipotent in power.
Intro Contents
TOPIC 3 : The Foundation’s of Possibles
 A thing is said to posses external possibility when a power exists which

can produce it.
 It possesses internal possibility, when the thing as such can have or
receive existence, without regard to the actual existence of a power
which an, as a matter of fact, actually produce it.
 The immediate foundation of the internal possibility of the possibles lies
in the compatibility of the elements which constitute the essence of a
thing.
 This shown by the idea of ‘internal possibility.’ That thing is said to be
intrinsically possible whose constituting elements do not contradict one
another, but which can exist together; in other words, whose constituting
elements are compatible and sociable.
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 Reversely, a thing is intrinsically or absolutely impossible whose

constituting elements one another and cannot exist together; such
contradictory elements are incompatible and insociable.
 The immediate reason or foundation of internal possibility, therefore, is
the non-contradiction, the compatibility, of the thought-elements
constituting the idea of a thing. This is called the formal principle of
internal possibility.
 God’s essence is thus seen to be the ultimate reason, or ground, or
foundation of all intrinsic possibility, just as His omnipotence, guided by
His will and intelligence, is the ultimate ground for all extrinsic possibility.
Intro Contents
 This is equivalent to saying that God’s essence is the ultimate reason

why the constitutive elements of creatural essences are compatible
among themselves; and God’s omnipotence is the ultimate reason why
creatural beings can be produced and thereby receive actual existence.
Intro Contents
TOPIC 4 : The Notion of Creation
 Creation is a type of productive action, and productive action always

terminates in an effect.
 Correspondingly, creation may be defined either with emphasis on
production as the starting point of the action (terminus a quo) or with
emphasis on the produce reality as the goal or termination-point of the
action (terminus ad quem).
 St. Thomas uses both methods in his works. Thus, he says: “The proper
mode of His action is to produce a whole subsistent thing” ; ”Creation is
the production of a being” ; “to create is to make something from
nothing” ; “creation is the production of whole being.”
 In these definitions he begins with the productive action as it proceeds
from God.
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 In the following definitions he places the emphasis on the produced

thing: “Creation, which is the emanation of all being (totius esse), is from
the not-being which is nothing” ; “Creation, whereby a thing is made
according to its whole substance.”
 Later scholastics have combined the two standpoints into one
comprehensive definition.
 “Creation” is thus defined technically as the production of a thing
hitherto not existing, without the use of any subject-matter from which it
is produced (production rei ex nihilo sui et subjecti).
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 Creation is said to be production rei, ‘the production of a thing.’ It is a

‘production,’ and this word signifies the making of something through the
positive action of an efficient cause.
 Creation is said to be production rei ex nihilo sui, ‘the production of a
thing hitherto not existing.’ This means that the ‘being’ in question is
something new, something that did not have existence before the
productive action gave it existence; it simply begins ‘to-be,’ to exist, in
virtue of the efficient causality of the producing cause; before this cause
gave it existence, it was a relative ‘nothing,’ something merely possible,
but not as yet an actuality in the real of existing beings.
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 Creation is said to be production rei ex nihilo sui et subjecti, ‘the

production of a thing hitherto not existing, without employing any
subject-matter from which to produce it.’
 The phrase ex nihilo subjecti excludes any and every kind of pre-
existent substrate, such as matter, out of which the new being might be
produced.
 In other words, creation is not a ‘change’ or ‘generation’ of one being out
of another being.
Intro Contents
 The Jews always maintained the world was created by god.

 The first line of the book of Genesis states expressly: “In the beginning
God created heaven and earth.” To ‘create’ was understood in the sense
of a ‘production out of nothing.’
 To the pagans of antiquity creation was practically unknown.
 Polytheism is essentially an anthropomorphic religion, and its
anthropomorphism is reflected in its doctrines concerning the limited
power of the deities.
 It remained for the modern pantheists and finitists to have the dubious
distinction of reviving the pagan concept of god by eliminating creation
entirely or by reducing the creative action of God to a production of
limited effectiveness.
Intro Contents
 Ever since Spinoza, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel launched their

pantheistic systems, many thinkers, tired of the superficiality of
materialism, have found mental refuge in the identification of divinity
with the world.
 God, in their view, is ‘immanent’ to the world, in the sense that God and
the world are one ultimately reality.
 Pantheists and finitists find the concept of creation as a ‘production out
of nothing’ unpalatable.
Intro Contents
TOPIC 6: Proof of Creation
 In proving creation, the purpose is not to prove how God produced

things out of nothing, but simply to prove that God produced them in this
manner.
 The fact of creation is what must be proved, and this fact is proved as
follows.
 God is omnipotent; and to be omnipotent means that the infinite power
of God can produce (give existence to) whatever is intrinsically possible,
that is, to anything which does not involve a contradiction in the
constitutive elements of its concept.
 The concept of creation is not self-contradictory, like the idea of a
square circle or of an animate-inanimate organism.
Intro Contents
TOPIC 6: Proof of Creation
 ‘Production’ itself occurs constantly.

 ‘Production out of nothing’ is not self-contradictory, when it is a question
of the first origin of creatural beings on the part of god’s productive
power.
 There is no other way that God can give existence to the first things
than by producing them ‘out of nothing.’
 Therefore, God can create.
 If the universe exists, it must, therefore, have been produced by God
out of nothing. But it exists.
 Consequently, creation is a fact.
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TOPIC 7: God Alone Can Create
 The question to be answered are these: Can god alone create? Can a
creature act as the principal cause of creation? Can a creature act as an
instrumental cause of creation?
 The pertinent terms are obviously ‘principal cause’ and ‘instrumental
cause.’
 A principal cause is one which ha a fully proportionate and sufficient
power to produce the entire effect either alone or by using something
else as instrumental cause in its productive action.
 An instrumental cause is insufficient of itself to produce the entire effect
but causally influences the production of the effect under the direction
and in the service of another (the principal) cause.
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TOPIC 7: God Alone Can Create
 If a creature can be neither the principal cause nor the instrumental

cause of creation, then God alone can create.
 The Creature, however, can be either the principal nor the instrumental
cause of creation.
 No creature can be the principal cause, because the effect of creation is
‘being as such,’ and no creature has the power to give existence to
‘being’ absolutely; it can only change a ‘this’ to a ‘that.’
 It takes infinite power to bring something from a not-being to being. Nor
can creature be the instrumental cause of creation.
 If it were, its own proper causality would have to either precede, follow,
or accompany the effect of the divine principal cause; non of the
alternatives is possible.
 Therefore, God alone can create.
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TOPIC 8: Eternity of Creation
 God exists from eternity.

 The question, therefore, naturally arises: Can God create from all
eternity? This question leads to the next: Can a created thing exist from
eternity?
 An eternal creation of successive things is impossible.
 The supposition is twofold: there is a series of successive realities, and
this series is created.
 In this series of members, one succeeds the other.
 Since these members of the series succeed one another, some are later
and some are earlier than the others in succession.
 Such a succession, however, must inevitably lead to one member
before which there was no other and after which all the others follow.
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 The first member of the series is the beginning of the succession, and
the entire series can thus be measured according to ‘before’ in its
succession.
 But a succession measured according to ‘before’ and ‘after’ is the
characteristic of time.
 Consequently, the first member of the series represents the beginning of
time. Eternity however, is not time and has no beginning.
 Hence, such a series would have creatures which are in time and are
not in time, are eternal and not eternal, are arranged according to a
‘before’ and ‘after’ and are not arranged according to a ‘before’ and
‘after,’ have a beginning and have no beginning.
 In other words, an ‘eternal creature,’ created by god in eternity, is a
contradiction in terms and as such impossible.
Intro Contents

 God, therefore, cannot create from eternity; and this impossibility is due
to the nature of the ‘creature’ as a creature, not to God as omnipotent.
 An eternal creation of permanent things is impossible.
 An eternal ‘permanent’ being, one in which there is no change, must be
indestructible.
 Eternity means duration without beginning and without end.
 Therefore, an eternal is one which has all possible duration
simultaneously.
 Now, what the omnipotence of God creates it can also destroy; if He is
capable of giving existence, He must also be capable of taking
existence away.
Intro Contents

 No created being has necessary existence; this is clear from the very
fact of its creation. Hence, it can be destroyed by God in any moment
of its duration.
 Therefore, the supposedly ‘permanent’ creature is not eternal.
 But if the creature cannot be eternal, God cannot create a creature from
eternity without contradiction.
 Consequently, an eternal creation of any kind is impossible because it is
contradictory to the very nature of created being.
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TOPIC 9: Infinite Number of Creatures

 God is infinitely perfect, and He can, absolutely speaking, be imitated by
creatures in any number of ways.
 There is no limit to God’s omnipotent power to His imitability by
creatures. But an ‘actually infinite number’ of creatures involves a
contradiction in terms and such is impossible.
 An actually infinite number of created beings is intrinsically impossible.
 In other words, no matter how many creatures God produces, His being
can still always be imitated by other creatures without limit; other
creatures are possible, and their possibility is inexhaustible.
 This means that the number of creatures which can exist, rather
simultaneously or successively, is negatively infinite; that is to say, the
existing number can only be actually finite, but it is potentially without
limit.
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TOPIC 9: Infinite Number of Creatures
 Therefore, God cannot create an infinite number of actually existing

creatures, due to the fact that such a number is intrinsically impossible
in actuality.
 God being actually infinite in perfection, his imitability by creatural
beings, and as a consequence also their creability, is limitless and
inexhaustible.
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Intro

TOPIC 2 : Existence of God’s TOPIC 7: God Alone Can Create

TOPIC 4 : The Notion of Creation TOPIC 9: Infinite Number of Creatures

TOPIC 5: Opponents of Creation

OMNIPOTENCE AND CREATION

As a matter of fact, creatural beings do exist. We ourselves, for

TOPIC 1 : The Notion of Omnipotence

 Omnipotence, as the word indicates (Lat., omne, all, everything; potentia,

TOPIC 1 : The Notion of Omnipotence

 Omnipotence, therefore, implies that God can give existence to

TOPIC 1 : The Notion of Omnipotence

 God’s omnipotence is ‘extensively’ and ‘intensively’ infinite.

TOPIC 1 : The Notion of Omnipotence

 Having specified the meaning of omnipotence, its existence in God must

TOPIC 2 : Existence of God’s Omnipotence

TOPIC 2 : Existence of God’s Omnipotence

TOPIC 2 : Existence of God’s Omnipotence

God’s power is inexhaustible.

TOPIC 2 : Existence of God’s Omnipotence

God’s power is inexhaustible.

 Consequently, God’s power cannot be exhausted in its productivity.

TOPIC 2 : Existence of God’s Omnipotence

God’s power is inexhaustible.

 As a result, the store of possibles could be exhausted only if the divine

TOPIC 3 : The Foundation’s of Possibles

 A thing is said to posses external possibility when a power exists which

TOPIC 3 : The Foundation’s of Possibles

 Reversely, a thing is intrinsically or absolutely impossible whose

TOPIC 3 : The Foundation’s of Possibles

 This is equivalent to saying that God’s essence is the ultimate reason

TOPIC 4 : The Notion of Creation

 Creation is a type of productive action, and productive action always

TOPIC 4 : The Notion of Creation

 In the following definitions he places the emphasis on the produced

TOPIC 4 : The Notion of Creation

 Creation is said to be production rei, ‘the production of a thing.’ It is a

TOPIC 4 : The Notion of Creation

 Creation is said to be production rei ex nihilo sui et subjecti, ‘the

TOPIC 5: Opponents of Creation

 The Jews always maintained the world was created by god.

TOPIC 5: Opponents of Creation

 Ever since Spinoza, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel launched their

TOPIC 6: Proof of Creation

 In proving creation, the purpose is not to prove how God produced

TOPIC 6: Proof of Creation

 ‘Production’ itself occurs constantly.

TOPIC 7: God Alone Can Create

TOPIC 7: God Alone Can Create

 If a creature can be neither the principal cause nor the instrumental

TOPIC 8: Eternity of Creation

 God exists from eternity.

TOPIC 8: Eternity of Creation

TOPIC 8: Eternity of Creation

TOPIC 8: Eternity of Creation

TOPIC 9: Infinite Number of Creatures

TOPIC 9: Infinite Number of Creatures

 Therefore, God cannot create an infinite number of actually existing

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