Thomistic Divine Simplicity: A God in Time?

 Thomistic Divine Simplicity: A God in Time?


Discussions about the nature of God and time have intrigued theologians and philosophers for centuries, with various viewpoints shaping our understanding of the divine. One such perspective, deeply rooted in the thought of Thomas Aquinas, is the doctrine of divine simplicity. According to the doctrine of divine simplicity, there is no composition or change in God’s essence. For example, we may understand God to have the attributes of being merciful or loving or omnipotent, however these attributes are identical to each other and identical to His essence, according to Thomas Aquinas. The distinction between these attributes arrive from our mental conception of them as it is only a virtual not a formal distinction. In other words, God is a pure and eternal act of existence. This is not the only view of divine simplicity, for example both the Sunni Athari and Catholic Franciscan traditions hold that God’s attributes are truly distinct without there being composition within God. Check out my other blog articles for more information regarding other views of divine simplicity and possible refutations of the Thomistic view.

How does this view of God relate to divine temporality and divine timelessness? Evidently so, this conception of God must necessarily be timeless. If the simple God was in time then it would be the case that He exists from one moment to the next one. Therefore, God has phases in His life that are not identical for that very reason as He would stand in relation to time in terms of earlier or later. This goes against the concept of Thomistic divine simplicity as God is completely unchanging and simple.

According to Christian philosopher, William Lane Craig, in his book, Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time, expound upon this, 

“Like simplicity, the immutability affirmed by the medieval theologians is a radical concept: utter immobility. God cannot change in any respect. He never thinks successive thoughts, He never performs successive actions…” (pp. 30) 

Furthermore, if the simple God was in time then His knowledge would also be changing which goes against the immutability of God under this conception. The evidence for this is as His knowledge would go from ‘I exist at this moment’ to ‘I existed at that previous moment and I exist now’ as there is a temporal change from one moment to the next. A timeless God’s knowledge, perhaps would be ‘I exist’ without the temporality of ‘at this moment’ predicated to it.

In conclusion, the Thomistic understanding of divine simplicity necessarily leads to divine timelessness due to the unchanging and indivisible nature of a simple God.

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