Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It seems that the will of God is not the cause of things. For Dionysius says (Div. Nom. iv, 1): "As our sun, not by reason nor by pre-election, but by its very being, enlightens all things that can participate in its light, so the divine good by its very essence pours the rays of goodness upon everything that exists." But every voluntary agent acts by reason and pre-election. Therefore God does not act by will; and so His will is not the cause of things.

Objection 2: Further, The first in any order is that which is essentially so, thus in the order of burning things, that comes first which is fire by its essence. But God is the first agent. Therefore He acts by His essence; and that is His nature. He acts then by nature, and not by will. Therefore the divine will is not the cause of things.

Objection 3: Further, Whatever is the cause of anything, through being "such" a thing, is the cause by nature, and not by will. For fire is the cause of heat, as being itself hot; whereas an architect is the cause of a house, because he wills to build it. Now Augustine says (De Doctr. Christ. i, 32), "Because God is good, we exist." Therefore God is the cause of things by His nature, and not by His will.

Objection 4: Further, Of one thing there is one cause. But the created things is the knowledge of God, as said before (Question 14, Article 8). Therefore the will of God cannot be considered the cause of things.

On the contrary, It is said (Wis. 11:26), "How could anything endure, if Thou wouldst not?"

I answer that, We must hold that the will of God is the cause of things; and that He acts by the will, and not, as some have supposed, by a necessity of His nature.

This can be shown in three ways: First, from the order itself of active causes. Since both intellect and nature act for an end, as proved in Phys. ii, 49, the natural agent must have the end and the necessary means predetermined for it by some higher intellect; as the end and definite movement is predetermined for the arrow by the archer. Hence the intellectual and voluntary agent must precede the agent that acts by nature. Hence, since God is first in the order of agents, He must act by intellect and will.

This is shown, secondly, from the character of a natural agent, of which the property is to produce one and the same effect; for nature operates in one and the same way unless it be prevented. This is because the nature of the act is according to the nature of the agent; and hence as long as it has that nature, its acts will be in accordance with that nature; for every natural agent has a determinate being. Since, then, the Divine Being is undetermined, and contains in Himself the full perfection of being, it cannot be that He acts by a necessity of His nature, unless He were to cause something undetermined and indefinite in being: and that this is impossible has been already shown (Question 7, Article 2). He does not, therefore, act by a necessity of His nature, but determined effects proceed from His own infinite perfection according to the determination of His will and intellect.

Thirdly, it is shown by the relation of effects to their cause. For effects proceed from the agent that causes them, in so far as they pre-exist in the agent; since every agent produces its like. Now effects pre-exist in their cause after the mode of the cause. Wherefore since the Divine Being is His own intellect, effects pre-exist in Him after the mode of intellect, and therefore proceed from Him after the same mode. Consequently, they proceed from Him after the mode of will, for His inclination to put in act what His intellect has conceived appertains to the will. Therefore the will of God is the cause of things.

Reply to Objection 1: Dionysius in these words does not intend to exclude election from God absolutely; but only in a certain sense, in so far, that is, as He communicates His goodness not merely to certain things, but to all; and as election implies a certain distinction.

Reply to Objection 2: Because the essence of God is His intellect and will, from the fact of His acting by His essence, it follows that He acts after the mode of intellect and will.

Reply to Objection 3: Good is the object of the will. The words, therefore, "Because God is good, we exist," are true inasmuch as His goodness is the reason of His willing all other things, as said before (Article 2, ad 2).

Reply to Objection 4: Even in us the cause of one and the same effect is knowledge as directing it, whereby the form of the work is conceived, and will as commanding it, since the form as it is in the intellect only is not determined to exist or not to exist in the effect, except by the will. Hence, the speculative intellect has nothing to say to operation. But the power is cause, as executing the effect, since it denotes the immediate principle of operation. But in God all these things are one.

Articulus 4

Argumentum 1

Ad quartum sic proceditur. Videtur quod voluntas dei non sit causa rerum.

Dicit enim dionysius, cap. IV de div. Nom., sicut noster sol, non ratiocinans aut praeeligens, sed per ipsum esse illuminat omnia participare lumen ipsius valentia; ita et bonum divinum per ipsam essentiam omnibus existentibus immittit bonitatis suae radios.

Sed omne quod agit per voluntatem, agit ut ratiocinans et praeeligens. Ergo deus non agit per voluntatem.

Ergo voluntas dei non est causa rerum.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, id quod est per essentiam, est primum in quolibet ordine sicut in ordine ignitorum est primum, quod est ignis per essentiam sed deus est primum agens. Ergo est agens per essentiam suam, quae est natura eius. Agit igitur per naturam, et non per voluntatem.

Voluntas igitur divina non est causa rerum.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, quidquid est causa alicuius per hoc quod est tale, est causa per naturam, et non per voluntatem, ignis enim causa est calefactionis, quia est calidus; sed artifex est causa domus, quia vult eam facere.

Sed Augustinus dicit, in I de doct. Christ., quod quia deus bonus est, sumus.

Ergo deus per suam naturam est causa rerum, et non per voluntatem.

Argumentum 4

Praeterea, unius rei una est causa. Sed rerum creatarum est causa scientia dei, ut supra dictum est.

Ergo voluntas dei non debet poni causa rerum.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod dicitur Sap. XI, quomodo posset aliquid permanere, nisi tu voluisses?

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod necesse est dicere voluntatem dei esse causam rerum, et deum agere per voluntatem, non per necessitatem naturae, ut quidam existimaverunt.

Quod quidem apparere potest tripliciter. Primo quidem, ex ipso ordine causarum agentium. Cum enim propter finem agat et intellectus et natura, ut probatur in II physic., necesse est ut agenti per naturam praedeterminetur finis, et media necessaria ad finem, ab aliquo superiori intellectu; sicut sagittae praedeterminatur finis et certus modus a sagittante.

Unde necesse est quod agens per intellectum et voluntatem, sit prius agente per naturam. Unde, cum primum in ordine agentium sit deus, necesse est quod per intellectum et voluntatem agat.

Secundo, ex ratione naturalis agentis, ad quod pertinet ut unum effectum producat, quia natura uno et eodem modo operatur, nisi impediatur. Et hoc ideo, quia secundum quod est tale, agit, unde, quandiu est tale, non facit nisi tale. Omne enim agens per naturam, habet esse determinatum. Cum igitur esse divinum non sit determinatum, sed contineat in se totam perfectionem essendi, non potest esse quod agat per necessitatem naturae, nisi forte causaret aliquid indeterminatum et infinitum in essendo; quod est impossibile, ut ex superioribus patet.

Non igitur agit per necessitatem naturae sed effectus determinati ab infinita ipsius perfectione procedunt secundum determinationem voluntatis et intellectus ipsius.

Tertio, ex habitudine effectuum ad causam. Secundum hoc enim effectus procedunt a causa agente, secundum quod praeexistunt in ea, quia omne agens agit sibi simile. Praeexistunt autem effectus in causa secundum modum causae. Unde, cum esse divinum sit ipsum eius intelligere, praeexistunt in eo effectus eius secundum modum intelligibilem. Unde et per modum intelligibilem procedunt ab eo.

Et sic, per consequens, per modum voluntatis, nam inclinatio eius ad agendum quod intellectu conceptum est, pertinet ad voluntatem. Voluntas igitur dei est causa rerum.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod dionysius per verba illa non intendit excludere electionem a deo simpliciter, sed secundum quid, inquantum scilicet, non quibusdam solum bonitatem suam communicat, sed omnibus, prout scilicet electio discretionem quandam importat.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod, quia essentia dei est eius intelligere et velle, ex hoc ipso quod per essentiam suam agit, sequitur quod agat per modum intellectus et voluntatis.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod bonum est obiectum voluntatis.

Pro tanto ergo dicitur, quia deus bonus est, sumus, inquantum sua bonitas est ei ratio volendi omnia alia, ut supra dictum est.

Ad 4

Ad quartum dicendum quod unius et eiusdem effectus, etiam in nobis, est causa scientia ut dirigens, qua concipitur forma operis, et voluntas ut imperans, quia forma, ut est in intellectu tantum, non determinatur ad hoc quod sit vel non sit in effectu, nisi per voluntatem. Unde intellectus speculativus nihil dicit de operando. Sed potentia est causa ut exequens, quia nominat immediatum principium operationis.

Sed haec omnia in deo unum sunt.