Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that corporeal creatures were not made on account of God's goodness. For it is said (Wis. 1:14) that God "created all things that they might be." Therefore all things were created for their own being's sake, and not on account of God's goodness.

Objection 2: Further, good has the nature of an end; therefore the greater good in things is the end of the lesser good. But spiritual creatures are related to corporeal creatures, as the greater good to the lesser. Corporeal creatures, therefore, are created for the sake of spiritual creatures, and not on account of God's goodness.

Objection 3: Further, justice does not give unequal things except to the unequal. Now God is just: therefore inequality not created by God must precede all inequality created by Him. But an inequality not created by God can only arise from free-will, and consequently all inequality results from the different movements of free-will. Now, corporeal creatures are unequal to spiritual creatures. Therefore the former were made on account of movements of free-will, and not on account of God's goodness.

On the contrary, It is said (Prov. 16:4): "The Lord hath made all things for Himself."

I answer that, Origen laid down that corporeal creatures were not made according to God's original purpose, but in punishment of the sin of spiritual creatures. For he maintained that God in the beginning made spiritual creatures only, and all of equal nature; but that of these by the use of free-will some turned to God, and, according to the measure of their conversion, were given an higher or a lower rank, retaining their simplicity; while others turned from God, and became bound to different kinds of bodies according to the degree of their turning away. But this position is erroneous. In the first place, because it is contrary to Scripture, which, after narrating the production of each kind of corporeal creatures, subjoins, "God saw that it was good" (Gn. 1), as if to say that everything was brought into being for the reason that it was good for it to be. But according to Origen's opinion, the corporeal creature was made, not because it was good that it should be, but that the evil in another might be punished. Secondly, because it would follow that the arrangement, which now exists, of the corporeal world would arise from mere chance. For it the sun's body was made what it is, that it might serve for a punishment suitable to some sin of a spiritual creature, it would follow, if other spiritual creatures had sinned in the same way as the one to punish whom the sun had been created, that many suns would exist in the world; and so of other things. But such a consequence is altogether inadmissible. Hence we must set aside this theory as false, and consider that the entire universe is constituted by all creatures, as a whole consists of its parts.

Now if we wish to assign an end to any whole, and to the parts of that whole, we shall find, first, that each and every part exists for the sake of its proper act, as the eye for the act of seeing; secondly, that less honorable parts exist for the more honorable, as the senses for the intellect, the lungs for the heart; and, thirdly, that all parts are for the perfection of the whole, as the matter for the form, since the parts are, as it were, the matter of the whole. Furthermore, the whole man is on account of an extrinsic end, that end being the fruition of God. So, therefore, in the parts of the universe also every creature exists for its own proper act and perfection, and the less noble for the nobler, as those creatures that are less noble than man exist for the sake of man, whilst each and every creature exists for the perfection of the entire universe. Furthermore, the entire universe, with all its parts, is ordained towards God as its end, inasmuch as it imitates, as it were, and shows forth the Divine goodness, to the glory of God. Reasonable creatures, however, have in some special and higher manner God as their end, since they can attain to Him by their own operations, by knowing and loving Him. Thus it is plain that the Divine goodness is the end of all corporeal things.

Reply to Objection 1: In the very fact of any creature possessing being, it represents the Divine being and Its goodness. And, therefore, that God created all things, that they might have being, does not exclude that He created them for His own goodness.

Reply to Objection 2: The proximate end does not exclude the ultimate end. Therefore that corporeal creatures were, in a manner, made for the sake of the spiritual, does not prevent their being made on account of God's goodness.

Reply to Objection 3: Equality of justice has its place in retribution, since equal rewards or punishments are due to equal merit or demerit. But this does not apply to things as at first instituted. For just as an architect, without injustice, places stones of the same kind in different parts of a building, not on account of any antecedent difference in the stones, but with a view to securing that perfection of the entire building, which could not be obtained except by the different positions of the stones; even so, God from the beginning, to secure perfection in the universe, has set therein creatures of various and unequal natures, according to His wisdom, and without injustice, since no diversity of merit is presupposed.

Articulus 2

Argumentum 1

Ad secundum sic proceditur. Videtur quod creatura corporalis non sit facta propter dei bonitatem.

Dicitur enim Sap. I, creavit deus ut essent omnia.

Ergo omnia sunt creata propter suum proprium esse, et non propter dei bonitatem.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, bonum habet rationem finis. Ergo id quod est magis bonum in rebus, est finis minus boni. Creatura autem spiritualis comparatur ad corporalem, sicut maius bonum ad minus bonum.

Ergo creatura corporalis est propter spiritualem, et non propter dei bonitatem.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, iustitia non dat inaequalia nisi inaequalibus. Sed deus est iustus. Ergo ante omnem inaequalitatem a deo creatam, est inaequalitas a deo non creata. Sed inaequalitas a deo non creata, non potest esse nisi quae est ex libero arbitrio. Ergo omnis inaequalitas sequitur ex diversis motibus liberi arbitrii.

Creaturae autem corporales sunt inaequales spiritualibus.

Ergo creaturae corporales sunt factae propter aliquos motus liberi arbitrii, et non propter dei bonitatem.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod dicitur Prov. XVI, universa propter semetipsum operatus est dominus.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod Origenes posuit quod creatura corporalis non est facta ex prima dei intentione, sed ad poenam creaturae spiritualis peccantis. Posuit enim quod deus a principio creaturas spirituales solas fecit, et omnes aequales. Quarum, cum essent liberi arbitrii, quaedam conversae sunt in deum, et secundum quantitatem conversionis sortitae sunt maiorem vel minorem gradum, in sua simplicitate remanentes. Quaedam vero, aversae a deo, alligatae sunt corporibus diversis, secundum modum aversionis a deo.

Quae quidem positio erronea est. Primo quidem, quia contrariatur Scripturae, quae, enarrata productione cuiuslibet speciei creaturae corporalis subiungit, vidit deus quia hoc esset bonum; quasi diceret quod unumquodque ideo factum est, quia bonum est ipsum esse.

Secundum autem opinionem Origenis, creatura corporalis facta est, non quia bonum est eam esse, sed ut malum alterius puniretur.

Secundo, quia sequeretur quod mundi corporalis dispositio quae nunc est, esset a casu. Si enim ideo corpus solis tale factum est, ut congrueret alicui peccato spiritualis creaturae puniendo; si plures creaturae spirituales similiter peccassent sicut illa propter cuius peccatum puniendum ponit solem creatum, sequeretur quod essent plures soles in mundo. Et idem esset de aliis. Haec autem sunt omnino inconvenientia.

Unde haec positione remota tanquam erronea, considerandum est quod ex omnibus creaturis constituitur totum universum sicut totum ex partibus. Si autem alicuius totius et partium eius velimus finem assignare, inveniemus primo quidem, quod singulae partes sunt propter suos actus; sicut oculus ad videndum.

Secundo vero, quod pars ignobilior est propter nobiliorem; sicut sensus propter intellectum, et pulmo propter cor.

Tertio vero, omnes partes sunt propter perfectionem totius, sicut et materia propter formam, partes enim sunt quasi materia totius. Ulterius autem, totus homo est propter aliquem finem extrinsecum, puta ut fruatur deo. Sic igitur et in partibus universi, unaquaeque creatura est propter suum proprium actum et perfectionem. Secundo autem, creaturae ignobiliores sunt propter nobiliores sicut creaturae quae sunt infra hominem, sunt propter hominem. Ulterius autem, singulae creaturae sunt propter perfectionem totius universi. Ulterius autem, totum universum, cum singulis suis partibus, ordinatur in deum sicut in finem, inquantum in eis per quandam imitationem divina bonitas repraesentatur ad gloriam dei, quamvis creaturae rationales speciali quodam modo supra hoc habeant finem deum, quem attingere possunt sua operatione, cognoscendo et amando. Et sic patet quod divina bonitas est finis omnium corporalium.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod in hoc ipso quod creatura aliqua habet esse, repraesentat divinum esse et bonitatem eius.

Et ideo per hoc quod deus creavit omnia ut essent, non excluditur quin creaverit omnia propter suam bonitatem.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod finis proximus non excludit finem ultimum. Unde per hoc quod creatura corporalis facta est quodammodo propter spiritualem, non removetur quin sit facta propter dei bonitatem.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod aequalitas iustitiae locum habet in retribuendo, iustum enim est quod aequalibus aequalia retribuantur. Non autem habet locum in prima rerum institutione.

Sicut enim artifex eiusdem generis lapides in diversis partibus aedificii ponit absque iniustitia, non propter aliquam diversitatem in lapidibus praecedentem, sed attendens ad perfectionem totius aedificii, quae non esset nisi lapides diversimode in aedificio collocarentur; sic et deus a principio, ut esset perfectio in universo, diversas et inaequales creaturas instituit, secundum suam sapientiam, absque iniustitia, nulla tamen praesupposita meritorum diversitate.