Given that a purely actual
reality (a reality who exists through the power of its own essence, whose very
nature is "to be") that we call "God" can be deduced by
natural, metaphysical observation, a profound, mysterious implication bluntly
presents itself in the form of a question. Why, if God is pure act, does He in
fact continuously create and sustain all existent things? Why is there Creation
at all from the divine perspective? Even if our understanding of God's divine
action is reduced simply to the sustaining of the motion of all things and not
of their existence, as Aristotle believed, the question of God's motive remains
essentially unchanged. Why does He sustain the motion of all things at all? Aristotle would have us believe
that since God is the highest metaphysical "reality", He can only
think about Himself as the highest reality. Now there is, of course, truth to
this theological doctrine, as will be explained, but as will be argued the
reconciliation of this divine "selfishness" and the divinely
originated continued sustaining of the continued existence/motion of all things
finds its solution only in Trinitarian Christian theology which understands God
as an essentially communal, omni-benevolent Creator/Sustainer.
Let
us first reflect on the theological implications of continued creation/sustenance.
If God is indeed Actus Purus (pure actuality), then He must be ultimately
metaphysically simple due to the fact that there can be no potency in pure act,
by definition. To be complex in the metaphysical sense of the word implies an
inter-connected and inter-dependent network of actuated potencies (potentials)
within the nature of that complex entity. But the Sustainer of conditioned
reality must be ultimately unconditioned and, thus, have no unactuated potency
(a potential to be something that has not yet been actualized) that can only be
actuated under the necessary condition of its actuality coming to be in act by
something already in act. Therefore, God, who is Actus Purus, must be
metaphysically simple, devoid of any and all unactuated potencies. Since God's
existence is deduced from the natural, metaphysical observation of contingent
things, God's relationship to these things must reveal an essential component
of His character, but to consistently maintain the doctrine of divine
simplicity argued above, this component must be in analogically ascertained,
synonymous harmony with the other components of the Divine Essence. Therefore,
whatever is the nature of the relationship between God and Creation must reveal
the nature of the supremely simple essence of God.
What,
then, is the nature of this relationship? If God is pure act, then He is
necessarily devoid of all potency. Therefore, God's activity cannot in
principle be to the actualization of a potency He wants to be actualized for
his own telos (end). Such a state of affairs would blatantly contradict the
essence of Actus Purus. God's Activity, therefore, must be to the actualization
of something "apart" from His self, for that something's own sake, by
necessity of the nature of Actus Purus (pure act). This lies at the very heart
of love. Love, in its purest sense, can conceptually be reduced to the willing
of the good of the other for the sake of the other. Since the world exists, and
God's existence is rationally unavoidable from observation of the world, this
synthesis is, by logical extension, also rationally unavoidable, that "God
is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
( 1 John 4:16).
Now
that the difficulty of reconciling God's essence as pure actuality and the
existence of the world has been resolved, it is now necessary to treat the
other difficulty in reconciling the veracity of Aristotle's theological
doctrine with the love of God demonstrated above. As mentioned, this
reconciliation can only be made in terms of Christian theology. Christian
theology holds that God is essentially a unified relationship, a community of
love existing as the essence of God. God the Father is the lover, Christ the
Son is the beloved, and the Holy Spirit is the shared love between the two
persons, generating a third person, all unified in one, ultimately simple
essence whom we call "God". Though difficult it is to philosophically
explain the possibility of this relationship in relation to the unity of God,
it is not difficult to turn to this as the solution to the problem mentioned
above. God, as love (that love must be part of the analogically ascertained
unified divine essence has been shown above), loves Himself through Trinitarian
dynamics as the purest, simplest love conceivable. Love, however, since it
inherently points beyond itself towards the good of the other, by nature
radiates beyond its source to something other than itself. Hence is why creation/sustenance
is a necessary activity of God's essentially loving will. God, as pure love itself (implied
by the doctrine of divine simplicity), exists essentially as a Trinitarian
relationship since love is inherently relational as a concept by itself, yet
necessarily radiates beyond Himself as a self-sustaining fountain of this love,
sustaining His own essence as love through love yet gratuitously radiating that
love beyond the source which is Himself as the extended yet necessary activity
of that love. Since He is Love itself, sustained by His own essence of love
through love, He must still radiate His love beyond the source which is Himself
in order to ultimately fulfill the essence of love, which is to will the good
of the other for the sake of the other.
This is how the reconciliation of
Aristotelian divine "selfishness" and the gratuitous sustaining of
the world on part of the divine is made through Christian Trinitarian theology.
It does not fully make sense of the Trinity since the Trinity is an intrinsic
mystery, but it does demonstrate its necessity and explanatory power once the
existence of God as pure act has been rationally demonstrated.
No comments:
Post a Comment