27. Beatitude: Whether It Can Be Lost and Its Permanence

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Question: Can Beatitude Be Lost? #

• Origen’s Error: Following Platonist assumptions, Origen held that even in beatitude, man could fall back into misery
• Thomas’s Position: Perfect beatitude cannot be lost; only imperfect beatitude (in this life) can be lost
• Distinction: Imperfect vs. perfect beatitude requires different analyses

Imperfect Beatitude (This Life) #

• Can be lost through corruption of science from sickness
• Can be lost through occupations that withdraw one entirely from contemplation
• Can be lost through degeneration in vice from virtue
• Can be disturbed by exterior adversities that impede virtuous operations
• Cannot be entirely taken away if virtue remains, because the virtuous man sustains adversities in a praiseworthy way
• The good man uses bad things well; the bad man uses good things badly
• Qualification: Aristotle calls men in this life “blessed as men” (non simpliciter), not in the unqualified sense, because human nature is subject to change

Perfect Beatitude (Eternal Life) #

Cannot Be Lost—First Reason: From the Definition #

• Beatitude must be a perfect and sufficient good
• This requires: (1) quieting/putting to rest the desire of man, (2) excluding every evil
• Man naturally desires permanence of the good he has and security of retaining it
• Without certainty of retention, he would be afflicted by fear of loss or sorrow of certain loss
• Therefore, true beatitude requires certitudo (certainty) that he will never lose the good
• The Dilemma: If the opinion (that he will never lose beatitude) is true, he never loses it; if false, this falsehood is itself an evil (since falsehood is the evil of the intellect, as truth is its good)
• Either way, true beatitude requires that one will never lose it

Cannot Be Lost—Second Reason: From the Nature of Vision #

• Perfect beatitude consists in the vision of the divine substance/essence
• It is impossible that someone seeing the divine essence would wish not to see it
• Every good someone wishes to lose is either: (1) insufficient, and one seeks something more sufficient, or (2) has something unfitting, causing tedium or boredom
• The Vision’s Perfection: The vision of divine substance fills the soul with all goods because it joins it to the fountain of all goodness
• No Insufficiency: Vision fills every desire; it brings all goods together
• No Unsuitability: Regarding contemplation of wisdom it is said that “acquaintance with it has no bitterness, nor its conviction in the wearing”
• Therefore, by his own will, the Blessed cannot desert beatitude

Why Beatitude Cannot Be Lost Through Other Agents #

• Loss Through Divine Subtraction: Impossible because withdrawal of beatitude would be a punishment, but no guilt can fall on one who sees God’s essence; seeing God necessarily brings rightness of will
• Loss Through Other Creatures: Impossible because the mind joined to God is raised above all things, so no other agent can exclude it from this union

Participation in God’s Eternity #

• The blessed share in God’s eternity, which has no before and after, no succession
• Boethius’s Definition: Eternity is “tota simul et perfecta possessio vitae” (total and perfect possession of life all at once)
• Contrast with Time: The flowing now makes time; the standing now makes eternity
• Temporal alternations between beatitude and misery cannot occur because such alternations pertain only to things subject to time and motion
• In eternal life, there is no succession or change

Response to the Objection about Beginnings and Endings #

• The Problem: If beatitude has a beginning (man is not always blessed), does it not have an end?
• The Answer (implied in the text): Beatitude has a beginning from the condition of the one partaking in it (he was not always blessed) but lacks an end on account of the condition of the good (God is eternal and unchanging)
• This is an example of a dialectical distinction (dialeqta) where something can have a beginning and no end from different perspectives
• The Principle: Just as the standing now of eternity transcends temporal succession, the blessed’s participation in that eternity prevents loss

Divine Power and the Immutability of Beatitude #

• Divine power makes beatitude permanent for the blessed
• This divine power “raises up man into a partaking of the eternity that transcends every change”
• The changeableness that belongs to human nature in itself is overcome by supernatural elevation

Key Arguments #

Argument from Definition (Reductio ad Absurdum) #

1. Beatitude is a perfect and sufficient good
2. A perfect good must include security of possession
3. The blessed must hold the opinion/belief that they will never lose beatitude
4. If this opinion is true → they never lose it
5. If this opinion is false → they possess the evil of falsehood in their minds
6. Therefore, either way, true beatitude requires never losing it

Argument from the Nature of Vision #

1. Perfect beatitude = vision of divine essence
2. One seeing God’s essence cannot wish not to see it
3. Because the vision: (a) is sufficient (fills all goods), (b) has nothing unsuitable
4. Therefore, will cannot desert the vision
5. Therefore, beatitude cannot be lost through the will’s choice

Argument from Divine Justice #

1. Loss of beatitude would be a punishment
2. Punishment requires guilt
3. One who sees God’s essence has no guilt (the vision itself brings rightness of will)
4. Therefore, God cannot justly take away beatitude

Argument from Creature Inability #

1. The mind joined to God is raised above all things
2. Therefore, no creature can exclude it from union with God
3. Therefore, no creature can take away beatitude

Argument from Eternity #

1. Beatitude participates in God’s eternity
2. Eternity has no before and after; no succession
3. Temporal alternations (from beatitude to misery) require subjection to time and motion
4. Therefore, no such alternation can occur in eternal beatitude

Important Definitions #

Beatitude (as Perfect/Eternal) #

• Essential: Obtaining and enjoying the divine essence through vision
• Perfect Possession: All goods are possessed together without lack
• Inclusive: Excludes every evil; satisfies all desire; includes certainty of permanence

Eternity (Aeternitas) #

• Definition (Boethius): “Tota simul et perfecta possessio vitae"—total, simultaneous, and perfect possession of life
• Characteristic: The standing/stable now, as contrasted with the flowing now of time
• Implication: No before and after; no succession; complete presence all at once

Imperfect vs. Perfect Beatitude #

• Imperfect (This Life): Participates in beatitude through virtue and imperfect knowledge of God; can be lost
• Perfect (Eternal Life): Vision of divine essence; cannot be lost; permanent participation in divine eternity

Certainty (Certitudo) #

• Not mere opinion but secure knowledge that beatitude will not be lost
• Part of what makes beatitude truly perfect and sufficient
• Absence of this certainty itself constitutes a defect/evil

Examples & Illustrations #

The Blessed Seeing God #

• The blessed necessarily delight in the vision of God’s essence
• They cannot will not to see it, just as one cannot wish to stop enjoying all goods unified in God
• Analogous to: one cannot wish to be deprived of perfect sufficiency

False Opinion About Loss #

• If a blessed person falsely believed he might lose beatitude, this false opinion would itself be an evil
• Therefore, true beatitude requires true opinion that he will not lose it
• And if that opinion is true, he truly never loses it

The Flowing Now vs. Standing Now #

• Time: The now that flows along (time’s succession)
• Eternity: The now that stands still (God’s complete presence)
• Application: The blessed are not in flowing time but in standing eternity; no before-and-after

Tedium and Bitterness #

• Some goods become tedious (boring) through repetition or have unsuitable aspects
• The vision of God’s essence: “has no bitterness, nor its conviction in the wearing”
• Therefore, it cannot become tedious or generate a desire to abandon it

Notable Quotes #

“Beatitude is a perfect and sufficient good.” (Aristotle, referenced by Thomas)

“I will be satified when your glory appears.” (Psalm 16:15)

“There comes to me all goods together with it.” (Wisdom 7:11, regarding contemplation of wisdom)

“The acquaintance with it has no bitterness, nor its conviction in the wearing.” (Wisdom 7:11, on wisdom)

“Call no man happy until he be dead.” (Solon, via Aristotle)

“The natural desire cannot be in vain.” (Thomas Aquinas’s fundamental principle)

Questions Addressed #

Can Perfect Beatitude Be Lost? #

• Answer: No. Once achieved in eternal life, beatitude is permanent and irreversible.
• Reasoning: (1) Definition requires certainty of permanence; (2) Vision of God’s essence necessarily satisfies the will completely; (3) No guilt can accrue to one seeing God; (4) No creature can subtract divine union; (5) Participation in God’s eternal now transcends temporal change.

Can Imperfect Beatitude (This Life) Be Lost? #

• Answer: Yes. Through sickness, occupations, or degeneration in vice.
• Reasoning: Present life is subject to change; virtue can be lost; intellect can be corrupted; contingency characterizes earthly existence.
• Qualification: If virtue remains, exterior adversities cannot entirely take away beatitude, though they can disturb it.

Why Does Beatitude Have a Beginning but No End? #

• Answer: The beginning comes from the condition of the recipient (man was not always blessed), but the lack of end comes from the condition of the object (God is eternal) and from participation in eternity.
• Reasoning: It is not a contradiction for something to have a beginning and no end when analyzed from different perspectives.

What Makes the Blessed Unable to Will Beatitude’s Loss? #

• Answer: The vision of divine essence is completely sufficient, contains all goods, has nothing unsuitable, and fills all desire.
• Reasoning: Will cannot desire to lose what fully satisfies it; it would require the good to be either insufficient or unsuitable—neither of which is true of God.

What Would Happen If Beatitude Could Be Lost? #

• Answer: Either the opinion of permanence is true (so it cannot be lost) or false (so beatitude is defective).
• Reasoning: A perfect good requires certainty of permanence; without it, the will would be afflicted by fear or sorrow, making beatitude imperfect.

Theological Context #

Origen’s Error #

• Origen, following Platonist assumptions, believed that demons and even the blessed could reconcile themselves and escape misery (or return to it)
• This reflects a view that all created beings remain mutable even in beatitude
• Thomas explicitly refutes this as manifestly false

Divine Attributes Involved #

• Divine Justice: Does not punish the guiltless; seeing God brings rightness of will
• Divine Power: Elevates man to participation in eternal eternity, transcending change
• Divine Immutability: God, the object of beatitude, cannot change or be taken away
• Divine Omnipotence: No creature can overcome what God has accomplished in the blessed

The Role of Divine Grace #

• While implicit rather than explicit in this section, beatitude comes by grace, not natural power alone
• The elevation to see God’s essence and to participate in eternity is entirely a divine gift
• The permanence of this gift reflects God’s faithfulness and immutability