237. Divine Ideas, Eternal Law, and Knowledge of God's Governance

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Divine Ideas and God’s Simple Understanding #

• Augustine speaks of “ideal reasons” (exemplars) in God’s mind—different ways creatures can imitate God
• These are NOT multiple thoughts in God (God has only one thought), but rather God’s simple understanding of multiple ways He can be imitated
• A tree imitates God one way, a cat another, a lion another, a man another, a woman another, an angel another, and different kinds of angels imitate God in different ways
• Yet in God’s understanding this remains completely simple—not a multiplicity of thoughts but multiple ways understood by Him in one simple act

Eternal Law vs. Divine Ideas #

• The eternal law is ONE because all diverse things are ordered to one common good (the common good of the universe)
• Divine ideas are multiple because creatures imitate God in infinitely different ways
• Analogy: The dollar bill says “E pluribus unum”—many things unified under something common
• When we speak of ONE law, we’re thinking of the common ordering principle; when we speak of many ideas, we’re thinking of the different ways things can be imitated

The Word (Verbum) in Trinitarian Context #

• The Word is the conception of the paternal understanding and is said personally (as the Second Person of the Trinity)
• As a thought proceeds from the intellect, the Word proceeds from the Father
• As a son proceeds naturally from the father, the Word proceeds from the Father as Son
• The Word (Verbum) expresses ALL things in God’s knowledge: essential things, personal things, and even the works of God (creatures)
• The eternal law is among the things expressed by the Word, though the eternal law itself is not said personally in God (unlike the Word)
• The eternal law is appropriated to the Son on account of an agreement between reason (logos) and word (verbum)

Knowledge of the Eternal Law #

• Two ways something can be known: in itself, or in its effect where some likeness of it is found
• In itself: Only the blessed who see God face-to-face can know the eternal law as it is in itself
• In its effects/radiation: Every rational creature knows it according to its capacity—like knowing the sun through its rays coming through windows
• Every knowledge of truth is a “radiation” and a partaking of the eternal law (which is unchangeable truth)
• All rational creatures know the eternal law according to their capacity in this way, either more or less
• Even if one doesn’t comprehend the whole order of things, one still knows the eternal law through natural law and common principles

The Problem of First and Last Instants in Change #

• When something becomes a sphere (or changes from one state to another), there is NO last instant in which it is not a sphere
• But there IS a first instant in which it IS a sphere
• Hegel erred by thinking the same instant must be both the last instant of non-being and the first instant of being, thus creating a contradiction
• Aristotle solved this by recognizing that in the process of becoming (in becoming a sphere), you reach a completion where you ARE a sphere—there’s a first instant of being, but no last instant of not-being
• Application to dying: There will be a first instant in which you are dead, but no last instant in which you are alive
• Application to the Eucharist: There is no last instant in which it is bread, but a first instant in which it IS the body of the Lord; likewise no last instant of wine but a first instant of blood
• Application to sacramental confession: There is no last instant in which you are in guilt, but a first instant in which you are in grace—grace does not require a temporal middle state without guilt or grace

Key Arguments #

The Distinction Between “Before and After” #

• Shakespeare’s definition of reason as capable of “discourse” implies the ability to “look before and after”
• To look before and after requires the ability to make distinctions
• Every distinction is itself a kind of division, and a definition is a kind of division
• This ability to distinguish underlies the ability to reason and discourse
• Aristotle, in the De Anima (Book III), identifies three acts of reason:
  • First act: Understanding what something is (e.g., understanding what a square is)
  • Second act: Joining or separating concepts (e.g., “the square is not a circle”)
  • Third act: Reasoning or discourse (deriving new knowledge from what is known)
• Thomas adds this third act in his commentary on the Posterior Analytics, noting that discourse is so characteristic of reason it is named from it
• The ability to make distinctions and recognize order is fundamental to understanding complex theological truths

Thomas’s Method of Distinction #

• Thomas consistently employs multiple distinctions to resolve apparent contradictions
• Example: To understand emotions, Thomas uses about eight distinct dichotomies to arrive at eleven distinct emotions:
  • First distinction: Concupiscible emotions (concerned with agreeable/disagreeable things) vs. irascible emotions (concerned with difficulty)
  • Second distinction: Within concupiscible—things that are agreeable vs. things that are disagreeable
  • Third distinction: Each of the above divided into three according to temporal relation (present, absent, possessed)
  • Result: Love/hatred, desire/aversion, joy/sadness (6 concupiscible); hope/despair, fear/boldness (4 irascible); anger (1)
• This method also reveals the order of emotions: liking gives rise to wanting, wanting to joy; desire gives rise to hope and fear; pain gives rise to anger
• Similarly, understanding the eternal law requires distinguishing: ideas vs. law; knowing in itself vs. knowing in effects; necessary vs. contingent things; etc.

Important Definitions #

Eternal Law (Lex Aeterna) #

• The reason of divine wisdom insofar as it directs all acts and motions toward the common good
• Unchangeable truth by which all things are ordered
• Distinguished from God’s essence (which is necessary, not contingent) and from ideas (which are multiple ways of imitation)

Divine Ideas (Ideae Divinae) #

• Not multiple thoughts in God but multiple ways understood by God of how creatures can imitate Him
• Each creature imitates God in a different way; different kinds of creatures imitate Him differently
• God understands these ways in one simple act of understanding

The Word or Verbum #

• The Second Person of the Trinity
• The conception of the paternal (Father’s) understanding
• Proceeds from the Father both as a thought proceeds from intellect and as a son proceeds naturally from father
• Expresses all things in God’s knowledge: essential things, personal things, works of God, and even the eternal law

Radiation or Irradiation (Irradiatio) #

• The way creatures participate in and know the eternal law indirectly
• Like rays of the sun coming through windows—the effect of something rather than the thing itself
• Every act of knowing truth is a radiation and participation in eternal law

First and Last Instant #

• Last instant: There may or may not be a final moment of a previous state
• First instant: There is always a first moment when a new state begins
• In processes of change or becoming, the pattern is: no last instant of the previous state, but a first instant of the new state

Examples & Illustrations #

The Multiple Ways of Imitating God #

• A tree imitates God in one way (having being, order, growth)
• A cat imitates God differently (sensation, appetite, movement)
• A lion imitates God yet differently (particularly as “a real light to stare at, metaphorically”—i.e., with majesty and power)
• A man imitates God in another way (rational soul, will, reason)
• A woman imitates God in yet another way
• An angel imitates God in a yet different way (pure intellect, free will)
• Different kinds of angels imitate God in different ways
• Yet God understands all these infinite different ways in one simple divine thought

The Dollar Bill and “E Pluribus Unum” #

• The phrase “E pluribus unum” (out of many, one) illustrates how many diverse things can be considered as one according to something common
• Similarly, there are many divine ideas (ways of imitating God) but one eternal law (ordering all things to common good)

The Sun and Its Rays #

• Someone who cannot see the sun in its own substance can still know it through its irradiation (the rays of light)
• Similarly, the eternal law cannot be known in itself by created beings (except the blessed), but can be known through its effects/radiation
• Just as sunlight coming through windows illuminates the floor, the eternal law’s effects illuminate all creatures’ knowledge of truth

The Eucharist and Change of Substance #

• Begins as bread; at the moment of consecration becomes the body of Christ
• There is no last instant in which it is bread
• There is a first instant in which it is the body of the Lord
• This resolves the apparent paradox: if the last instant of bread and first instant of body were the same, you’d have both bread and body simultaneously (a contradiction)
• The solution comes from recognizing that change reaches a point of completion (first instant of new state) without requiring a final moment of the previous state

Sacramental Confession and Grace #

• A person in guilt seeks confession; at some moment confession is completed and grace is received
• Objection: If there’s a last instant of guilt and a first instant of grace, either they’re the same instant (creating a contradiction of contraries) or there’s time between them
• If there’s time between, in that time one is neither in guilt nor in grace—so one is freed of guilt without grace, contradicting the necessity of grace
• Solution: There is no last instant in which you are in guilt, but there IS a first instant in which you are in grace
• This shows how grace truly acts to transform the soul, not through a temporal process but through the completion of the sacramental action

Dying and Death #

• When someone is dying, there will be a first instant in which they are dead
• But there is no last instant in which they are alive
• The activity of dying is completed at the point when one is dead

Notable Quotes #

“God the Father said it all by one word. No wonder when this word became a man he spoke in words so few and said so much. He was the brevity in the soul of it.” — Duane Berquist (borrowing from Shakespeare’s Hamlet)

“By this one word, the Father expresses not only himself but all things.” — Referencing Augustine on the nature of the divine Word

“Every knowledge of truth is a certain radiation and a partaking of the eternal law, which is the unchangeable truth.” — Thomas Aquinas, cited by Berquist

“In temporal law nothing is just or legitimate that is not derived from eternal law.” — Augustine, cited by Thomas Aquinas

“The invisible things of God, through the things which have been made being understood, are looked upon.” — Romans 1:20, cited as foundational for how we know God’s eternal law through creation

“Never affirm, seldom deny, always distinguish.” — Dominican teaching principle, cited by Berquist as exemplifying Thomas’s method

Questions Addressed #

How can God have simple understanding yet “know” multiple ideas? #

• Resolution: God’s understanding is one simple act, but it understands the infinite different ways creatures can imitate Him. There are many ideas not as multiple thoughts in God, but as multiple ways understood in one thought. This parallels how “E pluribus unum” brings many things under one ordering principle.

How do we know the eternal law if it exists only in God’s mind? #

• Resolution: We know it not in itself (only the blessed in beatific vision do that) but in its effects or “radiation.” Every act of knowing truth is a participation in the eternal law. All rational creatures know it according to their capacity—some more, some less—through the natural law and common principles of reason.

How can there be grace in the sacrament of penance if there must be a transition from guilt to grace? #

• Resolution: Following Aristotle’s insight into change, there is no last instant of guilt but a first instant of grace. This resolves the apparent contradiction without requiring a temporal middle state and without denying the necessity of grace.

What is the relationship between the Word (Verbum) and the eternal law in God? #

• Resolution: All things in God’s knowledge—essential, personal, and the works of God—are expressed by the Word. Thus the eternal law is also expressed by the Word. However, the eternal law is not said personally in God (as the Word is), but is appropriated to the Son because of the agreement between reason (λόγος/logos) and word (verbum).

Connections to Other Topics #

• Problem of evil: If all things are most ordered by the eternal law, how can there be disorder and evil?
• Natural law: How creatures know the eternal law through their own natures and reason
• Trinity: How the Word expresses all divine knowledge while remaining one with the Father
• Change and becoming: Aristotle’s solution to Hegelian paradoxes about change between contradictories
• The emotions: How understanding the order and distinction of emotions mirrors the method needed to understand the eternal law