Sect. 77The Omnipresence of GodThe Omnipresence of God
I. God, the absolute cause of the innermost essence of created things, is present to them in the most intimate manner. He is not only not separated from them by space, but He penetrates, pervades, and permeates their very substance. The Divine presence in spirits has a character exclusively proper to itself. As spirits have no parts and fill no space, presence in them necessarily means more than coexistence with them in the same place; it implies a penetration of their substance possible only to the simple substance of the infinite Author of things. So much is of faith. A controversy, however, has arisen as to the manner in which God is present in creatures. Theologians of the Thomist School, starting from the principle that a cause must be in the place where it produces its effect, maintain that the contact of God with creatures consists formally in creative action. On the other hand, the followers of Duns Scotus and others, admitting the possibility of action from a distance, maintain that God is not necessarily present to creatures because He is their Creator; and, consequently, these theologians describe the Divine Omnipresence as formally consisting in the absence of local distance between the substance of the Creator and that of the creature. The Thomist view is more logical and attractive; the Scotist view reduces the existence of God in creatures to a simple coexistence.
The existence of God in creatures must not be conceived as a mingling of the Divine and the created substances, for this would be opposed to the Divine Simplicity; nor as an inclusion of the Creator in the creature, for this would be against His Immensity. God’s presence in the existing world is not a limit to His Omnipresence, for He embraces all possible worlds. As God is in all things, so all things are in God,—not, indeed, filling and pervading or even touching the Divine Substance, but upheld by it as their first principle. Things are contained in God because by His virtual Immensity He fills all space, and because by His Omnipotence He actually upholds all existence.
II. Holy Scripture insists more on the extension of the Divine Omnipresence, which corresponds to the Divine infinity and immensity, than on the intensive presence above described. Still, this also is clearly pointed out in many places, especially in Eph. 4:6: “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all” (ἐπὶ πάντων, καὶ διὰ πάντων, καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν). Cf. Rom. 11:36, and Col. 1:16, 17; Heb. 4:12, 13.
Since the power of penetrating the innermost substance of spirits is an attribute proper to the Divine Omnipresence, the Fathers insist particularly upon this point. In the controversy with the Arians and with the Macedonians, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost or of the Son in created spirits is often brought forward as an evident proof of the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost (see Petav., De Trin., l. ii., c. 15, n. 7 sqq.; Thomassin, De Deo, l. v., c. 5). Many Fathers and Theologians touch upon this point when dealing with the question how far the devil can penetrate the human soul (Peter Lomb., II. Sent., dist. 8, p. ii.). They hold that the innermost recesses of the soul are a sanctuary to which God alone has access, into which the devils cannot introduce their substance, and which is accessible to them only in as far as the soul conforms itself to their evil suggestions.
III. The whole doctrine of the Divine Omnipresence has been summed up by St. Gregory the Great in the formula, “God is in all things by essence, power, and presence”—Deus est in omnibus per essentiam, potentiam, et præsentiam (Mor. in Job, l. ii., c. 8),—which St. Thomas expounds as follows: “God is in all things by His power, inasmuch as all things are subject to His power; He is in all things by His presence, inasmuch as all things are bare and open to His eyes; He is in all things by His Essence, inasmuch as He is in all things as the cause of their being” (I., q. 8, art. 3).
IV. Just as the soul, although present in all parts of the body, does not act with the same energy in every part, so also God, though present in all creatures, does not fill them all with the same perfection nor act in all to the same extent. The supreme degree of Divine presence is attained in the supernatural life of the soul and of the blessed. The indwelling of God in the sanctified soul fills it with a new life, of which God Himself is the soul: the creature participates in the life of the Creator. God is present in the rest of the world as in His kingdom, but in the sanctified soul as in His temple, where He manifests His glory and majesty (1 Cor. 3:17). Creatures not so filled with the Divine presence, e.g. the souls of sinners and the damned in hell, appear, as it were, far from God, cast out and abandoned, although even in them also God exists and manifests His power and sovereign dominion.
V. The active presence of God in all things created extends, of course, to all space and every place. Created spirits, who are not bound by the limits of space, occupy a portion of space, inasmuch as they are not distant from it; but the space is not dependent on them. God, on the contrary, is not only not far from any space, but so fills it that its very existence is dependent on His active presence. The Divine presence so encompasses all things and all space that it is impossible for God to act at a distance, while, at the same time, His presence enables distant things to act upon each other. God, the unchangeable, is the principle of all change; and God, the immovable, is the principle of all motion. From the nature of the presence of God we gather that it must extend to all times as well as to all things. If the possibility and existence of creatures depend on the active power of God, their continued duration or time depends on it also, so that whenever a thing exists or is possible, God is present. Holy Scripture calls God “the King of ages” (1 Tim. 1:17), distinguishing Him from the kings of this world, who rule but for a time, and to whose power time is not subject, as it is to the power of God.
I. God, the absolute cause of the innermost essence of created things, is present to them in the most intimate manner. He is not only not separated from them by space, but He penetrates, pervades, and permeates their very substance. The Divine presence in spirits has a character exclusively proper to itself. As spirits have no parts and fill no space, presence in them necessarily means more than coexistence with them in the same place; it implies a penetration of their substance possible only to the simple substance of the infinite Author of things. So much is of faith. A controversy, however, has arisen as to the manner in which God is present in creatures. Theologians of the Thomist School, starting from the principle that a cause must be in the place where it produces its effect, maintain that the contact of God with creatures consists formally in creative action. On the other hand, the followers of Duns Scotus and others, admitting the possibility of action from a distance, maintain that God is not necessarily present to creatures because He is their Creator; and, consequently, these theologians describe the Divine Omnipresence as formally consisting in the absence of local distance between the substance of the Creator and that of the creature. The Thomist view is more logical and attractive; the Scotist view reduces the existence of God in creatures to a simple coexistence.
The existence of God in creatures must not be conceived as a mingling of the Divine and the created substances, for this would be opposed to the Divine Simplicity; nor as an inclusion of the Creator in the creature, for this would be against His Immensity. God’s presence in the existing world is not a limit to His Omnipresence, for He embraces all possible worlds. As God is in all things, so all things are in God,—not, indeed, filling and pervading or even touching the Divine Substance, but upheld by it as their first principle. Things are contained in God because by His virtual Immensity He fills all space, and because by His Omnipotence He actually upholds all existence.
II. Holy Scripture insists more on the extension of the Divine Omnipresence, which corresponds to the Divine infinity and immensity, than on the intensive presence above described. Still, this also is clearly pointed out in many places, especially in Eph. 4:6: “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all” (ἐπὶ πάντων, καὶ διὰ πάντων, καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν). Cf. Rom. 11:36, and Col. 1:16, 17; Heb. 4:12, 13.
Since the power of penetrating the innermost substance of spirits is an attribute proper to the Divine Omnipresence, the Fathers insist particularly upon this point. In the controversy with the Arians and with the Macedonians, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost or of the Son in created spirits is often brought forward as an evident proof of the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost (see Petav., De Trin., l. ii., c. 15, n. 7 sqq.; Thomassin, De Deo, l. v., c. 5). Many Fathers and Theologians touch upon this point when dealing with the question how far the devil can penetrate the human soul (Peter Lomb., II. Sent., dist. 8, p. ii.). They hold that the innermost recesses of the soul are a sanctuary to which God alone has access, into which the devils cannot introduce their substance, and which is accessible to them only in as far as the soul conforms itself to their evil suggestions.
III. The whole doctrine of the Divine Omnipresence has been summed up by St. Gregory the Great in the formula, “God is in all things by essence, power, and presence”—Deus est in omnibus per essentiam, potentiam, et præsentiam (Mor. in Job, l. ii., c. 8),—which St. Thomas expounds as follows: “God is in all things by His power, inasmuch as all things are subject to His power; He is in all things by His presence, inasmuch as all things are bare and open to His eyes; He is in all things by His Essence, inasmuch as He is in all things as the cause of their being” (I., q. 8, art. 3).
IV. Just as the soul, although present in all parts of the body, does not act with the same energy in every part, so also God, though present in all creatures, does not fill them all with the same perfection nor act in all to the same extent. The supreme degree of Divine presence is attained in the supernatural life of the soul and of the blessed. The indwelling of God in the sanctified soul fills it with a new life, of which God Himself is the soul: the creature participates in the life of the Creator. God is present in the rest of the world as in His kingdom, but in the sanctified soul as in His temple, where He manifests His glory and majesty (1 Cor. 3:17). Creatures not so filled with the Divine presence, e.g. the souls of sinners and the damned in hell, appear, as it were, far from God, cast out and abandoned, although even in them also God exists and manifests His power and sovereign dominion.
V. The active presence of God in all things created extends, of course, to all space and every place. Created spirits, who are not bound by the limits of space, occupy a portion of space, inasmuch as they are not distant from it; but the space is not dependent on them. God, on the contrary, is not only not far from any space, but so fills it that its very existence is dependent on His active presence. The Divine presence so encompasses all things and all space that it is impossible for God to act at a distance, while, at the same time, His presence enables distant things to act upon each other. God, the unchangeable, is the principle of all change; and God, the immovable, is the principle of all motion. From the nature of the presence of God we gather that it must extend to all times as well as to all things. If the possibility and existence of creatures depend on the active power of God, their continued duration or time depends on it also, so that whenever a thing exists or is possible, God is present. Holy Scripture calls God “the King of ages” (1 Tim. 1:17), distinguishing Him from the kings of this world, who rule but for a time, and to whose power time is not subject, as it is to the power of God.
Seção 26% da obra, de A Manual of Catholic Theology (Wilhelm & Scannell, sobre a Dogmatik de Scheeben). Ver o original.