The essence of something is what makes that thing to be what it is, and differentiates it from other kinds of being. The essence of God is to be (in Latin, esse), His nature is Being itself. On the other hand, the essence of other things is to be some kind of being: the essence of a cow is to be a cow, that of a rose is to be a rose, and so on. But God's essence simply is to be. This is what makes God to be God, and it is what makes Him different from other beings. (In ordinary language, we use "being" and "reality" interchangeably. In the course of this discussion, if you feel confused by the word "to be" or "being", try substituting that with "what is real" or "reality". It works most of the time.)
Being is the most basic of all acts, the most fundamental of all perfections. Without it, nothing else would be, nothing else would exist, nothing else would be real.
1.1 God's Name
The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCCC, no 38) reminds us that in the Old Testament, God revealed his name to Moses (see also CCC 205-207, 230-231). In the book of Exodus (3:13-15), it says:
13 Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO AM." [YHWH] And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
Since the Jews did not want to pronounce God's most Holy Name, whenever the name YHWH appeared in the Scriptures, they would say 'Adonai' (in Greek, 'Kyrios') instead, a word which means 'Lord' (cf CCC 209). (In the English versions of the Bible, when 'LORD' appears in capital letters, this indicates that in the original Hebrew, the word is YHWH. When 'Lord' appears, it means that in the original Hebrew the word used is 'Adonai'.)
A name indicates what a person or a thing is. So if we were to ask 'what is God?' the answer would be that God is Being, pure and simple. The name YHWH ('Yahweh')--He Who Is--indicates the eternal permanence of God. He always is, He always exists, what He was before and what He will be is the same as what He is now. Anything else that exists derives its being from him. All other beings exist by receiving their being from God. This can be better understood by going back to Lesson 1, on God's existence.
1.2 Why is the revelation of God's name important?
The CCCC (no 40) replies:
In revealing his name, God makes known the riches contained in the ineffable mystery of his being. He alone is from everlasting to everlasting. He is the One who transcends the world and history. It is he who made heaven and earth. He is the faithful God, always close to his people, in order to save them. He is the highest holiness, 'rich in mercy' (Ephesians 2:4), always ready to forgive. He is the One who is spiritual, transcendent, omnipotent, eternal, personal, and perfect. He is truth and love.
In other words, by knowing God's name, we can know His attributes and we can know what He is capable of.
2.1 God is One
This has two meanings: first, that God is undivided in Himself; and second, that God is unique (as we have seen above). To understand this better, we ought to recall that God is Pure Act of Being.
2.1.1 God's simplicity: not divided--no composition because he is Pure Spirit (negation of division)
St John (4:24) wrote
God is spirit....
To understand God's simplicity we have to recall the five ways of St Thomas, particularly the first proof (or the first way). This proof concludes that God is Pure Act. If we add to that the conclusion of the third proof (or the third way), we can say that God is Pure Act of Being. When we say that God is simple, what we mean is that He is not composed of certain principles or elements. (We should keep in mind this definition of the word "simple" in our discussion here.) He is Act of Being, pure and simple.
Now, when we say that God is Pure Act, we mean there is nothing of potency in Him. (Recall that "potency" means the real capacity to be or to do something. When something has a "potency" for something--in ordinary language we probably would say it has a potential to be something--it means that it is not yet that thing, or has not attained that thing. A young student may have the potency or potential to become a doctor but is not yet actually a doctor.) Act means perfection, while potency always implies an imperfection: it means that something has not yet attained some perfection. In God, there is nothing potential--everything is actual, is already a reality.
Contrast that with creatures. Everything that has been created has received its being from another. Being is an act. Those things that have received being, those that have been created, needed to first have the potency (the real capacity) to receive the act of being. Hence, every creature at its very core is composed of the potency to be (in Latin potentia essendi) and the act of being (actus essendi). Creatures are composites and the composition of potentia essendi and actus essendi is the most basic kind of composition in creatures.
But there's more. In the level of purely spiritual creatures (i.e., the angels) other elements come into the picture: the power of understanding (the intellect) and the power of willing (the will) make for a more complex composition. Hence, the angels, though they are pure spirit, are not simple the way God is.
In man, there is more composition: potency to be and act of being, intellect and will, body and soul.... And just like the non-living material creatures who do not have a soul like man, man's body is also composed of parts. Hence, man is not simple. The more composition there is in a thing, the less perfect it is.
2.1.2 God's unicity: God is unique, He's the one and only God (negation of multiplicity)
Is there any other being who, like God, simply 'is' ('exists')? CCCC (no 39) says:
Since creatures have received everything they are and have from God, only God in himself is the fullness of being and of every perfection. God is 'He who is' without origin and without end. Jesus also reveals that he bears the divine name 'I Am' (John 8:28).
So there can be only God? Is it not possible to have several gods?
In the book of Deuteronomy (4:35) it is written:
To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.
Leo Trese, in The Faith Explained (p 19), says:
We express this concept of God, this fact that He is the source of all being, above and beyond all else that exists, by saying that He is the Supreme Being. It follows that there can be but one God. To speak of two (or more) supreme beings would be a contradiction. The very word "supreme" means "above all others." If there were two equally powerful Gods side by side, then neither of them would be supreme. Neither would have the infinite power which God by His nature must have. The "infinite" power of the one would cancel out the "infinite" power of the other. Each would be limited by the other. As St Athanasius puts it, "To speak of several equally powerful Gods is like speaking of several equally powerless Gods."
If there is only one God, what does it mean for us? The CCC teaches us that if there is only one God, then:
2.2 God is Infinitely Perfect
The word "infinite" can mean two things. There are two concepts of infinite: (a) without limits or bounds; or (b) unlimited, in abundance.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (no 202) says:
We firmly believe and confess without reservation that there is only one true God, eternal infinite (immensus) and unchangeable, incomprehensible, almighty and ineffable, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one essence, substance or nature entirely simple.
In the two meanings of "infinite" described above, we can say that God is Infinite in His perfection.
2.2.1 Immense--unbounded, unlimited
The Latin word "immensus" (translated as "immense" in English) means to be without measure. This follows from the fact that God is infinite, that he is neither bounded nor limited nor measured by anything. On the contrary, God is the one who measures all things. He is the measure of all things!
23 "Am I a God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:23-24)
2.2.2 Omnipresent--God is present in all things.
We have seen above that nothing can limit God. Now, place is a kind of limit that restricts one to one specific location. Since nothing can place limits on God, God is not restricted by place. He is everywhere.
And before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Heb 4:13; cf Jeremiah 23:23-24 above)
2.2.3 Immutable, Unchanging--not subject to change.
Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)
For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my deliverance will be for ever, and my salvation to all generations. (Isaiah 51:8)
Change is the passage from potency to act. But God is Pure Act. He never goes from potentiality to actuality (or vice versa). Hence, in God there is no change. What He was, is what He is, and what He will be. There's nothing else that can add to His perfection, and He cannot lose any of them because those perfections are identified with Him.
2.2.4 Eternal--not subject to time
Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. (Genesis 21:33)
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable. (Isaiah 40:28)
Time is the measure of change according to a before and after. As we have seen above, change happens when some potential is actualised. But in God there is no potency to be actualised. Hence, there is no change. And because there is no change, there is no before or after. God is not bound by time. There is only a never-ending now. Thus we understand more why God's name is YAHWEH--He who Is.
Time is the measure of change according to a before and after. But we have seen that God cannot be measured or restricted by anything. God is beyond time. He is timeless! Creatures, on the other hand, live in time, because they are in the process of change.
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480–524 or 525), a Christian philosopher of the 6th century, defined eternity as the total, simultaneous, and perfect possession of life without end (tota, simul et perfecta possessio interminabilis vitae). Imagine possessing all the good things life can offer in one single and never-ending moment.
Pope Benedict XVI, in his Encyclical Spe Salvi (no 12), thus explains:
[E]ternity is not an unending succession of days in the calendar, but something more like the supreme moment of satisfaction.... It would be like plunging into the ocean of infinite love, a moment in which time--the before and after--no longer exists.
2.2.5 Almighty (Omnipotent)--God is all-powerful
God cannot be measured or bound by anything created. Nothing is beyond His power. (Cf CCC 268-274) The Sacred Scriptures speak of this power from Genesis all the way to the book of Revelation.
2.2.6 Incomprehensible and Ineffable
Since God is beyond all limits, He is also beyond the limits of our poor human minds. Yes, we can know God, but not in a full way, not in the way He knows Himself. This is what we mean when we say that He is incomprehensible.
Our words are symbols of our thoughts. But since our thoughts about God--our knowledge of Him--are limited, our words are not adequate enough to describe Him. God is ineffable. When it comes to speaking about God, words fail us. (Cf CCC 40-43)
The words that we use to speak of God are human words taken from our experience of created things. We can use these words that we say of creatures ("one", "simple", "good", "beautiful", "just", "merciful" and so on) for speaking about God. We can use these words of our ordinary language analogically. This analogical use of human language to speak about divine things can be summarised as follows:
We can say the same for the rest of God's perfections.
2.3 Supreme Truth
Something is true when it exists and can be known by our mind. Truth, therefore, is closely based on being, on reality. We can say that whatever is (i.e., whatever exists) is true. Truth is the same thing as being, but taken from one angle or point of view. Truth is being in so far as being can be known and understood.
Now, the more real something is, the more possibilities we have of knowing it. But God is the most real of beings; to be sure, He is Being Himself. He therefore must be the most knowable of all beings.
We said above that whatever is (i.e., whatever exists) is true. Therefore, since God Is, then God is True.
We can go one more step: since God is Being, God is Truth itself.
2.4 Supreme Goodness
Something is good when it exists and can be desired. The good, therefore, is closely based on being, on reality. We can say that whatever is (i.e., whatever exists) is good. Good is the same thing as being, but taken from one angle or point of view. Good is being in so far as being can be desired and loved.
Now, the more real something is, the more possibilities we have of desiring it. But God is the most real of beings; to be sure, He is Being Himself. He therefore must be the most desirable of all beings. He is infinitely and absolutely desirable.
We said above that whatever is (i.e., whatever exists) is good. Therefore, since God Is, the God is Good.
We can go one more step: since God is Being, God is Goodness itself.
2.5 Supreme Beauty
St Thomas Aquinas defined beauty as id quod visum placet: that which pleases or causes pleasure when it is seen (or heard or perceived or understood). Obviously, something that does not exist, that does not have being, cannot be perceived or understood. Consequently, it cannot please and therefore cannot be said to be beautiful. So just like truth and goodness, beauty is also intimately connected to being. The connection, however, is not as clear-cut as with truth and goodness. Let us explore this further.
St Thomas added that beauty is determined by three factors: integrity, proportion or harmony, and brilliance or clarity (Summa Theologiae, I, q39 a8 c. Trans. Vernon J. Bourke, The Pocket Aquinas, 263.).
Three items are required for beauty: first, integrity or perfection, for things that are lessened are ugly by this very fact; second, due proportion or harmony; and third, brilliance—thus, things that have a bright color are said to be beautiful.
We can therefore say that God is not only beautiful, but is Beauty itself. That's why the saints longed and longed to see Him. This is also why the beauty of nature ultimately leads us to God himself. As Robert Augros says (“Beauty Visible and Divine”, in The Aquinas Review, Volume II, 2004):
The painter, the biologist, the chemist, and the physicist all encounter the beauty of grass at different levels. Nature’s beauty is not skin-deep; it penetrates the marrow. In all natural things, living and nonliving, and at every level within each thing, from grassy plain to electron, proton, and neutron, beauty saturates nature. Such abundant beauty of so many kinds and at so many levels could never come from chance. Beauty is so abundant in nature, it cannot arise from chance; there must be some reason for it. But that reason must be open to alternatives, since there is no absolute necessity that animals, plants, and nonliving things exhibit beauty in the first place. Therefore, the beauty found in nature proceeds from a cause not bound by necessity and yet with a reason for acting. Such a cause is a mind. Therefore, a mind is responsible for the beauty of natural things. That mind, standing behind nature and directing it to beauty, all men call God.
God possesses an intellect and a will in an infinite and eternal act of knowing and loving. God is His own Knowing, and God is His own Willing and Loving. His knowledge is not different from His nature which is to be (esse); hence He is always knowing. Likewise, His will is not different from His nature which is to be (esse); hence He is always willing and loving.
Furthermore, in knowing and loving Himself He knows and loves all creatures in Himself.
3.1 God Knows
It is enough to read St Paul's letter to the Romans (11:33-36), which goes
How rich are the depths of God
– how deep his wisdom and knowledge –
and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods!
Who could ever know the mind of the Lord?
Who could ever be his counsellor?
Who could ever give him anything or lend him anything?
All that exists comes from him;
all is by him and for him.
To him be glory for ever! Amen.
We have said that God is infinitely perfect. One of His perfections is that of knowledge. Moreover, we also said that He is not limited or measured by anything. Thus, His knowledge is boundless as well. He even knows our innermost thoughts and our deepest longings. He knows everything; He is omniscient.
3.2 God Loves
With the use of philosophy, Aristotle was able to conclude that there is a Prime Mover (or First Mover) who is Pure Act, but he did not go all the way as to say "Pure Act of Being". For him, the Deity was a Pure Act of Understanding. For Aristotle, also, the Prime Mover only moves by attraction. Though Aristotle did not say so, but it seems a foregone conclusion that his Prime Mover was not capable of love.
On the other hand, the Sacred Scripture is full of endearing passages that speak to us and remind us of God's love. For example, the book of Wisdom (11:20-26) says:
20 ...But thou hast arranged all things by measure and number and weight.
21 For it is always in thy power to show great strength,
and who can withstand the might of thy arm?
22 Because the whole world before thee
is like a speck that tips the scales,
and like a drop of morning dew that falls upon the ground.
23 But thou art merciful to all, for thou canst do all things,
and thou dost overlook men's sins, that they may repent.
24 For thou lovest all things that exist,
and hast loathing for none of the things which thou hast made,
for thou wouldst not have made anything if thou hadst hated it.
25 How would anything have endured if thou hadst not willed it?
Or how would anything not called forth by thee have been preserved?
26 Thou sparest all things, for they are thine,
O Lord who lovest the living.
In the eighth chapter of St Paul's letter to the Romans, we have these words:
31 What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,
will he not also give us all things with him? ...
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
3.3 Operations
There are two kinds of operations: one kind terminates in others, while another ends in God Himself. The first kind is called operations ad extra, and the second operations ad intra.
3.4 Fatherhood
Though God's Fatherhood will only be fully revealed by Jesus Christ, nonetheless, the Old Testament repeatedly affirms this fact. One important passage that comes to mind is that of chapter 49 of the prophet Isaiah:
14 But Zion said, "The LORD [YAHWEH] has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me."
15 "Can a woman forget her sucking child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands ...
There is also chapter 29 of the prophet Jeremiah:
10 "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon,
I will visit you,
and I will fulfil to you my promise
and bring you back to this place.
11 For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD [YAHWEH],
plans for welfare and not for evil,
to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me,
and I will hear you.
13 You will seek me and find me;
when you seek me with all your heart,
14 I will be found by you, says the LORD,
and I will restore your fortunes
and gather you from all the nations
and all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD,
and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
In St Matthew's gospel (chapter 6), Jesus tells his disciples:
9 Pray then like this:
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread;
12 And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors;
13 And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.