If God is only spirit, where did the matter came from?

  • Thread starter Thread starter claudiof
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

claudiof

Guest
Hello guys,

I was reading the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, and I came up with a question.

In the Tractatus de Deo Uno, question 3, art. 1 (If God’s body), is written that God is one spirit, because the matter has potency, and God being pure act can not have potency. And also says that all matter in act was in potency before.

Here begins my deduction:
So the first matter to emerge was not material, it was only potency and received the matterial act from another being who had the matter in act, right?

My question is:
If God created matter, He doesn’t need to have the matter in act? Being God only spirit, God could create something that He doesn’t have?

Sorry about the bad english.
 
No, that is wrong. Neither " potency " nor prime matter exist alone. God created whole substances. In the case of material beings that means he created their matter, form, and act of existence all at once. We do not know what form the first created beings were but they were beings composed of matter ( which contained all possible potencies ) and form and the act of existence. From these beings all other material beings evolved. Or perhaps there was no evolution, perhaps God created the beings we see today pretty much we see them.

Yes, God not only can, he actually did create material beings. He also created spiritual beings, angels and the sous of men.

You should read your Catechism.

Linus2nd
 
Baruch Spinoza would imply that matter is part of the infinite substance of the universe, and thus a predication of God’s existence. In other words, we are a thought in the mind of God. I like St. Thomas, but he did not have knowledge of quantum physics in order to make proclamations on the nature of matter.
 
Matter was created from nothing.
We can’t create something from nothing but God can because he is existence and has complete mastery over existence.
That’s just an outline of the full story, but you can see where we go with this.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top