Divine Omniscience

But most people, perhaps, will think this too far removed from the scope of our present inquiry. This, however, no one will regard as out of keeping with our subject; the fact that many think that wha

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Chapter 8.—Concerning Those Who Call by the Name of Fate, Not the Position of the Stars, But the Connection of Causes Which Depends on the Will of God. But, as to those who call by the name of fate,

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Chapter 9.—Concerning the Foreknowledge of God and the Free Will of Man, in Opposition to the Definition of Cicero. The manner in which Cicero addresses himself to the task of refuting the Stoics, sh

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Chapter 18.—Against Those Who Assert that Things that are Infinite I.e.indefinite, or an indefinite succession of things. As for their other assertion, that God’s knowledge cannot comprehend things

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189. See how horrified holy David is at such men, in limiting the knowledge of the Son of God. For thus it is written: “They are not in the troubles of other men, neither will they be scourged with me

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206. When questioned also about a sign by His disciples, He answered: “Take heed that ye be not deceived. For many shall come in My name, saying I am Christ;” S. Luke xxi. 8. S. Luke xxi. 11. 207.

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There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

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47. But let us return to our point, lest we seem to have lost sight of the break we made in answering the ideas of those who, seeing some wicked men, rich, joyous, full of honours, and powerful, whils

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Chapter XXXI.—How the Knowledge of God Differs from that of Man. 41. O Lord my God, what is that secret place of Thy mystery, and how far thence have the consequences of my transgressions cast me? He

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Let us, then, consider the subject in the way I have indicated. If all disbelief does not arise from levity and inconsideration, but if it springs up in some minds on strong grounds and accompanied by

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Sect. XII. — I OBSERVE further, not only how true these things are (concerning which I shall speak more at large hereafter out of the Scriptures) but also how religious, pious, and necessary it is to

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Having considered what belongs to the divine substance, we have now to treat of God's operation. And since one kind of operation is immanent, and another kind of operation proceeds to the exterior eff

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Reply to Objection 3: The knowledge of God is the measure of things, not quantitatively, for the infinite is not subject to this kind of measure; but it is the measure of the essence and truth of thin

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Reply to Objection 2: Some say that this antecedent, "God knew this contingent to be future," is not necessary, but contingent; because, although it is past, still it imports relation to the future. T

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Now just as He knows material things immaterially, and composite things simply, so likewise He knows enunciable things not after the manner of enunciable things, as if in His intellect there were comp

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Reply to Objection 3: The ancient Nominalists said that it was the same thing to say "Christ is born" and "will be born" and "was born"; because the same thing is signified by these three---viz. the n

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Objection 2: Further, to understand is a kind of passion and movement, as the Philosopher says (De Anima iii); and knowledge also is a kind of assimilation to the object known; and the thing known is

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I answer that, God perfectly comprehends Himself, as can be thus proved. A thing is said to be comprehended when the end of the knowledge of it is attained, and this is accomplished when it is known a

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Objection 3: Further, the act of understanding is specified by the intelligible object, as is every other act from its own object. Hence the intellectual act is so much the nobler, the nobler the obje

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I answer that, Some have erred on this point, saying that God knows things other than Himself only in general, that is, only as beings. For as fire, if it knew the nature of heat, and all things else

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