"The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty . . . "Exodus 34:6,7

Attributes of God-

Pure Actuality

 Lesson 1 on the Attributes of God

God is Pure Actuality

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.  They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Psm 14:1

"The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty . . . "Exodus 34:6,7

So emerges the great portrait of the God of the Bible given by Himself. He has a definite moral character, in which mercy, longsuffering (slow to anger), goodness and forgiveness play a great part, but always consistent with His "truth." Echoes of this description are frequently found in the subsequent books of the Old Testament, especially the Psalms (see Psalm 103, for example) and the prophets.

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PURE ACTUALITY

There is existence:   
That there is existence is undeniable. For one must exist in order to deny that there is existence. 

There is possible existence:  
Reality can be exhaustively categorized into three types of being:
impossible,
possible and
necessary.
An impossible being cannot exist because its attributes are logically contradictory. (i.e. square circles) A necessary being cannot not exist, it must exist. A possible being has the possibility for existence and non-existence. 

To see why there are possible beings, one must understand what a necessary being would be, if , in fact, it did exist. Since it is impossible for a necessary being not to exist, it cannot have any potentiality with regard to existence. If it did, then its non-existence would be possible. But necessary existence cannot be this way. Thus, a necessary being can have no potentiality with regard to existence. Its existence is (1) pure actuality.

(from Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica: Part One, Question 2 )

 

Being is Impossible Being is Possible Being is Necessary
Cannot exist Can exist or not exist Cannot NOT exist (God)
An impossible being cannot exist because it is "impossible" Man is a possible being, he has potential to exist and to cease to exist No potential in regard to
existence (no potential to go out of existence or come into existence, "I AM"
square circles are impossible Angels came into existence (fully actualized) (God can cease them to exist if He so wills) Pure Actuality- infinite, unchanging, all-knowing, all-perfect

This first uncaused cause must be infinite, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing and all-perfect.

Let me set forth the basic attributes that this Being of First Cause must have: 

necessary, pure actuality, changeless, nontemporal & nonspatial,
eternal, singular, infinite, uncaused, all-powerful, all-knowing,
personal and all-perfect.

In detail:

NECESSARY - my existence is not impossible, nor is it necessary. The possibility is  there for my non-existence. Since I can "not exist" my existence
 is not necessary. The universe could function without me. But a necessary Being MUST exist. By definition a Being that is necessary cannot "not exist". Since
there is an end to causes the first cause must be necessary as all other existence depends on it.

PURE ACTUALITY - it must have no potential within itself even though it causes the potential of other things. If it had potential, it could potentially not exist.
But since it is necessary it cannot NOT exist, thus it must have no potential in itself.

 

God Has Always Existed


God Gives Existence to Everything Else

 

 

God Cannot Cease to Exist (ACTS 17:25)







What questions do you have about the term pure actuality or actuality in reference to God? List them below: