Despite the fact that God’s existence is hotly debated, the existence or non-existence of God has little effect on most of our lives. But if one really understands what is meant by “God,” then the existence of that God would make all the difference.

What is Existence … FOR US?

We think about our own existence in relation to a defining event in our lives, whether joyous, tragic, exciting, or stressful. In other words, our experience of our existence is usually mediated by something else.

Our understanding of our existence depends upon factors from our past (like our upbringing) and our present (like gravity continuing to work). This means that our existence is contingent; it participates in something that transcends us.

What is Existence … FOR GOD?

Because we are contingent creatures, we think of all existence as contingent. Yet we cannot think of God in these same terms. In order for God to be God, contingency cannot apply.

Contingency is defined as requiring something else for existence, without which it cannot exist. Every created thing is contingent because there was a time when it did not exist. Contingent beings rely upon something else for their creation and continued existence.

Necessity is the opposite of contingency. If a contingent being requires something else to exist, then a necessary being requires nothing else to exist. A necessary being exists in order to give existence to contingent beings.

God, as our Creator, cannot be contingent. God’s existence does not participate in something transcendent because it transcends everything else. God is the standard by which we determine whether anything else exists. St. Thomas Aquinas called God ipsum esse, “existence itself.”

What is Divine Simplicity?

One of the hardest truths to understand about God is divine simplicity. Here, simple does not mean “easy,” but “without parts” or “wholly one within itself.” To say that God is simple means that everything true about God is identical with God’s very essence. God’s attributes do not contribute to who God is; they are who God is. God does not participate in any reality beyond His self. All reality participates in God’s essence, which is existence.

The “simplicity” of God should matter to all of us because beings’ actions follow from their essence. We are complete human actions because we are human. In fact, we consider actions unique to us as human because we are.

Because divine simplicity refers to God’s essence, God’s actions flow from what God is. If God is composite in any way, then God would not be distinct from Creation. This makes God’s actions compete with Creation and not transcend it.

What, then, can we know about God’s essence? When we describe God as simple, we say more about what God is NOT. Aquinas referred to this as the via negativa, “way of negation.” Eastern Christianity calls this apophaticism.

When one thinks about the existence of God, one must have an idea of God’s essence as well. If God is just another contingent being, even a very powerful one, then we can reasonably ignore God in the same way that we can reasonably ignore aliens. But if God is transcendent, then God is by definition beyond Creation.

Transcendence is necessary for God to be perfect. To be all-powerful, God’s power must transcend Creation in order to move it from non-existence to existence. God must transcend all causes in Creation in order to be all-knowing. If God is not transcendent, then God is nothing more than a powerful superhero; He no longer is God in any meaningful way. But if God is transcendent, then He may also be all-knowing and all-loving.

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This was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal. 

Image credit: Porfirio Domingues, CC BY-SA 3.0