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Omnipotence and St. Thomas Aquinas


Omnipotence literally means the ability to do all things, or to have absolute
power. This quality seems to be generally accepted as an intrinsic
characteristic of the Judaeo-Christian god, as it says in Luke I. 37, "...there
is nothing that God cannot do.". Certain objections can be raised to attributing
this characteristic to god however, in-so-far as this characteristic seems to
conflict with other accepted attributes of god. In The Summa Theologica St.
Thomas Aquinas addresses some of these objections, the most telling of which can
be restated as:

(I) To sin is an action, however god is unable to sin. Therefore god
cannot be omnipotent.

(ii) The greatest act possible of god is his practice of "sparing and
having mercy". There are actions judged to be much greater however, such as
creating a world. Therefore god is not omnipotent.

(iii) If god is omnipotent, then everything is possible and nothing is
impossible. If this is true however,......

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Approximate Word Count: 392
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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