Whether Whatever God Wills He Wills Necessarily?
Objection 1: It seems that whatever God wills He wills necessarily.
For everything eternal is necessary. But whatever God wills, He wills
from eternity, for otherwise His will would be mutable. Therefore
whatever He wills, He wills necessarily.
Obj. 2: Further, God wills things apart from Himself, inasmuch as He
wills His own goodness. Now God wills His own goodness necessarily.
Therefore He wills things apart from Himself necessarily.
Obj. 3: Further, whatever belongs to the nature of God is necessary,
for God is of Himself necessary being, and the principle of all
necessity, as above shown (Q. 2, A. 3). But it belongs to His nature
to will whatever He wills; since in God there can be nothing over and
above His nature as stated in _Metaph._ v, 6. Therefore whatever He
wills, He wills necessarily.
Obj. 4: Further, being that is not necessary, and being that is
possible not to be, are one and the same thing. If, therefore, God
does not necessarily will a thing that He wills, it is possible for
Him not to will it, and therefore possible for Him to will what He
does not will. And so the divine will is contingent upon one or the
other of two things, and imperfect, since everything contingent is
imperfect and mutable.
Obj. 5: Further, on the part of that which is indifferent to one or
the other of two things, no action results unless it is inclined to
one or the other by some other power, as the Commentator [*Averroes]
says in Phys. ii. If, then, the Will of God is indifferent with
regard to anything, it follows that His determination to act comes
from another; and thus He has some cause prior to Himself.
Obj. 6: Further, whatever God knows, He knows necessarily. But as the
divine knowledge is His essence, so is the divine will. Therefore
whatever God wills, He wills necessarily.
_On the contrary,_ The Apostle says (Eph. 1:11): "Who worketh all things
according to the counsel of His will." Now, what we work according to
the counsel of the will, we do not will necessarily. Therefore God
does not will necessarily whatever He wills.
_I answer that,_ There are two ways in which a thing is said to be
necessary, namely, absolutely, and by supposition. We judge a thing to
be absolutely necessary from the relation of the terms, as when the
predicate forms part of the definition of the subject: thus it is
absolutely necessary that man is an animal. It is the same when the
subject forms part of the notion of the predicate; thus it is
absolutely necessary that a number must be odd or even. In this way it
is not necessary that Socrates sits: wherefore it is not necessary
absolutely, though it may be so by supposition; for, granted that he
is sitting, he must necessarily sit, as long as he is sitting.
Accordingly as to things willed by God, we must observe that He wills
something of absolute necessity: but this is not true of all that He
wills. For the divine will has a necessary relation to the divine
goodness, since that is its proper object. Hence God wills His own
goodness necessarily, even as we will our own happiness necessarily,
and as any other faculty has necessary relation to its proper and
principal object, for instance the sight to color, since it tends to
it by its own nature. But God wills things apart from Himself in so
far as they are ordered to His own goodness as their end. Now in
willing an end we do not necessarily will things that conduce to it,
unless they are such that the end cannot be attained without them; as,
we will to take food to preserve life, or to take ship in order to
cross the sea. But we do not necessarily will things without which the
end is attainable, such as a horse for a journey which we can take on
foot, for we can make the journey without one. The same applies to
other means. Hence, since the goodness of God is perfect, and can
exist without other things inasmuch as no perfection can accrue to Him
from them, it follows that His willing things apart from Himself is
not absolutely necessary. Yet it can be necessary by supposition, for
supposing that He wills a thing, then He is unable not to will it, as
His will cannot change.
Reply Obj. 1: From the fact that God wills from eternity whatever He
wills, it does not follow that He wills it necessarily; except by
supposition.
Reply Obj. 2: Although God necessarily wills His own goodness, He
does not necessarily will things willed on account of His goodness;
for it can exist without other things.
Reply Obj. 3: It is not natural to God to will any of those other
things that He does not will necessarily; and yet it is not unnatural
or contrary to His nature, but voluntary.
Reply Obj. 4: Sometimes a necessary cause has a non-necessary
relation to an effect; owing to a deficiency in the effect, and not
in the cause. Even so, the sun's power has a non-necessary relation
to some contingent events on this earth, owing to a defect not in the
solar power, but in the effect that proceeds not necessarily from the
cause. In the same way, that God does not necessarily will some of
the things that He wills, does not result from defect in the divine
will, but from a defect belonging to the nature of the thing willed,
namely, that the perfect goodness of God can be without it; and such
defect accompanies all created good.
Reply Obj. 5: A naturally contingent cause must be determined to act
by some external power. The divine will, which by its nature is
necessary, determines itself to will things to which it has no
necessary relation.
Reply Obj. 6: As the divine essence is necessary of itself, so is the
divine will and the divine knowledge; but the divine knowledge has a
necessary relation to the thing known; not the divine will to the
thing willed. The reason for this is that knowledge is of things as
they exist in the knower; but the will is directed to things as they
exist in themselves. Since then all other things have necessary
existence inasmuch as they exist in God; but no absolute necessity so
as to be necessary in themselves, in so far as they exist in
themselves; it follows that God knows necessarily whatever He wills,
but does not will necessarily whatever He wills.
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