Whether Creatures Need to Be Kept in Being by God?
Objection 1: It would seem that creatures do not need to be kept in
being by God. For what cannot not-be, does not need to be kept in
being; just as that which cannot depart, does not need to be kept
from departing. But some creatures by their very nature cannot
not-be. Therefore not all creatures need to be kept in being by God.
The middle proposition is proved thus. That which is included in the
nature of a thing is necessarily in that thing, and its contrary
cannot be in it; thus a multiple of two must necessarily be even, and
cannot possibly be an odd number. Now form brings being with itself,
because everything is actually in being, so far as it has form. But
some creatures are subsistent forms, as we have said of the angels
(Q. 50, AA. 2, 5): and thus to be is in them of themselves. The same
reasoning applies to those creatures whose matter is in potentiality
to one form only, as above explained of heavenly bodies (Q. 66, A.
2). Therefore such creatures as these have in their nature to be
necessarily, and cannot not-be; for there can be no potentiality to
not-being, either in the form which has being of itself, or in matter
existing under a form which it cannot lose, since it is not in
potentiality to any other form.
Obj. 2: Further, God is more powerful than any created agent. But a
created agent, even after ceasing to act, can cause its effect to be
preserved in being; thus the house continues to stand after the
builder has ceased to build; and water remains hot for some time
after the fire has ceased to heat. Much more, therefore, can God
cause His creature to be kept in being, after He has ceased to create
it.
Obj. 3: Further, nothing violent can occur, except there be some
active cause thereof. But tendency to not-being is unnatural and
violent to any creature, since all creatures naturally desire to be.
Therefore no creature can tend to not-being, except through some
active cause of corruption. Now there are creatures of such a nature
that nothing can cause them to corrupt; such are spiritual substances
and heavenly bodies. Therefore such creatures cannot tend to
not-being, even if God were to withdraw His action.
Obj. 4: Further, if God keeps creatures in being, this is done by
some action. Now every action of an agent, if that action be
efficacious, produces something in the effect. Therefore the
preserving power of God must produce something in the creature. But
this is not so; because this action does not give being to the
creature, since being is not given to that which already is: nor does
it add anything new to the creature; because either God would not
keep the creature in being continually, or He would be continually
adding something new to the creature; either of which is
unreasonable. Therefore creatures are not kept in being by God.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Heb. 1:3): "Upholding all things by
the word of His power."
_I answer that,_ Both reason and faith bind us to say that creatures
are kept in being by God. To make this clear, we must consider that a
thing is preserved by another in two ways. First, indirectly, and
accidentally; thus a person is said to preserve anything by removing
the cause of its corruption, as a man may be said to preserve a
child, whom he guards from falling into the fire. In this way God
preserves some things, but not all, for there are some things of such
a nature that nothing can corrupt them, so that it is not necessary
to keep them from corruption. Secondly, a thing is said to preserve
another _per se_ and directly, namely, when what is preserved depends
on the preserver in such a way that it cannot exist without it. In
this manner all creatures need to be preserved by God. For the being
of every creature depends on God, so that not for a moment could it
subsist, but would fall into nothingness were it not kept in being by
the operation of the Divine power, as Gregory says (Moral. xvi).
This is made clear as follows: Every effect depends on its cause, so
far as it is its cause. But we must observe that an agent may be the
cause of the _becoming_ of its effect, but not directly of its
_being._ This may be seen both in artificial and in natural beings:
for the builder causes the house in its _becoming,_ but he is not the
direct cause of its _being._ For it is clear that the _being_ of the
house is a result of its form, which consists in the putting together
and arrangement of the materials, and results from the natural
qualities of certain things. Thus a cook dresses the food by applying
the natural activity of fire; thus a builder constructs a house, by
making use of cement, stones, and wood which are able to be put
together in a certain order and to preserve it. Therefore the _being_
of a house depends on the nature of these materials, just as its
_becoming_ depends on the action of the builder. The same principle
applies to natural things. For if an agent is not the cause of a form
as such, neither will it be directly the cause of _being_ which
results from that form; but it will be the cause of the effect, in
its _becoming_ only.
Now it is clear that of two things in the same species one cannot
directly cause the other's form as such, since it would then be the
cause of its own form, which is essentially the same as the form of
the other; but it can be the cause of this form for as much as it is
in matter--in other words, it may be the cause that "this matter"
receives _this form._ And this is to be the cause of _becoming,_ as
when man begets man, and fire causes fire. Thus whenever a natural
effect is such that it has an aptitude to receive from its active
cause an impression specifically the same as in that active cause,
then the _becoming_ of the effect, but not its _being,_ depends on
the agent.
Sometimes, however, the effect has not this aptitude to receive the
impression of its cause, in the same way as it exists in the agent:
as may be seen clearly in all agents which do not produce an effect
of the same species as themselves: thus the heavenly bodies cause the
generation of inferior bodies which differ from them in species. Such
an agent can be the cause of a form as such, and not merely as
existing in this matter, consequently it is not merely the cause of
_becoming_ but also the cause of _being._
Therefore as the becoming of a thing cannot continue when that action
of the agent ceases which causes the _becoming_ of the effect: so
neither can the _being_ of a thing continue after that action of the
agent has ceased, which is the cause of the effect not only in
_becoming_ but also in _being._ This is why hot water retains heat
after the cessation of the fire's action; while, on the contrary, the
air does not continue to be lit up, even for a moment, when the sun
ceases to act upon it, because water is a matter susceptive of the
fire's heat in the same way as it exists in the fire. Wherefore if it
were to be reduced to the perfect form of fire, it would retain that
form always; whereas if it has the form of fire imperfectly and
inchoately, the heat will remain for a time only, by reason of the
imperfect participation of the principle of heat. On the other hand,
air is not of such a nature as to receive light in the same way as it
exists in the sun, which is the principle of light. Therefore, since
it has not root in the air, the light ceases with the action of the
sun.
Now every creature may be compared to God, as the air is to the sun
which enlightens it. For as the sun possesses light by its nature, and
as the air is enlightened by sharing the sun's nature; so God alone is
Being in virtue of His own Essence, since His Essence is His
existence; whereas every creature has being by participation, so that
its essence is not its existence. Therefore, as Augustine says (Gen.
ad lit. iv, 12): "If the ruling power of God were withdrawn from His
creatures, their nature would at once cease, and all nature would
collapse." In the same work (Gen. ad lit. viii, 12) he says: "As the
air becomes light by the presence of the sun, so is man enlightened by
the presence of God, and in His absence returns at once to darkness."
Reply Obj. 1: _Being_ naturally results from the form of a creature,
given the influence of the Divine action; just as light results from
the diaphanous nature of the air, given the action of the sun.
Wherefore the potentiality to not-being in spiritual creatures and
heavenly bodies is rather something in God, Who can withdraw His
influence, than in the form or matter of those creatures.
Reply Obj. 2: God cannot grant to a creature to be preserved in being
after the cessation of the Divine influence: as neither can He make
it not to have received its being from Himself. For the creature
needs to be preserved by God in so far as the being of an effect
depends on the cause of its being. So that there is no comparison
with an agent that is not the cause of _being_ but only of _becoming._
Reply Obj. 3: This argument holds in regard to that preservation
which consists in the removal of corruption: but all creatures do not
need to be preserved thus, as stated above.
Reply Obj. 4: The preservation of things by God is a continuation of
that action whereby He gives existence, which action is without
either motion or time; so also the preservation of light in the air
is by the continual influence of the sun.
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