Theological Tidbits

Since there is no necessity in God or for God, His creative acts are not necessary. Still, He does create angelic and human persons. However, it is fairly clear that many of those God has created have turned their backs on Him. He knew this would happen. Since He does not “have to” create, one might well ask: Why does He bother?

God is Power, Wisdom, and Love. Human beings possessing these attributes give them to others. Power is meaningless if it is not exercised. For example, what benefit does bodily strength have if it is never used in work or in play? Wisdom is useless if it is not shared. For instance, why would a scholar spend years studying if he never intends to transmit his knowledge either in teaching or in writing? Love is a self-gift of one person to at least one other person. Thus, how can one love without giving oneself to another? As human persons, we share our strength, our wisdom, and our love. God is like us. As Power, Wisdom, and Love, God seeks to share Himself. He does not create out of any necessity, but rather out of a burning desire to give His power, His wisdom, and His love to others.

God lacks absolutely nothing. In other words, God does not need anyone or anything outside of Himself to fulfill Himself. It was not in any sense necessary for Him to create anything. In fact, God is completely free of any and all necessities. If something were necessary in Him or for Him, there would obviously be some cause outside of Himself responsible for the necessity. Since He is the uncaused cause, there can be no outside cause acting upon Him. Therefore, there is no necessity in God or in any of His actions.

When God shares His life—grace—with human beings, it is not only an act of His love, it is also an act of His power. In giving Himself to us, God gives us new life. Just as God’s gift of human life in His creative act is an act of power, the giving of His divine life is also an act of power. God’s caring for those He has blessed with His grace is also an act of His power. He not only gives His divine life, He cares and nurtures that divine life in all those who share it. The awesome number of people who share God’s own life indicate the scope and magnitude of His omnipotence exercised through the gift of His own life. All those who share God’s life have “Put on Christ” (Gal 3:27). They are other “Christs” because they live God’s own life.

God carries on the work of sanctification by giving human beings His very own life—grace. This self-gift of God is clearly identified with the Holy Spirit. Just as it is fitting for the Son, Who is the Wisdom of God, to reveal the truths about God to us, so it is fitting for the Holy Spirit, Who is Love, to sanctify us by giving us God’s life. Love unites persons. In the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit—Love unites Father and Son. In the world, the Holy Spirit through His gift of divine love—i.e., divine life or grace, unites human beings in the union of all those who share God’s grace.

The incarnation shows us the self-gift—love—of God. God “emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:7). He emptied Himself—i.e., He gave Himself and he who gives, loves. God’s stupendous love is also marvelously present on the cross: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).

Christ’s life is not only the most complete manifestation of God’s wisdom, it is also an act of divine power. The power of God can be seen in the union of the two natures in the one divine Person. The power of God is also obviously present in the miracles of Christ and in the resurrection. But the awesome power of God can most clearly be seen in the effect of the paschal mystery: death is conquered with death.

The work of revelation, the unveiling of God’s wisdom, is accomplished most completely through Christ, God the Son—the Wisdom of God—made man. In and through the incarnation and the redemption, God’s wisdom is revealed. As the Second Vatican Council taught, Christ is “both the mediator and the sum total of revelation” (Dei Verbum, 2). Christ Himself said in response to Philip, who asked to see the Father, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’” (Jn 14:9). God’s wisdom is revealed in every act of Christ, but most especially in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. In the paschal mystery, Christ revealed God as One Who loves. Clearly, God knows Himself as One Who loves. God has a perfect knowledge of Himself. Since He is Love, He knows Himself as Love. Thus, in revealing God as Love, Christ revealed the divine self-knowledge.