Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It seems that the will of God imposes necessity on the things willed. For Augustine says (Enchiridion 103): "No one is saved, except whom God has willed to be saved. He must therefore be asked to will it; for if He wills it, it must necessarily be."

Objection 2: Further, every cause that cannot be hindered, produces its effect necessarily, because, as the Philosopher says (Phys. ii, 84) "Nature always works in the same way, if there is nothing to hinder it." But the will of God cannot be hindered. For the Apostle says (Rm. 9:19): "Who resisteth His will?" Therefore the will of God imposes necessity on the things willed.

Objection 3: Further, whatever is necessary by its antecedent cause is necessary absolutely; it is thus necessary that animals should die, being compounded of contrary elements. Now things created by God are related to the divine will as to an antecedent cause, whereby they have necessity. For the conditional statement is true that if God wills a thing, it comes to pass; and every true conditional statement is necessary. It follows therefore that all that God wills is necessary absolutely.

On the contrary, All good things that exist God wills to be. If therefore His will imposes necessity on things willed, it follows that all good happens of necessity; and thus there is an end of free will, counsel, and all other such things.

I answer that, The divine will imposes necessity on some things willed but not on all. The reason of this some have chosen to assign to intermediate causes, holding that what God produces by necessary causes is necessary; and what He produces by contingent causes contingent.

This does not seem to be a sufficient explanation, for two reasons. First, because the effect of a first cause is contingent on account of the secondary cause, from the fact that the effect of the first cause is hindered by deficiency in the second cause, as the sun's power is hindered by a defect in the plant. But no defect of a secondary cause can hinder God's will from producing its effect. Secondly, because if the distinction between the contingent and the necessary is to be referred only to secondary causes, this must be independent of the divine intention and will; which is inadmissible. It is better therefore to say that this happens on account of the efficacy of the divine will. For when a cause is efficacious to act, the effect follows upon the cause, not only as to the thing done, but also as to its manner of being done or of being. Thus from defect of active power in the seed it may happen that a child is born unlike its father in accidental points, that belong to its manner of being. Since then the divine will is perfectly efficacious, it follows not only that things are done, which God wills to be done, but also that they are done in the way that He wills. Now God wills some things to be done necessarily, some contingently, to the right ordering of things, for the building up of the universe. Therefore to some effects He has attached necessary causes, that cannot fail; but to others defectible and contingent causes, from which arise contingent effects. Hence it is not because the proximate causes are contingent that the effects willed by God happen contingently, but because God prepared contingent causes for them, it being His will that they should happen contingently.

Reply to Objection 1: By the words of Augustine we must understand a necessity in things willed by God that is not absolute, but conditional. For the conditional statement that if God wills a thing it must necessarily be, is necessarily true.

Reply to Objection 2: From the very fact that nothing resists the divine will, it follows that not only those things happen that God wills to happen, but that they happen necessarily or contingently according to His will.

Reply to Objection 3: Consequents have necessity from their antecedents according to the mode of the antecedents. Hence things effected by the divine will have that kind of necessity that God wills them to have, either absolute or conditional. Not all things, therefore, are absolute necessities.

Articulus 8

Argumentum 1

Ad octavum sic proceditur. Videtur quod voluntas dei rebus volitis necessitatem imponat.

Dicit enim Augustinus, in enchirid., nullus fit salvus, nisi quem deus voluerit salvari.

Et ideo rogandus est ut velit, quia necesse est fieri, si voluerit.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, omnis causa quae non potest impediri, ex necessitate suum effectum producit, quia et natura semper idem operatur, nisi aliquid impediat, ut dicitur in II physic..

Sed voluntas dei non potest impediri, dicit enim apostolus, ad Rom. IX, voluntati enim eius quis resistit? ergo voluntas dei imponit rebus volitis necessitatem.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, illud quod habet necessitatem ex priori, est necessarium absolute, sicut animal mori est necessarium, quia est ex contrariis compositum. Sed res creatae a deo, comparantur ad voluntatem divinam sicut ad aliquid prius, a quo habent necessitatem, cum haec conditionalis sit vera, si aliquid deus vult, illud est; omnis autem conditionalis vera est necessaria.

Sequitur ergo quod omne quod deus vult, sit necessarium absolute.

Sed Contra

Sed contra, omnia bona quae fiunt, deus vult fieri. Si igitur eius voluntas imponat rebus volitis necessitatem, sequitur quod omnia bona ex necessitate eveniunt. Et sic perit liberum arbitrium et consilium, et omnia huiusmodi.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod divina voluntas quibusdam volitis necessitatem imponit, non autem omnibus.

Cuius quidem rationem aliqui assignare voluerunt ex causis mediis quia ea quae producit per causas necessarias, sunt necessaria; ea vero quae producit per causas contingentes, sunt contingentia.

Sed hoc non videtur sufficienter dictum, propter duo. Primo quidem, quia effectus alicuius primae causae est contingens propter causam secundam, ex eo quod impeditur effectus causae primae per defectum causae secundae; sicut virtus solis per defectum plantae impeditur. Nullus autem defectus causae secundae impedire potest quin voluntas dei effectum suum producat. Secundo, quia, si distinctio contingentium a necessariis referatur solum in causas secundas, sequitur hoc esse praeter intentionem et voluntatem divinam, quod est inconveniens. Et ideo melius dicendum est, quod hoc contingit propter efficaciam divinae voluntatis. Cum enim aliqua causa efficax fuerit ad agendum, effectus consequitur causam non tantum secundum id quod fit, sed etiam secundum modum fiendi vel essendi, ex debilitate enim virtutis activae in semine, contingit quod filius nascitur dissimilis patri in accidentibus, quae pertinent ad modum essendi. Cum igitur voluntas divina sit efficacissima, non solum sequitur quod fiant ea quae deus vult fieri; sed quod eo modo fiant, quo deus ea fieri vult. Vult autem quaedam fieri deus necessario, et quaedam contingenter, ut sit ordo in rebus, ad complementum universi. Et ideo quibusdam effectibus aptavit causas necessarias, quae deficere non possunt, ex quibus effectus de necessitate proveniunt, quibusdam autem aptavit causas contingentes defectibiles, ex quibus effectus contingenter eveniunt. Non igitur propterea effectus voliti a deo, eveniunt contingenter, quia causae proximae sunt contingentes, sed propterea quia deus voluit eos contingenter evenire, contingentes causas ad eos praeparavit.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod per illud verbum Augustini intelligenda est necessitas in rebus volitis a deo, non absoluta, sed conditionalis, necesse est enim hanc conditionalem veram esse, si deus hoc vult, necesse est hoc esse.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod, ex hoc ipso quod nihil voluntati divinae resistit, sequitur quod non solum fiant ea quae deus vult fieri; sed quod fiant contingenter vel necessario, quae sic fieri vult.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod posteriora habent necessitatem a prioribus, secundum modum priorum. Unde et ea quae fiunt a voluntate divina, talem necessitatem habent, qualem deus vult ea habere, scilicet, vel absolutam, vel conditionalem tantum.

Et sic, non omnia sunt necessaria absolute.