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Objection 1: It seems that God is not one. For it is written
"For there be many gods and many lords" (1 Cor. 8:5).
Objection 2: Further, "One," as the principle of number,
cannot be predicated of God, since quantity is not predicated of
God; likewise, neither can "one" which is convertible with
"being" be predicated of God, because it imports privation, and
every privation is an imperfection, which cannot apply to God.
Therefore God is not one.
On the contrary, It is written "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord" (Dt. 6:4).
I answer that, It can be shown from these three sources that God is
one. First from His simplicity. For it is manifest that the reason
why any singular thing is "this particular thing" is because it cannot
be communicated to many: since that whereby Socrates is a man, can be
communicated to many; whereas, what makes him this particular man, is
only communicable to one. Therefore, if Socrates were a man by what
makes him to be this particular man, as there cannot be many
Socrates, so there could not in that way be many men. Now this
belongs to God alone; for God Himself is His own nature, as was
shown above (Question 3, Article 3). Therefore, in the very
same way God is God, and He is this God. Impossible is it
therefore that many Gods should exist.
Secondly, this is proved from the infinity of His perfection. For
it was shown above (Question 4, Article 2) that God comprehends
in Himself the whole perfection of being. If then many gods existed,
they would necessarily differ from each other. Something therefore
would belong to one which did not belong to another. And if this were
a privation, one of them would not be absolutely perfect; but if a
perfection, one of them would be without it. So it is impossible for
many gods to exist. Hence also the ancient philosophers, constrained
as it were by truth, when they asserted an infinite principle,
asserted likewise that there was only one such principle.
Thirdly, this is shown from the unity of the world. For all things
that exist are seen to be ordered to each other since some serve
others. But things that are diverse do not harmonize in the same
order, unless they are ordered thereto by one. For many are reduced
into one order by one better than by many: because one is the "per
se" cause of one, and many are only the accidental cause of one,
inasmuch as they are in some way one. Since therefore what is first is
most perfect, and is so "per se" and not accidentally, it must be
that the first which reduces all into one order should be only one.
And this one is God.
Reply to Objection 1: Gods are called many by the error of some who
worshipped many deities, thinking as they did that the planets and
other stars were gods, and also the separate parts of the world.
Hence the Apostle adds: "Our God is one," etc.
Reply to Objection 2: "One" which is the principle of number is
not predicated of God, but only of material things. For "one" the
principle of number belongs to the "genus" of mathematics, which are
material in being, and abstracted from matter only in idea. But
"one" which is convertible with being is a metaphysical entity and
does not depend on matter in its being. And although in God there is
no privation, still, according to the mode of our apprehension, He
is known to us by way only of privation and remotion. Thus there is no
reason why a certain kind of privation should not be predicated of
God; for instance, that He is incorporeal and infinite; and in the
same way it is said of God that He is one.
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