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155 Article 17 The seventeenth point of inquiry is whether the world has always existed. And it seems that it has.1 obj. 1. For a thing always does what is proper to it.2 But, as Dionysius says in the fourth chapter of The Celestial Hierarchy, It is proper to the divine goodness to call those things which exist to communicate in it.3 This he does by producing creatures. Therefore, since the divine goodness has always been, it seems that it has always produced creatures in being, and so it seems that the world has always been. obj. 2. God does not deny a creature that which it is capable of according to its nature. But there are creatures, such as the heaven, whose nature is capable of having always existed. Therefore it seems it was granted to the heaven always to have been. But given that the heaven existed, we must hold other creatures existed, as the Philosopher proves in On the Heavens.4 Therefore it seems that the world has always been. The second premise is proved as follows. Everything that is incorruptible has the power to exist always, since, if its power to be were limited to a certain time, it could not always be, and thus it would not be incorruptible. But the heaven is incorruptible . Therefore its nature is to exist always. obj. 3. But one might say that the heaven is not absolutely incorruptible , for it would fall into nothingness if God’s power did not sustain it in being. On the contrary, we should not consider something to be [only] possibly or contingently because its destruction would follow from the destruction of its consequence. For although it is necessary for man to be an animal, nevertheless its destruction would follow the destruction of the consequence that man be a substance . Therefore it seems we cannot conclude that the heaven is corruptible because it would cease to exist if God withdrew his sustaining power from creatures. 1. For parallel texts, see article 14, note 1 above. 2. quia proprium semper consequitur id cuius est proprium. 3. proprium est divine bonitatis ad communicationem sui ea que sunt vocare. 4. Aristotle, On the Heavens, II 3, 286a3–b9. 156 On Creation obj. 4. As Avicenna proves in his Metaphysics, every effect is necessary in comparison with its cause because, if given the cause the effect does not necessarily follow, then even given the cause it is possible that the effect will be or not be.5 For that which is in potency is not reduced to act except through that which is in act. And so it will be necessary that besides the cause mentioned there be another cause which makes the effect come forth6 in act from the potentiality whereby it was possible for it to be or not be, given the cause. From this we can see that, given a sufficient cause, the effect is necessary. But God is the sufficient cause of the world. Therefore, since God has always been, the world also always was. obj. 5. Everything that is prior to time is eternal (for eviternity is not before time but begins when time begins). But the world was before time, for it was created in the first instant of time, which was clearly before time, for it is said in Genesis 1, In the beginning God created heaven and earth,7 that is, in the beginning of time, according to a gloss.8 Therefore the world existed from eternity. obj. 6. One thing always makes the same thing unless it is impeded . But God always remains the same, as we read in the Psalm: For you are always the self-same.9 Therefore, since his action cannot be impeded, because of the infinity of his power, it seems he would always make the same thing. And so, since he did produce the world at some time, it seems that he always produced it from eternity. obj. 7. Just as man necessarily wills his own happiness, so does God necessarily will his own goodness and whatever pertains to it. But the production of creatures in being pertains to the divine goodness . Therefore God necessarily wills this, and so it seems that he has willed to produce creatures from eternity, just as he willed his own goodness to be from eternity. obj. 8. But one might say that it pertains to God’s goodness to produce creatures in being but not...

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