Full Answer
What is aseity in the Bible?
ASEITY (ASEITAS) A term used in scholastic philosophy and theology to express one of the primary attributes of God. Aseity comes from the Latin a se (aseitas), and signifies the attribute of God whereby He possesses His existence of or from Himself, in virtue of His own essence, and not from any other being outside Himself as cause.
Is aseity positive or negative?
Aseity has two aspects, one positive and one negative. In its negative meaning, which emerged first in the history of thought, it affirms that God is uncaused, depending on no other being for the source of God's existence.
What is the importance of the aseity of God?
Answer: The aseity of God is His attribute of independent self-existence. God is the uncaused Cause, the uncreated Creator. He is the source of all things, the One who originated everything and who sustains everything that exists.
What is God’s aseity and eternality?
God’s aseity means that he is sufficient to himself, independent of anything outside himself. God’s eternality is his aseity with respect to time: Lord of time, existing above and apart from it, but free to enter it to accomplish his purposes. The Bible teaches God’s aseity by saying that he does not need anything beyond himself ( Acts 17:24-30 ).
What Aseity means?
being self-derivedDefinition of aseity : the quality or state of being self-derived or self-originated specifically : the absolute self-sufficiency, independence, and autonomy of God.
How do you pronounce Aseity?
0:051:02How To Say Aseity - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAsí a ti a ti si a ti a ti así a ti así a ti.MoreAsí a ti a ti si a ti a ti así a ti así a ti.
What is the opposite of Aseity?
It is best understood by contrast with its opposite, that is, the attribute whereby a being receives its existence from another (ab alio ) or is a caused or contingent being. It is thus one of the primary marks distinguishing God from creatures.
How do you use Aseity in a sentence?
He is a se ; hence we speak of the aseity of God. For if He began in time, He would need a prior cause, and that would contradict his aseity . To annoy these further by opposing pedantry to banality, one might say that the aseity is quintessential.
What does the Bible say about God's Aseity?
In its positive meaning, it affirms that God is completely self-sufficient, having within Himself the sufficient reason for His own existence. The first concept derives from "the God of philosophers", while the second one derives from "the living God of Revelation" (I Am Who I Am: Exodus 3:14).
Why is God's existence necessary?
This is because God's understanding is the realm of eternal truths, or that of the ideas on which they depend; without him there would be nothing real in possibles, and not only would nothing exist, but also nothing would be possible.
How is God impassible?
Impassibility (from Latin in-, "not", passibilis, "able to suffer, experience emotion") describes the theological doctrine that God does not experience pain or pleasure from the actions of another being.
What is the simplicity of God?
Divine simplicity is central to the classical Western concept of God. Simplicity denies any physical or metaphysical composition in the divine being. This means God is the divine nature itself and has no accidents (properties that are not necessary) accruing to his nature.
What are the incommunicable attributes of God?
They are: Omnipresence, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Immutability, Self existence, and Eternal.
What is the simplicity of God?
Divine simplicity is central to the classical Western concept of God. Simplicity denies any physical or metaphysical composition in the divine being. This means God is the divine nature itself and has no accidents (properties that are not necessary) accruing to his nature.
Is God immutable?
The Immutability of God is an attribute that "God is unchanging in his character, will, and covenant promises." God's immutability defines all God's other attributes: God is immutably wise, merciful, good, and gracious.
What is God immanence?
The immanence of God means that he is knowable, perceivable or graspable. For example, Jesus Christ is God incarnate (in the flesh) and therefore he was immanent in the first century among those who knew him, perceived of him or experienced him with one or more of their five senses.
What is the threat to divine aseity?
There is also a possible threat to divine aseity by the existence of abstract objects, a threat that philosopher William Lane Craig attempts to provide reconciliations for in his book, God Over All. John 1:3 states that "All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being".
What is the meaning of "aseity"?
Aseity (from Latin ā "from" and sē "self", plus -ity) is the property by which a being exists in and of itself, from itself, or exists as so-and-such of and from itself. The word is often used to refer to the Christian belief that God contains within himself the cause of himself, is the first cause, or rather is simply uncaused, though many Jewish and Muslim theologians have also believed God to be independent in this way. Notions of aseity as the highest principle go back at least to Plato and have been in wide circulation since Augustine, though the use of the word 'aseity' began only in the Middle Ages.
What does the negative meaning of the word "aseity" mean?
Clarke writes: In its negative meaning, which emerged first in the history of thought, it [aseity] affirms that God is uncaused, depending on no other being for the source of His existence. In its positive meaning, it affirms that God is completely self-sufficient, having within Himself the sufficient reason for His own existence.
Where does the concept of God come from?
The first concept derives from "the God of philosophers", while the second one derives from "the living God of Revelation" ( I Am Who I Am: Exodus 3:14 ). As a part of this belief God is said to be incapable of changing (see Hebrews 13:8) Changing implies development.
Is God without emotion?
Classical theists have often drawn a further implication: that God is without emotion or is "impassible": because, it is said, emotion implies standing as patient (pass-) to some agent – i.e., dependence. This is so because, although God has created everything, he is not in dependence on his creation.
What is the essence of God?
In terms of his central thesis of existence as act, the fundamental perfection of all things that is participated only in limited modes by finite essences, Aquinas teaches that the very essence of God is a pure subsistent act of existence ( Ipsum Esse Subsistens ).
Why is Aquinas called a se?
In fact, the term itself, a se (or aseitas ), traditional though it be, is never actually used by Aquinas in speaking of God, possibly because of its faintly ambiguous suggestion of some causal relation between the divine essence and its existence.
What is the meaning of aseity?
Aseity comes from the Latin a se ( aseitas ), and signifies the attribute of God whereby He possesses His existence of or from Himself, in virtue of His own essence, and not from any other being outside Himself as cause.
What did Descartes do to honor Anselm?
Descartes initiated the rationalist tradition that restored to honor Anselm's ontological argument and deduced the existence of God from the concept of His essence as an infinitely perfect being ( Medit. 3 and 5). He also revived the ancient term causa sui, abandoned since Augustine.
What does God mean by "the origin of himself"?
The strong expressions he uses to explain it, such as, God is "the origin of Himself and cause of His own substance," are interpreted quite traditionally by him as meaning that God has no cause or origin outside of Himself ( In Eph. 2.3.14; Patrologia Latina, 26:488).
What is the Franciscan school?
The Franciscan school parted company with St. Thomas on his doctrine of existence as the basic perfection of all things limited by essence, and preferred to explain the perfection of things as rooted in their essences or forms.
Who taught aseity in philosophy?
Modern Philosophy. The Suarezian notion of aseity seems to have passed into modern philosophy through the teaching of C. wolff and influenced the development of the branch of philosophy known as theodicy. Other thinkers gave different interpretations of aseity in the modern period, notably R. descartes and certain rationalist, idealist and spiritualist philosophers.
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Definitions & Translations
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What does aseity mean in Aristotle?
Amen.”. Aseity does indicate the vast difference between God and the world. The world is utterly dependent on God; God is not at all dependent on the world. 5 But God’s attribute of aseity is not a barrier between himself and the world he has made. Aristotle believed that his god, the “prime mover,” could not love the world, ...
Why is aseity important to God?
So aseity marks the great difference between creator and creature, but it also guards God’s freedom to enter the creation without compromising himself, to enter relationships with the world and with people. So he saves us from sin, not because he needs to do it, but because of his free gift of grace. God’s eternality is his aseity ...
Why does God save us from sin?
So he saves us from sin, not because he needs to do it, but because of his free gift of grace. God’s eternality is his aseity with respect to time and therefore his lordship over time. Because he is the creator of time, he stands above it, but enters it freely to do his will.
What does it mean to be aseity?
Definition. God’s aseity means that he is sufficient to himself, independent of anything outside himself. God’s eternality is his aseity with respect to time: Lord of time, existing above and apart from it, but free to enter it to accomplish his purposes.
Why do we confess aseity?
We confess his aseity, because such a confession is implicit in the very act of worship in the reverence that the worshiper has for his Lord.
What does Psalm 50 teach us?
Psalm 50, for example, teaches us that unlike pagan worship, the worship of the true God is not intended to meet God’s needs, but to acknowledge him for his self-sufficiency and his sufficiency to meet our needs. 3 Paul picks up this theme when he speaks to pagan worshipers in Athens ( Acts 17:24-30 ). Because the true God is “the Lord of heaven ...
Why did Aristotle believe that God could not love the world?
Aristotle believed that his god, the “prime mover,” could not love the world, because such love would compromise his self-sufficiency. In his view, a god who loved the world would be dependent on the world, relying on the world to arouse his affection. So his contact with the world would cause him to change.
Overview
Aseity (from Latin ā "from" and sē "self", plus -ity) is the property by which a being exists of and from itself. It refers to the Christian belief that God does not depend on any cause other than himself for his existence, realization, or end, and has within himself his own reason of existence. This represents God as absolutely independent and self-existent by nature. Many Jewish and Muslim theologian…
Meaning
Aseity has two aspects, one positive and one negative: absolute independence and self-existence. W. N. Clarke writes:
In its negative meaning, which emerged first in the history of thought, it [aseity] affirms that God is uncaused, depending on no other being for the source of His existence. In its positive meaning, it affirms that God is completely self-sufficient, having within Himself the sufficient reason for His …
Philosophical considerations
Whether this being should be described as God turns on whether the label 'Creator' is a rigid designator of God. Given that most theists believe all that is not God to be brought about by God, and that many (for example, St. Aquinas) argue from the non-aseity of the universe to the existence of God, this problem is highly theoretical. There is also a possible threat to divine aseity by the existence of abstract objects, a threat that philosopher William Lane Craig attempts to provide re…
See also
• Actus purus
• Altruism
• Anatta
• Causa sui
• Gnosiology
Bibliography
• Alston, William P. "Hartshorne and Aquinas: A Via Media", in Divine Nature and Human Language. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989.
• Hartshorne, Charles. The Divine Relativity: A Social Conception of God. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1948.
• Morris, Thomas V. Our Idea of God. Chap. 6. Downer's Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1991.
External links
• The dictionary definition of aseity at Wiktionary
• Brower, Jeffrey E. "Simplicity and Aseity (Forthcoming in Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 21, 2007. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
• Pohle, Joseph (1911). "ASEITY-THE-FUNDAMENTAL-ATTRIBUTE-OF-GOD (pp. 165 ss.)". Dogmatic Theology, Vol. 1: God, His Knowability, Essence, and Attributes. Freiburg im Breisgau: B. Herder. ISBN 9781440052811. ISBN 1 …