No Unactualized Potential vs. Omnipotence

Question #5: Is the classical claim–widely accepted in Catholic scholasticism–that God has no unactualized potential consistent with the Church’s teaching on divine freedom (Denzinger references on omnipotence)?

The classical scholastic claim that God has no unactualized potential may, at first glance, seem to run counter to the Church’s teaching on divine freedom, especially when we consult Denzinger for references on God’s omnipotence (e.g., DS 3001–3002, which emphasize God can do “all that He wills,” and nothing is impossible to Him). However, within Catholic theology, these two teachings–God’s pure actuality and His supreme freedom–fit together harmoniously.

First, when scholastic tradition says that God has no unrealized potential, it means that there is no aspect of God’s being that remains to be developed, discovered, or actuated. God is fully “in act” (actus purus); He does not move from “could-be” to “is.” That is a statement about the divine essence. It insists God is not subject to alteration or improvement. There is no missing piece in His nature requiring completion.

Second, the Church’s teaching on divine omnipotence (laid out in dogmatic sources compiled in Denzinger and echoed in the Catechism: §§268–271) holds that God, being all-powerful, can do whatever is logically possible. Catholic scholastics clarify that God’s lack of potential does not mean He is incapable of varied effects. Rather, it signals that no “internal deficiency” or “unrealized capacity” conditions how God acts. In other words, God’s ability to create or not create, to bring about a universe with certain features, or to refrain from doing so, does not hinge on some passive potential lying dormant. Instead, it arises from His sovereign will, which is an eternal, unchanging expression of His wholly actual nature.

Third, the Church consistently reaffirms that God’s free choice to create is precisely an expression of His omnipotence, not the activation of a latent power. Denzinger 3002, for instance, underscores that God’s “absolute sovereignty” means He is bound by no external necessity. That sovereignty includes choosing among possible created outcomes. From God’s vantage point, this choice does not unfold over time; He eternally wills what He wills without acquiring or losing any property.

Thus, the classical claim that God is without unactualized potential flows seamlessly into the Church’s insistence on His freedom. Because nothing in God requires development, God acts (or does not act) from the fullness of His own self-sufficiency. Far from reducing divine omnipotence, it magnifies it: He can bring forth or refrain from bringing forth any contingent reality without altering Himself in the least. In this way, Catholic scholasticism’s notion of God as pure act coexists perfectly with the Church’s teaching on divine freedom and omnipotence.

(see #3, #4 for more)