Thomistic Simplicity & “Mere Property” Concern

Question #17: Does Thomistic simplicity, upheld by many Doctors of the Church, reduce God to a mere property, conflicting with the Church’s affirmation that God is the living, personal Creator and Father (CCC 239)?

Some have asked whether Thomistic simplicity–the belief, championed by many Doctors of the Church, that God is utterly without composition–turns God into a mere “property” or abstract principle. On the surface, describing God as ipsum esse subsistens (“the act of being itself”) might seem to reduce God to a metaphysical notion, potentially undermining the Church’s proclamation of God as the living, personal Father and Creator (CCC 239). However, Thomistic tradition itself insists otherwise, offering several clarifications:

1. God as Subsistent Being, Not a Property

St. Thomas Aquinas taught that God is not one property among many, nor an abstract universal that different things might instantiate. Rather, God is the fullness of Being (ipsum esse), self-subsisting and entirely unique. While properties or attributes in creatures adhere in a substance, God’s “attributes” are strictly identical with His essence. This means God is not merely “loving,” but is Love itself; not just “holy,” but Holiness itself. Far from making Him an impersonal property, it signifies that no created concept or quality exists apart from Him as a separate “thing” that God must “have.”

2. A Living, Personal Reality

The Church teaches God is “the living God” who relates to us as “Father” (CCC 239). Thomistic simplicity does not undermine God’s personal nature; it ensures that God’s life, knowledge, and will are not piecemeal or constrained. God’s essence is life itself–a life so infinite that He is present to all of creation, yet not confined like a finite being who merely “possesses” life. In personal terms, this means God is supremely personal, unrestricted by any metaphysical “parts” that might impede His loving knowledge of each creature. His being and His act to love are one and the same.

3. No Tension with Fatherhood

Some worry that if God’s essence is “simply existing,” God cannot enter into personal relationships. But Catholic theology holds that the Father’s personal mode is an eternal relational identity–He is “the Father” precisely because He eternally begets the Son, not because He has “acquired” fatherhood. This aligns with divine simplicity: the Father’s fatherhood is identical to who He is, fully and simply. Thus, He is neither a “mere property” nor an impersonal force, but the Father of the Son, whose personal nature extends to His love for creation.

4. Liturgy and Revelation

The Church’s liturgy and Scripture affirm that the God who is One and Simple is also the God who speaks, guides, redeems, and invites us into communion. Thomistic simplicity, far from suppressing God’s personality, secures it by showing that God’s personal actions–creating, forgiving, sanctifying–are not lesser layers added onto some remote “essence.” They are the singular, eternal expression of God’s very being.

Hence, Thomistic simplicity does not reduce God to a mere property; rather, it underscores that God, though transcendent and noncomposite, is profoundly personal–the living Father who freely creates, redeems, and sustains all things.

(see #16 for more)