Thursday, June 17, 2010

Can God Sin?

In his Summa Theologiae, scholastic theologian Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274) addresses a recurring question about God's omnipotence:  If God is omnipotent, can he sin?  Here's the nut of the answer:

"To sin is to fall short of a perfect action.  Hence to be able to sin is to be able to be deficient in relation to an action, which cannot be reconciled with omnipotence.  It is because God is omnipotent that he cannot sin." 

In other words, God cannot be both omnipotent and not omnipotent, for that would be a contradiction.  He cannot be A and non-A at the same time and in the same sense.

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