In previous posts I’ve noted piecemeal that standard definitions of omniscience and omnipotence are incomplete. God’s omnipotence isn’t just that God knows everything—it has to be that he knows it certainly and consciously. We might even say: with maximal certainty and vividness. God’s omnipotence isn’t just that God can do everything—he does it all effortlessly.
It has now occurred to me that both devotionally and philosophically it is fruitful to think about divine attributes by asking what is left out by the rather thin and colorless analytic accounts of them.
Take a flat account of God’s moral perfection as saying that God always does the morally right thing. Well, first, we have to add: and for the right reasons (indeed all the right reasons). Second, we should add that God does this with the perfect attitude—with the appropriate alacrity, without inappropriate regrets, etc.
Or consider the account of God’s being a creator on which God creates everything other than himself. We probably should minimally add that he does this with perfect freedom.
At the moment, this is all I have in the way of clear examples. But I think it’s a worthwhile avenue for exploration and devotion.
3 comments:
Not only does God always do the morally right thing for all the right reasons, with the perfect attitude - with the appropriate alacrity, with inappropriate regrets, etc. But, he always does so without the possibility of failing. One could always act virtuously, but still be able to perform vice, though they never do. This cannot be true of God. It is impossible for God to fail to do what is morally right, and so any definition of God's moral perfection must not only maintain that God always does what is right, but that he does so necessarily or essentially.
FWIW, it was partly from dissatisfaction with the 'colorless' accounts of God's nature that Brad Rettler and I wrote 'The Problem of Divine Personality'. We suspect God is absolutely perfect... with style. One thing that might mean is that where perfection allows for optionality, God displays artistic personality by selecting one of those perfect options. If you're interested, I'll be happy to send you a copy of the book!
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