According To The Teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas
In speaking of creatures, then, as entities participating of the deity, we wish to assert two truths: first, creatures do not possess being in all its fullness, but have merely a part of it, varying among themselves in quantity if you will, but essentially limited and restricted; secondly, this limited and restricted being does not accrue to them in any essential manner, even in virtue of their nature, but has been communicated to them by an extrinsic cause—God. In much the same way to the glowing steel has been imparted warmth and brilliancy by the operation of an outside agency, not because its nature demands it, but because it is igneous only by participation.
The Divine being, on the contrary, is not a borrowed being, a being proceeding from another. God holds His being from no one, for He has it by virtue of His nature. "He is, then, self-existent being Ens per se, being by essence, Ens per essentiam, in opposition to being that is contingent and dependent on another— Ens ab alio, ens per participationem. He is also preeminent being, self-subsistent, ipsum esse per se subsistens, and consequently He is infinite being, the very plenitude of being, ipsa plenitudo essendi. And if He is being in all its fullness, nothing can exist beyond Him, which is not traceable to Him as to its source, and which is not present in Him in a supereminent manner. Thus whatever being is outside of Him cannot be called simply being (ipsum esse simpliciter), rather they are beings —that is to say, participations in and imitations of being, entia per participationem." (St. Thomas, Contra Gent., 1, II., c. xv.)
What we have said of being should be applied to all the other perfections as well. All that God is, He is by Himself, by His essence, and consequently without measure. Hence He is not merely intelligent, wise, good, loving, powerful; He is intelligence and wisdom itself, infinite goodness and love and power, the source of all understanding and goodness. On the contrary, the creature can well be intelligent, wise, good and powerful, but is not intelligence itself, nor wisdom, nor love. Its perfections do not constitute its essence, but are simply either its powers, or properties, or operations, distinct from its essence, and limited as is the latter. In a word, these are participated perfections.
In speaking of creatures, then, as entities participating of the deity, we wish to assert two truths: first, creatures do not possess being in all its fullness, but have merely a part of it, varying among themselves in quantity if you will, but essentially limited and restricted; secondly, this limited and restricted being does not accrue to them in any essential manner, even in virtue of their nature, but has been communicated to them by an extrinsic cause—God. In much the same way to the glowing steel has been imparted warmth and brilliancy by the operation of an outside agency, not because its nature demands it, but because it is igneous only by participation.
The Divine being, on the contrary, is not a borrowed being, a being proceeding from another. God holds His being from no one, for He has it by virtue of His nature. "He is, then, self-existent being Ens per se, being by essence, Ens per essentiam, in opposition to being that is contingent and dependent on another— Ens ab alio, ens per participationem. He is also preeminent being, self-subsistent, ipsum esse per se subsistens, and consequently He is infinite being, the very plenitude of being, ipsa plenitudo essendi. And if He is being in all its fullness, nothing can exist beyond Him, which is not traceable to Him as to its source, and which is not present in Him in a supereminent manner. Thus whatever being is outside of Him cannot be called simply being (ipsum esse simpliciter), rather they are beings —that is to say, participations in and imitations of being, entia per participationem." (St. Thomas, Contra Gent., 1, II., c. xv.)
What we have said of being should be applied to all the other perfections as well. All that God is, He is by Himself, by His essence, and consequently without measure. Hence He is not merely intelligent, wise, good, loving, powerful; He is intelligence and wisdom itself, infinite goodness and love and power, the source of all understanding and goodness. On the contrary, the creature can well be intelligent, wise, good and powerful, but is not intelligence itself, nor wisdom, nor love. Its perfections do not constitute its essence, but are simply either its powers, or properties, or operations, distinct from its essence, and limited as is the latter. In a word, these are participated perfections.
