The Existence of God

CHAPTER 3

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

Regarding the unity of the divine essence, we must first believe that God exists. This is a truth clearly known by reason. We observe that all things that move are moved by other things, the lower by the higher. The elements are moved by heavenly bodies; and among the elements themselves, the stronger moves the weaker; and even among the heavenly bodies, the lower are set in motion by the higher. This process cannot be traced back into infinity. For everything that is moved by another is a sort of instrument of the first mover. Therefore, if a first mover is lacking, all things that move will be instruments. But if the series of movers and things moved is infinite, there can be no first mover. In such a case, these infinitely many movers and things moved will all be instruments. But even the unlearned perceive how ridiculous it is to suppose that instruments are moved, unless they are set in motion by some principal agent. This would be like fancying that, when a chest or a bed is being built, the saw or the hatchet performs its functions without the carpenter. Accordingly there must be a first mover that is above all the the rest; and this being we call God.
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Regarding the unity of the divine essence, we must first believe that God exists. This is a truth clearly known by reason.

Romans 1 supports what Thomas is saying, here. 

Romans 1

20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

We Protestants would agree, but then we tend to teach people that they should not rely on their God-given ability to look at God's creation and reason from there back to who - or what - God is. This is especially a problem in Evangelicalism. Thus, we torture our minds. 

Of course, Thomas is not saying that one should abandon Scripture since he is constantly quoting God's Word. Nor is he saying that God does not need to renew the mind or reveal truth to the mind. He is saying that reason is how we understand all truth it seems to me. Remember that in the last chapter, he said that the starting point  is the Triune God and the God-man. That makes all the difference in the world. Some Reformed apologists, like Van Til, got this. 

Thomas explains why there has to be a First Mover who set everything else into motion. Yes, he is talking about the simple kinds of things we look at all the time. 

For example, I am looking out my window and see the trees moving. They are not moving by themselves, but a force outside them is making them move. That force is the wind. There are other forces that have made the wind be stirred up and in motion like it is right now. There are other forces behind those forces, and so forth until we get to what? 

There has to be something that is not itself moved, but rather is the first mover. This mover is not itself moved, otherwise we would try to find an earlier cause, and we would never end. Yet now even more than at the time of Thomas we know that there was a moment when everything was set into motion. We call it the Big Bang. 

Who or what produced the Big Bang?  That we call God, and He is not Himself moved by anything else. 

Otherwise,  we are reduced to speaking nonsense as many brilliant minds in our day are happy to do. 

Remember that Thomas' First Mover is the Triune God of the Christianity. 

But even the unlearned perceive how ridiculous it is to suppose that instruments are moved, unless they are set in motion by some principal agent. 

It is okay to say that such a supposition is ridiculous. Note, too, that Thomas appeals to even the unlearned mind. He appeals to common sense, the kind of rationality that often shows itself in children or the unlearned. The learned often have to be taught to ignore common sense and blather on and on about nonsense. There are brilliant minds who are happy to do that. Many of them teach in the finest universities, even. 


Thomas answers every objection using impeccable logic. Me, not so much, but this man thrills my soul like no other Christian thinker. He teaches me to go from the known and obvious - like wind - and trace it back to find God. Any child can learn to do that.