Mitchell Wygant

"Grace does violence only to the corruptions and vices of nature." Bernard J. Wuellner

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"Everything that is in God is His one simple essence; but the perfections that are one in Him are many in our intellect, and so our intellect can know one of them without the other." Aquinas' Commentary on Boethius' De Trinitate Q. 1 A. 4 Reply to obj. 10

"The divine is simple and non-composite. That which is composed of many different elements is composite. So if we say with regard to God that his being uncreated, without origin, incorporeal, immortal, eternal, good, creative,

"In passing..even if there exists a being which is without any composition, our concept of this being cannot be simple but will have to remain composite, although we know that the object of our concept has no composition in itself." Henry Koren Intro to Metaphysics, 22

"Yea, that God is, and must needs be, a simple act (which expression Mr. B fixes on for the rejection of it)..If he be not so, there must be some potentiality in God. Whatever is, and is not a simple act, hath a possibility to be perfected by act.." John Owen

God is an Essence altogether simple and immaterial, utterly free from all manner of composition any way, in whom are no qualities nor any limitation of essence. Edward Leigh

"though the notions of wisdom and power are distinct, yet the things signified are one essence in God..God is essentially wise & powerful, & therefore infinite in both, & both indistinct in him, whose essence is most simple and admits no parts." William Twisse, A Discovery, 243

"God is a most pure simple unmixed indivisible Essence; He is uncapable of the least composition, and therefore of the least division..without all parts, members, accidents, and qualitites: Whatsoever is in him is himself, his very Being.." George Swinnock, IOG, 38

"He who conceives what is actually and really one and simple in God as actually and really diverse, conceives what is false." Francis Turretin IET, vol. 1, 189

"He (God) hath essence or being of himself...And this essence I call simple, because it is undivided, the wisdom of God is not a divers thing from his essence, but the same; quicquid in Deo est, Deus est." John Mayer, The English Catechism Explained, 97

"Indeed the notion of God as simple, as him being pure act, and as thus being perfect in terms of having no potentiality, is an obvious point of continuity between Thomas and the Reformed." Carl Trueman, The Oxford Handbook of the Reception of Aquinas, 212.

"The essential attributes of God are not parts or qualities of the Divine Essence, nor Accidents in the Essence, nor a subject: But the very whole and entire Essence of God." Lewis Bayly Practice of Piety, 32.

"Simplicity is a property of God..being all essence; whatsoever is in God, is God..God is absolutely simple, he is but one thing..but himself, his essence, and attributes are all one thing..by us diversly considered and understood." Edward Leigh A Treatise of Divinity, 26-7

"Socinianism spoke of "accidents" [incidental properties] in God and held that a different view and description of the attributes were necessary.

Simplicity is an attribute of God’s essence..indicating that the divine essence is altogether without any composition..of matter and form, from genus and difference, subject and accident, act and potency, and finally, essence and existence. SOPT vol. 1 6.24

"Simplicity itself which is that Attribute by which God is one most pure and entire essence, one most simple being without all composition..but he is every way most simple, nothing in him, but what is God, what is himself." John Preston, Life Eternal, Ser. 12

🧵Francis Cheynell on knowing God's Perfections according to the Threefold Way: For we are still to remember that God is to be known 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑚 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑒, when we make an 𝐸𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡 Distinction between one Divine Attribute and another,

John Owen utilizing Thomas Aquinas and his commentators to affirm Divine Simplicity against the Socinian John Biddle.

"If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, Or what does He receive from your hand?" Job 35:6-7

In Episode 207 of Theology In Particular, Dr. James Dolezal joins me to discuss the Council of Nicaea and the theological debates that precipitated it. This year is the 1,700th anniversary of Nicaea. We hope this conversation increases your appreciation for this important event…