Engaging the Biblical Reasoning for Divine Simplicity

Presentations of Divine Simplicity often begin with the disclaimer that the concept is not rooted in Greek philosophy (where similar ideas are explicit) but is consistent with the revelation of the Triune God in Scripture (where the idea is implicit). In this paper, I will explore the biblical reasoning for Divine Simplicity by Thomas Aquinas (Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica), Steven J. Duby (Divine Simplicity), and Thomas Joseph White (“Divine Simplicity” in St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology). I will investigate whether the contemporary advocates only repeat Aquinas’s appeals to Scripture or provide different clusters of texts and interpretations. Also, I will explore whether any related views about God can be held without affirming Divine Simplicity. Is it possible (and coherent), for example, to affirm that God is Triune, one, eternal, a se, uncreated, unchanging in nature, all-powerful, and relational if one fails to affirm that God is pure act? This paper builds on research I presented at the April 2024 regional ETS meeting titled “Divine Simplicity and the Boundaries of Orthodoxy,” which searched the statements of the four ecumenical councils, three prominent Reformation-era confessions, and a contemporary Protestant statement of faith for explicit affirmations of Divine Simplicity. My previous paper considered the basis for Divine Simplicity in historical confessions; this paper will explore the implicit biblical support for the doctrine.