INFINITY OF GOD

The infinity of God has to do with God's perfection. The primary notion of God's infinity is that of denying that which would place him within the finite realm and so make him less than perfect. To say that God is infinite is simply to say that he is not finite. More positively God's infinity enhances those attributes which denote his perfection, such as, He is infinite in goodness, infinite in power, infinite in wisdom and love. There are no limits, bounds, or constraints, whether external or internal, imposed on his perfect being.

Biblical Basis. There is no explicit biblical teaching on God's infinity. However, it is implied within some of the other attributes predicated of God within the Bible. From the beauty, greatness, and power seen within the created order "comes a corresponding perception of their Creator" (Wis 13:3–5). God "knows all that may be known … no thought escapes him. He is from everlasting to everlasting. Nothing can be added or taken away… Though we speak much we cannot reach the end, and the sum of our words is: 'He is the all"' (Sir 42:15–43:35). God's "greatness is unsearchable" (Ps 144–145:3). There is none like God for he orders all time from beginning to end (Is 46:9–10). God is "exalted in his power" (Jb 36:22). God alone possesses immortality and exists in unapproachable light (1 Tm 6:15). It is in the perception of the grandeur and glory of God's perfection that his infinity is discerned.

Christian Tradition. While some Greek philosophical schools, such as the Stoics, conceived matter to be infinite, Christian theologians consistently attributed infinity to God in the absolute sense. The universe may be relatively infinite in that we do not know its bounds, limits, and ends nor do we know the infinite array of all that it contains, yet it is finite in that it was created and so is bound by time, space, and its own limited finite ability to be actualized (Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae,I.7.2–4). However, as Creator, God is not a member of the finite created order, and so is wholly other than all else. Therefore, God does not belong to any finite genus, that is, he cannot be named within or numbered among any genus of the created order and therefore does not partake of the limitations of that order (Summa theologiae,I.3.5). As God he belongs to an entirely different ontological order and as such is absolutely infinite. Moreover, Aquinas argues that because God's very nature is to be (ipsum esse ) and so pure act (actus purus ) he is absolutely "infinite and perfect" in that all the attributes that are predicated of him are fully and perfectly in act and thus infinitely in act (Summa theologiae, I.7.1). For example, because God is infinite as pure act "it is necessary that the active power of God should be infinite … Whence, since the divine essence, through which God acts, is infinite it follows that his power likewise is infinite" (Summa theologiae, I.25.2). All of God's perfections then are infinite in that they possess no limitations as in creatures but are fully and perfectly actualized within his divine being.

Theologians have treated the infinity of God, both philosophically and theologically, primarily from within his being the one God. However, the Trinity is equally infinite since the one God is a trinity of persons. The persons are infinite in their giving of themselves entirely to one another for they subsist only in relation to one another. They are all also infinitely perfect in their love, goodness, wisdom, power, and knowledge. The Father is infinitely perfect, the Son is infinitely perfect, the Holy Spirit is infinitely perfect, but there are not three separate infinite perfections but one infinite perfection that each person wholly and completely possesses in accordance with that person's distinct subjectivity. The Father possesses the one infinite perfection as Father, the Son as Son, and the Holy Spirit as Holy Spirit (Augustine, De Trin. 7; Summa theologiae, I.39). The Church has consistently taught that God as a trinity of persons is infinite in their various perfections: Quicumque (H. Denzinger, Enchiridion Symbolorum [Freiburg 1963] 75), the Nicene Creed (Denz., 125–6), Lateran IV (ibid., 800), Vatican I (ibid., 3001).

Bibliography: t. aquinas, Summa Theologiae I.7. a. h. armstrong and r. a. markus, "God's Transcendence and Infinity," in Christian Faith and Greek Philosophy (London 1960) 8–15. l. sweeney, Divine Infinity in Greek and Medieval Thought (New York 1992).

[t. g. weinandy]