6.7 Moving On
I have now shown how Aquinas argues that God exists as first mover and first cause. I have also shown him maintaining that God is perfect, though not a perfect such and such, and that God is good, though not a good member of a class of beings. As I have noted, Aquinas additionally claims that God is eternal, incorporeal, and simple, and that we do not understand what God is even though we can truly proclaim, without equivocation, that God is perfect and good.
Yet those who believe in God tell us that he has knowledge and acts with will or freedom, and, in spite of what he says about divine simplicity, Aquinas is of their mind. You will have surmised by now that he cannot take God to know by having investigated so as to arrive at a true conclusion on the basis of evidence or by being informed by someone. In SCG 1,44–96, however, he has much to say about God’s knowledge and God’s will. So let me now try to explain how he understands these.