[Formatting note: Instead of bolding and providing Latin for key phrases/points, I have decided to trim the contents down to the key points and put in bold phrases I want to study in Latin for myself.]
Chapter 45: THAT GOD’S ACT OF UNDERSTANDING IS HIS ESSENCE [QUOD INTELLIGERE DEI EST SUA ESSENTIA]
[1] From the fact that God is intelligent it follows that His act of understanding is His essence.
[2] To understand is the act of one understanding, residing in him, not proceeding to something outside as heating proceeds to the heated thing. For, by being understood, the intelligible suffers nothing; rather, the one understanding is perfected. Now, whatever is in God is the divine essence. God’s act of understanding, therefore, is His essence, it is the divine being, God Himself. …
[3] Furthermore, the act of understanding is to the intellect as being [esse] is to essence [essentia]. But, as we have proved, God’s being is His essence. Therefore, God’s understanding is His intellect. …
actus cognoscendi : intellectus :: esse : essentia –– No finite essence contains within itself the reason for its being: essentia is not identical with esse. No finite intellect contains within itself the reason for its own act of comprehension; all finite intellects depend on the "input" of their intelligible objects, whereas God's perfect intelligence is thus informed by the plenitude of His own infinitude.
[4] … [N]o perfection belongs to Him by participation but rather by essence. If, therefore, His consideration is not His essence, something will be nobler and more perfect than His essence. Thus, God will not be at the summit of perfection and goodness and hence will not be first.
[5] Moreover, to understand is the act of the one understanding. If, therefore, God in understanding is not His understanding, God must be related to it as potency to act. Thus, there will be potency and act in God, which is impossible, as we proved above.
[6] Then, too, every substance exists for the sake of its operation. If, then, the operation of God is other than the divine substance, the end of God will be something other than God. Thus, God will not be His goodness, since the good of each thing is its end.
Social unity is based on shared love, that is, a shared devotion to a common end. If we, then, love God for Himself, we are united with Him in love, since His own act of being is to know and love Himself as Himself. Moreover, since God knows each of us and all things in Himself, we quite literally find ourselves in Him––as we find all things in knowing and loving Him. God's love extends to all things in so far as they partake of His being which is His goodness which is the end of His knowledge. Hence "faith" is as mystifying and stultifying, ineffable and inedible to a rationalist: faith in God is faith in the willed unity of all things, which is not a tenet amenable to "rational proof."
[7] If, however, God’s understanding is His being, His understanding must be simple, eternal and unchangeable, existing only in act, and including all the perfections that have been proved of the divine being. Hence, God is not potentially understanding, nor does He begin to understand something anew, nor still does He have any change or composition in understanding.
Chapter 46: THAT GOD UNDERSTANDS THROUGH NOTHING OTHER THAN THROUGH HIS ESSENCE [QUOD DEUS PER NIHIL ALIUD INTELLIGIT QUAM PER SUAM ESSENTIAM]
… [2] The intelligible species is the formal principle of intellectual operation, just as the form of any agent is the principle of its own operation. Now, as we have shown, the divine intellectual operation is God’s essence. If, then, the divine intellect understood by an intelligible species other than the divine essence, something other would be added to the divine essence as principle and cause. …
The rational discourse of an intellect flows from its being actualized (or, in-formed) by an intelligible species; in the same way, the operations of a being flow from its being actualized by its proper form. The fewer steps an intellect needs to grasp the ramifications and interconnections of an intelligible, the simpler its act of intellection is, which itself is a sign of that thing's greater metaphysical simplicity (or, immanent power). Likewise, the fewer operations a being must perform to achieve an end, the simpler it is in itself. Insofar as God is utterly simple, He need perform only one operation by one act of understanding directed to one end: His own essence.
[3] Furthermore, the intellect becomes understanding in act through an intelligible species, just as the sense becomes sensing in act through a sensible species. The intelligible species is to the intellect, therefore, as act to potency. If, then, the divine intellect understood through some intelligible species other than itself, it would be in potency with respect to something. …
… [5] Again, the intelligible species is the likeness of something understood. If, then, there is in the divine intellect an intelligible species other than the divine essence, it will be the likeness of something understood. … It cannot be the likeness of the divine essence, because then the divine essence would not be intelligible through itself, but that species would make it intelligible. … Nor by another, for there would then be an agent prior to God. It is, therefore, impossible that there be in God an intelligible species other than His essence. …
Chapter 47: THAT GOD UNDERSTANDS HIMSELF PERFECTLY [QUOD DEUS INTELLIGIT PERFECTE SEIPSUM]
… [2] … [T]he perfection of intellectual operation depends on two things. One is that the intelligible species be perfectly conformed to the thing understood. The second is that it be perfectly joined to the intellect, which is realized more fully according as the intellect has greater power in understanding. Now, the divine essence, which is the intelligible species by which the divine intellect understands, is absolutely identical with God and it is also absolutely identical with His intellect. Therefore, God understands Himself most perfectly.
[3] Furthermore, a material thing is made intelligible by being separated from matter and the conditions of matter. Therefore, that which is through its nature separate from all matter and material conditions is intelligible in its nature. … Therefore, since He is absolutely immaterial, and most one with Himself, He understands Himself perfectly.
… [5] Moreover, what is in something in an intelligible way is understood by it. The divine essence is in God in an intelligible way, for the natural being of God and His intelligible being are one and the same, since His being is His understanding. …
[6] … The operation of the intellect will be more perfect as the intelligible object is more perfect. But the most perfect intelligible object is the divine essence, since it is the most perfect and the first truth. The operation of the divine intellect is likewise the most noble, since, as we have shown, it is the divine being. Therefore, God understands Himself. …
Chapter 48: THAT PRIMARILY AND ESSENTIALLY GOD KNOWS ONLY HIMSELF [QUOD DEUS PRIMO ET PER SE SOLUM SEIPSUM COGNOSCIT]
… [2] That thing alone is primarily and essentially known by the intellect by whose species the intellect understands; for an operation is proportioned to the form that is the principle of the operation. But, as we have proved, that by which God understands is nothing other than His essence. Therefore, the primary and essential object of His intellect is nothing other than Himself.
[3] … [If God] understands something other than Himself as the primary and essential object of His understanding, His intellect must change from a consideration of Himself to the consideration of this something else. This something else is less noble than God. The divine intellect is thus changed for the worse, which is impossible.
[4] Moreover, the operations of the intellect are distinguished according to their objects. If, then, God understands Himself and something other than Himself as the principal object, He will have several intellectual operations. Therefore, either His essence will be divided into several parts, or He will have an intellectual operation that is not His substance. Both of these positions have been proved to be impossible. …
[5] Again, in so far as the intellect is different from its object, it is in potency to it. If, then, something other than Himself is God's primary and essential object, it will follow that He is in potency to something else. …
[6] The thing understood, likewise, is the perfection of the one understanding. For the intellect is perfect according as it understands in act, and this obtains through the fact that the intellect is one with what is understood. If, then, something other than Himself is primarily understood by God, something else will be His perfection, and more noble than He. This is impossible.
[7] Furthermore, the knowledge of the one understanding is comprised of many things understood. If, then, God knows many things as the principal and essential objects of His knowledge, it will follow that the knowledge of God is composed of many things. Thus, either the divine essence will be composite, or knowledge will be an accident in God. From what we have said, it is clear that both of these suppositions are impossible. …
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