Chapter 5: On the nature of God in general; what God is
CHAPTER FIVE. On the nature of God in general.
And so we have shown that God is one: now we will see what His nature is, and of what sort He has revealed Himself to us both by works and by the Word. For knowledge of this is exceedingly necessary for us, both because it discriminates the true God from all fictitious divinities, and because it stirs us to fear, love, and honor Him, and to place our trust in Him.
What then is God? I. God is being simply, the highest, living integrally and independently. From what we taught in chapter 3 it is plain that God's essence cannot be explained by a definition, which is also clearly concluded from this principle: whatever things are properly defined consist of genus and difference. But God has no genus above Himself, because He transcends all genera, nor does He admit a true difference, because that is nowhere found without a genus which contracts and determines it — which will be more fully demonstrated in the attribute of infinity, and was rightly asserted among the Gentiles by Plato. Yet He can be described in some measure by certain attributes which declare the excellence of the divine nature and are as it were marks by which God is distinguished from all other things.
Latin
CAPUT QUINTUM, De natura Dei in genere. Atque ita ostendimus, unum esse Deum: nunc videbimus, quaenam sit illius natura, & qualem se nobis qua operibus, qua verbo revelaverit. Hujus enim notitia nobis oppido est necessaria, tum quia verum Deum omniaque fictitia numina discriminat, tum quia ad eum timendum, amandum, honorandum, fiduciamque in ipsum collocandam, nos excitat. Quid igitur Deus est? I. Deus est ens simpliciter, summum, vivens integre atque independens. Ex iis, quae cap. 3. docuimus, manifestum quidem est, Dei essentiam definitione explicari non posse, quod & ex hoc principio evidenter concluditur, nempe quod quaecunque definiuntur proprie, genere constant ac differentia. Atqui Deus nullum genus supra se habet, quia omnia genera transcendit, neque veram differentiam capit, quia haec sine genere, quod contrahat ac determinet, nusquam reperitur, id quod in attributo infinitatis plenius demonstrabitur atque inter gentiles a Platone recte assertum fuit. Describi tamen potest aliqua ratione per attributa quaedam, quae naturae divinae excellentiam declarant, ac sunt velut notae, quibus Deus ab aliis rebus omnibus distinguitur.