Ch. 23 "Absence of Accidents in God" from "Compendium of Theology" by St. Thomas Aquinas

CHAPTER 23 ABSENCE OF ACCIDENTS IN GOD

Inde etiam apparet quod in Deo nullum accidens esse potest. Si enim in eo omnes perfectiones sunt unum, ad perfectionem autem pertinet esse, posse, agere, et omnia huiusmodi, necesse est omnia in eo idem esse quod eius essentia. Nullum igitur eorum in eo est accidens.

It is also clear that there can be no accident in God. If all perfections are one in Him, and if existence, power, action, and all such attributes pertain to perfection, they are necessarily all identical with His essence. Therefore none of these perfections is an accident in God.

Item. Impossibile est infinitum esse perfectione, cuius perfectioni aliquid adiici potest. Si autem aliquid est cuius aliqua perfectio sit accidens, cum omne accidens superaddatur essentiae, oportet quod eius essentiae aliqua perfectio adiici possit. Non igitur invenitur in eius essentia perfectio infinita. Ostensum est autem, Deum secundum suam essentiam infinitae perfectionis esse. Nulla igitur in eo perfectio accidentalis esse potest, sed quidquid in eo est, substantia eius est.

Furthermore, a being to whose perfection something can be added, cannot be infinite in perfection. But if a being has some perfection that is an accident, a perfection can be added to its essence, since every accident is super-added to essence. Hence infinite perfection will not be found in its essence. But, as we have shown, God is of infinite perfection according to essence. Consequently there can be in Him no accidental perfection; whatever is in Him, is His substance.

Hoc etiam facile est concludere ex summa simplicitate illius, et ex hoc quod est actus purus, et ex hoc quod est primum in entibus. Est enim aliquis compositionis modus accidentis ad subiectum. Id etiam quod subiectum est, non potest esse actus purus, cum accidens sit quaedam forma vel actus subiecti. Semper etiam quod est per se, prius est eo quod est per accidens. Ex quibus omnibus secundum supradicta haberi potest, quod in Deo nihil est quod secundum accidens dicatur.

The same truth can be easily inferred from God’s supreme simplicity, and from the fact that He is pure act and is the first among beings. For some sort of composition obtains between an accident and its subject. Likewise, that which is a subject of this kind cannot be pure act, since an accident is a certain, form or act of the subject. Similarly, what is per se always precedes what is per accidens. From all this we can infer, in keeping with the truths established above, that nothing can be predicated of God as an accident.