"And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'; and He said, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.'"

— Exodus 3:14 LSB

Classical theism, which sketches the historic Christian doctrine of God, is fundamentally understood as an intellectual framework that draws on both philosophical reasoning (natural theology) and divine revelation (Scripture). Classical theism advances God's foundational attributes, such as simplicity, eternity, immutability, impassibility, and aseity, which guard the biblical teaching about the Triune God: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Hence, it provides robust support and grammar about what we believe concerning God in Himself, who is one essence and three persons.1 In answering the question, "What is Classical Theism?" We need to listen to some of the contemporary theologians which I consider as the main proponents of this biblical teaching (Ed Feser, James Dolezal, Craig Carter, Bradford Littlejohn, and Matt Marino) and draw assertions on what it teaches. Of course, they stand upon the shoulders of classical theologians such as Augustine, Athanasius, Aquinas, and Anselm, among others, as well as the creeds (Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed).

Feser's Classical Theism: "God as the Ultimate Reality"

Reading Edward Feser's work helps me understand Thomistic metaphysics and Classical Theism2 better. Based on Exodus 3:14 which Aquinas reads as God is Being Itself, we can see God's description of Himself as the ultimate reality both in the order of being and discovery. Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt says that Étienne Gilson referred to this self-referential reply of God to Moses as "the metaphysics of Exodus."3

Classical theism, I propose, can to a first approximation best be understood as the thesis that God is to be conceived of first and foremost as the ultimate reality in the order of being, and the ultimate explanation of things in the order of discovery. It is worth emphasizing that the thesis is biblical no less than it is philosophical. That God is the ultimate reality in the order of being is expressed in Anselm's famous definition of God as that than which nothing greater can be conceived (Proslogium, Chapter II). But it also finds expression in God's description of himself as "I Am He Who Is" in Exodus 3:14, at least if we follow Aquinas in taking this to imply that God is the unique thing whose essence is identical to his existence. For this in turn entails that God stands at the apex of the hierarchy of reality, insofar as he alone need not and cannot have his existence imparted to him by another (Summa Theologiae I.3.4). That God is the ultimate explanation of things in the order of discovery is expressed in arguments like the one Aquinas gives for the claim that there must indeed be something whose essence is identical to its existence, to serve as the first uncaused cause of the existence of everything else (De Ente et Essentia, Chapter 4). But it also finds expression in the very first line of scripture: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).4

Dolezal's Classical Theism: "God as Pure Act"

Founded upon Thomas Aquinas' act and potency, essence and existence, and God's pure actuality, Dolezal affirmed Classical Theism's rejection of any change (formal or substantial) in God. Since God is Being itself and not a being that participates under a large class of "things" that exist, He cannot not be. God's essence is His very act of existing.

Anything composed of act and potency must be caused to exist by an agent extrinsic to it and must also be liable to change, improvement, dissolution, or annihilation. But according to classical Christian theism none of these is attributable to God. As pure actuality he can neither come into existence nor go out of it. Also, he cannot change accidentally or substantially in his existence. As the will and power of God account for creaturely coming-to-be and change from the divine side, act-potency composition helps us understand it from the creaturely side.5

Carter's Classical Theism: "God is Known By Reason"

In the two quotes below from Craig Carter, he emphasizes how God is known by reason working on general revelation. This is known as the "mediate general revelation." He also continues to assert that this is the teaching of the Nicene Creed and how classical theism is united with trinitarian theology forming the classical definition of God.

Classical theism refers to what can be known about God by reason working on general revelation. By philosophical reasoning about nature, we can know that God necessarily must exist as the First Cause of the universe and that God is simple, immutable, eternal, and self-existent. But we cannot know that this God has acted so as to create, judge, become incarnate, and redeem the fallen creation except by special revelation. Special revelation comes to us today in Holy Scripture. Although some attributes of God, such as immutability and eternity, can be known by natural theology, other attributes of God, such as love and mercy, can be known only by special revelation. The Nicene doctrine of the Trinity was formulated to affirm that the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — has the attributes of simplicity, eternity, aseity, perfection, and immutability. The fathers were convinced that Scripture teaches both of these sets of attributes — that is, both the philosophical attributes and the personal attributes.

The best way to think of the classically orthodox definition of God is to see it as the union of classical theism and trinitarian theology. Classical theism and biblical trinitarianism came together during the fourth century in the context of the Arian debates. This period of controversy was the context for the genesis of the Nicene doctrine of God, which is the heart of classical orthodoxy as expressed in the Nicene Creed. Fourth-century pro-Nicene theology combined a commitment to divine immutability and simplicity, on the one hand, with a trinitarian account of how God operates in history, on the other. Combining these two understandings of God was an intentional strategy designed to do justice to Scripture.6

Littlejohn's Classical Theism: "The God of Traditional Christianity"

As the word "classical" implies, Classical Theism is the teaching about the God of what Christendom believes. Littlejohn asserts in the quote below on the indispensability of natural theology in understanding the God of traditional (contra modern) Christianity.

Furthermore, and of equal importance, some of the most foundational of the divine attributes (such as Divine Simplicity, Immutability, and Impassibility) can only be known through Natural Theology, and can only be affirmed through the interaction of Natural and Biblical theology (we may turn to the Summa Theologiae for an example of how we come to know, via reason alone, that God exists, and is simple, immutable, impassible, eternal, perfect, good, etc.). The doctrines of divine simplicity, immutability, impassibility, and even divine eternity (which have come under attack in recent years, by those who claim to be Christian theologians), which also pass the standards of Protestant Orthodoxy, are only known through Natural Theology. By rejecting Natural Theology, we also, at the same time, reject that which allows us to affirm these divine attributes (which we must affirm if we wish to affirm the traditionally orthodox doctrines concerning the nature of God). Reject one of these attributes, and we no longer have the God of traditional Christianity. Indeed, as many philosophers, both Christian and non-Christian, have noted, it is not only possible to demonstrate that God exists via reasoning based on observations of the natural world, but it is also possible to demonstrate, via reasoning, many of the divine attributes. These are just a couple of examples of how our rational observations of the created universe are necessary for Christian orthodoxy. Thus, we propose, Natural Theology also passes the fourth test of Christian orthodoxy.7

Marino's Classical Theism: "God is God in Himself"

Matt Marino, author of the Reformed Classicalist, maintains that "God in Himself" is the very substance of classical theism. This is Reformed Thomism at its core. When we study theology it is about God in Himself and all things in relation to Him. It is all about God and His works. Notice as well his assertion that metaphysics (Thomist-Aristotelian) is not contrary to the Scriptures' teaching about God's nature.

What characterizes the very substance of classical theism is understanding that God is God in Himself, first and foremost, and that He has revealed Himself (a) in His works (effects), in ways fitting for the capacities of creaturely understanding, yet (b) not so as to confuse these effects with His essence. Put in philosophical terms: the narrative and relational depictions of God in Scripture, while perfectly true, are not meant to be an alternative to metaphysics — not a God in space and time as opposed to the eternal God, not a God in the grace of Christ as opposed to the First Cause of nature, not a God who sympathizes with our weaknesses as opposed to divine impassibility, and so forth.8

Summary Assertions

From the above quotations, we derive the following assertions on Classical Theism:

  1. Classical Theism is a rational, metaphysical understanding of God in Himself derived from general revelation (natural theology).
  2. Classical Theism begins with God as the ultimate reality — God in Himself (a se, ipsum esse subsistens).
  3. Classical Theism harmonizes reason and revelation in revealing the one true, simple, eternal, immutable, transcendent, impassible, self-existent, personal, and triune God.
  4. Classical Theism safeguards the Creator-creature distinction while grounding Christian orthodoxy.
  5. Classical Theism stands upon the historic Christianity's witness of the Triune God in Himself as revealed in the Scriptures, and the True God as revealed in nature and reason.

In summary, Classical Theism teaches that God is first understood as Being Itself, the self-existent and ultimate reality (Feser, Marino); that human reason and divine revelation together reveal this same God (Carter, Littlejohn); and that maintaining this distinction between God's essence and His effects safeguards the orthodox confession of the transcendent, immutable, and triune Lord of Scripture.

To the Triune God alone be the glory.

Note: The quotes above may be expanded as I read and encounter helpful definitions of Classical Theism.

Footnotes

  1. This runs contrary to the error and modern revision — "a revisionist project" — of the doctrine of the Trinity, such as Eternal Functional Subordination (EFS) and Eternal Relations of Authority and Submission (ERAS). These teachings read the submission of the incarnate Son (an economic act) back into his eternal personal identity (the immanent Trinity), asserting a permanent hierarchy of authority and subordination among the divine persons. (See Matthew Barrett's On Classical Trinitarianism, Chapter 34: "Renaissance or Revision?" by Craig Carter). ↩

  2. Note that I am not equating Classical Theism with Thomism. Classical Theism runs even from pre to post-Nicene, to Medieval, and even Reformed Orthodoxy. ↩

  3. Bauerschmidt, Frederick Christian (2005). Holy Teaching: Introducing the Summa Theologiae of St Thomas Aquinas. ↩

  4. Feser, Edward. "What is Classical Theism?" In Rooney, James. Classical Theism: New Essays on the Metaphysics of God. Edited by Jonathan Fuqua and Robert C. Koons. New York: Routledge, 2022. p. 8. ↩

  5. Dolezal, James E. All That Is in God: Evangelical Theology and the Challenge of Classical Christian Theism. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2017. ↩

  6. Carter, Craig A. "Classical Orthodoxy and the Rise of Relational Theism." In Contemplating God with the Great Tradition. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021. ↩

  7. Littlejohn, Bradford. God of Our Fathers: Classical Theism. The Davenant Institute, 2021. ↩

  8. Marino, Matt. "What is Classical Theism?" Reformed Classicalist. https://www.reformedclassicalist.com/home/what-is-classical-theism ↩