Because we cannot know what God is, but only what He is not, we cannot consider how He is but only how He is not

Because we cannot know what God is, but only what He is not, we cannot consider how He is but only how He is not

Thomas Aquinas, a prominent theologian and philosopher of the medieval period, grappled with the concept of God and the limitations of human understanding in his works. One of his most famous statements, “Because we cannot know what God is, but only what He is not, we cannot consider how He is but only how He is not,” encapsulates his belief in the ineffability of God and the limitations of human reason in comprehending the divine.

Aquinas argued that God, as the ultimate source of all existence and perfection, transcends human understanding and language. He believed that God’s essence is beyond the grasp of human intellect, as God is infinite and incomprehensible to finite beings like humans. Therefore, Aquinas posited that we can only know God through negation, by understanding what God is not rather than what He is.