Five Ways to Prove God Exists (Aquinas 101)

Thomas Aquinas's famous work called the Summa Theologiae has three main parts. The first part deals with the presence of God in creation. The second part deals with the presence of God by grace in the souls of the just. The third part deals with the presence of God in Christ and in His mystical body, the

Church. The whole thing is really an extended meditation on the presence of God, but one of the greatest questions of all times is whether God exists, and Thomas takes the question head on with his famous five ways or five proofs for the existence of God. In this episode, we will give a brief sketch of the five ways, but let us first ask how

human beings can know the existence of God. One way to know God's existence is by taking it on faith from what the Bible says. But Thomas is well aware that the Bible itself tells us that there's another way to know the existence of God. In Romans chapter one, verse 20, St. Paul tells us that the existence of God is known

to everyone, at least in a general and confused sort of way from the beauty and goodness of the natural world. Romans chapter one, verse 20 is a quick summary of a longer passage in the Book of Wisdom, chapter 13, verses one to nine. The two passages tell us to expect to find human beings who have never even read the

Bible, but know that God exists just from their experience and rational reflection upon the natural world. Now, when Aquinas turned to the writings of ancient pagan philosophers, he found exactly that. He found people who had never read the Bible, but who had given serious arguments for the existence of God. The writings of ancient pagan philosophers confirmed the biblical teaching that it is