1 Objection 1: It seems that the Will of God is changeable. For the Lord says Gn. 6, 7): It repenteth Me that I have made man. But whoever repents of what he has done, has a changeable will. Therefore God has a changeable will.
1 Ad septimum sic proceditur. Videtur quod voluntas Dei sit mutabilis. Dicit enim dominus Genes. VI, poenitet me fecisse hominem. Sed quemcumque poenitet de eo quod fecit, habet mutabilem voluntatem. Ergo Deus habet mutabilem voluntatem.
2 Objection 2: Further, it is said in the person of the Lord: I will speak against a nation and against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it; but if that nation shall repent of its evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them Jer. 18, 7, 8) Therefore God has a changeable will.
2 Praeterea, Ierem. XVIII, ex persona domini dicitur, loquar adversus gentem et adversus regnum, ut eradicem et destruam et disperdam illud; sed si poenitentiam egerit gens illa a malo suo, agam et ego poenitentiam super malo quod cogitavi ut facerem ei. Ergo Deus habet mutabilem voluntatem.
3 Objection 3: Further, whatever God does, He does voluntarily. But God does not always do the same thing, for at one time He ordered the law to be observed, and at another time forbade it. Therefore He has a changeable will.
3 Praeterea, quidquid Deus facit, voluntarie facit. Sed Deus non semper eadem facit, nam quandoque praecepit legalia observari, quandoque prohibuit. Ergo habet mutabilem voluntatem.
4 Objection 4: Further, God does not will of necessity what He wills, as said before Article 3). Therefore He can both will and not will the same thing. But whatever can incline to either of two opposites, is changeable substantially; and that which can exist in a place or not in that place, is changeable locally. Therefore God is changeable as regards His will.
4 Praeterea, Deus non ex necessitate vult quod vult, ut supra dictum est. Ergo potest velle et non velle idem. Sed omne quod habet potentiam ad opposita, est mutabile, sicut quod potest esse et non esse, est mutabile secundum substantiam; et quod potest esse hic et non esse hic, est mutabile secundum locum. Ergo Deus est mutabilis secundum voluntatem.
5 On the contrary, It is said: God is not as a man, that He should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed Num. 23, 19).
5 Sed contra est quod dicitur Num. XXIII, non est Deus, quasi homo, ut mentiatur; neque ut filius hominis, ut mutetur.
6 I answer that, The will of God is entirely unchangeable. On this point we must consider that to change the will is one thing; to will that certain things should be changed is another. It is possible to will a thing to be done now, and its contrary afterwards; and yet for the will to remain permanently the same: whereas the will would be changed, if one should begin to will what before he had not willed; or cease to will what he had willed before. This cannot happen, unless we presuppose change either in the knowledge or in the disposition of the substance of the willer. For since the will regards good, a man may in two ways begin to will a thing. In one way when that thing begins to be good for him, and this does not take place without a change in him. Thus when the cold weather begins, it becomes good to sit by the fire; though it was not so before. In another way when he knows for the first time that a thing is good for him, though he did not know it before; hence we take counsel in order to know what is good for us. Now it has already been shown that both the substance of God and His knowledge are entirely unchangeable Question 9, Article 1; Question 14, Article 15). Therefore His will must be entirely unchangeable.
6 Respondeo dicendum quod voluntas Dei est omnino immutabilis. Sed circa hoc considerandum est, quod aliud est mutare voluntatem; et aliud est velle aliquarum rerum mutationem. Potest enim aliquis, eadem voluntate immobiliter permanente, velle quod nunc fiat hoc, et postea fiat contrarium. Sed tunc voluntas mutaretur, si aliquis inciperet velle quod prius non voluit, vel desineret velle quod voluit. Quod quidem accidere non potest, nisi praesupposita mutatione vel ex parte cognitionis, vel circa dispositionem substantiae ipsius volentis. Cum enim voluntas sit boni, aliquis de novo dupliciter potest incipere aliquid velle. Uno modo sic, quod de novo incipiat sibi illud esse bonum. Quod non est absque mutatione eius, sicut adveniente frigore, incipit esse bonum sedere ad ignem, quod prius non erat. Alio modo sic, quod de novo cognoscat illud esse sibi bonum, cum prius hoc ignorasset, ad hoc enim consiliamur, ut sciamus quid nobis sit bonum. Ostensum est autem supra quod tam substantia Dei quam eius scientia est omnino immutabilis. Unde oportet voluntatem eius omnino esse immutabilem.
7 Reply to Objection 1: These words of the Lord are to be understood metaphorically, and according to the likeness of our nature. For when we repent, we destroy what we have made; although we may even do so without change of will; as, when a man wills to make a thing, at the same time intending to destroy it later. Therefore God is said to have repented, by way of comparison with our mode of acting, in so far as by the deluge He destroyed from the face of the earth man whom He had made.
7 Ad primum ergo dicendum quod illud verbum domini metaphorice intelligendum est, secundum similitudinem nostram, cum enim nos poenitet, destruimus quod fecimus. Quamvis hoc esse possit absque mutatione voluntatis, cum etiam aliquis homo, absque mutatione voluntatis, interdum velit aliquid facere, simul intendens postea illud destruere. Sic igitur Deus poenituisse dicitur, secundum similitudinem operationis, inquantum hominem quem fecerat, per diluvium a facie terrae delevit.
8 Reply to Objection 2: The will of God, as it is the first and universal cause, does not exclude intermediate causes that have power to produce certain effects. Since however all intermediate causes are inferior in power to the first cause, there are many things in the divine power, knowledge and will that are not included in the order of inferior causes. Thus in the case of the raising of Lazarus, one who looked only on inferior causes might have said: Lazarus will not rise again, but looking at the divine first cause might have said: Lazarus will rise again.
And God wills both: that is, that in the order of the inferior cause a thing shall happen; but that in the order of the higher cause it shall not happen; or He may will conversely. We may say, then, that God sometimes declares that a thing shall happen according as it falls under the order of inferior causes, as of nature, or merit, which yet does not happen as not being in the designs of the divine and higher cause.
Thus He foretold to Ezechias: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live Is. 38, 1). Yet this did not take place, since from eternity it was otherwise disposed in the divine knowledge and will, which is unchangeable. Hence Gregory says Moral. xvi, 5): The sentence of God changes, but not His counsel, that is to say, the counsel of His will. When therefore He says, I also will repent, His words must be understood metaphorically. For men seem to repent, when they do not fulfill what they have threatened.
8 Ad secundum dicendum quod voluntas Dei, cum sit causa prima et universalis, non excludit causas medias, in quarum virtute est ut aliqui effectus producantur. Sed quia omnes causae mediae non adaequant virtutem causae primae, multa sunt in virtute et scientia et voluntate divina, quae non continentur sub ordine causarum inferiorum; sicut resuscitatio Lazari. Unde aliquis respiciens ad causas inferiores, dicere poterat, Lazarus non resurget, respiciens vero ad causam primam divinam, poterat dicere, Lazarus resurget. Et utrumque horum Deus vult, scilicet quod aliquid quandoque sit futurum secundum causam inferiorem, quod tamen futurum non sit secundum causam superiorem; vel e converso. Sic ergo dicendum est quod Deus aliquando pronuntiat aliquid futurum, secundum quod continetur in ordine causarum inferiorum, ut puta secundum dispositionem naturae vel meritorum; quod tamen non fit, quia aliter est in causa superiori divina. Sicut cum praedixit Ezechiae, dispone domui tuae, quia morieris et non vives, ut habetur Isaiae XXXVIII; neque tamen ita evenit, quia ab aeterno aliter fuit in scientia et voluntate divina, quae immutabilis est. Propter quod dicit Gregorius, quod Deus immutat sententiam, non tamen mutat consilium, scilicet voluntatis suae. Quod ergo dicit, poenitentiam agam ego, intelligitur metaphorice dictum, nam homines quando non implent quod comminati sunt, poenitere videntur.
9 Reply to Objection 3: It does not follow from this argument that God has a will that changes, but that He sometimes wills that things should change.
9 Ad tertium dicendum quod ex ratione illa non potest concludi quod Deus habeat mutabilem voluntatem; sed quod mutationem velit.
10 Reply to Objection 4: Although God's willing a thing is not by absolute necessity, yet it is necessary by supposition, on account of the unchangeableness of the divine will, as has been said above Article 3).
10 Ad quartum dicendum quod, licet Deum velle aliquid non sit necessarium absolute, tamen necessarium est ex suppositione, propter immutabilitatem divinae voluntatis, ut supra dictum est.