1 Objection 1: It seems that there are accidents in God. For substance cannot be an accident, as Aristotle says Phys. i). Therefore that which is an accident in one, cannot, in another, be a substance. Thus it is proved that heat cannot be the substantial form of fire, because it is an accident in other things. But wisdom, virtue, and the like, which are accidents in us, are attributes of God. Therefore in God there are accidents.
1 Ad sextum sic proceditur. Videtur quod in Deo sint aliqua accidentia. Substantia enim nulli est accidens, ut dicitur in I Physic. Quod ergo in uno est accidens, non potest in alio esse substantia, sicut probatur quod calor non sit forma substantialis ignis, quia in aliis est accidens. Sed sapientia, virtus, et huiusmodi, quae in nobis sunt accidentia, Deo attribuuntur. Ergo et in Deo sunt accidentia.
2 Objection 2: Further, in every genus there is a first principle. But there are many genera of accidents. If, therefore, the primal members of these genera are not in God, there will be many primal beings other than God, which is absurd.
2 Praeterea, in quolibet genere est unum primum. Multa autem sunt genera accidentium. Si igitur prima illorum generum non sunt in Deo, erunt multa prima extra Deum, quod est inconveniens.
3 On the contrary, Every accident is in a subject. But God cannot be a subject, for no simple form can be a subject, as Boethius says De Trin.). Therefore in God there cannot be any accident.
3 Sed contra, omne accidens in subiecto est. Deus autem non potest esse subiectum, quia forma simplex non potest esse subiectum, ut dicit Boetius in Lib. de Trin. Ergo in Deo non potest esse accidens.
4 I answer that, From all we have said, it is clear there can be no accident in God. First, because a subject is compared to its accidents as potentiality to actuality; for a subject is in some sense made actual by its accidents. But there can be no potentiality in God, as was shown Question 2, Article 3). Secondly, because God is His own existence; and as Boethius says Hebdom.), although every essence may have something superadded to it, this cannot apply to absolute being: thus a heated substance can have something extraneous to heat added to it, as whiteness, nevertheless absolute heat can have nothing else than heat. Thirdly, because what is essential is prior to what is accidental. Whence as God is absolute primal being, there can be in Him nothing accidental. Neither can He have any essential accidents as the capability of laughing is an essential accident of man), because such accidents are caused by the constituent principles of the subject. Now there can be nothing caused in God, since He is the first cause. Hence it follows that there is no accident in God.
4 Respondeo dicendum quod, secundum praemissa, manifeste apparet quod in Deo accidens esse non potest. Primo quidem, quia subiectum comparatur ad accidens, sicut potentia ad actum, subiectum enim secundum accidens est aliquo modo in actu. Esse autem in potentia, omnino removetur a Deo, ut ex praedictis patet. Secundo, quia Deus est suum esse, et, ut Boetius dicit in Lib. de Hebdomad., licet id quod est, aliquid aliud possit habere adiunctum, tamen ipsum esse nihil aliud adiunctum habere potest, sicut quod est calidum, potest habere aliquid extraneum quam calidum, ut albedinem; sed ipse calor nihil habet praeter calorem. Tertio, quia omne quod est per se, prius est eo quod est per accidens. Unde, cum Deus sit simpliciter primum ens, in eo non potest esse aliquid per accidens. Sed nec accidentia per se in eo esse possunt, sicut risibile est per se accidens hominis. Quia huiusmodi accidentia causantur ex principiis subiecti, in Deo autem nihil potest esse causatum, cum sit causa prima. Unde relinquitur quod in Deo nullum sit accidens.
5 Reply to Objection 1: Virtue and wisdom are not predicated of God and of us univocally. Hence it does not follow that there are accidents in God as there are in us.
5 Ad primum ergo dicendum quod virtus et sapientia non univoce dicuntur de Deo et de nobis, ut infra patebit. Unde non sequitur quod accidentia sint in Deo, sicut in nobis.
6 Reply to Objection 2: Since substance is prior to its accidents, the principles of accidents are reducible to the principles of the substance as to that which is prior; although God is not first as if contained in the genus of substance; yet He is first in respect to all being, outside of every genus.
6 Ad secundum dicendum quod, cum substantia sit prior accidentibus, principia accidentium reducuntur in principia substantiae sicut in priora. Quamvis Deus non sit primum contentum in genere substantiae, sed primum extra omne genus, respectu totius esse.