Bonaventure is arguing that, because God is perfect, He displays all perfect attributes. More than that, He is the fount, origin and exemplar of these qualities. If we wish to know what perfect goodness is, we only need to look to God and His behaviour. When Bonaventure states, ‘there is no diversity’ within God, he is saying that God wholly simple and united. There are divisions or separations within God and all His attributes peacefully coexist together in perfect harmony; there are contradictions or tensions between them. God is not ‘composite’ and does not immanently contain different parts or sections – He is pure essence and actuality. There is not even a distinction within God between His existence (that He is) and His essence (what He is). We make that distinction only because of our fallen, limited perception of God’s nature. This is what Karl Rahner would later call the distinction between the “economic Trinity” and the “immanent Trinity”. The former is how we imperfectly perceive of God’s triune nature through His revelation and action in the world. The latter is God’s own triune nature as He Himself sees it (from a “God’s eye view”, as it were). This is what Bonaventure means when he says, ‘all that is in Him should be one and simple’. It is therefore inaccurate to say that God *has* the attribute of omnipotence, He instead *is* omnipotence itself – its embodiment, model, fount and exemplar. God does not just contingently exist, He necessarily exists because He Himself is His own existence. This is what Bonaventure means when he writes, ‘in God there are all the qualities of perfection […] Nonetheless, they are identical to such a degree that they involve no composition’. God is not “made up” of parts, He just is by His nature.
By Ben Somervell
Theology Seeking Faith in Durham 