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It has almost become cliche to talk about the justice and mercy of God. Other than love itself, there may be no two traits more closely associated with God and His relationship to us.

But in this question, Aquinas addresses a few crucial points, and begins to clarify how he thinks of God’s justice and mercy. One thing that complicates the accounts is the classical idea that God has no emotions, even though in human beings justice and mercy have a lot to do with how we handle our emotions towards other people and their wrongdoing.

As always, here are some resources you might find helpful as we move forward:

1. The Summa Theologiae itself. Buy Prima Pars here, and the whole Summa here. Read it for free here.

2. If you have never read the Summa, it can be a little intimidating. But I put together a roadmap so that anybody can read it and understand it. Get it here.

3. Here is the commentary I will be using from Walter Farrell, O.P.

4. Here is the commentary I will be using from Brian Davies, O.P.

Now, let’s dive into God’s justice and mercy.

Question 21: The Justice and Mercy of God

1. Can God Be Just?

Aquinas handles justice first: can God be just? You might think that the answer is no, because God does not owe us anything. And on one hand, Aquinas agrees: God cannot be indebted to His creatures, as if we give God something and He owes us repayment. This kind of justice, in which goods are compensated justly, is what Aquinas calls commutative justice.

However, Aquinas holds that God has justice in another sense. This sense, called distributive justice, is that justice that consists of giving to each thing what it deserves by nature of what it is (or, in human affairs, by nature of what rank a person holds). And here, Aquinas holds that justice is seen in God, namely that God gives us orderly natures that are capable of attaining their end. God has not made it impossible for any person to achieve that which they are made for, and therefore cannot be said to be unjust.

Davies explains it well:

Aquinas is thinking that justice can be ascribed to one, such as a ruler, who distributes goodness justly on the basis of merit or appropriateness. God does this, Aquinas thinks, insofar as God distributes goodness to creatures in a way that befits what they are and how they are related to God as their maker and as the source of their natures and goodness.1

And Farrell points out further:

We see that God gives every creature what is its due as part of the universe, that is, what this cerature needs to play its part in that external order of the universe to God.2

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