We, as human beings, are derived from the nature of a purely non-contradictory being. He is the unmovable mover, the uncaused cause, the uncreated one, “through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3). Thomas Aquinas expressed this truth in many different fashions, the most prominent of which being the Principle of Non-Contradiction. So if God, in essence, cannot contradict his nature, then from where do we encounter the source of contradiction?
Just as good is to evil, light is to darkness and knowledge is to ignorance, the latter is not necessarily a direct contradiction but a nagging lack of the former. Contradiction does not come directly from God, but is derived from the lack of God – the lack of perfection that causes contradiction. Since we are beings created in the image of a non-contradictory nature, we can logically surmise that our triune beings (body, soul, spirit) should be working in harmony, symbiotically together for a common purpose. Whether we admit it or not, we are all in pursuit of the person of perfection. So why do we claim that our reason contradicts our faith?
Our faith and our reason both come from the nature of God, and in Him they abide in perfect harmony. Though our reason says that there cannot be a God, or even that God is not good, these conclusions are not drawn by a lack of logic, but rather of a lack of faith. Faith without reason can also be ignorance, so we must instead place our reason in service of our faith, that we may attain the knowledge that is attainable by reason and the faith necessary to understand the great mystery of God. As Aquinas said, “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” It is the perfect wedding of faith and reason that leads us into the non-contradictory nature of God. And we must never divorce the two.
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