Editing Divine simplicity (section)

==Overview==
The [[being]] of God is identical to the [[God#Specific characteristics|"attributes" of God]]. Characteristics such as [[omnipresence]], goodness, truth and eternity are identical to God's being, not qualities that make up that being as a collection or abstract entities inherent to God as in a [[Substance theory|substance]]; in God, [[essence]] and [[existence]] are the same.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://newadvent.com/summa/1003.htm#article4|title=Summa Theologiae: The simplicity of God (Prima Pars, Q. 3)|website=newadvent.com|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref>

Simplicity denies any physical or [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] composition in the divine being. God is the divine nature itself, with no accidents (unnecessary properties) accruing to his nature. There are no real divisions or distinctions of this nature; the entirety of God is whatever is attributed to him. God does not ''have'' goodness, but ''is'' goodness; God does not {{em|have}} existence, but ''is'' existence. According to [[Thomas Aquinas]], God is God's existence and God's essence is God's existence.<ref name="Divine Simplicity | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy-2">{{cite web | url=https://iep.utm.edu/divine-simplicity/#H2 | title=Divine Simplicity &#124; Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy }}</ref> Divine simplicity is the hallmark of God's transcendence of all else, ensuring that the divine nature is beyond the reach of ordinary categories and distinctions (or, at least, their ordinary application). "Simplicity in this way confers a unique ontological status that many philosophers find highly peculiar."<ref name="Divine Simplicity | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy-3">{{cite web | url=https://iep.utm.edu/divine-simplicity/#SH5b | title=Divine Simplicity &#124; Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy }}</ref> When it comes to God's essential nature or attributes, there are no parts or accidents; this is not to be confused with God's accidental or contingent relation to the world (God's non-essential or contingent properties, not God's nature).<ref name="Divine Simplicity | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy-3"/><ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/divine-simplicity/#GodMcCaDDSConcStatAffa | title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy | chapter=Divine Simplicity | year=2019 | publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University }}</ref>

Varieties of this doctrine exist among [[Jewish]], [[Christian]], and [[Muslim]] philosophical theologians, especially during the height of [[scholasticism]]. Its origins may be traced back to ancient Greek thought, finding [[apotheosis]] in [[Plotinus#Major ideas|Plotinus']] ''[[Enneads]]'' as the Simplex.<ref name=plotinus1>Bussanich John, Plotinus's metaphysics of the One in The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus, ed. Lloyd P.Gerson, p. 42, 1996, Cambridge University Press, UK. For instances, see [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/plotenn/enn129.htm Plotinus, Second Ennead, Fourth Tractate, Section 8] ([[Stephen MacKenna]]'s translation, Sacred Texts)</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/plotenn/enn450.htm|title=The Enneads of Plotinus: The Fifth Ennead: Fourth Tractate: Section 1|website=www.sacred-texts.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/plotenn/enn156.htm|title=The Enneads of Plotinus: The Second Ennead: Ninth Tractate: Section 1|website=www.sacred-texts.com}}</ref>