Chapter 14 — That God is not a species said of many individuals

Nor can God be, as it were, a single species predicated of many individuals. Various individuals that come together in one essence of a species are distinguished by factors that lie outside the essence of the species. For example, men are alike in their common humanity but differ from one another in virtue of something that is outside the notion of humanity. This cannot occur in God, for God himself is his essence, as has been shown. Therefore, God cannot be a species that is predicated of several individuals.

Again, a number of individuals comprised under one species differ in their existence, and yet are alike in their one essence. Accordingly, whenever a number of individuals are under one species, their existence must be different from the essence of the species. But in God existence and essence are identical, as has been demonstrated. Therefore, God cannot be a sort of species predicated of many individuals.