Article 7 — Whether the elements will remain when the heavens cease to be in motion

The seventh point of inquiry is whether the elements will remain when the heavens cease to be in motion. (Parallel texts: SCG IV.97; In IV Sent. 47.2.2, qa. 2; 44.2.1, qa. 1; 48.1.4, qa. 2, ad 3.)

Obj. 1: And it seems that they will not. For it is written that at the end of the world the elements shall melt with heat (2 Pet 3:10). Now, when a thing is melted it remains no more. Therefore, the elements will not remain.

Obj. 2: But it will be said that they will remain in substance, though not as to their active and passive qualities.

On the contrary, if the cause remains, the effect remains. Now, essential principles cause the proper accidents. Since, then, the active and passive qualities are the proper accidents of the elements, it seem that as long as the essential principles remain, without which the substance cannot exist, the active qualities would also remain.

Obj. 3: An inseparable accident is never actually separated from its subject. Now, heat is an accident inseparable from fire. Therefore, fire cannot remain without retaining heat, and the same applies to the other elements.

Obj. 4: But, it will be said, this will be done by the power of God, so that the elements will remain without their active and passive qualities, though this is impossible naturally.

On the contrary, as nature was established at the beginning of the world, so will it be consummated at the end of the world. Now, in speaking of the beginning of the world, according to Augustine, we must consider not what God can do, but what the nature of things holds. (Augustine, On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis 2.1 (PL 34:263–64).) Therefore, this is also to be considered in discussing the end of the world.

Obj. 5: Active and passive qualities are in all the elements. And a Gloss of Bede on the text of Peter quoted above says that the fire that will be kindled at the end of the world will entirely absorb two of the elements, and will restore the others to a better form. (Glossa ordinaria 6, 1369, at 2 Peter 3:10–13 (PL 114:694).) Therefore, the destruction of the elements cannot refer to their active and passive qualities, since in that case it would not be said that only two elements would be absorbed.

Obj. 6: But, it will be said, the active qualities, namely, heat and cold, are most prominent in two elements, fire and water, and for this reason these two are stated to be absorbed.

On the contrary, at the end of the world the elements will be made better. But, according to Augustine, (Augustine, On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis 12.16 (PL 34:466–67).) an agent is more honorable than a patient. Therefore, those elements should remain in which active qualities are prominent, rather than those wherein passive qualities are prominent.

Obj. 7: Augustine says that liquid and soil present an aptitude for being acted upon, while fire and air present an aptitude for acting. (Augustine, On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis 3.10 (PL 34:284–85).) Therefore, if certain elements are said to be absorbed on account of an active power, it seems that this should not be understood of fire and water, but of fire and air.

Obj. 8: Heavy and light are natural qualities of the elements just as hot and cold, wet and dry are. If, then, the latter qualities do not remain in the elements, neither do heaviness and lightness. Now, it is by reason of the nature of heaviness and lightness that the elements have their natural places. Therefore, if the elemental qualities do not remain after the end of the world, they will have no distinct place, so that the earth be below and fire up above.

Obj. 9: The elements were made for man stretching toward beatitude. Now, the means cease when the end has been obtained. Therefore, the elements will cease to exist when, at the end of the world, man has wholly come to rest in beatitude.

Obj. 10: Matter is for the sake of the form that it acquires by generation. Now, the elements are as matter in relation to all mixed bodies. Since, then, there will be no further generation of mixed bodies after the end of the world, it would seem that the elements will not remain.

Obj. 11: On Luke 21:33, heaven and earth shall pass away, the Gloss adds, having cast aside their previous form. (Glossa interlinearis, at Luke 21:33 (in Glossa ordinaria 5, 967–68).) Since, then, the form gives being, it would seem that the elements will no longer exist after the end of the world.

Obj. 12: According to the Philosopher, the corruptible and the incorruptible are not of one genus, and for the same reason neither are the mutable and the immutable. (Aristotle, Metaphysics 10.8, 1057b35–28; 10.10, 1058b26–1059a14.) If, then, a thing be transformed from mutability to immutability, it seems that it no longer remains in the genus of its own nature. Now, the elements will be changed from mutability to immutability, as is clear from the Gloss on Matthew 5:18, till heaven and earth pass, which says: till they pass from mutability to immutability. (Glossa interlinearis, at Matthew 5:18 (in Glossa ordinaria 5, 103–4).) Therefore, the elements will not retain their present nature.

Obj. 13: The present disposition of the elements is natural. Therefore, if this disposition be removed so as to give place to another, this will be unnatural to them. Now, that which is unnatural and violent cannot last forever, as is clear from the Philosopher in On the Heavens. (Aristotle, On the Heavens 2.4, 286a12–b9; 3.5, 300a21–b7.) Consequently, this latter disposition cannot remain forever in the elements; rather, they would return to the former disposition, which seems incongruous. Therefore, the elements themselves in their substance will cease to exist, and not just their disposition while their substance remains.

Obj. 14: That alone can be incorruptible and ungenerable whose entire matter stands beneath the form to which it is in potency, as is clear with the heavenly bodies. Now, this cannot apply to the elements, because the matter that is under the form of one element is in potency to the form of another. Therefore, the elements cannot be incorruptible, and consequently, cannot last forever.

Obj. 15: That which has no power to exist always cannot be everlasting. Now, the elements have no power to exist always, because they are corruptible. Therefore, they cannot last forever when the heavens cease to be in motion.

Obj. 16: But, it will be said, the elements are incorruptible as a whole, though they are corruptible in their parts.

On the contrary, it is on account of the movement of the heavens that one part of an element is corrupted and another generated, for it is in this way that the totality of that element is preserved. Therefore, when the heavenly movement ceases, there will be no longer an assignable cause for the preservation of the whole element.

Obj. 17: The Philosopher says that the movement of the heavens is as a certain life for all things existing in nature, (Aristotle, Physics 8.1, 250b15–21.) and Rabbi Moses says that the heavenly movement is to the universe what the beating of the heart is to the animal, in that the life of the whole animal depends thereon. (Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed 1.72.) Now, when the heart ceases to beat, all the parts of the animal decompose. Therefore, when the heavens cease to move, all the parts of the universe will perish; and thus, the elements will not remain.

Obj. 18: Everything has its being from its form. Now, the heavenly movement is the cause of forms in these lower things, which is clear from the fact that nothing in lower things acts toward a species except by the power of the heaven’s movement, as philosophers say. Therefore, when heavenly motion ceases, the elements will cease to exist, as their forms will be destroyed.

Obj. 19: At the presence of the sun, the higher elements always overcome the lower, as happens in summer on account of the strength of the heat, while at the absence of the sun, the opposite happens. Now, when the heavens cease to be in motion, the sun will always be on one side of the earth and absent from the other. Therefore, on the one side the cold elements will be entirely destroyed, and the hot on the other side, such that the elements will not remain when the heavenly movement ceases.

On the contrary (1), a Gloss of Ambrose on Romans 8:20, the creature was made subject to vanity, says: all the elements labor to fulfill their offices . . . wherefore, they will rest when we are taken up to heaven. (Glossa ordinaria 6, 109, at Romans 8:20–22 (PL 114:497).) Now, only that which exists can be said to rest. Therefore, the elements will remain at the end of the world.

Furthermore (2), the elements were made for the manifestation of the divine goodness. But then most of all will there be need to manifest the divine goodness, when all things will receive their final consummation. Therefore, the elements will remain at the end of the world.

I answer that all are agreed in holding that the elements in some way will remain and in some way pass away. But opinions differ as to the manner of remaining and passing away.

Some have maintained that all the elements will remain as regards their matter, but that some will receive a nobler form, namely, water and fire, which will receive the form of the heavens, such that in this way three of the elements will be able to be called “heaven”: namely, air (which by reason of its nature is sometimes called the “heaven” in Scripture), water, and fire, which will assume the form of the heavens. Thus would be verified the words of Revelation 21:1, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because heaven would include the three elements, fire, air, and water.

However, this view is impossible, because the elements are not in potency to the form of the heavens, inasmuch as the form of the heavens has no contrary and all the matter that is in potency to the heaven’s form is under that form. For in this way the heavens could be generated and corrupted, which the Philosopher shows to be false. (Aristotle, On the Heavens 1.27, 282a21–32.) Again, the argument in support of this view is frivolous, because, as Basil says: Scripture in mentioning the extremes includes those that come between. (Basil the Great, Homilies on the Six Days 1.7 (PG 29:19).) Thus, when we read that in the beginning God created heaven and earth (Gen 1:1), the creation of heaven and earth includes the intermediate elements. And sometimes all the lower things are comprised in the word earth, as is clear in Psalm 148:7, praise the Lord from the earth followed by fire, hail, etc. Therefore, there is no reason why we should not say that by the renewal of heaven and earth Scripture intended also the renewal of the intermediate elements, or that earth includes all the elements.

Therefore, others hold that all the elements will remain as to their substance, not only in respect of their matter but also as regards their substantial forms. For just as, in the opinion of Avicenna, the elemental forms remain in a mixed body, while their active and passive qualities remain not in their own fullness but reduced to a mean, so too will it be possible in the last state of the world for these elements to remain without these qualities. This would seem in agreement with what Augustine says: in this world-conflagration, the qualities of the corruptible elements that were suitable to our bodies will be entirely destroyed by fire, and the elemental substance itself will have those qualities which by a wondrous change will be suitable to immortal bodies. (Augustine, City of God 20.16 (PL 41:682).)

But this does not seem a reasonable view.

First, because, as the active and passive qualities are accidents of the elements through themselves, they must be caused by the essential principles of the latter; whence as long as the essential principles remain in these elements, it is impossible for these qualities to cease, save by violence, in which case they would not cease for long. Therefore, neither does the opinion of Avicenna seem probable, when he asserts that the elements retain their forms actually in a mixed body; rather, they remain only by power, as the Philosopher says, since it would follow that the various elemental forms remain in the various parts of matter. Now, this would not happen unless they were also distinct as to position, and then it would not be a true mixture, but only one according to sensation. Yet, in a mixed body the qualities of one element counteract the qualities of another, and this cannot apply to the final consummation of the world, when all violence will cease.

Second, because, as the active and passive qualities belong to the integrity of the elements’ nature, it would follow that the elements will remain in a state of imperfection. Therefore, Augustine in the passage quoted refers not to the active and passive qualities, but to the dispositions of things subject to generation, corruption, and alteration.

And therefore it seems that one should say that the elements will remain in their substance, and even in their natural qualities, but that their mutual generation, corruption, and alteration will cease, because it is by means of these that the elements are ordered to the completion of the number of the elect, just as the heaven is by means of its movement. The substance, however, of the elements will remain just as the substance of heaven will. For, since the universe will remain forever, as we have shown above, it follows that whatever primarily and through itself belongs to the perfection of the universe must remain.

Now, this applies to the elements inasmuch as they are essential parts of the universe, as the Philosopher proves. (Aristotle, On the Heavens 2.6, 287a30–b21.) For if the universe is a circular body, it must have a center, and this is the earth, and given the earth, which is simply speaking heavy, insofar as it is established in the middle, there must be its contrary, namely, fire, which is simply speaking light; for if one contrary exists in nature, the other must exist also. Now, given the extremes, we must posit the intermediates; therefore, we must posit air and water, which are heavy relative to fire, and light relative to earth, one of which is nearer to the earth.

Therefore, from the very arrangement of the universe it is evident that the elements are essential parts thereof. This is manifest if we consider the order of causes to their effects. For just as the heaven is the universal active cause of things that are generated, so too the elements are their universal matter. Hence, the perfection of the universe requires that the elements remain in their substance. Moreover, by their very nature, they have an aptitude to this. However, corruption occurs in mixed bodies otherwise than in the elements; for in mixed bodies there is present within themselves an active principle of corruption, on account of their being composed from contraries, whereas in the elements, which have an outside contrary but are not themselves composed of contraries, there is not present in them an active principle of corruption, but only a passive one, inasmuch as they have a matter within which is the aptitude for another form that it lacks. It is due to this principle that generation and corruption in the elements are natural movements or changes, and not to any active principle, as the Commentator says. (Averroes, Commentary on the Physics 2.1.)

Accordingly, just as because the heavenly body has an external active principle of its motion, it can occur that its motion might cease while it itself remains, and without violence, as stated above, so too is it possible that the elements cease to be corrupted while their substances remain when the external cause of their corruption ceases, which cause must be traced back to the heavenly movement as to the first principle of generation and corruption.

Reply Obj. 1: This melting of the elements does not mean that their substance will be destroyed, but that they will be made pure, which will occur by a fire that will go before the face of the Judge. After being thus purified, the elements will remain in their substance and natural qualities, as we have stated.

Reply Obj. 2–3: The second and third objections are granted.

Reply Obj. 4: At the beginning of the world, the nature of bodies was established in accordance with its being ordered to generation and corruption, by which the number of the elect is made complete. But at the consummation of the world, the substance of the elements will remain to the degree that it is ordained to the perfection of the universe. Consequently, there will be no need, in that final state, for the elements to retain all that they needed at the beginning of the world.

Reply Obj. 5: Bede’s Gloss does not mean that two elements will be thus destroyed in their substance, but that they will be changed in their state. (Glossa ordinaria 6, 1369, at 2 Peter 3:10–13 (PL 114:694).) This is especially evident in the case of two elements: namely, air and water, to which according to some the Gloss refers, although others take it to refer to fire and water, in which the active qualities are most prominent.

Reply Obj. 6: Action depends on the agent more than on the patient by the very fact that the agent is more honorable than the patient. Therefore, the destruction of change in the elements and of their mutual action is more fittingly described by a withdrawal of active powers than by that of passive ones.

Reply Obj. 7: If we consider action and passion in the elements with respect to the substantial principles, it is true, as Augustine says, that liquid and soil present an aptitude for being acted upon, while fire and air one for acting; for fire and air have more of form, which is the principle of action, and earth and water have more of matter, which is the principle of passivity. But if we consider them with respect to active and passive qualities, which are the immediate principles of action, then fire and water are more active, while earth and air are more passive.

Reply Obj. 8: The eighth objection is granted.

Reply Obj. 9: The elements, as regards their mutability, were made for man stretching toward heaven, but as regards their own substance, they were made both for the perfection of the universe and for the substance of man himself, which is composed of them.

Reply Obj. 10: At the end of the world, not all mixed bodies will cease to exist, since human bodies will remain. It is fitting, therefore, if their parts remain in the body of man, who is the microcosm, that they should all remain as a whole in the macrocosm.

Reply Obj. 11: The form to be cast aside by the elements is their mutability itself, and not that form which is their principle of existence.

Reply Obj. 12: The elements will lose their changeable disposition because they will cease to be changed, but they will not lose their changeable nature.

Reply Obj. 13: The elements’ disposition to generation, corruption, and change is natural to them as long as the heavens continue to be in motion, but it will not be so after this movement has ceased.

Reply Obj. 14: This argument proves that in the elements there is a material principle of corruption, not that there is an active one; hence, they undergo no change when the heavenly movement ceases, which is the principle of their change.

Reply Obj. 15: Just as an element has no power to exist always, inasmuch as it can be corrupted by an extrinsic agent, so too it has no principle such that it would cease to exist at some time, except a material one, as stated above.

Reply Obj. 16: As long as the heavens continue to be in motion, the elements as a whole are incorruptible while their parts are generated or destroyed. When, however, the heavens cease to be in motion, there will be another cause of their incorruptibility, namely, that they can be destroyed only by an extrinsic cause; but when the heavenly movement ceases, that extrinsic corruptive cause will cease also.

Reply Obj. 17: The heaven’s movement is as a certain life for all natural things in their state of mutability, which will be taken away at the consummation of the world.

Reply Obj. 18: Although the bringing out of forms from potency to act depends on the celestial movement, still their preservation depends on higher principles, as already explained.

Reply Obj. 19: The sun causes heat by its movement, as the Philosopher says; (Aristotle, On the Heavens 2.10, 289a19–33.) therefore, when movement is taken away, there will no longer be a cause of corruption in the elements, which results from excess of heat.