Chapter 19 — That all things tend to be like unto God

From the fact that they acquire the divine goodness, creatures are made like unto God. Therefore, if all things tend to God as their last end so as to acquire his goodness, (Ch. 18.) it follows that the last end of things is to become like unto God.

Moreover. The agent is said to be the end of the effect insofar as the effect tends to be like the agent. Therefore, the form of the generator is the end of the act of generation. (Physics 2.7.) Now God is the end of things in such a way as to be also their first active cause. Therefore, all things tend to a likeness to God as their last end.

Again. Things give evidence that they naturally desire to be; (Nicomachean Ethics 9.7.) if any are corruptible, they naturally resist corruptives, and tend to where they can be safeguarded, as the fire tends upwards and earth downwards. Now all things have being insofar as they are like God, who is self-subsistent being, for they are beings only by participation. Therefore, all things desire as their last end to be like God.

Further. All creatures are images of the first agent, namely God, since the agent produces its like. (On Generation and Corruption 1.7, [6].) Now the perfection of an image consists in representing the original by its likeness to it, for this is why an image is made. Therefore, all things are for the purpose of acquiring a divine similitude as their last end.

Again. Each thing by its movement or action tends to some good as its end, as proved above. (Ch. 16.) Now a thing partakes of the good insofar as it is like to the highest goodness, which is God. Therefore, all things tend to a divine likeness as their last end by their movements and actions.