Aquinas on Forgiveness and Divine Motion

How might Aquinas answer this claim?: Some say it is metaphysically impossible for God to forgive one who refuses to be forgiven.

These same should also wonder if it is metaphysically impossible for a divine motion to fail in obtaining its effect.

Aquinas might address the claim regarding the metaphysical impossibility of God forgiving one who refuses to be forgiven and the failure of divine motion in obtaining its effect by distinguishing between God's omnipotence and the nature of free will in human beings.

Aquinas asserts that God, in His essence, is both intellect and will (Summa Theologica, Prima Pars, Question 19, Article 1)【13†source】. God's will is the cause of things, not by necessity of nature but by His intellect and will, and the effects of His will proceed from His own infinite perfection according to the determination of His

will and intellect (Summa Theologica, Prima Pars, Question 19, Article 4)【13†source】. This implies that while God has the power and the will to bestow forgiveness, the actual realization of forgiveness in an individual may also require the cooperation of that individual's will. The act of forgiveness from God does not infringe upon the freedom of the individual's will to accept or reject it.

Concerning divine motion and its effect, Aquinas argues that God acts not out of necessity but according to His perfect will and intellect. He posits that while God wills things other than Himself, it's not out of absolute necessity, but rather by a supposition that, having willed something, He cannot will the opposite because His will does not change (Summa Theologica, Prima Pars, Question 19, Article 3)【13†source】. This suggests that while divine motion (God's will) is always effective in the sense that it accomplishes its divine purpose, it does not compel or coerce the will of the creatures, respecting the nature of free will granted to them. So, in Aquinas's view, it is not metaphysically impossible for God to forgive someone who refuses to be forgiven because the act of forgiveness itself does not override the individual's freedom to accept or reject that forgiveness. The divine motion (God's will) doesn't fail in obtaining its effect; rather, it upholds the order of creation, which includes the genuine freedom of human beings to make moral choices.