Proof of God’s Existence from Motion

Proof from Motion.—If there is motion in the world, there exists a mover, and, in last analysis, a First Mover which is itself not moved. Now, there is motion in the world. Therefore, there exists a mover, and, in last analysis, a First Mover which is itself not moved. This First Mover we call God. Therefore, God exists.

Motion is any change. There is change of substance, which is corruption-generation; there is change of quantity, which is increase or diminishment; there is change of quality, which is alteration; there is change of place, which is local movement. All these types of change are familiar to us in our daily experience. And each change is an example of motion. The principle (that is the intellectual principle, the guiding truth) about motion is this Whatever moves is moved by something other than itself: The word “moves” in this principle is to be understood as an intransitive verb. It is not difficult to see that this principle is absolutely justified. For what moves (the verb is intransitive) receives the motion, as the hand receives its motion from the man who writes or gesticulates. Anything movable is in a state of capacity or potentiality to receive motion. But to say that a thing moves itself is to say the thing gives motion to itself and receives motion from itself; it is to say that a thing is at once potential and actual; it is to say something as contradictory as that a man lifts himself by his boot-straps. Motion is not self-originating. Of course, there can be a series of movers. A man’s fingers are moved, as he writes, by the muscles of hand and arm; these are moved into action by the motor nerves which center in the cerebro-spinal axis; these are set to motion or use by the man himself, and precisely by the man’s will. But the will is a faculty used or set in motion by the soul. And the soul is set in motion when it is first created, and as it is preserved and concurred with by its Creator. Thus, we come back to a First Mover. A train of cars moving down the track is moved by the locomotive, although each car may be said to be moved by the one ahead of it which conveys the power or “pull” which moves it. The locomotive moves because its wheels move. The wheels move because the driving-rod moves them. The driving-rod is moved by the expansion of steam on the cylinder-head. The steam is moved to force and action by its compression in the cylinder. The compression of steam is owing to the action of fire on water. The action of fire, and the re-action of water, are due to their nature. Their nature is due to the Creator of nature, who moves them into existence equipped with certain powers, and who preserves them and concurs with them. Thus even the common spectacle of a moving train can carry the thinking mind straight to the First Mover, the self-existent, unmoved God. The First Mover cannot be moved, for it is First. It is purely actual (Actus Purus), “without change or shadow of alteration.”

Excerpt From: Paul J. Glenn. “An Introduction to Philosophy.”

The scripture declares that God is the cause of motion, as it is written: “For in him we live, and move, and have our being…” (Act 17:28).  Motion is any change.  God doesn’t change, as it is written: “…I am the LORD, I change not…” (Mal 3:6), and, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (Jam 1:17); therefore God is the First Unmoved Mover.