(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors.)


ST. ATHANASIUS

FOUR DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS

[Oxford translation of J. H. Newman, slightly revised by Rev. Archibald
Robertson, Principal of Bishop Hatfield's Hall, Durham, late fellow of
Trinity College, Oxford.]


DISCOURSE II

CHAPTER XIV: TEXTS EXPLAINED; FOURTHLY, HEBREWS iii. 2.

Introduction; the Regula Fidei counter to an Arian sense of the text; which
is not supported by the word 'servant,' nor by 'made' which occurs in it;
(how can the Judge be among the 'works' which 'God will bring into
judgment?') nor by 'faithful;' and is confuted by the immediate context,
which is about Priesthood; and by the foregoing passage, which explains the
word 'faithful' as meaning trustworthy, as do 1 Pet. iv. fin. and other
texts. On the whole made may safely be understood either of the divine
generation or the human creation.

   1. I DID indeed think that enough had been said already against the
hollow professors of Arius's madness, whether for their refutation or in
the truth's behalf, to insure a cessation and repentance of their evil
thoughts and words about the Saviour. They, however, for whatever reason,
still do not succumb; but, as swine and dogs wallow(1) in their own vomit
and their own mire, rather invent new expedients for their irreligion. Thus
they misunderstand the passage in the Proverbs, 'The Lord hath created me a
beginning of His ways for His works(2),' and the words of the Apostle, 'Who
was faithful to Him that made Him(3),' and straightway argue, that the Son
of God is a work and a creature. But although they might have learned from
what is said above, had they not utterly lost their power of apprehension,
that the Son is not front nothing nor in the number of things originate at
all, the Truth witnessing(4) it (for, being God, He cannot be a work, and
it is impious to call Him a creature, and it is of creatures and works that
we say, 'out of nothing,' and 'it was not before its generation'), yet
since, as if dreading to desert their own fiction, they are accustomed to
allege the aforesaid passages of divine Scripture, which have a good
meaning, but are by them practised on, let us proceed afresh to take up the
question of the sense of these, to remind the faithful, and to shew from
each of these passages that they have no knowledge at all of Christianity.
Were it otherwise, they would not have shut themselves up in the
unbelief(5) of the present Jews(6), but would have inquired and learned(6)
that, whereas 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God,' in consequence, it was when at the good pleasure of
the Father the Word became man, that it was said of Him, as by John, 'The
Word became flesh(7);' so by Peter, 'He hath made Him Lord and Christs(8);-
-as by means of Solomon in the Person of the Lord Himself, 'The Lord
created me a beginning of His ways for His works(9);' so by Paul, 'Become
so much better than the Angels(10);' and again, 'He emptied Himself, and
took upon Him the form of a servant(11);' and again, 'Wherefore, holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High
Priest of our profession, Jesus, who was faithful to Him that made
Him(12).' For all these texts have the same force and meaning, a religious
one, declarative of the divinity of the Word, even those of them which
speak humanly concerning Him, as having become the Son of man. But, though
this distinction is sufficient for their refutation, still, since from a
misconception of the Apostle's words (to mention them first), they consider
the Word of God to be one of the works, because of its being written, 'Who
was faithful to Him that made Him,' I have thought it needful to, silence
this further argument of theirs, taking in hand(13), as before, their
statement.

   2. If then He be not a Son, let Him be called a work, and let all that
is said of works be said of Him, nor let Him and Him alone be called Son,
nor Word, nor Wisdom neither let God be called Father, but only Framer and
Creator of things which by Him come to be; and let the creature be Image
and Expression of His framing will, and let Him, as they would have it, be
without generative nature, so that there be neither Word, nor Wisdom, no,
nor Image, of His proper substance. For if He be not Son(1), neither is He
Image(2). But if there be not a Son, how then say you that God is a
Creator? since all things that come to be are through the Word and in
Wisdom, and without This nothing can be, whereas you say He hath not That
in and through which He makes all things. For if the Divine Essence be not
fruitful itself(3), but barren, as they hold, as a light that lightens not,
and a dry fountain, are they not ashamed to speak of His possessing framing
energy? and whereas they deny what is by nature, do they not blush to place
before it what is by will(4)? But if He frames things that are external to
Him and before were not, by willing them to he, and becomes their Maker,
much more will He first be Father of an Offspring from His proper Essence.
For if they attribute to God the willing about things which are not, why
recognise they not that in God which ties above the will? now it is a
something that surpasses will, that He should be by nature, and should be
Father of His proper Word. If then that which comes first, which is
according to nature, did not exist, as they would have it in their folly,
how could that which is second come to be, which is according to will? for
the Word is first, and then the creation. On the contrary the Word exists,
whatever they affirm, those irreligious ones; for through Him did creation
come to be, and God, as being Maker, plainly has also His framing Word, not
external, but proper to Him;--for this must be repeated. If He has the
power of will, and His will is effective, and suffices for the consistence
of the things that come to be, and His Word is effective, and a Framer,
that Word must surely be the living Will(5) of the Father, and an
essential(6) energy, and a real Word, in whom all things both consist and
are excellently governed. No one can even doubt, that He who disposes is
prior to the disposition and the things disposed. And thus, as I said,
God's creating is second to His begetting; for Son implies something proper
to Him and truly from that blessed and everlasting Essence; but what is
from His will, comes into consistence from without, and is framed through
His proper Offspring who is from It.

   3. As we have shewn then they are guilty of great extravagance who say
that the Lord is not Son of God, but a work, and it follows that we all of
necessity confess that He is Son. And if He be Son, as indeed He is, and a
son is confessed to be not external to his father but from him, let them
not question about the terms, as I said before, which the sacred writers
use of the Word Himself, viz. not 'to Him that begat Him,' but 'to Him that
made Him;' for while it is confessed what His nature is, what word is used
in such instances need raise no question(7). For terms do not disparage His
Nature; rather that Nature draws to Itself those terms and changes them.
For terms are not prior to essences, but essences are first, and terms
second. Wherefore also when the essence is a work or creature, then the
words 'He made,' and 'He became,' and 'He created,' are used of it
properly, and designate the work. But when the Essence is an Offspring and
Son, then 'He made,' and 'He became,' and 'He created,' no longer properly
belong to it, nor designate a work; but 'He made' we use without question
for 'He begat.' Thus fathers often call the sons born of them their
servants, yet without denying the genuineness of their nature; and often
they affectionately call their own servants children, yet without putting
out of sight their purchase of them originally; for they use the one
appellation from their authority as being fathers, but in the other they
speak from affection. Thus Sara called Abraham lord, though not a servant
but a wife; and while to Philemon the master the Apostle joined Onesimus
the servant as a brother, Bathsheba, although mother, called her son
servant, saying to his father, 'Thy servant Solomon(8);'--afterwards also
Nathan the Prophet came in and repeated her words to David, 'Solomon thy
servant(9).' Nor did they mind calling the son a servant, for while David
heard it, he recognised the 'nature,' and while they spoke it, they forgot
not the 'genuineness,' praying that he might be made his father's heir, to
whom they gave the name of servant; for to David he was son by nature.

   4. As then, when we read this, we interpret it fairly, without
accounting Solomon a servant because we hear him so called, but a son
natural and genuine, so also, if, concerning the Saviour, who is confessed
to be in truth the Son, and to be the Word by nature, the saints say, 'Who
was faithful to Him that made Him,' or if He say of Himself, 'The Lord
created me,' and, 'I am Thy servant and the Son of Thine handmaid(1),' and
the like, let not any on this account deny that He is proper to the Father
and from Hint; but, as in the case of Solomon and David, let them have a
right idea of the Father and the Son. For if, though they hear Solomon
called a servant, they acknowledge him to be a son are they not descrying
of many deaths(2), who, instead of preserving the same explanation in the
instance of the Lord, whenever they hear 'Offspring,' and 'Word,' and
'Wisdom,' forcibly misinterpret and deny the generation, natural and
genuine, of the Son from the Father; but on hearing words and terms proper
to a work, forthwith drop down to the notion of His being by nature a work,
and deny the Word; and this, though it is possible, from His having been
made man, to refer all these terms to His humanity? And are they not proved
to be an abomination' also 'unto the Lord,' as having 'diverse weights(3)'
with them, and with this estimating those other instances, and with that
blaspheming the Lord? But perhaps they grant that the word 'servant' is
used under a certain understanding, but lay stress upon 'Who made' as some
great support of their heresy. But this stay of theirs also is but a broken
reed; for if they are aware of the style of Scripture, they must at once
give sentence against(4) themselves. For as Solomon, though a son, is
called a servant, so, to repeat what was said above, although parents call
the sons springing from themselves 'made' and 'created' and 'becoming,' for
all this they do not deny their nature. Thus Hezekiah, as it is written in
Isaiah, said in his prayer, 'From this day I will make children, who shall
declare Thy righteousness, O God of my salvation(5).' He then said, 'I will
make;' but the Prophet in that very book and the Fourth of Kings, thus
speaks, 'And the sons who shall come forth of thee(6).' He uses then 'make'
for 'beget' and he calls them who were to spring from him, 'made,' and no
one questions whether the term has reference to a natural offspring. Again,
Eve on bearing Cain said, 'I have gotten a man from the Lord(7);' thus she
too used 'gotten' for 'brought forth.' For, first she saw the child, yet
next she said, 'I have gotten.' Nor would any one consider, because of 'I
have gotten,' that Cain was purchased from without, instead of being born
of her. Again, the Patriarch Jacob said to Joseph, 'And now thy two sons,
Ephraim and Manasseh, which became thine in Egypt, before I came unto thee
into Egypt, are mine(8).' And Scripture says about Job, 'And there came to
him seven sons and three daughters(9).' As Moses too has said in the Law,
'If sons become to any one,' and 'If he make a son(10).' Here again they
speak of those who are begotten, as 'become' and 'made,' knowing that,
while they are acknowledged to be sons, we need not make a question of
'they became,' or 'I have gotten,' or 'I made(11).' For nature and truth
draw the meaning to themselves.

   5. This being so(1), when persons ask whether the Lord is a creature or
work, it is proper to ask of them this first, whether He is Son and Word
and Wisdom. For if this is shewn, the surmise about work and creation fails
to the ground at once and is ended. For a work could never be Son and Word;
nor could the Son be a work. And again, this being the state of the case,
the proof is plain to all, that the phrase, 'To Him who made Him' does not
serve their heresy, but rather condemns it. For it has been shewn that the
expression 'He made' is applied in divine Scripture even to children
genuine and natural; whence, the Lord being proved to be the Father's Son
naturally and genuinely, and Word, and Wisdom, though 'He made' be used
concerning Him, or 'He became,' this is not said of Him as if a work, but
the saints make no question about using the expression,--for instance in
the case of Solomon, and Hezekiah's children. For though the fathers had
begotten them from themselves, still it is written, 'I have made,' and 'I
have gotten,' and 'He became.' Therefore God's enemies, in spite of their
repeated allegation of such phrases(2), ought now, though late in the day,
after what has been said, to disown their irreligious thoughts, and think
of the Lord as of a true Son, Word, and Wisdom of the Father, not a work,
not a creature. For if the Son be a creature, by what word then and by what
wisdom was He made Himself(3)? for all the works were made through the Word
and the Wisdom, as it is written, 'In wisdom hast Thou made them all,' and,
'All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made(4).'
But if it be He who is the Word and the Wisdom, by which all things come to
be, it follows that He is not in the number of works, nor in short of
things originate, but the Offspring of the Father.

   6. For consider how grave an error it is, to call God's Word a work.
Solomon says in one place in Ecclesiastes, that 'God shall bring every work
into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be
evil(1).' If then the Word be a work, do you mean that He as well as others
will be brought into judgment? and what room is there for judgment, when
the Judge is on trial? who will give to the just their blessing, who to the
unworthy their punishment, the Lord, as you must suppose, standing on trial
with the rest? by what law shall He, the Lawgiver, Himself be judged? These
things are proper to the works, to be on trial, to be blessed and to be
punished by the Son. Now then fear the Judge, and let Solomon's words
convince you. For if God shall bring the works one and all into judgment,
but the Son is not in the number of things put on trial, but rather is
Himself the Judge of works one and all, is not the proof clearer than the
sun, that the Son is not a work but the Father's Word, in whom all the
works both come to be and come into judgment? Further, if the expression,
'Who was faithful,' is a difficulty to them, from the thought that
'faithful' is used of Him as of others, as if He exercises faith and so
receives the reward of faith, they must proceed at this rate to find fault
with Moses for saying, 'God faithful and true(2),' and with St. Paul for
writing, 'God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that
ye are able(3).' But when the saints; spoke thus, they were not thinking of
God in a human way, but they acknowledged two senses of the word 'faithful'
in Scripture, first 'believing,' then 'trustworthy,' of which the former
belongs to man, the latter to God. Thus Abraham was faithful, because He
believed God's word; and God faithful, for, as David says in the Psalm,
'The Lord is faithful in all His words(4),' or is trustworthy, and cannot
lie. Again, 'If any faithful woman have widows(5),' she is so called for
her right faith; but, 'It is a faithful saying(6),' because what He hath
spoken has a claim on our faith, for it is true, and is not otherwise.
Accordingly the words, 'Who is faithful to Him that made Him,' implies no
parallel with others, nor means that by having faith He became well-
pleasing; but that, being Son of the True God, He too is faithful, and
ought to be believed in all He says and does, Himself remaining unalterable
and not changed(7) in His human Economy and fleshly presence.

   7. Thus then we may meet these men who are shameless, and from the
single expression 'He made,' may shew that they err in thinking that the
Word of God is a work. But further, since the drift also of the context is
orthodox, shewing the time and the relation to which this expression
points, I ought to shew from it also how the heretics lack reason; viz. by
considering, as we have done above, the occasion when it was used and for
what purpose. Now the Apostle is not discussing things before the creation
when he thus speaks, but when 'the Word became flesh;' for thus it is
written, 'Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession Jesus, who was
faithful to Him that made Him.' Now when became He 'Apostle,' but when He
put on our flesh? and when became He 'High Priest of our profession,' but
when, after offering Himself for us, He raised His Body from the dead, and,
as now, Himself brings near and offers to the Father those who in faith
approach Him, redeeming all, and for all propitiating God? Not then as
wishing to signify the Essence of the Word nor His natural generation from
the Father, did the Apostle say, 'Who was faithful to Him that made Him'--
(perish the thought! for the Word is not made, but makes)--but as
signifying His descent to mankind and High- priesthood which did 'become'--
as one may easily see from the account given of the Law and of Aaron. I
mean, Aaron was not born a high-priest, but a man; and in process of time,
when God willed, he became a high-priest; yet became so, not simply, nor as
betokened by his ordinary garments, but putting over them the ephod, the
breastplate(1), the robe, which the women wrought at God's command, and
going in them into the holy place, he offered the sacrifice for the people;
and in them, as it were, mediated between the vision of God and the
sacrifices of men. Thus then the Lord also, 'In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;' but when the Father
willed that ransoms should be paid for all and to all, grace should be
given, then truly the Word, as Aaron his robe, so did He take earthly
flesh, having Mary for the Mother of His Body as if virgin earth(2), that,
as a High Priest, having He as others an offering, He might offer Himself
to the Father, and cleanse us all from sins in His own blood, and might
rise from the dead.

   8. For what happened of old was a shadow of this; and what the Saviour
did on His coming, this Aaron shadowed out according to the Law. As then
Aaron was the same and did not change by putting on the high priestly
dress(3), but remaining the same was only robed, so that, had any one seen
him offering, and had said, 'Lo, Aaron has this day become high-priest,' he
had not implied that he then had been born man, for man he was even before
he became high-priest, but that he had been made high-priest in his
ministry, on putting on the garments made and prepared for the high-
priesthood; in the same way it is possible in the Lord's instance also to
understand aright, that He did not become other than Himself on taking the
flesh, but, being the same as before, He was robed in it; and the
expressions 'He became' and 'He was made,' must not be understood as if the
Word, considered as the Word(3a), were made, but that the Word, being
Framer of all, afterwards(4) was made High Priest, by putting on a body
which was originate and made, and such as He can offer for us; wherefore He
is said to be made. If then indeed the Lord did not become man(5), that is
a point for the Arians to battle; but if the 'Word became flesh,' what
ought to have been said concerning Him when become man, but 'Who was
faithful to Him that made Hint?' for as it is proper to the Word to have it
said of Him, 'In the beginning was the Word,' so it is proper to man to
'become' and to be 'made.' Who then, on seeing the Lord as a man walking
about, and yet appearing to be God from His works, would not have asked,
Who made Him man? and who again, on such a question, would not have
answered, that the Father made Him man, and sent Him to us as High Priest?
And this meaning, and time, and character, the Apostle himself, the writer
of the words, Who is faithful to Him that made Him,' will best make plain
to us, if we attend to what goes before them. For there is one train of
thought, and the lection is all about One and the Same. He writes then in
the Epistle to the Hebrews thus; 'Forasmuch then as the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the
same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily He took not on Him the nature
of Angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things
it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a
merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath
suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the
Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Jesus; who was faithful to Him
that made Him[6].'

   9. Who can read this whole passage without condemning the Arians, and
admiring the blessed Apostle, who has spoken well? for when was Christ
'made,' when became He 'Apostle,' except when, like us, He 'took part in
flesh and blood?' And when became He 'a merciful and faithful High Priest,'
except when 'in all things He was made like unto His brethren?' And then
was He 'made like,' when He became man, having put upon Him our flesh.
Wherefore Paul was writing concerning the Word's human Economy, when he
said, 'Who was faithful to Him that made Him,' and not concerning His
Essence. Have not therefore any more the madness to say, that the Word of
God is a work; whereas He is Son by nature Only-begotten, and then had
'brethren,' when He took on Him flesh like ours; which moreover, by Himself
offering Himself, He was named and became 'merciful and faithful,'--
merciful, because in mercy to us He offered Himself for us, and faithful,
not as sharing faith with us, nor as having, faith in any one as we have,
but as deserving to receive faith in all He says and does, and as offering
a faithful sacrifice, one which remains and does not come to nought. For
those which were offered according to the Law, had not this faithfulness,
passing away with the day and needing a further cleansing; but the
Saviour's sacrifice, taking place once has perfected everything, and is
become faithful as remaining for ever. And Aaron had successors, and in a
word the priesthood under the Law exchanged its first ministers as time and
death went on; but the Lord having a high priesthood without transition and
without succession, has become a 'faithful. High Priest,' as continuing for
ever; and faithful too by promise, that He may hear[7] and not mislead
those who come to Him. This may be also learned from the Epistle of the
great Peter, who says, 'Let them that suffer according to the will of God,
commit their souls to a faithful Creator[8].' For He is faithful as not
changing, but abiding ever, and rendering what He has promised.

   10. Now the so called gods of the Greeks, unworthy the name, are
faithful neither in their essence nor in their promises; for the same are
not everywhere, nay, the local deities come to nought in course of time,
and undergo a natural dissolution; wherefore the Word cries out against
them, that 'faith is not strong in them,' but they are 'waters that fall,'
and 'there is no faith in them.' But the God of all, being one really and
indeed and true, is faithful, who is ever the same, and says, 'See now,
that I, even I am He,' and I 'change not[1];' and therefore His Son is
'faithful,' being ever the same and unchanging, deceiving neither in His
essence nor in His promise;--as again says the Apostle writing to the
Thessaloninns, 'Faithful is He who calleth you, who also will do it[2];'
for in doing what He promises, He is faithful to His words. And he thus
writes to the Hebrews as to the word's meaning ' unchangeable;' 'If we
believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself[3].' Therefore
reasonably the Apostle, discoursing concerning the bodily presence of the
Word, says, an 'Apostle and faithful to Him that made Him,' shewing us
that, even when made man, 'Jesus Christ' is 'the same yesterday, and today,
and for ever[4]' is unchangeable. And as the Apostle makes mention in his
Epistle of His being made man when mentioning His High Priesthood, so too
he kept no long silence about His Godhead, but rather mentions it
forthwith, furnishing to us a safeguard on every side, and most of all when
he speaks of His humility, that we may forthwith know His loftiness and His
majesty which is the Father's. For instance, he says, 'Moses as a servant,
but Christ as a Sons;' and the former 'faithful in his house,' and the
latter ' over the house,' as having Himself built it, and being its Lord
and Framer, and as God sanctifying it. For Moses, a man by nature, became
faithful, in believing God who spoke to Him by His Word; but[6] the Word
was not as one of things originate in a body, nor as creature in creature,
but as God in flesh[7], and Framer of all and Builder in that which was
built by Him. And men are clothed in flesh in order to be and to subsist;
but the Word of God was made man in order to sanctify the flesh, and,
though He was Lord, was in the form of a servant; for the whole creature is
the Word's servant, which by Him came to be and was made.

   11. Hence it holds that the Apostle's expression, 'He made,' does not
prove that the Word is made, but that body, which He took like ours; and in
consequence He is called our brother, as having become man. But if it has
been shewn, that, even though the word 'made' be referred to the Very Word,
it is used for 'begat,' what further perverse expedient will they be able
to fall upon, now that the present discussion has cleared up the word in
every point of view, and shewn that the Son is not a work, hut in Essence
indeed the Father's offspring, while in the Economy, according to the good
pleasures of the Father, He was on our behalf made, and consists as man?
For this reason then it is said by the Apostle, 'Who was faithful to Him
that made Him;' and in the Proverbs, even creation is spoken of. For so
long as we are confessing that He became man, there is no question about
saying, as was observed before, whether 'He became,' or 'He has been made,'
or 'created,' or 'formed,' or 'servant,' or 'son of an handmaid,' or 'son
of man,' or 'was constituted,' or 'took His journey,' or 'bridegroom,' or
'brother's son,' or 'brother.' All these terms happen to be proper to man's
constitution; and such as these do not designate the Essence of the Word,
but that He has become man.

CHAPTER XV: TEXTS EXPLAINED; FIFTHLY, ACTS ii. 36.

The Regula Fidei must be observed; made applies to our Lord's manhood; and
to His manifestation; and to His office relative to us; and is relative to
the Jews. Parallel instance in Gen. xxvii. 29, 37. The context contradicts
the Arian interpretation.

   11 (continued). THE same is the meaning of the passage in the Acts
which they also allege, that in which Peter says, that 'He hath made both
Lord and Christ that same Jesus whom ye have crucified.' For here too it is
not written, 'He made for Himself a Son,' or 'He made Himself a Word,' that
they should have such notions. If then it has not escaped their memory,
that they speak concerning the Son of God, let them make search whether it
is anywhere written. 'God made Himself a Son,' or 'He created for Himself a
Word;' or again, whether it is anywhere written in plain terms, 'The Word
is a work or creation;' and then let them proceed to make their case, the
insensate men, that here too they may receive their answer. But if they can
produce nothing of the kind, and only catch at such stray expressions as
'He made' and 'He has been made,' I fear test, from hearing, 'In the
beginning God made the heaven and the earth,' and 'He made the sun and the
moon,' and 'He made the sea,' they should come in time to call the Word the
heaven, and the Light which took place on the first day, and the earth, and
each particular thing that has been made, so as to end in resembling the
Stoics, as they are called, the one drawing out their God into all
things[1], the other ranking God's Word with each work in particular; which
the they have well nigh done already, saying that He is one of His works.

   12. But here they must have the same answer as before, and first be
told that the Word is a Son, as has been said above[2], and not a work, and
that such terms are not to be understood of His Godhead, but the reason and
manner of them investigated. To persons who so inquire, the human Economy
will plainly present itself, which He undertook for our sake. For Peter,
after saying, 'He hath made Lord and Christ,' straightway added, 'this
Jesus whom ye crucified;' which makes it plain to any one, even, if so be,
to them, provided they attend to the context, that not the Essence of the
Word, but He according to His manhood is said to have been made. For what
was crucified but the body? and how could be signified what was bodily in
the Word, except by saying 'He made?' Especially has that phrase, 'He
made,' a meaning consistent with orthodoxy; in that he has not said, as I
observed before, 'He made Him Word,' but 'He made Him Lord,' nor that in
general terms[3], but 'towards' us, and 'in the midst of' us, as much as to
say, 'He manifested Him.' And this Peter himself, when he began this
primary teaching, carefully[4] expressed, when he said to them, 'Ye men of
Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man manifested of God
towards you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by Him in
the midst of you, as ye yourselves know[5].' Consequently the term which he
uses in the end, 'made; this He has explained in the beginning by
'manifested,' for by the signs and wonders which the Lord did, He was
manifested to be not merely man, but God in a body and Lord also, the
Christ. Such also is the passage in the Gospel according to John,
'Therefore the more did the Jews persecute Him, because He not only broke
the Sabbath, but said also that God was His own Father, making Himself
equal with God[6]., For the Lord did not then fashion Himself to be God,
nor indeed is a made God conceivable, but He manifested it by the works,
saying, 'Though ye believe not Me, believe My works, that ye may know that
I am in the Father, and the Father in Me 7.' Thus then the Father has
'made' Him Lord and King in the midst of us, and towards us who were once
disobedient; and it is plain that He who is now displayed as Lord and King,
does not then begin to be King and Lord, but begins to shew His Lordship,
and to extend it even over the disobedient.

   13. If then they suppose that the Saviour was not Lord and King, even
before He became man and endured the Cross, but then began to be Lord, let
them know that they are openly reviving the statements of the Samosatene.
But if, as we have quoted and declared above, He is Lord and King
everlasting, seeing that Abraham worships Him as Lord, and Moses says,
'Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from
the Lord out of heaven[8];, and David in the Psalms, 'The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand[9];' and, 'Thy Throne, O God, is for ever
and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom[10];'
and, 'Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom[11];' it is plain that even
before He became man, He was King and Lord everlasting, being Image and
Word of the Father. And the Word being everlasting Lord and King, it is
very plain again that Peter said not that the Essence of the Son was made,
but spoke of His Lordship over us, which 'became' when He became man, and,
redeeming all by the Cross, became Lord of all and King. But if they
continue the argument on the ground of its being written, 'He made,' not
willing that 'He made' should be taken in the sense of 'He manifested,'
either from want of apprehension, or from their Christ-opposing purpose,
let them attend to another sound exposition of Peter's words. For he who
becomes Lord of others, comes into the possession of beings already in
existence; but if the Lord is Framer of all and everlasting King, and when
He became man, then gained possession of us, here too is a way in which
Peter's language evidently does not signify that the Essence of the Word is
a work, but the after-subjection of all things, and the Saviour's Lordship
which came to be over all. And this coincides with what we said
before[11a]; for as we then introduced the words, 'Become my God and
defence,' and 'the Lord became a refuge for the oppressed[12],' and it
stood to reason that these expressions do not shew that God is originate,
but that His beneficence 'becomes' towards each individual, the same sense
has the expression of Peter also.

   14. For the Son of God indeed, being Himself the Word, is Lord of all;
but we once were subject from the first to the slavery of corruption and
the curse of the Law, then by degrees fashioning for ourselves things that
were not, we served, as says the blessed Apostle, 'them which by nature are
no Gods[1],' and, ignorant of the true God, we preferred things that were
not to the truth; but afterwards, as the ancient people when oppressed in
Egypt groaned, so, when we too had the Law ' engrafted[2]' in us, and
according to the unutterable sighings[3] of the Spirit made our
intercession, 'O Lord our God, take possession of us 4,' then, as 'He
became for a house of refuge' and a 'God and defence,' so also He became
our Lord. Nor did He then begin to be, but we began to have Him for our
Lord. For upon this, God being good and Father of the Lord, in pity, and
desiring to be known by all, makes His own Son put on Him a human body and
become man, and be called Jesus, that in this body offering Himself for
all, He might deliver all from false worship and corruption, and might
Himself become of all Lord and King. His becoming therefore in this way
Lord and King, this it is that Peter means by, 'He hath made Him Lord,' and
'hath sent Christ;' as much as to say, that the Father in making Him man
for to be made belongs to man), did not simply make Him man, but has made
Him in order to His being Lord of all men, and to His hallowing all through
the Anointing. For though the Word existing in the form of God took a
servant's form, yet the assumption of the flesh did not make a servant[5]
of the Word, who was by nature Lord; but rather, not only was it that
emancipation of all humanity which takes place by the Word, but that very
Word who was by nature Lord, and was then made man, hath by means of a
servant's form been made Lord of all and Christ, that is, in order to
hallow all by the Spirit. And as God, when 'becoming a God and defence,'
and saying, 'I will be a God to them,' does not then become God more than
before, nor then begins to become God, but, what He ever is, that He then
becomes to those who need Him, when it pleaseth Him, so Christ also being
by nature Lord and King everlasting, does not become Lord more than He was
at the time He is sent forth, nor then begins to be Lord and King, but what
He is ever, that He then is made according to the flesh; and, having
redeemed all, He becomes thereby again Lord of quick and dead. For Him
henceforth do all things serve, and this is David's meaning in the Psalm,
'The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thine
enemies Thy footstool[6]., For it was fitting that the redemption should
take place through none other than Him who is the Lord by nature, lest,
though created by the Son, we should name another Lord, and fall into the
Arian and Greek folly, serving the creature beyond the all-creating God[7].

   15. This, at least according to my nothingness, is the meaning of this
passage; moreover, a true and a good meaning have these words of Peter as
regards the Jews. For Jews, astray from the truth, expect indeed the Christ
as coming, but do not reckon that He undergoes a passion, saying what they
understand not; 'We know that, when the Christ cometh, He abideth for ever,
and how sayest Thou, that He must be lifted up[8]?' Next they suppose Him,
not the Word coming in flesh, but a mere man, as were all the kings. The
Lord then, admonishing Cleopas and the other, taught them that the Christ
must first suffer; and the rest of the Jews that God was come among them,
saying, 'If He called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the
Scripture cannot be broken, say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified
and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of
God[9]?'

   16. Peter then, having learned this from the Saviour, in both points
set the Jews right, saying, "O Jews, the divine Scriptures announce that
Christ cometh, and you consider Him a mere man as one of David's
descendants, whereas what is written of Him shews Him to be not such as you
say, but rather announces Him as Lord and God, and immortal, and dispenser
of life. For Moses has said, 'Ye shall see your Life hanging before your
eyes[1].' And David in the hundred and ninth Psalm, 'The Lord said unto My
Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy
footstool[2];' and in the fifteenth, 'Thou shalt not leave my soul in
hades, neither shalt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption[3].' Now
that these passages have not David for their scope he himself witnesses,
avowing that He who was coming was His own Lord. Nay you yourselves know
that He is dead, and His remains are with you. That the Christ then must be
such as the Scriptures say, you will plainly confess yourselves. For those
announcements come from God, and in them falsehood cannot be. If then ye
can state that such a one has come before, and can prove him God from the
signs and wonders which he did, ye have reason for maintaining the contest,
but if ye are not able to prove His coming, but are expecting such an one
still, recognise the true season from Daniel, for his words relate to the
present time. But if this present season be that which was of old, afore-
announced, and ye have seen what has taken place among us, be sure that
this Jesus, whom ye crucified, this is the expected Christ. For David and
all the Prophets died, and the sepulchres of all are with you, but that
Resurrection which has now taken place, has shewn that the scope of these
passages is Jesus. For the crucifixion is denoted by 'Ye shall see your
Life hanging,' and the wound in the side by the spear answers to 'He was
led as a sheep to the slaughter[4],' and the resurrection, nay more, the
rising of the ancient dead from out their sepulchres (for these most of you
have seen), this is, 'Thou shall not leave My soul in hades,' and 'He
swallowed up death in strengths,' and again, 'God will wipe away.' For the
signs which actually took place shew that He who was in a body was God, and
also the Life and Lord of death. For it became the Christ, when giving life
to others, Himself not to be detained by death; but this could not have
happened, had He, as you suppose, been a mere man. But in truth He is the
Son of God, for men are all subject to death. Let no one therefore doubt,
but the whole house of Israel know assuredly that this Jesus, whom ye saw
in shape a man, doing signs and such works, as no one ever yet had done, is
Himself the Christ and Lord of all. For though made man, and called JESUS,
as we said before, He received no loss by that human passion, but rather,
in being made man, He is manifested as Lord of quick and dead. For since,
as the Apostle said,' in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not
God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe[6].' And so, since we men would not acknowledge God through His
Word, nor serve the Word of God our natural Master, it pleased God to shew
in man His own Lordship, and so to draw all men to Himself. But to do this
by a mere man be-seemed not 7; lest, having man for our Lord, we should
become worshippers of man[8]. Therefore the Word Himself became flesh, and
the Father called His Name Jesus, and so 'made' Him Lord and Christ, as
much as to say, 'He made Him to rule and to reign;' that while in the Name
of Jesus, whom ye crucified, every knee bows, we may acknowledge as Lord
and King both the Son and through Him the Father."

   17. The Jews then, most of them[1], hearing this, came to themselves
and forthwith acknowledged the Christ, as it is written in the Acts. But,
the Ario-maniacs on the contrary choose to remain Jews, and to contend with
Peter; so let us proceed to place before them some parallel phrases;
perhaps it may have some effect upon them, to find what the usage is of
divine Scripture. Now that Christ is everlasting Lord and King, has become
plain by what has gone before, nor is there a man to doubt about it; for
being Son of God, He must be like Him[2], and being like, He is certainly
both Lord and King, for He says Himself, 'He that hath seen Me, hath seen
the Father.' On the other hand, that Peter's there words, 'He hath made Him
both Lord and Christ,' do not imply the Son to be a creature, may be seen
from Isaac's blessing, though this illustration is but a faint one for our
subject. Now he said to Jacob, 'Become thou lord over thy brother;' and to
Esau, 'Behold, I have made him thy lord 3.' Now though the word 'made' had
implied Jacob's essence and the coming into being, even then it would not
be right in them as much as to imagine the same of the Word of God, for the
Son of God is no creature as Jacob was; besides, they might inquire and so
rid themselves of that extravagance. But if they, do not understand it of
his essence nor of his coming into being, though Jacob was by nature
creature and work, is not their madness worse than the Devil's[4], if what
they dare not ascribe in consequence of a like phrase even to things by
nature originate, that they attach to the Son of God, saying that He is a
creature? For Isaac said 'Become' and 'I have made,' signifying neither the
coming into being nor the essence of Jacob (for after thirty years and more
from his birth he said this); but his authority over his brother, which
came to pass subsequently.

   18. Much more then did Peter say this without meaning that the Essence
of the Word was a work; for he knew Him to be God's Son, confessing, 'Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the Living God[5];' but he meant His Kingdom and
Lordship which was formed and came to be according to grace, and was
relatively to us. For while saying this, he was not silent about the Son of
God's everlasting Godhead which is the Father's; but He had said already,
that He had poured the Spirit on us; now to give the Spirit with authority,
is not in the power of creature or work, but the Spirit is God's Gift[6].
For the creatures are hallowed by the Holy Spirit; but the Son, in that He
is not hallowed by the Spirit, but on the contrary Himself the Giver of it
to all 7, is therefore no creature, but true Son of the Father. And yet He
who gives the Spirit, the same is said also to be made; that is, to be made
among us Lord because of His manhood, while giving the Spirit because He is
God's Word. For He ever was and is, as Son, so also Lord and Sovereign of
all, being like in all things[8] to the Father, and having all that is the
Father's[9] as He Himself has said[10].

CHAPTER XVI: INTRODUCTORY TO PROVERBS viii. 22, THAT THE SON IS NOT A
CREATURE.

Arian formula, a creature but not as one of the creatures; but each
creature is unlike all other creatures; and no creature can create. The
Word then differs from all creatures in that in which they, though
otherwise differing, all agree together, as creatures; viz. in being an
efficient cause; in being the one medium or instrumental agent in creation;
moreover in being the revealer of the Father; and in being the object of
worship.

   18. (continued). Now in the next place let us consider the passage in
the Proverbs, 'The Lord created me a beginning of His ways for His
works[1];' although in shewing that the Word is no work, it has been also
shewn that He is no creature. For it is the same to say work or creature,
so that the proof that He is no work is a proof also that He is no
creature. Whereas one may marvel at these men, thus devising excuses to be
irreligious, and nothing daunted at the refutations which meet them upon
every point. For first they set about deceiving the simple by their
questions 'Did He who is make from that which was not one that was not or
one that was 3?' and, 'Had you a son before begetting him[4]?'And when this
had been proved worthless, next they invented the question, 'Is the
Unoriginate one or two[5]?' Then, when in this they had been confuted,
straightway they formed another, 'Has He freewill and an alterable
nature[6]?' But being forced to give up this, next they set about saying,
'Being made so much better than the Angels[7];' and when the truth exposed
this pretence, now again, collecting them all together, they think to
recommend their heresy by 'work' and 'creature[8].' For they mean those
very things over again, and are true to their own perverseness, putting
into various shapes and turning to and fro the same errors, if so be to
deceive some by that variousness. Although then abundant proof has been
given above of this their reckless expedient, yet, since they make all
places sound with this passage from the Proverbs, and to many who are
ignorant of the faith of Christians, seem to say somewhat it is necessary
to examine separately, 'He created' as well as 'Who was faithful to Him
that made Him[9];' that, as in all others, so in this text also, they may
be proved to have got no further than a fantasy.

   19. And first let us see the answers, which they returned to Alexander
of blessed memory, in the outset, while their heresy was in course of
formation. They wrote thus: 'He is a creature, but not as one of the
creatures; a work, but not as one of the works; an offspring, but not as
one of the offsprings Let every one consider the profligacy and craft of
this heresy; for knowing the bitterness of its own malignity, it makes an
effort to trick itself out with fair words, and says, what indeed it means,
that He is a creature, yet thinks to be able to screen itself by adding,
'but not as one of the creatures.' However, in thus writing, they rather
convict themselves of irreligion; for if, in your opinion, He is simply a
creature, why add the pretence[2], 'but not as one of the creatures?' And
if He is simply a work, how 'not as one of the works?' In which we may see
the poison of the heresy. For by saying, 'offspring, but not as one of the
offsprings,' they reckon many sons, and one of these they pronounce to be
the Lord; so that according to them He is no more Only begotten, but one
out of many brethren, and is called[3] offspring and son. What use then is
this pretence of saying that He is a creature and not a creature? for
though ye shall say, Not as 'one of the creatures,' I will prove this
sophism of yours to be foolish. For still ye pronounce Him to be one of the
creatures; and whatever a man might say of the other creatures, such ye
hold concerning the Son, ye truly 'fools and blind[4].' For is any one of
the creatures just what another is[5], that ye should predicate this of the
Son as some prerogative[6]? And all the visible creation was made in six
days:--in the first, the light which He called day; in the second the
firmament; in the third, gathering together the waters, He bared the dry
land, and brought out the various fruits that are in it; and in the fourth,
He made the sun and the moon and all the host of the stars; and on the
fifth, He created the race of living things in the sea, and of birds in the
air; and on the sixth, He made the quadrupeds on the earth, and at length
man. And 'the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made[7]; and neither
the light is as the night, nor the sun as the moon; nor the irrational as
rational man; nor the Angels as the Thrones, nor the Thrones as the
Authorities, yet they are all creatures, but each of the things made
according to its kind exists and remains in its own essence, as it was
made.

   20. Let the Word then be excepted from the works, and as Creator be
restored to the Father, and be confessed to be Son by nature; or if simply
He be a creature, then let Him be assigned the same condition as the rest
one with another, and let them as well as He be said every one of them to
be 'a creature but not as one of the creatures, offspring or work, but not
as one of the works or offsprings.' For ye say that an offspring is the
same as a work, writing 'generated or made[1].' For though the Son excel
the rest on a comparison, still a creature He is nevertheless, as they are;
since in those which are by nature creatures one may find some excelling
others. Star, for instance, differs from star in glory, and the rest have
all of them their mutual differences when compared together; yet it follows
not for all this that some are lords, and others servants to the superior,
nor that some are efficient causes[2], others by them come into being, but
all have a nature which comes to be and is created, confessing in their own
selves their Framer: as David says in the Psalms, 'The heavens declare the
glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handiworks;' and as Zorobabel
the wise says, 'All the earth calleth upon the Truth, and the heaven
blesseth it: all works shake and tremble at it[4].' But if the whole earth
hymns the Framer and the Truth, and blesses, and fears it, and its Framer
is the Word, and He Himself says, 'I am the Truths,' it follows that the
Word is not a creature, but alone proper to the Father, in whom all things
are disposed, and He is celebrated by all, as Framer; for 'I was by Him
disposing[6];' and 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work[7].' And the
word 'hitherto' shews His eternal existence in the Father as the Word; for
it is proper to the Word to work the Father's works and not to be external
to Him.

   21. But if what the Father worketh, that the Son worketh also[1], and
what the Son createth, that is the creation of the Father, and yet the Son
be the Father's work or creature, then either He will work His own self,
and will be His own creator (since what the Father worketh is the Son's
work also), which is absurd and impossible; or, in that He creates and
worketh the things of the Father, He Himself is not a work nor a creature;
for else being Himself an efficient cause[2], He may cause that to be in
the case of things caused, which He Himself has become, or rather He may
have no power to cause at all.

   For how, if, as you hold, He is come of nothing, is He able to frame
things that are nothing into being? or if He, a creature, withal frames a
creature, the same will be conceivable in the case of every creature, viz.
the power to frame others. And if this pleases you, what is the need of the
Word, seeing that things inferior can be brought to be by things superior?
or at all events, every thing that is brought to be could have heard in the
beginning God's words, 'Become' and be made,' and so would have been
framed. But this is not so written, nor could it be. For none of things
which are brought to be is an efficient cause, but all things were made
through the Word: who would not have wrought all things, were He Himself in
the number of the creatures. For neither would the Angels be able to frame,
since they too are creatures, though Valentinus, and Marcion, and Basilides
think so, and you are their copyists; nor will the sun, as being a
creature, ever make what is not into what is; nor will man fashion man, nor
stone devise stone, nor wood give growth to wood. But God is He who
fashions man in the womb, and fixes the mountains, and makes wood grow;
whereas man, as being capable of science, puts together and arranges that
material, and works things that are, as he has learned; and is satisfied if
they are but brought to be, and being conscious of what his nature is, if
he needs aught, knows to ask[3] it of God.

   22. If then God also wrought and compounded out of materials, this
indeed is a gentile thought, according to which God is an artificer and not
a Maker, but yet even in that case let the Word work the materials, at the
bidding and in the service of God[1]. But if He calls into existence things
which existed not by His proper Word, then the Word is not in the number of
things non-existing and called; or we have to seek another Word[2], through
whom He too was called; for by the Word the things which were not have come
to be. And if through Him He creates and makes He is not Himself of things
created and made but rather He is the Word of the Creator God and is known
from the Father's works which He Himself worketh, to be 'in the Father and
the Father in Him,' and 'He that hath seen Him hath seen the Father[3],'
because the Son's Essence is proper to the Father, and He in all points
like Him[4]. How then does He create through Him, unless it be His Word and
His Wisdom? and how can He be Word and Wisdom, unless He be the proper
offspring of His Essences, and did not come to be, as others, out of
nothing? And whereas all things are from nothing, and are creatures, and
the Son, as they say, is one of the creatures too and of things which once
were not, how does He alone reveal the Father, and none else but He know
the Father? For could He, a work possibly know the Father, then must the
Father be also known by all according to the proportion of the measures of
each: for all of them are works as He is. But if it be impossible for
things originate either to see or to know, for the sight and the knowledge
of Him surpasses all (since God Himself says, 'No one shall see My face and
live[6]'), yet the Son has declared, 'No one knoweth the Father, save the
Son[7],' therefore the Word is different from all things originate, in that
He alone knows and alone sees the Father, as He says, 'Not that any one
hath seen the Father, save He that is from the Father,' and 'no one knoweth
the Father save the Son[8],' though Arius think otherwise. How then did He
alone know, except that He alone was proper to Him? and how proper, if He
were a creature, and not a true Son from Him? (For one must not mind saying
often the same thing for religion's sake.) Therefore it is irreligious to
think that the Son is one of all things; and blasphemous and unmeaning to
call Him 'a creature, but not as one of the creatures, and a work, but not
as one of the works, an offspring, but not as one of the offsprings;' for
how not as one of these, if, as they say, He was not before His generation
9? for it is proper to the creatures and works not to be before their
origination, and to subsist out of nothing, even though they excel other
creatures in glory; for this difference of one with another will be found
in all creatures, which appears in those which are visible[10].

   23. Moreover if, as the heretics hold, the Son were creature or work,
but not as one of the creatures, because of His excelling them in glory, it
were natural that Scripture should describe and display Him by a comparison
in His favour with the other works; for instance, that it should say that
He is greater than Archangels, and more honourable than the Thrones, and
both brighter than sun and moon, and greater than the heavens. But he is
not in fact thus referred to; but the Father shews Him to be His own proper
and only Son, saying, 'Thou art My Son,' and 'This is My beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased[1]' Accordingly the Angels ministered unto Him, as
being one beyond themselves; and they worship Him, not as being greater in
glory, but as being some one beyond all the creatures, and beyond
themselves, and alone the Father's proper Son according to essence[2]. For
if He was worshipped as excelling them in glory, each of things subservient
ought to worship what excels itself. But this is not the case 3; for
creature does not worship creature, but servant Lord, and creature God.
Thus Peter the Apostle hinders Cornelius who would worship him, saying, 'I
myself also am a man[4].' And an Angel, when John would worship him in the
Apocalypse, hinders him, saying, 'See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-
servant, and of thy brethren the Prophets, and of them that keep the
sayings of this book: worship God[5].' Therefore to God alone appertains
worship, and this the very Angels know, that though they excel other beings
in glory, yet they are all creatures and not to be worshipped[6], but
worship the Lord. Thus Manoah, the father of Samson, wishing to offer
sacrifice to the Angel, was thereupon hindered by him, saying, 'Offer not
to me, but to God[7].' On the other hand, the Lord is worshipped even by
the Angels; for it is written, 'Let all the Angels of God worship Him[8];'
and by all the Gentiles, as Isaiah says, 'The labour of Egypt and
merchandize of Ethiopia and of the Subeans, men of stature, shall come over
unto thee, and they shall be thy servants;' and then, 'they shall fall down
unto thee, and shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in
thee, and there is none else, there is no God[9].' And He accepts His
disciples' worship, and certifies them who He is, saying, 'Call ye Me not
Lord and Master? and ye say well, for so I am.' And when Thomas said to
Him, 'My Lord and my God[10] He allows his words, or rather accepts him
instead of hindering him. For He is, as the other Prophets declare, and
David says in the Psalm, 'the Lord of hosts, the Lord of Sabaoth,' which is
interpreted, 'the Lord of Armies,' and God True and Almighty, though the
Arians burst[11] at the tidings.

   24. But He had not been thus worshipped, nor been thus spoken of, were
He a creature merely. But now since He is not a creature, but the proper
offspring of the Essence of that God who is worshipped, and His Son by
nature, therefore He is worshipped and is believed to be God, and is Lord
of armies, and in authority, and Almighty, as the Father is; for He has
said Himself, 'All things that the Father hath, are Mine[1].' For it is
proper to the Son, to have the things of the Father, and to be such that
the Father is seen in Him, and that through Him all things were made, and
that the salvation of all comes to pass and consists in Him.

CHAPTER XVII: INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS viii. 22 CONTINUED.

Absurdity of supposing a Son or Word created in order to the creation of
other creatures; as to the creation being unable to bear God's immediate
hand, God condescends to the lowest. Moreover, if the Son a creature, He
too could not bear God's hand, and an infinite series of media will be
necessary. Objected, that, as Moses who led out the Israelites was a man,
so our Lord; but Moses was not the Agent in creation:-- again, that unity
is found in created ministrations, but all such ministrations are defective
and dependent:--again, that He learned to create, yet could God's Wisdom
need teaching? and why should He learn, if the Father worketh hitherto? If
the Son was created to create us, He is for our sake, not we for His.

   24 (continued). AND here it were well to ask them also this
question[1], for a still clearer refutation of their heresy;--Wherefore,
when all things are creatures, and all are brought into consistence from
nothing, and the Son Himself, according to you, is creature and work, and
once was not, wherefore has He made 'all things through Him' alone, 'and
without Him was made not one thing'?' or why is it, when 'all things' are
spoken of, that no one thinks the Son is signified in the number, but only
things originate; whereas when Scripture speaks of the Word, it does not
understand Him as being in the number of 'all,' but places Him with the
Father, as Him in whom Providence and salvation for 'all' are wrought and
effected by the Father, though all things surely might at the same command
have come to be, at which He was brought into being by God alone? For God
is not wearied by commanding 3, nor is His strength unequal to the making
of all things, that He should alone create the only Son[4], and need His
ministry and aid for the framing of the rest. For He lets nothing stand
over, which He wills to be done; but He willed only[5], and all things
subsisted, and no one 'hath resisted His will[6].' Why then were not all
things brought into being by God alone at that same command, at which the
'Son came into being? Or let them tell us, why did all things through Him
come to be, who was Himself but originate? How void of reason! however,
they say concerning Him, that 'God willing to create originate nature, when
He saw that it could not endure the untempered hand of the Father, and to
be created by Him, makes and creates first and alone one only, and calls
Him Son and Word, that, through Him as a medium, all things might thereupon
be brought to be[6a]." This they not only have said, but they have dared to
put it into writing, namely, Eusebius, Arius, and Asterius who sacrificed
7.

   25. Is not this a full proof of that irreligion, with which they have
drugged themselves with much madness, till they blush not to be intoxicate
against the truth? For if they shall assign the toil of making all things
as the reason why God made the Son only, the whole creation will cry out
against them as saying unworthy things of God; and Isaiah too who has said
in Scripture, 'The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of
the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary: there is no searching of His
understanding[1].' And if God made the Son alone, as not deigning to make
the rest, but committed them to the Son as an assistant, this on the other
hand is unworthy of God, for in Him there is no pride. Nay the Lord
reproves the thought, when He says, 'Are not two sparrows sold for a
farthing?' and 'one of them shall not fall on the ground without your
Father which is in heaven.' And again, 'Take no thought for your life, what
ye shall eat, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life
more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for
they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your
heavenly Father feedeth them; are ye not much better than they? Which of
you by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye
thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they
toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so
clothe the grass of the field which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the
oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith[2]?' If then
it be not unworthy of God to exercise His Providence, even down to things
so small, a hair of the head, and a sparrow, and the grass of the field,
also it was not unworthy of Him to make them. For what things are the
subjects of His Providence, of those He is Maker through His proper Word.
Nay a worse absurdity lies before the men who thus speak; for they
distinguish[3] between the creatures and the framing; and consider the
latter the work of the Father, the creatures the work of the Son; whereas
either all things must be brought to be by the with the Son, or if all that
is originate comes to be through the Son, we must not call Him one of the
originated things.

   26. Next, their folly may be exposed thus:--if even the Word be of
originated nature, how, whereas this nature is too feeble to be God's own
handy work, could He alone of all endure to be made by the unoriginate and
unmitigated Essence of God, as ye say? for it follows either that, if He
could endure it, all could endure it, or, it being endurable by none, it
was not endurable by the Word, for you say that He is one of originate
things. And again, if because originate nature could not endure to be God's
own handiwork, there arose need of a mediator[4], it must follow, that, the
Word being originate and a creature, there is need of medium in His framing
also, since He too is of that originate nature which endures not to be made
of God, but needs a medium. But if some being as a medium be found for Him,
then again a fresh mediator is needed for that second, and thus tracing
back and following out, we shall invent a vast crowd of accumulating
mediators; and thus it will be impossible that the creation should subsist,
as ever wanting a mediator, and that medium not coming into being without
another mediator; for all of them will be of that originate nature which
endures not to be made of God alone, as ye say. How abundant is that folly,
which obliges them to hold that what has already come into being, admits
not of coming! Or perhaps they opine that they have not even come to be, as
still seeking their mediator; for, on the ground of their so irreligious
and futile notions, what is would not have subsistence, for want of the
medium.

   27. But again they allege this:--'Behold, through Moses too did He lead
the people from Egypt, and through him He gave the Law, yet he was a man;
so that it is possible for like to be brought into being by like.' They
should veil their face when they say this, to save their much shame. For
Moses was not sent to frame the world, nor to call into being things which
were not, or to fashion men like himself, but only to be the minister of
words to the people, and to King Pharaoh. And this is a very different
thing, for to minister is of things originate as of servants, but to frame
and to create is of God alone, and of His proper Word and His Wisdom.
Wherefore, in the matter of framing, we shall find none but God's Word; for
'all things are made in Wisdom,' and 'without the Word was made not one
thing.' But as regards ministrations there are, not one only, but man}' out
of their whole number, whomever the Lord will send. For there are many
Archangels, many Thrones, and Authorities, and Dominions, thousands of
thousands, and myriads of myriads, standing before Him[1], ministering and
ready to be sent. And many Prophets, and twelve Apostles, and Paul. And
Moses himself was not alone, but Aaron with him, and next other seventy
were filled with the Holy Ghost. And Moses was succeeded by Joshua the son
of Nun, and he by the Judges, and they not by one, but by a number of
Kings. If then the Son were a creature and one of things originate, there
must have been many such sons, that God might have many such ministers,
just as there is a multitude of those others. But if this is not to be
seen, but while the creatures are many, the Word is one, any one will
collect from this, that the Son differs from all, and is not on a level
with the creatures, but proper to the Father. Hence there are not many
Words, but one only Word of the one Father, and one Image of the one
God[2]. 'But behold,' they say, 'there is one sun only[3], and one earth.'
Let them maintain, senseless as they are, that there is one water and one
fire, and then they may be told that everything that is brought to be, is
one in its own essence; but for the ministry and service committed to it,
by itself it is not adequate nor sufficient alone. For God said, 'Let there
be lights in the firmament of heaven, to give light upon the earth and to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons
and for days and years.' And then he says, 'And God made two great lights,
the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night
He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to
give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night[4].'

   28. Behold there are many lights, and not the sun only, nor the moon
only, but each is one in essence, and yet the service of all is one and
common; and what each lacks, is supplied by the other, and the office of
lighting is performed by all[5]. Thus the sun has authority to shine
throughout the day and no more; and the moon through the night; and the
stars together with them accomplish the seasons and years, and become for
signs, each according to the need that calls for it. Thus too the earth is
not for all things, but for the fruits only, and to be a ground to tread on
for the living things that inhabit it. And the firmament is to divide
between waters and waters, and to be a place to set the stars in. So also
fire and water, with other things, have been brought into being to be the
constituent parts of bodies; and in short no one thing is alone, but all
things that are made, as if members of each other, make up as it were one
body, namely, the world. If then they thus conceive of the Son, let all men
throw stones[6] at them, considering the Word to be a part of this
universe, and a part insufficient without the rest for the service
committed to Him. But if this be manifestly irreligious, let them
acknowledge that the Word is not in the number of things originate, but the
sole and proper Word of the Father, and their Framer. 'But,' say they,
'though He is a creature and of things originate; yet as from a master and
artificer has He[7] learned to frame, and thus ministered[8] to God who
taught Him.' For thus the Sophist Asterius, on the strength of having
learned to deny the Lord, has dared to write, not observing the absurdity
which follows. For if framing be a thing to be taught, let 'them beware
lest they say that God Himself be a Framer not by nature but by science, so
as to admit of His losing the power. Besides, if the Wisdom of God attained
to frame by teaching, how is He still Wisdom, when He needs to learn? and
what was He before He learned? For it was not Wisdom, if it needed
teaching; it was surely but some empty thing, and not essential Wisdom[9],
but from advancement it had the name of Wisdom, and will be only so long
Wisdom as it can keep what it has learned. For what has accrued not by any
nature, but from learning, admits of being one time unlearned. But to speak
thus of the Word of God, is not the part of Christians but of Greeks.

   29. For if the power of framing accrues to anyone from teaching, these
insensate men are ascribing jealousy and weakness[1] to God;--jealousy, in
that He has not taught many how to frame, so that there may be around Him,
as Archangels and Angels many, so framers many; and weakness, in that He
could not make by Himself, but needed a fellow-worker, or under-worker; and
that, though it has been already shewn that created nature admits of being
made by God alone, since they consider the Son to be of such a nature and
so made. But God is deficient in nothing: perish the thought! for He has
said Himself, 'I am full[2].' Nor did the Word become Framer of all from
teaching; but being the Image and Wisdom of the Father, He does the things
of the Father. Nor hath He made the Son for the making of things created;
for behold, though the Son exists, still[3] the Father is seen to work, as
the Lord Himself says, 'My Father worketh hitherto and I work[4].' If
however, as you say, the Son came into being for the purpose of making the
things after Him, and yet the Father is seen to work even after the Son,
you must hold even in this light the making of such a Son to be
superfluous. Besides, why, when He would create us, does He seek for a
mediator at all, as if His will did not suffice to constitute whatever
seemed good to Him? Yet the Scriptures say, 'He hath done whatsoever
pleased Hires[5],' and 'Who hath resisted His will[6]?' And if His mere
will[7] is sufficient for the framing of all things, you make the office of
a mediator superfluous; for your instance of Moses, and the sun and the
moon has been shewn not to hold. And here again is an argument to silence
you. You say that God, willing the creation of originated nature, and
deliberating concerning it, designs and creates the Son, that through Him
He may frame us; now, if so, consider how great an irreligion[8] you have
dared to utter.

   30. First, the Son appears rather to have been for us brought to be,
than we for Him; for we were not created for Him, but He is made for us[9];
so that He owes thanks to us, not we to Him, as the woman to the man. 'For
the man,' says Scripture, 'was not created for the woman, but the woman for
the man.' Therefore, as 'the man is the image and glory of God, and the
woman the glory of the man[10],' so we are made God's image and to His
glory; but the Son is our image, and exists for our glory. And we were
brought into being that we might be; but God's Word was made, as you must
hold, not that He might be[1]; but as an instrument for our need, so that
not we from Him, but He is constituted from our need. Are not men who even
conceive such thoughts, more than insensate? For if for us the Word was
made, He has not precedence[3] of us with God; for He did not take counsel
about us having Him within Him, but having us in Himself, counselled, as
they say, concerning His own Word. But if so, perchance the Father had not
even a will for the Son at all; for not as having a will for Him, did He
create Him, but with a will for us, He formed Him for our sake; for He
designed Him after designing us so that, according to these irreligious
men, henceforth the Son, who was made as an instrument, is superfluous, now
that they are made for whom He was created. But if the Son alone was made
by God alone, because He could endure it, but we, because we could not,
were made by the Word, why does He not first take counsel about the Word,
who could endure His making, instead of taking counsel about us? or why
does He not make more of Him who was strong, than of us who were weak? or
why making Him first, does He not counsel about Him first? or why
counselling about us first, does He not make us first, His will being
sufficient for the constitution of all things? But He creates Him first,
yet counsels first about us; and He wills us before the Mediator; and when
He wills to create us, and counsels about us, He calls us creatures; but
Him, whom He frames for us, He calls Son and proper Heir. But we, for whose
sake He made Him, ought rather to be called sons; or certainly He, who is
His Son, is rather the object of His previous thoughts and of His will, for
whom He makes all us. Such the sickness, such the vomit[4] of the heretics.

CHAPTER XVIII: INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS viii. 22 CONTINUED.

Contrast between the Father's operations immediately and naturally in the
Son, instrumentally by the creatures; Scripture terms illustrative of this.
Explanation of these illustrations; which should be interpreted by the
doctrine of the Church; perverse sense put on them by the Arians, refutted.
Mystery of Divine Generation. Contrast between God's Word and man's word
drawn out at length. Asterius betrayed into holding two Unoriginates; his
inconsistency. Baptism how by the Son as well as by the Father. On the
Baptism of heretics. Why Asian worse than oilier heresies,

   31. BUT the sentiment of Truth[1] in this matter must not be hidden,
but must have high utterance. For the Word of God was not made for us, but
rather we for Him, and 'in Him all things were created[2].' Nor for that we
were weak, was He strong and made by the Father alone, that He might frame
us by means of Him as an instrument; perish the thought! it is not so. For
though it had seemed good to God not to make things originate, still had
the Word been no less with God, and the Father in Him. At the same time,
things originate could not without the Word be brought to be; hence they
were made through Him,--and reasonably. For since the Word is the Son of
God by nature proper to His essence, and is from Him, and in Him[3], as He
said Himself, the creatures could not have come to be, except through Him.
For as the light enlightens all things by its radiance, and without its
radiance nothing would be illuminated, so also the Father, as by a hand[4],
in the Word wrought all things, and without Him makes nothing. For
instance, God said, as Moses relates, 'Let there be light,' and 'Let the
waters be gathered together,' and 'let the dry land appear,' and 'Let Us
make man s;' as also Holy David in the Psalm, 'He spake and they were made;
He commanded and they were created 6.' And He spoke[7], not that, as in the
case of men, some under-worker might hear, and learning the will of Him who
spoke might go away and do it; for this is what is proper to creatures, but
it is unseemly so to think or speak of the Word. For the Word of God is
Framer and Maker, and He is the Father's Will s. Hence it is that divine
Scripture says not that one heard and answered, as to the manner or nature
of the things which He wished made; but God only said, 'Let it become,' and
he adds, 'And it became;' for what He thought good and counselled, that
forthwith the Word began to do and to finish. For when God commands others,
whether the Angels, or converses with Moses, or commands Abraham, then the
hearer answers; and the one says, 'Whereby shall I know[9]?' and the other,
'Send some one else[10];' and again, 'If they ask me, what is His Name,
what shall I say to them"?' and the Angel said to Zacharias, 'Thus saith
the Lord[12];' and he asked the Lord, 'O Lord of hosts, how long wilt Thou
not have mercy on Jerusalem?' and waits to hear good words and comfortable.
For each of these has the Mediator[13] Word, and the Wisdom of God which
makes known the will of the Father. But when that Word Himself works and
creates, then there is no questioning and answer, for the Father is in Him
and the Word in the Father; but it suffices to will, and the work is done;
so that the word 'He said' is a token of the will for our sake, and 'It was
so,' denotes the work which is done through the Word and the Wisdom, in
which Wisdom also is the Will of the Father. And 'God said' is explained in
'the Word,' for, he says, 'Thou hast made all things in Wisdom;' and 'By
the Word of the Lord were the heavens made fast;' and 'There is one Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him[1].'

   32. It is plain from this that the Arians are not fighting with us
about their heresy; but while they pretend us, their real fight is against
the Godhead Itself. For if the voice were ours which says, 'This it My
Son[2],' small were our complaint of them; but if it is the Father's voice,
and the disciples heard it, and the Son too says of Himself, 'Before all
the mountains He begat me[3],' are they not fighting against God, as the
giants[4] in story, having their tongue, as the Psalmist says, a sharp
sword[5] for irreligion? For they neither feared the voice of the Father,
nor reverenced the Saviour's words, nor trusted the Saints, one of whom
writes, 'Who being the Brightness of His glory and the Expression of His
subsistence,' and 'Christ the power 'of God and the Wisdom of God[6];' and
another says in the Psalm, 'With Thee is the well of life, and in Thy Light
shall we see light,' and 'Thou madest all things in Wisdom[7];' and the
Prophets say, 'And the Word of the Lord came to me[8];' and John, 'In the
beginning was the Word;' and Luke, 'As they delivered them unto us which
from the beginning were eye- witnesses and ministers of the Word[9];' and
as David again says, 'He sent His Word and healed them[10].' All these
passages proscribe in every light the Arian heresy, and signify the
eternity of the Word, and that He is not foreign but proper to the Father's
Essence. For when saw any one light without radiance? or who dares to say
that the expression can be different from the subsistence? or has not a man
himself lost his mind[11] who even entertains the thought that God was ever
without Reason and without Wisdom? For such illustrations and such images
has Scripture proposed, that, considering the inability of human nature to
comprehend God, we might be able to form ideas even from these however
poorly and dimly, and as far as is attainable[12]. And as the creation
contains abundant matter for the knowledge of the being of a God and a
Providence (' for by the greatness and beauty of the creatures
proportionably the Maker of them is seen[13]'), and we learn from them
without asking for voices, but hearing the Scriptures we believe, and
surveying the very order and the harmony of all things, we acknowledge that
He is Maker and Lord and God of all, and apprehend His marvellous
Providence and governance over all things; so in like manner about the
Son's Godhead, what has been above said is sufficient, and it becomes
superfluous, or rather it is very mad to dispute about it, or to ask in an
heretical way, How can the Son be from eternity? or how can He be from the
Father's Essence, yet not a part? since what is said to be of another, is a
part of him; and what 'is divided, is not whole.

   33. These are the evil sophistries of the heterodox; yet, though we
have already shewn their shallowness, the exact sense of these passages
themselves and the force of these illustrations will serve to shew the
baseless nature of their loathsome tenet. For we see that reason is ever,
and is from him and proper to his essence, whose reason it is, and does not
admit a before and an after. So again we see that the radiance from the sun
is proper to it, and the sun's essence is not divided or impaired; but its
essence is whole and its radiance perfect and whole[1], yet without
impairing the essence of light, but as a true offspring from it. We
understand in like manner that the Son is begotten not from without but
from the Father, and while the Father remains whole, the Expression of His
Subsistence is ever, and preserves the Father's likeness and unvarying
Image, so that he who sees Him, sees in Him the Subsistence too, of which
He is the Expression. And from the operation of the Expression we
understand the true Godhead of the Subsistence, as the Saviour Himself
teaches when He says, 'The Father who dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works[2]
which I do; and 'I and the Father are one,' and 'I in the Father and the
Father in Me[3].' Therefore let this Christ--opposing heresy attempt first
to divide[4] the examples found in things originate, and say, 'Once the sun
was without his radiance,' or, 'Radiance is not proper to the essence of
light,' or 'It is indeed proper, but it is a part of light by division; and
then let it divide Reason, and pronounce that it is foreign to mind, or
that once it was not, or that it was not proper to its essence, or that it
is by division a part of mind. And so of His Expression and the Light and
the Power, let it do violence to these as in the case of Reason and
Radiance; and instead let it imagine what it will s. But if such
extravagance be impossible for them, are they not greatly beside
themselves, presumptuously intruding into what is higher than things
originate and their own nature, and essaying impossibilities[6]?

   34. For if in the case of these originate and irrational things
offsprings are found which are not parts of the essences from which they
are, nor subsist with passion, nor impair the essences of their originals,
are they not mad again in seeking and conjecturing parts and passions in
the instance of the immaterial and true God, and ascribing divisions to Him
who is beyond passion and change, thereby to perplex the ears of the
simple[1] and to pervert them from the Truth? for who hears of a son but
conceives of that which is proper to the father's essence? who heard, in
his first catechising[2], that God has a Son and has made all things by His
proper Word, but understood it in that sense in which we now mean it? who
on the rise of this odious heresy of the Arians, was not at once startled
at what he heard, as strange[3], and a second sowing, besides that Word
which had been sown from the beginning? For what is sown in every soul from
the beginning is that God has a Son, the Word, the Wisdom, the Power, that
is, His Image and Radiance; from which it at once follows that He is
always; that He is from the Father; that He is like; that He is the eternal
offspring of His essence; and there is no idea involved in these of
creature or work. But when the man who is an enemy, while men slept, made a
second sowing[4], of 'He is a creature,' and 'There was once when He was
not,' and 'How can it be?' thenceforth the wicked heresy of Christ's
enemies rose as tares, and forthwith, as bereft of every right thought,
they meddle[5] like robbers, and venture to say, 'How can the Son always
exist with the Father?' for men come of men and are sons, after a time; and
the father is thirty years old, when the son begins to be, being begotten;
and in short of every son of man, it is true that he was not before his
generation. And again they whisper, 'How can the Son be Word, or the Word
be God's Image? for the word of men is composed of syllables[6], and only
signifies the speaker's will, and then is over[7] and is lost.'

   35. They then afresh, as if forgetting the proofs which have been
already urged against them, 'pierce themselves through[1] 'with these bonds
of irreligion, and thus argue. But the word of truth[2] confutes them as
follows:--if they were disputing concerning any man, then let them exercise
reason in this human way, both concerning His Word and His Son; but if of
God who created man, no longer let them entertain human thoughts, but
others which are above human nature. For such as he that besets, such of
necessity is the offspring; and such as is the Word's Father, such must be
also His Word. Now man, begotten in time, in time[3] also himself besets
the child; and whereas from nothing he came to be, therefore his word[4]
also is over and continues not. But God is not as man, as Scripture has
said; but is existing and is ever; therefore also His Word is existings and
is everlastingly with the Father, as radiance of light. And man's word is
composed of syllables, and neither lives nor operates anything, but is only
significant of the speaker's intention, and does but go forth and go by, no
more to appear, since it was not at all before it was spoken; wherefore the
word of man neither lives nor operates anything, nor in short is man. And
this happens to it, as I said before, because man who besets it, has his
nature out of nothing. But God's Word is not merely pronounced, as one may
say, nor a sound of accents, nor by His Son is meant His command[6]; but as
radiance of light, so is He perfect offspring from perfect[7]. Hence He is
God also, as being God's Image; for 'the Word was God[8]' says Scripture.
And man's words avail not for operation; hence man works not by means of
words but of hands, for they have being, and man's word subsists not. But
the 'Word of God,' as the Apostle says, 'is living and powerful and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not
manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of
Him with whom we have to do[9]' He is then Framer of all, 'and without Him
was made not one thing[10],' nor can anything be made without Him.

   36. Nor must we ask why the Word of God is not such as our word,
considering God is not such as we, as has been before said; nor again is it
right to seek how the word is from God, or how He is God's radiance, or how
God besets, and what is the manner of His besetting[1]. For a man must be
beside himself to venture on such points; since a thing ineffable and
proper to God's nature, and known to Him alone and to the Son, this he
demands to be explained in words. It is all one as if they sought where God
is, and how God is, and of what nature the Father is. But as to ask such
questions is irreligious, and argues an ignorance of God, so it is not holy
to venture such questions concerning the generation of the Son of God, nor
to measure God and His Wisdom by our own nature and infirmity. Nor is a
person at liberty on that account to swerve in his thoughts from the truth,
nor, if any one is perplexed in such inquiries, ought he to disbelieve what
is written. For it is better in perplexity to be silent and believe, than
to disbelieve on account of the perplexity: for he who is perplexed may in
some way obtain mercy[2], because, though he has questioned, he has yet
kept quiet; but when a man is led by his perplexity into forming for
himself doctrines which beseem not, and utters what is unworthy of God,
such daring recurs a sentence without mercy. For in such perplexities
divine Scripture is able to afford him some relief, so as to take rightly
what is written, and to dwell upon our word as an illustration; that as it
is proper to us and is from us, and not a work external to us, so also
God's Word is proper to Him and from Him, and is not a work; and yet is not
like the word of man, or else we must suppose God to be man. For observe,
many and various are men's words which pass away day by day; because those
that come before others continue not, but vanish. Now this happens because
their authors are men, and have seasons which pass away, and ideas which
are successive; and what strikes them first and second, that they utter; so
that they have many words, and yet after them all nothing at all remaining;
for the speaker ceases, and his word forthwith is spent. But God's Word is
one and the same, and, as it is written, 'The Word of God endureth for
ever[3],' not changed, not before or after other, but existing the same
always. For it was fitting, whereas God is One, that His Image should be
One also, and His Word One and One His Wisdom[4].

   37. Wherefore I am in wonder how, whereas God is One, these men
introduce, after their private notions, many images and wisdoms and
words[5], and say that the Father's proper and natural Word is other than
the Son, by whom He even made the Son[6] and that He who is really Son is
but notionally[7] called Word, as vine, and way, and door, and tree of
life; and that He is called Wisdom also in name, the proper and true Wisdom
of the Father, which coexist ingenerately[8] with Him, being other than the
Son, by which He even made the Son, and named Him Wisdom as partaking of
it. This they have not confined to words, but Arius composed in his Thalia,
and the Sophist Asterius wrote, what we have stated above, as follows:
'Blessed Paul said not that he preached Christ, the Power of God or the
Wisdom of God, but without the addition of the article, 'God's power' and
'God's wisdom[9],' thus preaching that the proper Power of God Himself
which is natural to Him, and co-existent in Him ingenerately, is something
besides, generative indeed of Christ, and creative of the whole world,
concerning which he teaches in his Epistle to the Romans thus,--'The
invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal Power and
Godhead[10].' For as no one would say that the Godhead there mentioned was
Christ, but the Father Himself, so, as I think, 'His eternal Power and
Godhead also is not the Only Begotten Son, but the Father who begat
Him[11].' And he teaches that there is another power and wisdom of God,
manifested through Christ. And shortly after the same Asterius says,
'However His eternal power and wisdom, which truth argues to be without
beginning and ingenerate, the same must surely be one. For there are many
wisdoms which are one by one created by Him, of whom Christ is the first-
born and only-begotten; all however equally depend on their Possessor. And
all the powers are rightly called His who created and uses them:--as the
Prophet says that the locust, which came to be a divine punishment of human
sins, was called by God Himself not only a power, but a great power; and
blessed David in most of the Psalms invites, not the Angels alone, but the
Powers to praise God.'

   38. Now are they not worthy of all hatred for merely uttering this? for
if, as they hold, He is Son, not because He is begotten of the Father and
proper to His Essence, but that He is called Word only because of things
rational[1], and Wisdom because of things gifted with wisdom, and Power
because of things gifted with power, surely He must be named a Son because
of those who are made sons: and perhaps because there are things existing,
He has even His existence[2], in our notions only[3]. And then after all
what is He? for He is none of these Himself, if they are but His names[4]:
and He has but a semblance of being, and is decorated with these names from
us. Rather this is some recklessness of the devil, or worse, if they are
not unwilling that they should truly subsist themselves, but think that
God's Word is but in name. Is not this portentous, to say that Wisdom
coexists with the Father, yet not to say that this. is the Christ, but that
there are many created powers and wisdoms, of which one is the Lord whom
they go on to compare to the caterpillar and locust? and are they not
profligate, who, when they hear us say that the Word coexists with the
Father, forthwith murmur out, 'Are you not speaking of two Unoriginates?'
yet in speaking themselves of 'His Unoriginate Wisdom,' do not see that
they have already incurred themselves the charge which they so rashly urge
against us[5]? Moreover, what folly is there in that thought of theirs,
that the Unoriginate Wisdom coexisting with God is God Himself! for what-
coexists does not coexist with itself, but with some one else, as the
Evangelists say of the Lord, that He was together with His disciples; for
He was not together with Himself, but with His disciples;--unless indeed
they would say that God is of a compound nature, having wisdom a
constituent or complement of His Essence, un-originate as well as
Himself[6], which moreover they pretend to be the framer of the world, that
so they may deprive the Son of the framing of it. For there is nothing they
would not maintain, sooner than hold the truth concerning the Lord.

   39. For where at all have they found in divine Scripture, or from whom
have they heard, that there is another Word and another Wisdom besides this
Son, that they should frame to themselves such a doctrine? True, indeed, it
is written, 'Are not My words like fire, and like a hammer that breaketh
the rock in pieces[1]?' and in the Proverbs, 'I will make known My words
unto you[2];' but these are precepts and commands, which God has spoken to
the saints through His proper and only true Word, concerning which the
Psalmist said, 'I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I may
keep Thy words[3].' Such words accordingly the Saviour signifies to be
distinct from Himself, when He says in His own person, 'The words which I
have spoken unto you[4].' For certainly such words are not off-springs or
sons, nor are there so many words that frame the world, nor so many images
of the One God, nor so many who have become men for us, nor as if from many
such there were one who has become flesh, as John says; but as being the
only Word of God was He preached by John, 'The Word was made flesh,' and
'all things were made by Himself.' Wherefore of Him alone, our Lord Jesus
Christ, and of His oneness with the Father, are written and set forth the
testimonies, both of the Father signifying that the Son is One, and of the
saints, aware of this and saying that the Word is One, and that He is Only-
Begotten. And His works also are set forth; for all things, visible and
invisible, have been brought to be through Him, and 'without Him was made
not one 'thing[6].' But concerning another or any one else they have not a
thought, nor frame to themselves words or wisdoms, of which neither name
nor deed are signified by Scripture, but are named by these only. For it is
their invention and Christ-opposing surmise, and they make the most[7] of
the name of the Word and the Wisdom; and framing to themselves others, they
deny the true Word of God, and the real and only Wisdom of the Father, and
thereby, miserable men, rival the Manichees. For they too, when they behold
the works of God, deny Him the only and true God, and frame to themselves
another, whom they can shew neither by work, nor in any testimony drawn
from the divine oracles.

   40. Therefore, if neither in the divine oracles is found another wisdom
besides this Son, nor from the fathers[1] have we heard of any such, yet
they have confessed and written of the Wisdom coexisting with the Father
unoriginately, proper to Him, and the Framer of the world, this must be the
Son who even according to them is eternally coexistent with the Father. For
He is Framer of all, as it is written, 'In Wisdom hast Thou made them
ally[2].' Nay, Asterius himself, as if forgetting what he wrote before,
afterwards, in Caiaphas's[3] fashion, involuntarily, when urging the
Greeks, instead of naming many wisdoms, or the caterpillar, confesses but
one, in these words;--'God the 'Word is one, but many are the things
rational; and one is the essence and nature of Wisdom, but many are the
things wise and beautiful.' And soon afterwards he says again:--'Who are
they whom they honour with the title of God's children? for they will not
say that they too are words, nor maintain that there are many wisdoms. For
it is not possible, whereas the Word is one, and Wisdom has been set forth
as one, to dispense to the multitude of children the Essence of the Word,
and to bestow on them the appellation of Wisdom.' It is not then at all
wonderful, that the Arians should battle with the truth, when they have
collisions with their own principles and conflict with each other, at one
time saying that there are many wisdoms, at another maintaining one; at one
time classing wisdom with the caterpillar, at another saying that it
coexists with the Father and is proper to Him; now that the Father alone is
unoriginate, and then again that His Wisdom and His Power are unoriginate
also. And they battle with us for saying that the Word of God is ever, yet
forget their own doctrines, and say themselves that Wisdom coexists with
God unoriginately[4]. So dizzied[5] are they in all these matters, denying
the true Wisdom, and inventing one which is not, as the Manichees who make
to themselves another God, after denying Him that is.

   41. But let the other heresies and the Manichees also know that the
Father of the Christ is One, and is Lord and Maker of the creation through
His proper Word. And let the Ariomaniacs know in particular, that the Word
of God is One, being the only Son proper and genuine from His Essence, and
having with His Father the oneness of Godhead indivisible, as we said many
times, being taught it by the Saviour Himself. Since, were it not so,
wherefore through Him does the Father create, and in Him reveal Himself to
whom He will, and illuminate them? or why too in the baptismal consecration
is the Son named together with the Father? For if they say that the Father
is not all-sufficient, then their answer is irreligious[6], but if He be,
for this it is right to say, what is the need of the Son for framing the
worlds, or for the holy laver? For what fellowship is there between
creature and Creator? or why is a thing made classed with the Maker in the
consecration of all of us? or why, as you hold, is faith in one Creator and
in one creature delivered to us? for if it was that we might be joined to
the Godhead, what need of the creature? but if that we might be united to
the Son a creature, superfluous, according to you, is this naming of the
Son in Baptism, for God who made Him a Son is able to make us sons also.
Besides, if the Son be a creature, the nature of rational creatures being
one, no help will come to creatures from a creature[7], since all[8] need
grace from God. We said a few words just now on the fitness that all things
should be made by Him; but since the course of the discussion has led us
also to mention holy Baptism, it is necessary to state, as I think and
believe, that the Son is named with the Father, not as if the Father were
not all-sufficient, not without meaning, and by accident; but, since He is
God's Word and own Wisdom, and being His Radiance, is ever with the Father,
therefore it is impossible, if the Father bestows grace, that He should not
give it in the Son, for the Son is in the Father as the radiance in the
light. For, not as if in need, but as a Father in His own Wisdom hath God
rounded the earth, and made all things in the Word which is from Him, and
in the Son confirms the Holy Laver. For where the Father is, there is the
Son, and where the light, there the radiance; and as what the Father
worketh, He worketh through the Son[9], and the Lord Himself says, 'What I
see the Father do, that do I also;' so also when baptism is given, whom the
Father baptizes, him the Son baptizes; and whom the Son baptizes, he is
consecrated in the Holy Ghost[10]. And again as when the sun shines, one
might say that the radiance illuminates, for the light is one and
indivisible, nor can be detached, so where the Father is or is named, there
plainly is the Son also; and is the Father named in Baptism? then must the
Son be named with Him[11].

42. Therefore, when He made His promise to the saints, He thus spoke; 'I
and the Father will come, and make Our abode in him;' and again, 'that, as
I and Thou are One, so they may be one in Us.' And the grace given is one,
given from the Father in the Son, as Paul writes in every Epistle, 'Grace
unto you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ(1).' For
the light must be with the ray, and the radiance must be contemplated
together with its own light. Whence the Jews, as denying the Son as well as
they, have not the Father either; for, as having left the 'Fountain of
Wisdom(2),' as Baruch reproaches them, they put from them the Wisdom
springing from it, our Lord Jesus Christ (for 'Christ,' says the Apostle,
is 'God's power and God's wisdom(3)),' when they said, 'We have no king but
Caesar 4.' The Jews then have the penal award of their denial; for their'
city as well as their reasoning came to nought. And these too hazard the
fulness of the mystery, I mean Baptism; for if the consecration is given to
us into the Name of Father and Son, and they do not confess a true Father,
because they deny what is from Him and like His Essence, and deny also the
true Son, and name another of their own framing as created out of nothing,
is not the rite administered by them altogether empty and unprofitable,
making a show, but in reality being no help towards religion? For the
Arians do not baptize into Father and Son, but into Creator and creature,
and into Maker and work(5). And as a creature is other than the Son, so the
Baptism, which is supposed to be given by them, is other than the truth,
though they pretend to name the Name of the Father and the Son, because of
the words of Scripture, For not he who simply says, 'O Lord,' gives
Baptism; but he who with the Name has also the right faith(6). On this
account therefore our Saviour also did not simply command to baptize, but
first says, 'Teach;' then thus: 'Baptize into the Name of Father, and Son,
and Holy Ghost;' that the right faith might follow upon learning, and
together with faith might come the consecration of Baptism.

   43. There are many other heresies too, which use the words only, but
not in a right sense, as I have said, nor with sound faith(1), and in
consequence the water which they administer is unprofitable, as deficient
in piety, so that he who is sprinkled(2) by them is rather polluted(3) by
irreligion than redeemed. So Gentiles also, though the name of God is on
their lips, incur the charge of Atheism(4), because they know not the real
and very God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Manichees and
Phrygians(5), and the disciples of the Samosatene, though using the Names,
nevertheless are heretics, and the Arians follow in the same course, though
they read the words of Scripture, and use the Names, yet they too mock
those who receive the rite from them, being more irreligious than the other
heresies, and advancing beyond them, and making them seem innocent by their
own recklessness of speech. For these other heresies lie against the truth
in some certain respect, either erring concerning the Lord's Body, as if He
did not take flesh of Mary, or as if He has not died at all, nor become
man, but only appeared, and was not truly, and seemed to have a body when
He had not, and seemed to have the shape of man, as visions in a dream; but
the Arians are without disguise irreligious against the Father Himself. For
hearing from the Scriptures that His Godhead is represented in the Son as
in an image, they blaspheme, saying, that it is a creature, and everywhere
concerning that Image, they carry about(6) with them the phrase, 'He was
not,' as mud in a wallet(7), and spit it forth as serpents  their venom.
Then, whereas their doctrine is nauseous to all men, forthwith, as a
support against its fall, they prop up the heresy with human(9) patronage,
that the simple, at the sight or even by the fear may overlook the mischief
of their perversity. Right indeed is it to pity their dupes; well is it to
weep over them, for that they sacrifice their own interest for that
immediate phantasy which pleasures furnish, and forfeit their future hope.
In thinking to be baptized into the name of one who exists not, they will
receive nothing; and ranking themselves with a creature, from the creation
they will have no help, and believing in one unlike(10) and foreign to the
Father in essence, to the Father they will not be joined, not having His
own Son by nature, who is from Him, who is in the Father, and in whom the
Father is, as He Himself has said; but being led astray by them, the
wretched men henceforth remain destitute and stripped of the Godhead. For
this phantasy of earthly goods will not follow them upon their death; nor
when they see the Lord whom they have denied, sitting on His Father's
throne, and judging quick and dead, will they be able to call to their help
any one of those who have now deceived them; for they shall see them also
at the judgment-seat, repenting for their deeds of sin and irreligion.

CHAPTER XIX: TEXTS EXPLAINED; SIXTHLY, PROVERBS viii. 22.

Proverbs are of a figurative nature, and must be interpreted as such. We
must interpret them, and in particular this passage, by the Regula Fidei.
'He created me' not equivalent to 'I am a creature.' Wisdom a creature so
far forth as Its human body. Again, if He is a creature, it is as 'a
beginning of ways,' an office which, though not an attribute, is a
consequence, of a higher and divine nature. And it is 'for the works,'
which implied the works existed, and therefore much more He, before He was
created. Also 'the Lord' not the Father 'created' Him, which implies the
creation was that of a servant.

   44. We have gone through thus much before the passage in the Proverbs,
resisting the insensate fables which their hearts have invented, that they
may know that the Son of God ought not to be called a creature, and may
learn lightly to read what admits in truth of a right(1) explanation. For
it is written, 'The Lord created me a beginning of His ways, for His
works(2);' since, however, these are proverbs, and it is expressed in the
way of proverbs, we must not expound them nakedly in their first sense, but
we must inquire into the person, and thus religiously put the sense on it.
For what is said in proverbs, is not said plainly, but is put forth
latently(3), as the Lord Himself has taught us in the Gospel according to
John, saying, 'These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs, but the
time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but
openly(4).' Therefore it is necessary to unfold the senses of what is said,
and to seek it as something hidden, and not nakedly to expound as if the
meaning were spoken 'plainly,' lest by a false interpretation we wander
from the truth. If then what is written be about Angel, or any other of
things originate, as concerning one of us who are works, let it be said,
'created me;' but if it be the Wisdom of God, in whom all things originate
have been framed, that speaks concerning Itself, what ought we to
understand but that 'He created' means nothing contrary to 'He begat?' Nor,
as forgetting that It is Creator and Framer, or ignorant of the difference
between the Creator and the creatures, does It number Itself among the
creatures; but It signifies a certain sense, as in proverbs, not 'plainly,'
but latent; which It inspired the saints to use in prophecy, while soon
after It doth Itself give the meaning of 'He created' in other but parallel
expressions, saying, 'Wisdom made herself a house(6).' Now it is plain that
our body is Wisdom's house(7), which It took on Itself to become man; hence
consistently does John say, 'The Word was made flesh(8);' and by Solomon
Wisdom says of Itself with cautious exactness(9), not 'I am a creature,'
but only 'The Lord created me a beginning of His ways for His works(10),'
yet not 'created me that I might have being,' nor 'because I have a
creature's beginning and origin.'

   45. For in this passage, not as signifying the Essence of His Godhead,
nor His own everlasting and genuine generation from the Father, has the
Word spoken by Solomon, but on the other hand His manhood and Economy
towards us. And, as I said before, He has not said 'I am a creature,' or 'I
became a creature,' but only 'He created(1).' For the creatures, having a
created essence, are originate, and are said to be created, and of course
the creature is created: but this mere term 'He created' does not
necessarily signify the essence or the generation, but indicates something
else as coming to pass in Him of whom it speaks, and not simply that He who
is said to be created, is at once in His Nature and Essence a creature'.
And this difference divine Scripture recognises, saying concerning the
creatures, 'The earth is full of Thy creation,' and 'the creation itself
groaneth together and travaileth together(3);' and in the Apocalypse it
says, 'And the third part of the creatures in the sea died which had life;'
as also Paul says, 'Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be
refused if it be received with thanksgiving(4);' and in the book of Wisdom
it is written, 'Having ordained man through Thy wisdom, that he should have
dominion over the creatures which Thou hast made(5).' And these, being
creatures, are also said to be created, as we may further hear from the
Lord, who says, 'He who created them, made them male and female(6);' and
from Moses in the Song, who writes, 'Ask now of the days that are past,
which were before thee since the day that God created man upon the earth,
and from the one side of heaven unto the other(7).' And Paul in Colossians,
'Who is the Image of the Invisible God, the Firstborn of every creature,
for in Him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are on
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers; all things were created through Him, and for
Him, and He is before all(8).'

   46. That to be called creatures, then, and to be created belongs to
things which have by nature a created essence, these passages are
sufficient to remind us, though Scripture is full of the like; on the other
hand that the single word 'He created' does not simply denote the essence
and mode of generation, David shews in the Psalm, 'This shall be written
for another generation, and the people that is created shall praise the
Lord(1);' and again, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God(2);' and Paul in
Ephesians says, 'Having abolished the law of commandments contained in
ordinances, for to create in Himself of two one new man(3); and again, 'Put
ye on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness(4).' For neither David spoke of any people created in essence, nor
prayed to have another heart than that he had, but meant renovation
according to God and renewal; nor did Paul signify two persons created in
essence in the Lord, nor again did he counsel us to put on any other man;
but he called the life according to virtue the 'man after God,' and by the
'created' in Christ he meant the two people who are renewed in Him. Such
too is the language of the book of Jeremiah; 'The Lord created a new
salvation for a planting, in which salvation men shall walk to and fro(5);'
and in thus speaking, he does not mean any essence of a creature, but
prophesies of the renewal of salvation among men, which has taken place in
Christ for us. Such then being the difference between 'the creatures' and
the single word 'He created,' if you find anywhere in divine Scripture the
Lord called 'creature,' produce it and fight; but if it is nowhere written
that He is a creature, only He Himself says about Himself in the Proverbs,
'The Lord created me,' shame upon you, both on the ground of the
distinction aforesaid and for that the diction is like that of proverbs;
and accordingly let 'He created' be understood, not of His being a
creature, but of that human nature which became His, for to this belongs
creation. Indeed is it not evidently unfair in you, when David and Paul say
'He created,' then indeed not to understand it of the essence and the
generation, but the renewal; yet, when the Lord says 'He created' to number
His essence with the creatures? and again when Scripture says, 'Wisdom
built her an house, she set it upon seven pillars(6), to understand 'house'
allegorically, but to take 'He created' as it stands, and to fasten on it
the idea of creature? and neither His being Framer of all has had any
weight with you, nor have you feared His being the sole and proper
Offspring of the Father, but recklessly, as if you had enlisted against
Him, do ye fight, and think less of Him than of men.

   47. For the very passage proves that it is only an invention of your
own to call the Lord creature For the Lord, knowing His own Essence to be
the Only-begotten Wisdom and Offspring of the Father, and other than things
originate and natural creatures, says in love to man, 'The Lord created me
a beginning of His ways,' as if to say, 'My Father hath prepared for Me a
body, and has created Me for men in behalf of their salvation.' For, as
when John says, 'The Word was made flesh(1), we do not conceive the whole
Word Himself to be flesh(2), but to have put on flesh and become man, and
on hearing, 'Christ hath become a curse for us,' and 'He hath made Him sin
for us who knew no sin(3),' we do not simply conceive this, that whole
Christ has become curse and sin, but that He has taken on Him the curse
which lay against us (as the Apostle has said, 'Has redeemed us from the
curse,' and 'has carried,' as Isaiah has said, 'our sins,' and as Peter has
written, 'has borne them in the body on the wood(4)); so, if it is said in
the Proverbs 'He created,' we must not conceive that the whole Word is in
nature a creature, but that He put on the created body  and that God
created Him for our sakes, preparing for Him the created body(5) as it is
written, for us, that in Him we might be capable of being renewed and
deified. What then deceived you, O senseless, to call the Creator a
creature? or whence did you purchase for you this new thought, to parade
it(6)? For the Proverbs say 'He created,' but they call not the Son
creature, but Offspring; and, according to the distinction in Scripture
aforesaid of 'He created' and 'creature,' they acknowledge, what is by
nature proper to the Son, that He is the Only-begotten Wisdom and Framer of
the creatures, and when they say 'He created,' they say it not in respect
of His Essence, but signify that He was becoming a beginning of many ways;
so that 'He created' is in contrast to 'Offspring,' and His being called
the 'Beginning of ways(7)' to His being the Only-begotten Word.

   48. For if He is Offspring, how call ye Him creature? for no one says
that He begets what He creates, nor calls His proper offspring creatures;
and again, if He is Only- begotten, how becomes He 'beginning of the ways?'
for of necessity, if He was created a beginning of all things, He is no
longer alone, as having those who came into being after Him. For Reuben,
when he became a beginning of the children(1), was not only- begotten, but
in time indeed first, but in nature and relationship one among those who
came after him. Therefore if the Word also is 'a beginning of the ways,' He
must be such as the ways are, and the ways must be such as the Word, though
in point of time He be created first of them. For the beginning or
initiative of a city is such as the other parts of the city are, and the
members too being joined to it, make the city whole and one, as the many
members of one body; nor does one part of it make, and another come to be,
and is subject to the former, but all the city equally has its government
and constitution from its maker. If then the Lord is in such sense created
as a 'beginning' of all things, it would follow that He and all other
things together make up the unity of the creation, and He neither differs
from all others, though He become the 'beginning' of all, nor is He Lord of
them, though older in point of time; but He has the same manner of framing
and the same Lord as the rest. Nay, if He be a creature, as you hold, how
can He be created sole and first at all, so as to be beginning of all? when
it is plain from what has been said, that among the creatures not any is of
a constant(2) nature and of prior formation, but each has its origination
with all the rest, however it may excel others in glory. For as to the
separate stars or the great lights, not this appeared first, and that
second, but in one day and by the same command, they were all called into
being. And such was the original formation of the quadrupeds, and of birds,
and fishes, and cattle, and plants; thus too has the race made after God's
Image come to be, namely men; for though Adam only was formed out of earth,
yet in him was involved the succession of the whole race.

   49. And from the visible creation, we clearly discern that His
invisible things also, 'being perceived by the things that are made(3),'
are not independent of each other; for it was not first one and then
another, but all at once were constituted after their kind. For the Apostle
did not number individually, so as to say 'whether Angel, or Throne, or
Dominion, or Authority,' but he mentions together all according to their
kind, 'whether Angels, or Archangels, or Principalities(4):' for in this
way is the origination of the creatures. If then, as I have said, the Word
were creature He must have been brought into being, not first of them, but
with all the other Powers, though in glory He excel the rest ever so much.
For so we find it to be in their case, that at once they came to be, with
neither first nor second, and they differ from each other in glory, some on
the right of the throne, some all around, and some on the left, but one and
all praising and standing in service before the Lords. Therefore if the
Word be creature He would not be first or beginning of the rest yet if He
be before all, as indeed He is, and is Himself alone First and Son, it does
not follow that He is beginning of all things as to His Essence(6), for
what is the beginning of all is in the number of all. And if He is not such
a beginning, then neither is He a creature, but it is very plain that He
differs in essence and nature from the creatures, and is other than they,
and is Likeness and Image of the sole and true God, being Himself sole
also. Hence He is not classed with creatures in Scripture, but David
rebukes those who dare even to think of Him as such, saying, 'Who among the
gods is like unto the Lord(7)?' and 'Who is like unto the Lord among the
sons of God?' and Baruch, 'This is our God, and another shall not be
reckoned wills Him(8).' For the One creates, and the rest are created; and
the One is the own Word and Wisdom of the Father's Essence, and through
this Word things which came to be, which before existed not, were made.

   50. Your famous assertion then, that the Son is a creature, is not
true, but is your fantasy only; nay Solomon convicts you of having many
times slandered him. For he has not called Him creature, but God's
Offspring and Wisdom, saying, 'God in Wisdom established the earth,' and
'Wisdom built her an house(1).' And the very passage in question proves
your irreligious spirit; for it is written, 'The Lord created me a
beginning of His ways for His works.' Therefore if He is before all things,
yet says 'He created me' (not 'that I might make the works,' but) 'for the
works,' unless 'He created' relates to something later than Himself, He
will seem later than the works, finding them on His creation already in
existence before Him, for the sake of which He is also brought into being.
And if so, how is He before all things notwithstanding? and how were all
things made through Him and consist in Him? for behold, you say that the
works consisted before Him, for which He is created and sent. But it is not
so; perish the thought! false is the supposition of the heretics. For the
Word of God is not creature but Creator; and says in the manner of
proverbs, 'He created me' when He put on created flesh. And something
besides may be understood from the passage itself; for, being Son and
having God for His Father, for He is His proper Offspring, yet here He
names the Father Lord; not that He was servant, but because He took the
servant's form. For it became Him, on the one hand being the Word from the
Father, to call God Father: for this is proper to son towards father; on
the other, having come to finish the work, and taken a servant's form, to
name the Father Lord. And this difference He Himself has taught by an apt
distinction, saying in the Gospels, 'I thank Thee, O Father,' and then,
'Lord of heaven and earth(2).' For He calls God His Father, but of the
creatures He names Him Lord; as shewing clearly from these words, that,
when He put on the creature(3), then it was He called the Father Lord. For
in the prayer of David the Holy. Spirit marks the same distinction, saying
in the Psalms, 'Give Thy strength unto Thy Child, and help the Son of Thine
handmaid(4).' For the natural and true child of God is one, and the sons of
the handmaid, that is, of the nature of things originate, are other.
Wherefore the One, as Son, has the Father's might; but the rest are in need
of salvation.

   51. (But if, because He was called child, they idly talk, let them know
that both Isaac was named Abraham's child, and the son of the Shunamite was
called young child.) Reasonably then, we being servants, when He became as
we, He too calls the Father Lord, as we do; and this He has so done from
love to man, that we too, being servants by nature, and receiving the
Spirit of the Son, might have confidence to call Him by grace Father, who
is by nature our Lord. But as we, in calling the Lord Father, do not deny
our servitude by nature (for we are His works, and it is 'He that hath made
us, and not we ourselves(1)'), so when the Son, on taking the servant's
form, says, 'The Lord created me a beginning of His ways,' let them not
deny the eternity of His Godhead, and that 'in the beginning was the Word,'
and 'all things were made by Him,' and 'in Him all things were created(2).'

CHAPTER XX: TEXTS EXPLAINED; SIXTHLY, PROVERBS viii. 22 CONTINUED.

Our Lord is said to be created 'for the works,' i.e. with a particular
purpose, which no mere creatures are ever said to be. Parallel of Isai.
xlix. 5, &c. When His manhood is spoken of, a reason for it is added; not
so when His Divine Nature; Texts in proof.

   51 (continued). FOR the passage in the Proverbs, as I have said before,
signifies, not the Essence, but the manhood of the Word; for if He says
that He was created 'for the works,' He shews His intention of signifying,
not His Essence, but the Economy which took place 'for His works,' which
comes second to being. For things which are in formation and creation are
made specially that they may be and exist(3), and next they have to do
whatever the Word bids them, as may be seen in the case of all things. For
Adam was created, not that He might work, but that first he might be man;
for it was after this that he received the command to work. And Noah was
created, not because of the ark, but that first he might exist and be a
man; for after this he received commandment to prepare the ark. And the
like will be found in every case on inquiring into it; -- thus the great
Moses first was made a man, and next was entrusted with the government of
the people. Therefore here too we must suppose the like; for thou seest,
that the Word is not created into existence, but, 'In the beginning was the
Word,' and He is afterwards sent 'for the works" and the Economy towards
them. For before the works were made, the Son was ever, nor was there yet
need that He should be created; but when the works were created and need
arose afterwards of the Economy for their restoration, then it was that the
Word took upon Himself this condescension and assimilation to the works;
which He has shewn us by the word 'He created.' And through the Prophet
Isaiah willing to signify the like, He says again: 'And now thus saith the
Lord, who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to gather together
Jacob unto Him and Israel, I shall be brought together and be glorified
before the Lord(4).'

   52. See here too, He is formed, not into existence, but in order to
gather together the tribes, which were in existence before He was formed.
For as in the former passage stands 'He created,' so in this 'He formed;'
and as there 'for the works,' so here 'to gather together;' so that in
every point of view it appears that 'He created' and 'He formed' are said
after 'the Word was.' For as before His forming the tribes existed, for
whose sake He was formed, so does it appear that the works exist, for which
He was created. And when 'in the beginning was the Word,' not yet were the
works, as I have said before; but when the works were made and the need
required, then 'He created' was said; and as if some son, when the servants
were lost, and in the hands of the enemy by their own carelessness, and
need was urgent, were sent by his father to succour and recover them, and
on setting out were to put over him the like dress(1) with them, and should
fashion himself as they, test the capturers, recognising him(2) as the
master, should take to flight and prevent his descending to those who were
hidden under the earth by them; and then were any one to inquire of him,
why he did so, were to make answer, 'My Father thus formed and prepared me
for his works,' while in thus speaking, he neither implies that he is a
servant nor one of the works, nor speaks of the beginning of His
origination, but of the subsequent charge given him over the works,--in the
same way the Lord also, having put over Him our flesh, and 'being found in
fashion as a man, if He were questioned by those who saw Him thus and
marvelled, would say, 'The Lord created Me the beginning of His ways for
His works,' and 'He formed Me to gather together Israel.' This again the
Spirit(3) foretells in the Psalms, saying, 'Thou didst set Him over the
works of Thine hands(4);' which elsewhere the Lord signified of Himself, 'I
am set as King by Him upon His holy hill of Sion(5).' And as, when He
shone(6) in the body upon Sion, He had not His beginning of existence or of
reign, but being God's Word and everlasting King, He vouchsafed that His
kingdom should shine in a human way in Sion, that redeeming them and us
from the sin which reigned in them, He might bring them under His Father's
Kingdom, so, on being set 'for the works,' He is not set for things which
did not yet exist, but for such as already were and needed restoration.

   53. 'He created' then and 'He formed' and 'He set,' having the same
meaning, do not denote the beginning of His being, or of His essence as
created, but His beneficent renovation which came to pass for us.
Accordingly, though He thus speaks, yet He taught also that He Himself
existed before this, when He said, 'Before Abraham came to be, I am(1);'
and 'when He prepared the heavens, I was present with Him;' and 'I was with
Him disposing things(2).' And as He Himself was before Abraham came to be,
and Israel had come into being after Abraham, and plainly He exists first
and is formed afterwards, and His forming signifies not His beginning of
being but His taking manhood, wherein also He collects together the tribes
of Israel; so, as 'being always with the Father,' He Himself is Framer of
the creation, and His works are evidently later than Himself, and 'He
created' signifies, not His beginning of being, but the Economy which took
place for the works, which He effected in the flesh. For it became Him,
being other than the works, nay rather their Framer, to take upon Himself
their renovation(3), that, whereas He is created for us, all things may be
now created in Him. For when He said 'He created,' He forthwith added the
reason, naming 'the works,' that His creation for the works might signify
His becoming man for their renovation. And this is usual with divine
Scripture(4); for when it signifies the fleshly origination of the Son, it
adds also the cause(5) for which He became man; but when he speaks or His
servants declare anything of His Godhead, all is said in simple diction,
and with an absolute sense, and without reason being added. For He is the
Father's Radiance; and as the Father is, but not for any reason, neither
must we seek the reason of that Radiance. Thus it is written, 'In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God(6);' and the wherefore it assigns not(7); but when 'the Word was made
flesh(8),' then it adds the reason why, saying, 'And dwelt among us.' And
again the Apostle saying, 'Who being in the form of Gods' has not
introduced the reason, till 'He took on Him the form of a servant;' for
then he continues, 'He humbled Himself unto death, even the death of the
cross(9);' for it was for this that He both became flesh and took the form
of a servant.

   54. And the Lord Himself has spoken many things in proverbs; but when
giving us notices about Himself, He has spoken absolutely(1); 'I in the
Father and the Father in Me,' and 'I and the Father are one,' and, 'He that
hath seen Me, hath seen the Father, and I am the Light of the world,' and,
'I am the Truth(2);' not setting down in every case the reason, nor the
wherefore, lest He should seem second to those things for which He was
made. For that reason would needs take precedence of Him, without which not
even He Himself had come into being. Paul, for instance, 'separated an
Apostle for the Gospel, which the Lord had promised afore by the
Prophets(3),' was thereby made subordinate to the Gospel, of which he was
made minister, and John, being chosen to prepare the Lord's way, was made
subordinate to the Lord; but the Lord, not being made subordinate to any
reason why He should be Word, save only that He is the Father's Offspring
and Only-begotten Wisdom, when He becomes man, then assigns the reason why
He is about to take flesh. For the need of man preceded His becoming man,
apart from which He had not put on flesh(4). And what the need was for
which He became man, He Himself thus signifies, 'I came down from heaven,
not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is the
will of Him which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me, I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this
is the will of My Father, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth
on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last
day(5).' And again; 'I am come a light into the world, that whosoever
believeth on Me, should not abide in darkness(6).' And again he says; 'To
this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I
should bear witness unto the truth(7).' And John has written: 'For this was
manifested the Son of God, that He might destroy the works of the
devil(8).'

   55. To give a witness then, and for our sakes to undergo death, to
raise man up and destroy the works of the devil(1), the Saviour came, and
this is the reason of His incarnate presence. For otherwise a resurrection
had not been, unless there had been death; and how had death been, unless
He had had a mortal body? This the Apostle, learning from Him, thus sets
forth, 'Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He
also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might
bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage(2).' And, 'Since by man came death, by man came also the
resurrection of the dead(3).' And again, 'For what the Law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the
ordinance of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit(4).' And John says, 'For God sent not His Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be
saved(5).' And again, the Saviour has spoken in His own person, 'For
judgment am I come into this world, that they who see not might see, and
that they which see might become blind(6).' Not for Himself then, but for
our salvation, and to abolish death, and to condemn sin, and to give sight
to the blind, and to raise up all from the dead, has He come; but if not
for Himself, but for us, by consequence not for Himself but for us is He
created. But if not for Himself is He created, but for us, then He is not
Himself a creature, but, as having put on our flesh, He uses such language.
And that this is the sense of the Scriptures, we may learn from the
Apostle, who says in Ephesians, 'Having broken down the middle wall of
partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the
law of commandments contained in ordinances, to create in Himself of twain
one new man, so making peace(7).' But if in Him the twain are created, and
these are in His body, reasonably then, bearing the twain in Himself, He is
as if Himself created; for those who were created in Himself He made one,
and He was in them, as they. And thus, the two being created in Him, He may
say suitably, 'The Lord created me.' For as by receiving our infirmities,
He is said to be infirm Himself, though not Himself infirm, for He is the
Power of God, and He became sin for us and a curse, though not having
sinned Himself, but because He Himself bare our sins and our curse, so(8),
by creating us in Him, let Him say, He created me for the works,' though
not Himself a creature.

   56. For if, as they hold, the Essence of the Word being of created
nature, therefore He says, 'The Lord created me,' being a creature, He was
not created for us; but if He was not created for us, we are not created in
Him; and, if not created in Him, we have Him not in ourselves but
externally; as, for instance, as receiving instruction from Him as from a
teacher(1). And it being so with us, sin has not lost its reign over the
flesh, being inherent and not cast out of it. But the Apostle opposes such
a doctrine a little before, when he says, 'For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus(2);' and if in Christ we are created, then it is
not He who is created, but we in Him; and thus the words 'He created' are
for our sake. For because of our need, the Word, though being Creator,
endured words which are used of creatures; which are not proper to Him, as
being the Word, but are ours who are created in Him. And as, since the
Father is always, so is His Word, and always being, always says 'I was
daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him(3),' and 'I am in the Father
and the Father in Me(4);' so, when for our need He became man, consistently
does He use language, as ourselves, The Lord hath created Me,' that, by His
dwelling in the flesh, sin might perfectly be expelled from the flesh, and
we might have a free mind(5). For what ought He, when made man, to say? 'In
the beginning was man?' this were neither suitable to Him nor true; and as
it beseemed not to say this, so it is natural and proper in the case of man
to say, 'He created' and 'He made' Him. On this account then the reason of
'He created' is added, namely, the need of the works; and where the reason
is added, surely the reason rightly explains the lection. Thus here, when
He says 'He created,' He sets down the cause, 'the works;' on the other
hand, when He signifies absolutely the generation from the Father,
straightway He adds, 'Before all the hills He begets me(6);' but He does
not add the 'wherefore,' as in the case of 'He created,' saying, 'for the
works,' but absolutely, 'He begets me,' as in the text, 'In the beginning
was the Word(7).' For, though no works had been created, still 'the Word'
of God 'was,' and 'the Word was God.' And His becoming man would not have
taken place, had not the need of men become a cause. The Son then is not a
creature.

CHAPTER XXI: TEXTS EXPLAINED; SIXTHLY, PROVERBS viii. 22, CONTINUED.

Our Lord not said in Scripture to be 'created,' or the works to be
'begotten.' 'In the beginning' means in the case of the works 'from the
beginning.' Scripture passages explained. We are made by God first,
begotten next; creatures by nature, sons by grace. Christ begotten first,
made or created afterwards. Sense of 'First-born of the dead;' of 'First-
born among many brethren;' of 'First-born of all creation,' contrasted with
'Only- begotten.' Further interpretation of 'beginning of ways,' and 'for
the works.' Why a creature could not redeem; why redemption was necessary
at all. Texts which contrast the Word and the works.

   57. FOR had He been a creature, He had not said, 'He begets me,' for
the creatures are from without, and are works of the Maker; but the
Offspring is not from without nor a work, but from the Father, and proper
to His Essence. Wherefore they are creatures; this God's Word and Only-
begotten Son. For instance, Moses did not say of the creation, 'In the
beginning He begat,' nor 'In the beginning was,' but 'In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth(1).' Nor did David say in the Psalm, 'Thy
hands have "begotten me,"' but 'made me and fashioned me(2),' everywhere
applying the word 'made' to the creatures. But to the Son contrariwise; for
he has not said 'I made,' but 'I begat(3),' and 'He begets me,' and 'My
heart uttered a good Word(4).' And in the instance of the creation, 'In the
beginning He made;' but in the instance of the Son, 'In the beginning was
the Word(5).' And there is this difference, that the creatures are made
upon the beginning, and have a beginning of existence connected with an
interval; wherefore also what is said of them, 'In the beginning He made,'
is as much as saying of them, 'From the beginning He made:'--as the Lord,
knowing that which He had made, taught, when He silenced the Pharisees,
with the words, 'He which made them from the beginning, made them male and
female(6);' for from some beginning, when they were not yet, were originate
things brought into being and created. This too the Holy Spirit has
signified in the Psalms, saying, 'Thou, Lord, at the beginning hast laid
the foundation of the earth(7);' and again, 'O think upon Thy congregation
which Thou hast purchased from the beginning(8);' now it is plain that what
takes place at the beginning, has a beginning of creation, and that from
some beginning God purchased His congregation. And that In the beginning He
made,' from his saying made,' means 'began to make,' Moses himself shews by
saying, after the completion of all things, 'And God blessed the seventh
day and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested from all His work
which God began to make(9).' Therefore the creatures began to be made; but
the Word of God, not having beginning of being, certainly did not begin to
be, nor begin to come to be, but was ever. And the works have their
beginning in their making, and their beginning precedes their coming to be;
but the Word, not being of things which come to be, rather comes to be
Himself the Framer of those which have a beginning. And the being of things
originate is measured by their becoming(10), and from some beginning does
God begin to make them through the Word, that it may be known that they
were not before their origination; but the Word has His being, in no other
beginning(11) than the Father, whom(12) they allow to be without beginning,
so that He too exists without beginning in  the Father, being His
Offspring, not His creature.

58. Thus does divine Scripture recognise the difference between the
Offspring and things made, and shew that the Offspring is a Son, not begun
from any beginning, but eternal; but that the thing made, as an external
work of the Maker, began to come into being. John therefore delivering
divine doctrine(1) about the Son, and knowing the difference of the
phrases, said not, 'In the beginning has become' or 'been made,' but 'In
the beginning was the Word;' that we might understand 'Offspring' by 'was,'
and not account of Him by intervals, but believe the Son always and
eternally to exist. And with these proofs, how, O Arians, misunderstanding
the passage in Deuteronomy, did you venture a fresh act of irreligion(2)
against the Lord, saying that 'He is a work,' or 'creature,' or indeed
'offspring?' for offspring and work you take to mean the same thing; but
here too you shall be shewn to be as unlearned as you are irreligious. Your
first passage is this, 'Is not He thy Father that bought thee? did He not
make thee and create thee(3)? And shortly after in the same Song he says,
'God that begat thee thou didst desert, and forgattest God that nourished
thee(4).' Now the meaning conveyed in these passages is very remarkable;
for he says not first 'He begat,' lest that term should be taken as
indiscriminate with 'He made,' and these men should have a pretence for
saying, 'Moses tells us indeed that God said from the beginning, "Let Us
make man(5)," but he soon after says himself, 'God that begat thee thou
didst desert,' as if the terms were indifferent; for offspring and work are
the same. But after the words 'bought' and 'made,' he has added last of all
'begat,' that the sentence might carry its own interpretation; for in the
word 'made' he accurately denotes what belongs to men by nature, to be
works and things made; but in the word 'begat' he shews God's
lovingkindness exercised towards men after He had created them. And since
they have proved ungrateful upon this, thereupon Moses reproaches them,
saying first, 'Do ye thus requite the Lord?' and then adds, 'Is not He thy
Father that bought thee? Did He not make thee and create thee(6)?' And next
he says, 'They sacrificed unto devils, not to God, to gods whom they knew
not. New gods and strange came up, whom your fathers knew not; the God that
begat thee thou didst desert (7). '

   59. For God not only created them to be men, but called them to be
sons, as having begotten them. For the term 'begat' is here as elsewhere
expressive of a Son, as He says by the Prophet, 'I begat sons and exalted
them;' and generally, when Scripture wishes to signify a son, it does so,
not by the term 'created,' but undoubtedly by that of 'begat.' And this
John seems to say, 'He gave to them power to become children of God, even
to them that believe on His Name; which were begotten not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God(1).' And here too
the cautious distinction(2) is well kept up, for first he says 'become,'
because they are not called sons by nature but by adoption; then he says
'were begotten,' because they too had received at any rate the name of son.
But the People, as says the Prophet, 'despised' their Benefactor. But this
is God's kindness to man, that of whom He is Maker, of them according to
grace He afterwards becomes Father also; becomes, that is, when men, His
creatures, receive into their hearts, as the Apostle says, 'the Spirit of
His Son, crying, Abba, Father(3).' And these are they who, having received
the Word, gained power from Him to become sons of God; for they could not
become sons, being by nature creatures, otherwise than by receiving the
Spirit of the natural and true Son. Wherefore, that this might be, 'The
Word became flesh,' that He might make man capable of Godhead. This same
meaning may be gained also from the Prophet Malachi, who says, 'Hath not
One God created us? Have we not all one Father(4)?' for first he puts
'created,' next 'Father,' to shew, as the other writers, that from the
beginning we were creatures by nature, and God is our Creator through the
Word; but afterwards we were made sons, and thenceforward God the Creator
becomes our Father also. Therefore 'Father' is proper to the Son; and not
'creature,' but 'Son' is proper to the Father. Accordingly this passage
also proves, that we are not sons by nature, but the Son who is in us(5);
and again, that God is not our Father by nature, but of that Word in us, in
whom and because of whom we 'cry, Abba, Father(6).' And so in like manner,
the Father calls them sons in whomsoever He sees His own Son, and says, 'I
begat;' since begetting is significant of a Son, and making is indicative
of the works. And thus it is that we are not begotten first, but made; for
it is written, 'Let Us make man(7);' but afterwards, on receiving the grace
of the Spirit, we are said thenceforth to be begotten also; just as the
great Moses in his Song with an apposite meaning says first 'He bought,'
and afterwards 'He begat;' lest, hearing 'He begat,' they might forget
their own original nature; but that they might know that from the beginning
they are creatures, but when according to grace they are said to be
begotten, as sons, still no less than before are men works according to
nature.

   60. And that creature and offspring are not the same, but differ from
each other in nature and the signification of the words, the Lord Himself
shews even in the Proverbs. For having said, 'The Lord treated me a
beginning of His ways;' He has added, 'But before all the hills He begat
me.' If then the Word were by nature and in His Essence(1) a creature, and
there were no difference between offspring and creature, He would not have
added, 'He begat me,' but had been satisfied with 'He created,' as if that
term implied the begat;' but, as it is, after saying, 'He created me a
beginning of His ways for His works,' He has added, not simply 'begat me,'
but with the connection of the conjunction 'But,' as guarding thereby the
term 'created,' when he says, 'But before all the hills He begat me.' For
'begat me' succeeding in such close connection to 'created me,' makes the
meaning one, and shews that 'created' is said with an object(2), but that
'begat me' is prior to 'treated me.' For as, if He had said the reverse,
'The Lord begat me,' and went on, 'But before the hills He created me,'
'created' would certainly precede 'begat,' so having said first 'created,'
and then added 'But before all the hills He begat me,' He necessarily shews
that 'begat preceded 'created.' For in saying, 'Before all he begat me,' He
intimates that He is other than all things; it having been shewn to be
trues in an earlier part of this book, that no one creature was made before
another, but all things originate subsisted at once together upon one and
the same command(4). Therefore neither do the words which follow 'created,'
also follow 'begat me;' but in the case of 'created' is added 'beginning of
ways,' but of 'begat me,' He says not, 'He begat me as a beginning,' but
'before all He begat me.' But He who is before all is not a beginning of
all, but is other than all(5); but if other than all (in which 'all' the
beginning of all is included), it follows that He is other than the
creatures; and it becomes a clear point, that the Word, being other than
all things and before all, afterwards is created 'a beginning of the ways
for works,' because He became man, that, as the Apostle has said, He who is
the 'Beginning' and 'First-born from the dead, in all things might have the
preeminence(6).'

   61. Such then being the difference between 'created' and 'begat me,'
and between 'beginning of ways' and 'before all,' God, being first Creator,
next, as has been said, becomes Father of men, because of His Word dwelling
in them. But in the case of the Word the reverse; for God, being His Father
by nature, becomes afterwards both His Creator and Maker, when the Word
puts on that flesh which was created and made, and becomes man. For, as
men, receiving the Spirit of the Son, become children through Him, so the
Word of God, when He Himself puts on the flesh of man, then is said both to
be created and to have been made. If then we are by nature sons, then is He
by nature creature and work; but if we become sons by adoption and grace,
then has the Word also, when in grace towards us He became man, said, 'The
Lord created me.' And in the next place, when He put on a created nature
and became like us in body, reasonably was He therefore called both our
Brother and 'First-born(1).' For though it was after us(2) that He was made
man for us, and our brother by similitude of body, still He is therefore
called and is the 'First-born' of us, because, all men being lost,
according to the transgression of Adam, His flesh before all others was
saved and liberated, as being the Word's body(3); and henceforth we,
becoming incorporate with It, are saved after Its pattern. For in It the
Lord becomes our guide to the Kingdom of Heaven and to His own Father,
saying, 'I am the way' and 'the door(4),' and through Me all must enter.'
Whence also is He said to be 'First-born from the dead(5),' not that He
died before us, for we had died first; but because having undergone death
for us and abolished it, He was the first to rise, as man, for our sakes
raising His own Body. Henceforth He having risen, we too from Him and
because of Him rise in due course from the dead.

   62. But if He is also called 'First-born of the creation(1),' still
this is not as if He were levelled to the creatures, and only first of them
in point of time (for how should that be, since He is 'Only-begotten?'),
but it is because of the Word's condescension(2) to the creatures,
according to which He has become the 'Brother' of 'many.' For the term
'Only-begotten' is used where there are no brethren, but 'First-born(3)'
because of brethren. Accordingly it is nowhere written in the Scriptures,
'the first-born of God,' nor 'the creature of God;' but 'Only-begotten' and
'Son' and 'Word' and 'Wisdom,' refer to Him as proper to the Father(4).
Thus, 'We have seen His glory, the glory as of the Only- begotten of the
Father(5);' and 'God sent His Only-begotten Son(6);' and 'O Lord, Thy Word
endureth for ever(7);' and 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God;' and 'Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God(8);' and
'This is My beloved Son;' and 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living
God(9).' But ' first-born' implied the descent to the creation(10); for of
it has He been called first-born; and 'He created' implies His grace
towards the works, for for them is He created. If then He is Only-begotten,
as indeed He is, 'First-born' needs some explanation; but if He be really
First-born, then He is not Only-begotten(10). For the same cannot be both
Only- begotten and First-born, except in different relations; -that is,
Only-begotten, because of His generation from the Father, as has been said;
and First-born, because of His condescension to the creation and His making
the many His brethren. Certainly, those two terms being inconsistent with
each other, one should say that the attribute of being Only-begotten has
justly the preference in the instance of the Word, in that there is no
other Word, or other Wisdom, but He alone is very Son of the Father.
Moreover(11), as was before(12) said, not in connection with any reason,
but absolutely(13) it is said of Him, 'The Only-begotten Son which is in
the bosom of the Father(14);' but the word 'First-born' has again the
creation as a reason in connection with it, which Paul proceeds to say,
'for in Him all things were created(15).' But if all the creatures were
created in Him, He is other than the creatures, and is not a creature, but
the Creator of the creatures.

   63. Not then because He was from the Father was He called 'First-born,'
but because in Him the creation came to be; and as before the creation He
was the Son, through whom was the creation, so also before He was called
the First-born of the whole creation, not the less was the Word Himself
with God and the Word was God. But this also not understanding, these
irreligious men go about saying, 'If He is First-born of all creation, it
is plain that He too is one of the creation.' Senseless men! if He is
simply 'First-born(1) of the whole creation,' then He is other than the
whole creation; for he says not, 'He is First-born above the rest of the
creatures,' lest He be reckoned to be as one of the creatures, but it is
written, 'of the whole creation,' that He may appear other than the
creation(2). Reuben, for instance, is not said to be first-born of all the
children of Jacob(3), but of Jacob himself and his brethren; lest he should
be thought to be some other beside the children of Jacob. Nay, even
concerning the Lord Himself the Apostle says not, 'that He may become
First-born of all,' lest He be thought to bear a body other than ours, but
'among many brethren(4),' because of the likeness of the flesh. If then the
Word also were one of the creatures, Scripture would have said of Him also
that He was First-born of other creatures; but in fact, the saints saying
that He is 'First-born of the whole creation(5),' the Son of God is plainly
shewn to be other than the whole creation and not a creature. For if He is
a creature, He will be First-born of Himself. How then is it possible, O
Arians, for Him to be before and after Himself? next, if He is a creature,
and the whole creation through Him came to be, and in Him consists, how can
He both create the creation and be one of the things which consist in Him?
Since then such a notion is in itself unseemly, it is proved against them
by the truth, that He is called 'First-born among many brethren' because of
the relationship of the flesh, and 'First-born from the dead,' because the
resurrection of the dead is from Him and after Him; and 'First-born of the
whole creation,' because of the Father's love to man, which brought it to
pass that in His Word not, only 'all things consist(6),' but the creation
itself, of which the Apostle speaks, 'waiting for the manifestation of the
sons of God, shall be delivered' one time 'from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God(7).' Of this creation thus
delivered, the Lord will be First-born, both of it and of all those who are
made children, that by His being called first, those that come after Him
may abide(8), as depending on the Word as a beginning(9).

   64. And I think that the irreligious men themselves will be shamed from
such a thought; for if the case stands not as we have said, but they will
rule it that He is 'First- born of the whole creation' as in essence--a
creature among creatures, let them reflect that they will be conceiving Him
as brother and fellow of the things without reason and life. For of the
whole creation these also are parts; and the 'First-born' must be first
indeed in point of time but only thus, and in kind and similitude(1) must
be the same with all. How then can they say this without exceeding all
measures of irreligion? or who will endure them, if this is their language?
or who can but hate them even imagining such things? For it is evident to
all, that neither for Himself, as being a creature, nor as having any
connection according to essence with the whole creation, has He been called
'First-born' of it: but because the Word, when at the beginning He framed
the creatures, condescended to things originate, that it might be possible
for them to come to be. For they could not have endured His nature, which
was untempered splendour, even that of the Father, unless condescending by
the Father's love for man He had supported them and taken hold of them and
brought them into existence(2); and next, because, by this condescension of
the Word, the creation too is made a sons through Him, that He might be in
all respects 'First-born' of it, as has been said, both in creating, and
also in being brought for the sake of all into this very world. For so it
is written, 'When He bringeth the First-born into the world, He saith, Let
all the Angels of God worship Him(4).' Let Christ's enemies hear and tear
themselves to pieces, because His coming into the world is what makes Him
called 'First-born' of all; and thus the Son is the Father's 'Only-
begotten,' because He alone is from Him, and He is the 'First-born of
creations,' because of this adoption of all as sons(5). And as He is First-
born among brethren and rose from the dead 'the first fruits of them that
slept(6);' so, since it became Him 'in all things to have the
preeminence(7),' therefore He is created 'a beginning of ways,' that we,
walking along it and entering through Him who says, 'I am the Way' and 'the
Door,' and partaking of the knowledge of the Father, may also hear the
words, 'Blessed are the undefiled in the Way,' and 'Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God(8).'

   65. And thus since the truth declares that the Word is not by nature a
creature, it is fitting now to say, in what sense He is 'beginning of
ways.' For when the first way, which was through Adam, was lost, and in
place of paradise we deviated unto death, and heard the words, 'Dust thou
art, and unto dust(1) shall thou return,' therefore the Word of God, who
loves man, puts on Him created flesh at the Father's will(2), that whereas
the first man had made it dead through the transgression, He Himself might
quicken it in the blood of His own body(3), and might open 'for us a way
new and living,' as the Apostle says, 'through the veil, that is to say,
His flesh(4);' which he signifies elsewhere thus, 'Wherefore, if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away, behold all
things are become new(5).' But if a new creation has come to pass, some one
must be first of this creation; now a man, made of earth only, such as we
are become from the transgression, he could not be. For in the first
creation, men had become unfaithful, and through them that first creation
had been lost; and there was need of some one else to renew the first
creation, and preserve the new which had come to be. Therefore from love to
man none other than the Lord, the 'beginning' of the new creation, is
created as 'the Way,' and consistently says,' The Lord created me a
beginning of ways for His works;' that man might walk no longer according
to that first creation, but there being as it were a beginning of a new
creation, and with the Christ 'a beginning of its ways,' we might follow
Him henceforth, who says to us,' I am the Way:'--as the blessed Apostle
teaches in Colossians, saying, 'He is the Head of the body, the Church, who
is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, that in all things He might
have the preeminence.'

   66. For if, as has been said, because of the resurrection from the dead
He is called a beginning, and then a resurrection took place when He,
bearing our flesh, had given Himself to death for us, it is evident that
His words, 'He created me a beginning of ways,' is indicative not of His
essence(6), but of His bodily presence. For to the body death was
proper(7); and in like manner to the bodily presence are the words proper,
'The Lord created me a beginning of His ways.' For since the Saviour was
thus created according to the flesh, and had become a beginning of things
new created, and had our first fruits, viz. that human flesh which He took
to Himself, therefore after Him, as is fit, is created also the people to
come, David saying, 'Let this be written for another generation, and the
people that shall be created shall praise the Lord(2).' And again in the
twenty-first Psalm, 'The generation to come shall declare unto the Lord,
and they shall declare His righteousness, unto a people that shall be born
whom the Lord made(3).' For we shall no more hear, 'In the day that thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die but 'Where I am, there ye' shall 'be
also;' so that we may say, 'We are His workmanship, created unto good
works(5).' And again, since God's work, that is, man, though created
perfect, has become wanting through the transgression, and dead by sin, and
it was unbecoming that the work of God should remain imperfect (wherefore
all the saints were praying concerning this, for instance in the hundred
and thirty- seventh Psalm, saying, 'Lord, Thou shall requite for me;
despise not then the works of Thine hands(6)); therefore the perfect(7)
Word of God puts around Him an imperfect body, and is said to be created
'for the works;' that, paying the debts in our stead, He might, by Himself,
perfect. what was wanting to man. Now immortality was wanting to him, and
the way to paradise. This then is what the Saviour says, 'I glorified Thee
on the earth, I perfected the work which Thou hast given Me to do(9);' and
again, 'The works which the Father hath given Me to perfect, the same works
that I do, bear witness of Me;' but 'the works(10)' He here says that the
Father had given Him to perfect, are those for which He is created, saying
in the Proverbs, 'The Lord created me a beginning of His ways, for His
works;' for it is all one to say, 'The Father hath given me the works,' and
'The Lord created me for the works.'

   67. When then received He the works to perfect, O God's enemies? for
from this also 'He created' will be understood. If ye say, 'At the
beginning when He brought them into being out of what was not,' it is an
untruth; for they were not yet made; whereas He appears to speak as taking
what was already in being. Nor is it pious to refer to the time which
preceded the Word's becoming flesh, lest His coming should thereupon seem
superfluous, since for the sake of these works that coming took place.
Therefore it remains for us to say that when He has become man, then He
took the works. For then He perfected them, by healing our wounds and
vouchsafing to us the resurrection from the dead. But if, when the Word
became flesh, then were given to Him the works, plainly when He became man,
then also is He created for the works. Not of His essence then is 'He
created' indicative, as has many times been said, but of His bodily
generation. For then, because the works were become imperfect and mutilated
from the transgression, He is said in respect to the body to be created;
that by perfecting them and making them whole, He might present the Church
unto the Father, as the Apostle says, 'not having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, but holy and without blemish(1).' Mankind then is perfected in
Him and restored, as it was made at the beginning, nay, with greater grace.
For, on rising from the dead, we shall no longer fear death, but shall ever
reign in Christ in the heavens. And this has been done, since the own Word
of God Himself, who is from the Father, has put on the flesh, and become
man. For if, being a creature, He had become man, man had remained just
what he was, not joined to God; for how had a work been joined to the
Creator by a work(2)? or what succour had come from like to like, when one
as well as other needed it(3)? And how, were the Word a creature, had He
power to undo God's sentence, and to remit sin, whereas it is written in
the Prophets, that this is God's doing? For 'who is a God like unto Thee,
that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by transgression (4)?' For whereas God
has said, 'Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return(5),' men have
become mortal; how then could things originate undo sin? but the Lord is He
who has undone it, as He says Himself, 'Unless the Son shall make you
free(6);' and the Son, who made free, has shewn in truth that He is no
creature, nor one of things originate, but the proper Word and Image of the
Father's Essence, who at the beginning sentenced, and alone remitteth sins.
For since it is said in the Word, 'Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt
return,' suitably through the Word Himself and in Him the freedom and the
undoing of the condemnation has come to pass.

   68. 'Yet,' they say, 'though the Saviour were a creature, God was able
to speak the word only and undo the curse.' And so another will tell them
in like manner, 'Without His coming among us at all, God was able just to
speak and undo the curse;' but we must consider what was expedient for
mankind, and not what simply is possible with God(1). He could have
destroyed, before the ark of Noah, the then transgressors; but He did it
after the ark. He could too, without Moses, have spoken the word only and
have brought the people out of Egypt; but it pro-fired to do it through
Moses. And God was able without the judges to save His people; but it was
profitable for the people that for a season judges should be raised up to
them. The Saviour too might have come among us from the beginning, or on
His coming might not have been delivered to Pilate; but He came 'at the
fulness of the ages(2),' and when sought for said, 'I am He(3).' For what
He does, that is profitable for men, and was not fitting in any other way;
and what is profitable and fitting, for that He provides(4). Accordingly He
came, not 'that He might be ministered unto, but that He might
minister(5),' and might work our salvation. Certainly He was able to speak
the Law from heaven, but He saw that it was expedient to men for Him to
speak from Sinai; and that He has done, that it might be possible for Moses
to go up, and for them hearing the word near them the rather to believe.
Moreover, the good reason of what He did may be seen thus; if God had but
spoken, because it was in His power, and so the curse had been undone, the
power had been shewn of Him who gave the word, but man had become such as
Adam was before the transgression, having received grace from without(6),
and not having it united to the body; (for he was such when he was placed
in Paradise) nay, perhaps had become worse, because he had learned to
transgress. Such then being his condition, had he been seduced by the
serpent, there had been fresh need for God to give command and undo the
curse; and thus the need had become interminable(7), and men had remained
under guilt not less than before, as being enslaved to sin; and, ever
sinning, would have ever needed one to pardon them, and had never become
free, being in themselves flesh, and ever worsted by the Law because of the
infirmity of the flesh.

   69. Again, if the Son were a creature, man had remained mortal as
before, not being joined to God; for a creature had not joined creatures to
God, as seeking itself one to join it(1); nor would a portion of the
creation have been the creation's salvation, as needing salvation itself.
To provide against this also, He sends His own Son, and He becomes Son of
Man, by taking created flesh; that, since all were under sentence of death,
He, being other than them all, might Himself for all offer to death His own
body; and that henceforth, as if all land died through Him, the word of
that sentence might be accomplished (for 'all died(2)' in Christ), and all
through Him might thereupon become free from sin and from the curse which
came upon it, and might truly abide(3) for ever, risen from the dead and
clothed in immortality and incorruption. For the Word being clothed in the
flesh, as has many times been explained, every bite of the serpent began to
be utterly staunched from out it; and whatever evil sprung from the motions
of the flesh, to be cut away, and with these death also was abolished, the
companion of sin, as the Lord Himself says(4), 'The prince of this world
cometh, and findeth nothing in Me;' and 'For this end was He manifested,'
as John has written, 'that He might destroy the works of the devil(5).' And
these being destroyed from the flesh, we all were thus liberated by the
kinship of the flesh, and for the future were joined, even we, to the Word.
And being joined to God, no longer do we abide upon earth; but, as He
Himself has said, where He is, there shall we be also; and henceforward we
shall fear no longer the serpent, for he was brought to nought when he was
assailed by the Saviour in the flesh, and heard Him say, 'Get thee behind
Me, Satan(6),' and thus he is cast out of paradise into the eternal fire.
Nor shall we have to watch against woman beguiling us, for 'in the
resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the
Angels(7);' and in Christ Jesus it shall be 'a new creation,' and 'neither
male nor female, but all and in all Christ(8);' and where Christ is, what
fear, what danger can still happen?

   70. But this would not have come to pass, had the Word been a creature;
for with a creature, the devil, himself a creature, would have ever
continued the battle, and man, being between the two, had been ever in
peril of death, having none in whom and through whom he might be joined to
God and delivered from all fear. Whence the truth shews us that the Word is
not of things originate, but rather Himself their Framer. For therefore did
He assume the body originate and human, that having renewed it as its
Framer, He might deify it(1) in Himself, and thus might introduce us all
into the kingdom of heaven after His likeness. For man had not been deified
if joined to a creature, or unless the Son were very God; nor had man been
brought into the Father's presence, unless He had been His natural and true
Word who had put on the body. And as we had not been delivered from sin and
the curse, unless it had been by nature human flesh, which the Word put on
(for we should have had nothing common with what was foreign), so also the
man had not been deified, unless the Word who became flesh had been by
nature from the Father and true and proper to Him. For therefore the union
was of this kind, that He might unite what is man by nature to Him who is
in the nature of the Godhead, and his salvation and deification might be
sure. Therefore let those who deny that the Son is from the Father by
nature and proper to His Essence, deny also that He took true human
flesh(2) of Mary Ever-Virgin(3); for in neither case had it been of profit
to us men, whether the Word were not true and naturally Son of God, or the
flesh not true which He assumed. But surely He took true flesh, though
Valentinus rave; yea the Word was by nature Very God, though Ariomaniacs
rave(4); and in that flesh has come to pass the beginnings of our new
creation, He being created man for our sake, and having made for us that
new way, as has been said.

   71. The Word then is neither creature nor work; for creature, thing
made, work, are all one; and were He creature and thing made, He would also
be work. Accordingly He has not said, 'He created Me a work,' nor 'He made
Me with the works,' lest He should appear to be in nature and essence(6) a
creature; nor, 'He created Me to make works,' lest, on the other hand,
according to the perverseness of the irreligious, He should seem as an
instrument(7) made for our sake. Nor again has He declared, 'He created Me
before the works,' lest, as He really is before all, as an Offspring, so,
if created also before the works, He should give 'Offspring' and 'He
created' the same meaning. But He has said with exact discrimination(8),
'for the works;' as much as to say, 'The Father has made Me, into flesh,
that I might be man,' which again shews that He is not a work but an
offspring. For as he who comes into a house, is not part of the house, but
is other than the house, so He who is created for the works, must be by
nature other than the works. But if otherwise, as you hold, O Arians, the
Word of God be a work, by what(9) Hand and Wisdom did He Himself come into
being? for all things that came to be, came by the Hand and Wisdom of God,
who Himself says, 'My hand hath made all these things(1);' and David says
in the Psalm, 'And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations
of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands(2);' and again, in
the hundred and forty-second Psalm, 'I do remember the time past, I muse
upon all Thy works, yea I exercise myself in the works of Thy hands(3).'
Therefore if by the Hand of God the works are wrought, and it is written
that 'all things were made through the Word,' and 'without Him was not made
one thing(4),' and again, 'One Lord Jesus, through whom are all things,'
and 'in Him all things consist(6),' it is very plain that the Son cannot be
a work, but He is the Hand(7) of God and the Wisdom. This knowing, the
martyrs in Babylon, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, arraign the Arian
irreligion. For when they say, 'O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the
Lord,' they recount things in heaven, things on earth, and the whole
creation, as works; but the Son they name not. For they say not, 'Bless, O
Word, and praise, O Wisdom;' to shew that all other things are both
praising and are works; but the Word is not a work nor of those that
praise, but is praised with the Father and worshipped and confessed as
God(8), being His Word and Wisdom, and of the works the Framer. This too
the Spirit has declared in the Psalms with a most apposite distinction,
'the Word of the Lord is true, and all His works are faithful(9);' as in
another Psalm too He says, 'O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in Wisdom
hast Thou made them all(10).'

   72. But if the Word were a work, then certainly He as others had been
made in Wisdom; nor would Scripture distinguish Him from the works, nor
while it named them works, preach Him as Word and own Wisdom of God. But,
as it is, distinguishing Him from the works, He shews that Wisdom is Framer
of the works, and not a work. This distinction Paul also observes, writing
to the Hebrews, 'The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than
any two-edged sword, reaching even to the dividing of soul and spirit,
joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart, neither is there any creature hidden before Him, but all things are
naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom is our account(1).' For
behold he calls things originate 'creature;' but the Son he recognises as
the Word of God, as if He were other than the creatures. And again saying,
'All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom is our
account,' he signifies that He is other than all of them. For hence it is
that He judges, but each of all things originate is bound to give account
to Him. And so also, when the whole creation is groaning together with us
in order to be set free from the bondage of corruption, the Son is thereby
shewn to be other than the creatures. For if He were creature, He too would
be one of those who groan, and would need one who should bring adoption and
deliverance to Himself as well as others. But if the whole creation groans
together, for the sake of freedom from the bondage of corruption, whereas
the Son is not of those that groan nor of those who need freedom, but He it
is who gives sonship and freedom to all, saying to the Jews of His time(2),
'The servant remains not in the house for ever, but the Son remaineth for
ever; if then the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed(3);' it
is clearer than the light from these considerations also, that the Word of
God is not a creature but true Son, and by nature genuine, of the Father.
Concerning then 'The Lord hath created me a beginning of the ways,' this is
sufficient, as I think, though in few words, to afford matter to the
learned to frame more ample refutations of the Arian heresy.

CHAPTER XXII: TEXTS EXPLAINED; SIXTHLY, THE CONTEXT of PROVERBS viii. 22,
viz. 22--30.

It is right to interpret this passage by the Regula Fidei. 'Founded' is
used in contrast to superstructure; and it implies, as in the case of
stones in building, previous existence. 'Before the world' signifies the
divine intention and purpose. Recurrence to Prov. viii. 22, and application
of it to created Wisdom as seen in the works. The Son reveals the Father,
first by the works, then by the Incarnation.

   BUT since the heretics, reading the next verse, take a perverse view of
that also, because it is written, 'He founded me before the world(4),'
namely, that this is said of the Godhead of the Word and not of His
incarnate Presence(5), it is necessary, explaining this verse also, to shew
their error.

   73. It is written, 'The Lord in Wisdom rounded the earth(1);' if then
by Wisdom the earth is founded, how can He who founds be founded? nay, this
too is said after the manner of proverbs(2), and we must in like manner
investigate its sense; that we may know that, while by Wisdom the Father
frames and founds the earth to be firm and steadfast(3), Wisdom Itself is
founded for us, that It may become beginning and foundation of our new
creation and renewal. Accordingly here as before, He says not, 'Before the
world He hath made me Word or Son,' lest there should be as it were a
beginning of His making. For this we must seek before all things, whether
He is Son(4), and on this point specially search the Scriptures(5);' for
this it was, when the Apostles were questioned, that Peter answered,
saying, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God(6)., This also the
father(7) of the Arian heresy asked as one of his first questions; 'If Thou
be the Son of God(8);' for he knew that this is the truth and the sovereign
principle of our faith; and that, if He were Himself the Son, the tyranny
of the devil would have its end; but if He were a creature, He too was one
of those descended from that Adam whom he deceived, and he had no cause for
anxiety. For the same reason the Jews of the day(9) were angered, because
the Lord said that He was Son of God, and that God was His proper Father.
For had He called Himself one of the creatures, or said, 'I am a work,'
they had not been startled at the intelligence, nor thought such words
blasphemy, knowing, as they did, that even Angels had come among their
fathers; but since He called Himself Son, they perceived that such was not
the note of a creature, but of Godhead and of the Father's nature(10). The
Arians then ought, even in imitation of their own father the devil, to take
some special pains(11) on this point; and if He has said, 'He founded me to
be Word or Son,' then to think as they do; but if He has not so spoken, not
to invent for themselves what is not.

   74. For He says not, 'Before the world He founded me as Word or Son,'
but simply, 'He founded me,' to shew again, as I have said, that not for
His own sake(1) but for those who are built upon Him does He here also
speak, after the way of proverbs. For this knowing, the Apostle also
writes, 'Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ; but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon(2).' And it
must be that the foundation should be such as the things built on it, that
they may admit of being well compacted together. Being then the Word, He
has not, as Word(3), any such as Himself, who may be compacted with Him;
for He is Only-begotten; but having become man, He has the like of Him,
those namely the likeness of whose flesh He has put on. Therefore according
to His manhood He is rounded, that we, as precious stones, may admit of
building upon Him, and may become a temple of the Holy Ghost who dwelleth
in us. And as He is a foundation, and we stones built upon Him, so again He
is a Vine and we knit to Him as branches,--not according to the Essence of
the Godhead; for this surely is impossible; but according to His manhood,
for the branches must be like the vine, since we are like Him according to
the flesh. Moreover, since the heretics have such human notions, we may
suitably confute them with human resemblances contained in the very matter
they urge. Thus He saith not, 'He made me a foundation,' lest He might seem
to be made and to have a beginning of being, and they might thence find a
shameless occasion of irreligion; but, 'He founded me.' Now what is founded
is founded for the sake of the stones which are raised upon it; it is not a
random process, but a stone is first transported from the mountain and set
down in the depth of the earth. And while a stone is in the mountain, it is
not yet founded; but when need demands, and it is transported, and laid in
the depth of the earth, then forthwith if the stone could speak, it would
say, 'He now founded me, who brought me hither from the mountain.'
Therefore the Lord also did not when rounded take a beginning of existence;
for He was the Word before that; but when He put on our body, which He
severed and took from Mary, then He says 'He hath founded me;' as much as
to say, 'Me, being the Word, He hath enveloped in a body of earth.' For so
He is founded for our sakes, taking on Him what is ours(4), that we, as
incorporated and compacted and bound together in Him through the likeness
of the flesh, may attain unto a perfect man, and abide(5) immortal and
incorruptible.

   75. Nor let the words 'before the world' and 'before He made the earth'
and 'before the mountains were settled' disturb any one; for they very well
accord with 'founded' and 'created;' for here again allusion is made to the
Economy according to the flesh. For though the grace which came to us from
the Saviour appeared, as the Apostle says, just now, and has come when He
sojourned among us; yet this grace had been prepared even before we came
into being, nay, before the foundation of the world, and the reason why is
kindly and wonderful. It beseemed not that God should counsel concerning us
afterwards, lest He should appear ignorant of our fate. The God of all
then,--creating us by His own Word, and knowing our destinies better than
we, and foreseeing that, being made 'good(1),' we should in the event be
transgressors of the commandment, and be thrust out of paradise for
disobedience,--being loving and kind, prepared beforehand in His own Word,
by whom also. He created us(2), the Economy of our salvation; that though
by the serpent's deceit we fell from Him, we might not remain quite dead,
but having in the Word the redemption and salvation which was afore
prepared for us, we might rise again and abide immortal, what time He
should have been created for us 'a beginning of the ways,' and He who was
the 'First-born of creation' should become 'first-born' of the 'brethren,'
and again should rise 'first-fruits of the dead.' This Paul the blessed
Apostle teaches in his writings; for, as interpreting the words of the
Proverbs 'before the world' and before the earth was,' he thus speaks to
Timothy(3); 'Be partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death, and brought to light life(4).' And to the Ephesians; 'Blessed be God
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us to the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself(5).'

   76. How then has He chosen us, before we came into existence, but that,
as he says himself, in Him we were represented(6) beforehand? and how at
all, before men were created, did He predestinate us unto adoption, but
that the Son Himself was 'founded before the world,' taking on Him that
economy which was for our sake? or how, as the Apostle goes on to say, have
we 'an inheritance being predestinated,' but that the Lord Himself was
founded 'before the world,' inasmuch as He had a purpose, for our sakes, to
take on Him through the flesh all that inheritance of judgment which lay
against us, and we henceforth were made sons in Him? and how did we receive
it 'before the world was,' when we were not yet in being, but afterwards in
time, but that in Christ was stored the grace which has reached us?
Wherefore also in the Judgment, when every one shall receive according to
his conduct, He says, 'Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world(1).' How then, or in
whom, was it prepared before we came to be, save in the Lord who 'before
the world' was founded for this purpose; that we, as built upon Him, might
partake, as well-compacted stones, the life and grace which is from Him?
And this took place, as naturally suggests itself to the religious mind,
that, as I said, we, rising after our brief death, may be capable of an
eternal life, of which we had not been capable(2), men as we are, formed of
earth, but that 'before the world' there had been prepared for us in Christ
the hope of life and salvation. Therefore reason is there that the Word, on
coming into our flesh, and being created in it as 'a beginning of ways for
His works,' is laid as a foundation according as the Father's will(3) was
in Him before the world, as has been said, and before land was, and before
the mountains were settled, and before the fountains burst forth; that,
though the earth and the mountains and the shapes of visible nature pass
away in the fulness of the present age, we on the contrary may not grow old
after their pattern, but may be able to live after them, having the
spiritual life and blessing which before these things have been prepared
for us in the Word Himself according to election. For thus we shall be
capable of a life not temporary, but ever afterwards abide(4) and live in
Christ; since even before this our life had been founded and prepared in
Christ Jesus.

   77. Nor in any other way was it fitting that our life should be
founded, but in the Lord who is before the ages, and through whom the ages
were brought to be; that, since it was in Him, we too might be able to
inherit that everlasting life. For God is good; and being good always, He
willed this, as knowing that our weak nature needed the succour and
salvation which is from Him. And as a wise architect, proposing to build a
house, consults also about repairing it, should it at any time become
dilapidated after building, and, as counselling about this, makes
preparation and gives to the workmen materials for a repair; and thus the
means of the repair are provided before the house; in the same way prior to
us is the repair of our salvation founded in Christ, that in Him we might
even be new-created. And the will and the purpose were made ready 'before
the world,' but have taken effect when the need required, and the Saviour
came among us. For the Lord Himself will stand us in place of all things in
the heavens, when He receives us into everlasting life. This then suffices
to prove that the Word of God is not a creature, but that the sense of the
passage is right(5). But since that passage, when scrutinized, has a right
sense in every point of view, it may be well to state what it is; perhaps
many words may bring these senseless men to shame. Now here I must recur to
what has been said before, for what I have to say relates to the same
proverb and the same Wisdom. The Word has not called Himself a creature by
nature, but has said in proverbs, 'The Lord created me;' and He plainly
indicates a sense not spoken 'plainly' but latent(6), such as we shall be
able to find by taking away the veil from the proverb. For who, on hearing
from the Framing Wisdom, 'The Lord created me a beginning of His ways,(3)
does not at once question the meaning, reflecting how that creative Wisdom
can be created? who on hearing the Only-begotten Son of God say, that He
was created 'a beginning of ways,' does not investigate the sense,
wondering how the Only-begotten Son can become a Beginning of many others?
for it is a dark saying(7); but 'a man of understanding,' says he, 'shall
understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and
their dark sayings(8).'

   78. Now the Only-begotten and very Wisdom(1) of God is Creator and
Framer of all things; for 'in Wisdom hast Thou made them all(2),' he says,
and 'the earth is full of Thy creation.' But that what came into being
might not only be, but be good(3), it pleased God that His own Wisdom
should condescend(4) to the creatures, so as to introduce an impress and
semblance of Its Image on all in common and on each, that what was made
might be manifestly wise works and worthy of God(5). For as of the Son of
God, considered as the Word, our word is an image, so of the same Son
considered as Wisdom is the wisdom which is implanted in us an image; in
which wisdom we, having the power of knowledge and thought, become
recipients of the All-framing Wisdom; and through It we are able to know
Its Father. 'For he who hath the Son,' saith He, 'hath the Father also;'
and 'he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me(6).' Such an impress
then of Wisdom being created in us, and being in all the works, with reason
does the true and framing Wisdom take to Itself what belongs to its own
impress, and say, 'The Lord created me for His works;' for what the wisdom
in us says, that the Lord Himself speaks as if it were His own; and,
whereas He is not Himself created, being Creator, yet because of the image
of Him created in the works(7), He says this as if of Himself. And as the
Lord Himself has said, 'He that receiveth you, receiveth Me(8),' because
His impress is in us, so, though He be not among the creatures, yet because
His image and impress is created in the works, He says, as if in His own
person, 'The Lord created me a beginning of His ways for His works.' And
therefore has this impress of Wisdom in the works been brought into being,
that, as I said before, the world might recognise in it its own Creator the
Word, and through Him the Father. And this is what Paul said, 'Because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shewed it unto
them: for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made(9).' But if so,
the Word is not a creature in essence(10); but the wisdom which is in us
and so called, is spoken of in this passage in the Proverbs.

   79. But if this too fails to persuade them, let them tell us
themselves, whether there is any wisdom in the creatures or not(1)? If not
how is it that the Apostle complains, 'For after that in the Wisdom of God
the world by wisdom knew not God(2)?' or how is it if there is no wisdom,
that a 'multitude of wise men(3)' are found in Scripture? for 'a wise man
feareth and departeth from evil(4);' and 'through wisdom is a house
builded(5);' and the Preacher says, 'A man's wisdom maketh his face to
shine;' and he blames those who are headstrong thus, 'Say not thou, what is
the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not
inquire in wisdom concerning this(6).' But if, as the Son of Sirach says,
'He poured her out upon all His works; she is with all flesh according to
His gift, and He hath given her to them that love Him(7),' and this
outpouring is a note, not of the Essence of the Very(8) Wisdom and Only-
begotten, but of that wisdom which is imaged in the world, how is it
incredible that the All-framing and true Wisdom Itself, whose impress is
the wisdom and knowledge poured out in the world, should say, as I have
already explained, as if of Itself, 'The Lord created me for His works?'
For the wisdom in the world is not creative, but is that which is created
in the works, according to which 'the heavens declare the glory of God, and
the firmament sheweth His handywork(9).' This if men have within them(10),
they will acknowledge the true Wisdom of God; and will know that they are
made really(11) after God's Image. And, as some son of a king, when the
father wished to build a city(12), might cause his own name to be printed
upon each of the works that were rising, both to give security to them of
the works remaining, by reason of the show of his name on everything, and
also to make them remember him and his father from the name, and having
finished the city might be asked concerning it, how it was made, and then
would answer, 'It is made securely, for according to the will of my father,
I am imaged in each work, for my name was made in the works;' but saying
this, he does not signify that his own essence is created, but the impress
of himself by means of his name; in the same manner, to apply the
illustration, to those who admire the wisdom in the creatures, the true
Wisdom makes answer, 'The Lord created me for the works,' for my impress is
in them; and I have thus condescended for the framing of all things.

   80. Moreover, that the Son should be speaking of the impress that is
within us as if it were Himself, should not startle any one, considering
(for we must not shrink from repetition(1)) that, when Saul was persecuting
the Church, in which was His impress and image, He said, as if He were
Himself under persecution, 'Saul, why persecutest thou Me(2)?' Therefore
(as has been said), as, supposing the impress itself of Wisdom which is in
the works had said, 'The Lord created me for the works,' no one would have
been startled, so, if He, the True and Framing Wisdom, the Only-begotten
Word of God, should use what belongs to His image as about Himself, namely,
'The Lord created me for the works,' let no one, overlooking the wisdom
created in the world and in the works, think that 'He created' is said of
the Substance of the Very(3) Wisdom, lest, diluting the wine with
water(3a), he be judged a defrauder of the truth. For It is Creative and
Framer; but Its impress is created in the works, as the copy of the image.
And He says, 'Beginning of ways,' since such wisdom becomes a sort of
beginning. and, as it were, rudiments of the knowledge of God; for a man
entering, as it were, upon this way first, and keeping it in the fear of
God (as Solomon says(4), 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom'), then advancing upwards in his thoughts and perceiving the Framing
Wisdom which is in the creation, will perceive in It also Its Father(5), as
the Lord Himself has said, 'He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father,'
and as John writes, 'He who acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father
also(6).' And He says, 'Before the world He founded me(7),' since in Its
impress the works remain settled and eternal. Then, lest any, hearing
concerning the wisdom thus created in the works, should think the true
Wisdom, God's Son, to be by nature a creature, He has found it necessary to
add, 'Before the mountains, and before the earth, and before the waters,
and before all hills He begets me,' that in saying, 'before every creature'
(for He includes all the creation under these heads), He may shew that He
is not created together with the works according to Essence. For if He was
created 'for the works,' yet is before them, it follows that He is in being
before He was created. He is not then a creature by nature and essence, but
as He Himself has added, an Offspring. But in what differs a creature from
an offspring, and how it is distinct by nature, has been shewn in what has
gone before.

   81. But since He proceeds to say, 'When He prepared the heaven, I was
present with Him(8),' we ought to know that He says not this as if without
Wisdom the Father prepared the heaven or the clouds above (for there is no
room to doubt that all things are created in Wisdom, and without It was
made not even one(1) thing); but this is what He says, 'All things took
place in Me and through Me, and when there was need that Wisdom should be,
created in the works, in My Essence indeed I was with the Father, but by a
condescension(2) to things originate, I was disposing over the works My own
impress, so that the whole world as being in one body, might not be at
variance but in concord with itself.' All those then who with an upright
understanding, according to the wisdom given unto them, come to contemplate
the creatures, are able to say for themselves, 'By Thy appointment all
things continue(3);' but they who make light of this must be told,
'Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools;' for 'that which may
be known of God is manifest in them; for God has revealed it unto them; for
the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being perceived by the things that are made, even His eternal Power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew
God, they glorified Him not as God, but served the creature more than the
Creator of all, who is blessed for ever. Amen(4).' And they will surely be
shamed at hearing, 'For, after that in the wisdom of God (in the mode we
have explained above), the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by
the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe(5).' For no
longer, as in the former times, God has willed to be known by an image and
shadow of wisdom, that namely which is in the creatures, but He has made
the true Wisdom Itself to take flesh, and to become man, and to undergo the
death of the cross; that by the faith in Him, henceforth all that believe
may obtain salvation. However, it is the same Wisdom of God, which through
Its own Image in the creatures (whence also It is said to be created),
first manifested Itself, and through Itself Its own Father; and afterwards,
being Itself the Word, has 'become flesh(6),' as John says, and after
abolishing death and saving our race, still more revealed Himself and
through Him His own Father, saying, 'Grant unto them that they may know
Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent(7).'

   82. Hence the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of Him; for the
knowledge of Father through Son and of Son from Father is one and the same,
and the Father delights in Him, and in the same joy the Son rejoices in the
Father, saying, 'I was by Him, daily His delight, rejoicing always before
Him(1).' And this again proves that the Son is not foreign, but proper to
the Father's Essence. For behold, not because of us has He come to be, as
the irreligious men say, nor is He out of nothing (for not from without did
God procure for Himself a cause of rejoicing), but the words denote what is
His own and like. When then was it, when the Father rejoiced not? but if He
ever rejoiced, He was ever, in whom He rejoiced. And in whom does the
Father rejoice, except as seeing Himself in His own Image, which is His
Word? And though in sons of men also He had delight, on finishing the
world, as it is written in these same Proverbs(2), yet this too has a
consistent sense. For even thus He had delight, not because joy was added
to Him, but again on seeing the works made after His own Image; so that
even this rejoicing of God is on account of His Image. And how too has the
Son delight, except as seeing Himself in the Father? for this is the same
as saying, 'He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father,' and 'I am in the
Father and the Father in Me(3).' Vain then is your vaunt as is on all sides
shewn, O Christ's enemies, and vainly did ye parade(4) and circulate
everywhere your text, 'The Lord created me a beginning of His ways,'
perverting its sense, and publishing, not Solomon's meaning, but your own
comment(5). For behold your sense is proved to be but a fantasy; but the
passage in the Proverbs, as well as all that is above said, proves that the
Son is not a creature in nature and essence, but the proper Offspring of
the Father, true Wisdom and Word, by whom 'all things were made,' and
'without Him was made not one thing


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in
1867. (LNPF II/IV, Schaff and Wace). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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