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Theophilus to Autolycus
Chapter X.--The World Created by God Through the Word.
And first, they taught us with one consent that God made all things out of nothing; for nothing was coeval with God: but He being His own place, and wanting nothing, and existing before the ages, willed to make man by whom He might be known; for him, therefore, He prepared the world. For he that is created is also needy; but he that is uncreated stands in need of nothing. God, then, having His own Word internal 1 within His own bowels, begat Him, emitting 2 Him along with His own wisdom before all things. He had this Word as a helper in the things that were created by Him, and by Him He made all things. He is called "governing principle" [harke], because He rules, and is Lord of all things fashioned by Him. He, then, being Spirit of God, and governing principle, and wisdom, and power of the highest, came down upon the prophets, and through them spoke of the creation of the world and of all other things. For the prophets were not when the world came into existence, but the wisdom of God which was in Him, and His holy Word which was always present with Him. Wherefore He speaks thus by the prophet Solomon: "When He prepared the heavens I was there, and when He appointed the foundations of the earth I was by Him as one brought up with Him." 3 And Moses, who lived many years before Solomon, or, rather, the Word of God by him as by an instrument, says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." First he named the "beginning," 4 and "creation," 5 then he thus introduced God; for not lightly and on slight occasion is it right to name God. For the divine wisdom foreknew that some would trifle and name a multitude of gods that do not exist. In order, therefore, that the living God might be known by His works, and that [it might be known that] by His Word God created the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, he said, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Then having spoken of their creation, he explains to us: "And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved upon the water." This, sacred Scripture teaches at the outset, to show that matter, from which God made and fashioned the world, was in some manner created, being produced by God. 6
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endiathton. [Here the Logos is spoken of in the entire spirit of the Nicene Council. Ps. xlv. 1 is a favourite text against Arius; and (Advs. Judaeos. b. ii. 3) Cyprian presses it against the Jews, which shows that they accepted the Hebrew and the LXX. in a mystical sense.] ↩
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Literally, belching or vomiting. [The reference is to Ps. xlv. where the LXX. read exereuxato he kardia mou logon agathon, and the Latin eructavit cor meum bonum Verbum; i.e., "My heart hath breathed forth a glorious Word." The well-chosen language of the translator (emitted) is degraded by his note.] ↩
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Prov. viii. 27. Theophilus reads with the Septuagint, "I was with Him, putting things into order," instead of "I was by Him as one brought up with Him." [Here the Logos is the sophia as with the Fathers generally; e.g. Cyprian, Advs. Judaeos, book ii. 2. But see cap. xv. p. 101, infra.] ↩
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That is, the first principle, whom he has just shown to be the Word. ↩
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In the Greek version of Gen. i. 1, the word "created" stands before "God." ↩
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Theophilus, therefore, understands that when in the first verse it is said that God created the earth, it is meant that he created the matter of which the earth is formed. ↩
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À Autolyque
X.
Ils ont tous enseigné, d'un commun accord, que Dieu avait tiré toutes choses du néant. Car aucun être n'existait de toute éternité avec Dieu ; mais comme il est à lui-même le lieu qu'il habite, qu'il n'a besoin de rien, qu'il est plus ancien que les siècles, il fit l'homme pour que l'homme le connût ; il lui a préparé le monde pour être son séjour, parce que celui qui est créé a besoin de tout, tandis que l'être incréé n'a besoin de rien. Dieu, qui de toute éternité portait son Verbe dans son sein, l'a engendré avec sa sagesse avant la création. Il s'est servi de ce Verbe comme d'un ministre, pour l'accomplissement de ses oeuvres, et c'est par lui qu'il a créé toutes choses. On l'appelle principe, parce qu'il a l'empire et la souveraineté sur les êtres qu'il a lui-même créés. L'Esprit saint, le principe, la sagesse et la vertu du Très-Haut, descendit dans les prophètes et nous apprit, par leur bouche, la création du monde et les choses passées, qui n'étaient connues que de lui. Quand Dieu créa le monde, les prophètes n'étaient point. Dieu seul était avec sa sagesse qui est en lui et avec son Verbe qui ne le quitte pas. C'est cette sagesse qui s'exprime en ces termes, par le prophète Salomon :
"Lorsqu'il étendait les cieux, j'étais là ; et lorsqu'il posait les fondements de la terre, j'étais auprès de lui."
Moïse, qui vécut longtemps avant Salomon, ou plutôt le Verbe de Dieu lui-même, parle ainsi par sa bouche :
"Au commencement, Dieu créa le ciel et la terre."
Il a nommé d'abord le principe et la création, puis ensuite Dieu lui-même ; car il n'est pas permis de nommer Dieu légèrement et sans une grave raison. La sagesse divine prévoyait que bien des hommes seraient le jouet de l'erreur, et reconnaîtraient une multitude de dieux qui ne sont pas.
Afin de nous montrer le vrai Dieu dans ses oeuvres, et de nous convaincre que c'est lui qui a créé, par son Verbe, le ciel, la terre, et tout ce qu'ils renferment, les livres saints nous disent :
"Au commencement, Dieu créa le ciel et la terre."
Puis après avoir raconté cette création, l'Écriture poursuit en ces termes :
"La terre était informe et nue, et les ténèbres couvraient la face de l'abîme, et l'esprit de Dieu reposait sur les eaux."
Voilà ce que nous apprennent d'abord les livres sacrés, afin qu'il soit bien reconnu que Dieu lui-même avait fait cette matière, dont il a créé le monde.