Edition
Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres
8.
Iam vero facta prophetarum etiam ipsa prophetica et mystica fuisse, quid agam, ut intellegant, quorum mentes vanitas occupavit, ita ut putent credi a nobis etiam ipsum deum aliquando in tenebris esse versatum, quia scriptum est: tenebrae erant super abyssum; tamquam nos abyssum dicamus deum, ubi tenebrae erant, quia lux ibi non erat, antequam deus verbo faceret lucem? p. 597,5 Sed quia non distinguunt inter lucem, quod est ipse deus, et lucem, quam fecit deus, ideo putant esse consequens, ut in tenebris ipse fuerit, antequam faceret lucem, cum tenebrae essent super abyssum, antequam diceret: Fiat lux, et facta est lux. Sicut enim in novo testamento utrumque de illo dicitur – nam et: Deus lux est et tenebrae in eo non sunt ullae, ibi legimus, et: Deus qui dixit de tenebris lumen clarescere, claruit in cordibus nostris itidem ibi legimus –, sic et in illis veteribus libris et: Candor est lucis aeternae dictum est de sapientia dei, quae utique facta non est, quia per illam facta sunt omnia, et de luce quadam, quae nonnisi per illam fieri potest, hoc modo ibi dicitur: Tu illuminabis lucernam meam, domine; deus meus illuminabis tenebras meas, sicut et ab initio, cum tenebrae essent super abyssum, dixit deus: Fiat lux, et facta est lux, quam non fecisset nisi lucifica lux, quod est deus. p. 597,21
Traduction
Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean
8.
How shall I make those whose minds are full of vanity understand that the actions of the prophets were also mystical and prophetic? The vanity of their minds is shown in their thinking that we believe God to have once existed in darkness, because it is written, "Darkness was over the deep." 1 As if we called the deep God, where there was darkness, because the light did not exist there before God made it by His word. From their not distinguishing between the light which is God, and the light which God made, they imagine that God must have been in darkness before He made light, because darkness was over the deep before God said, "Let there be light, and there was light." In the New Testament both these things are ascribed to God. For we read, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all;" 2 and again, "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts." 3 So also, in the Old Testament, the name "Brightness of eternal light" 4 is given to the wisdom of God, which certainly was not created, for by it all things were made; and of the light which exists only as the production of this wisdom it is said, "Thou wilt light my candle, O Lord; my God, Thou wilt enlighten my darkness." 5 In the same way, in the beginning, when darkness was over the deep, God said, "Let there be light, and there was light," which only the light-giving light, which is God Himself, could have made.