Chapter 18. Through His Own Power, Namely, through His Son and Spirit, God Created All Things.
Chapter 18
1. He did not make this great and excellent economy by means of someone else’s creatures, but by his own; nor by those who were made from ignorance and degeneracy, but by those that had their substance from the Wisdom and the Power of his Father. To be sure, he is not wicked so that he covets what does not belong to him. Nor is he in need so that he would not give life to his own creatures by means of his own creatures, using his own creation for man’s salvation. For the creature [the cross] could not have borne him if he had been a product of ignorance and degeneracy. For we have shown by many texts that the Word of God himself, having become incarnate, was suspended on a tree. The heretics themselves acknowledge that he was crucified.
How, then, could the emission of ignorance and degeneracy bear him who possesses knowledge of all things and is true and perfect? Or how did the creation which was hidden from the Father and quite separated have borne his Word? But suppose these things were made by the angels, who either did not know of the God who is above all things or who did know, how could this creation of the angels have endured to bear the Father and the Son at the same time, since the Lord said, For I am in the Father and the Father is in me? And how did the creation which is outside the Fullness receive him who contains the entire Fullness? Since all these things are impossible and cannot be proven, that preaching of the Church alone is true that says that his own creation, which exists through the power and art and wisdom of God, bore him. This creation is borne by the Father in an invisible manner; but his Word bears it in a visible manner. And that is true.
2. By way of explanation, the Father bears the creation and his Word at the same time; and the Word, who is borne by the Father, bestows the Spirit on all, just as the Father wills; to some, in keeping with creation, he gives that [spirit] which pertains to creation, which is made; to some, in keeping with adoption, [he gives] that [Spirit] who is from the Father, who is generated. And so one God the Father is manifested who is above all, and throughout all, and in all. The Father is above all, and he is the Head of Christ; the Word is throughout all, and he is the Head of the Church; the Spirit is in all of us, and he is the living water that the Lord bestows on those who rightly believe in him and love him and know that there is one God the Father who is above all and throughout all and in all of us.
John, the Lord’s disciple, on his part, bears witness to these things in the Gospel when he writes as follows: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not made anything. Then, of the Word itself he said, he was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own, and his own received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. Next, pointing out his economy in human nature, he said: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; to which he added, And we have beheld his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He clearly pointed out to those who are willing to hear, that is, to those who have ears, that there is one God the Father above all, and one Word of God, who is throughout all, through whom all things were made; and that this world is his own, and was made by him according to the Father’s will, and not by angels, or by the rebellion, degeneracy, or ignorance; or by some power, Prunikos, whom some also call Mother; or by any other maker of the world who was ignorant of the Father.
3. For the Maker of the world is truly the Word of God. He is also our Lord, who in the last times became man, who is in this world and in an invisible manner contains all things created and is inscribed in the form of a cross on the entire creation, inasmuch as he is the Word of God who governs and disposes all things. Therefore, He came to his own in a visible manner and became flesh and hung on a tree, that he might recapitulate in himself all things. And his own people received him not. Moses made this very thing clear to the people: And your life shall hang in doubt before your eyes, and you shall have assurance of your life. Those, therefore, who did not accept him did not receive life: To all who received him he gave power to become children of God. For it is he who has power from the Father over all things, since he is the Word of God and true Man, ruling over invisible things in a rational manner, and in an intelligent manner making a law that all things should continue in their own order; over visible and human beings, however, he rules in a visible manner, and passes deserving and just judgment on all. David pointed out his visible coming in these words: God comes manifestly and does not keep silence. Then he pointed out the judgment that is passed by him. He said, Before him is a devouring fire; round about him a mighty tempest. He calls to the heavens above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.