he had been leading up to this central idea of his, which governs his whole interpretation of the
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God made, because as l have already argued to the best of my ability there was not being made in that first of creatures some knowledge of the Word of God, so that after that knowledge something lower down the scale would be made which was already being created in that Word; but that very light was being made first, in which knowledge would be made of the Word of God by whom it was being created; and this knowledge would itselfbe the light's conversion from its form lessness to the God forming it, would be its being created and formed. Later on, however, with the rest of creation it says and thus it was made, which signifies knowledge of the Word first being made in that light, that is, in the intellectual creature; and next, when it says, and Godmade, it indicates the actual making of that kind of creature, of which it had been said in and by the Word of God that it should be made.31
Well, it is this principle that is being kept to in the making of man. God, you see, hasjust said, Let us make man to ourimage and likeness etc.; and then it does not say, and thus it was made, but leads straight into, and God made man to the image of God, precisely because human nature too is intellectual like that light, and that is why being made is the same thing for it as recognizing the Word of God by whom it is being made.
32. 1 mean, if it said, and thus it was made, and after that led into and God made, it would be understood as being first made in the knowledge of the rational creation, and then being made in some actual creature which was not rational. But because here too we have a rational creature, it too was perfected by the same recognition. Just as after man's fall into sin he is being renewed in the recognition of God according to the image of him who createdhim (Col 3:10), so too it was in that recognition that he was created, before he grew old in crime, so that he might again be renewed, rejuvenated, in the same recognition.
As for things however that were not created in that knowledge, because they were being created either as bodies or as non-rational souls, knowledge of them was first of all made in the intellectual creation by the Word, by whom it was said that they should be made, and on account of that knowledge it said, and thus it was made, to indicate that the knowledge of them was now made in that nature which was able to know this in the Word of God beforehand; and then the actual bodies and non-rational creatures were made, on account of which it next added, and God made.
31. He is here condensing what he had set out at somewhat greater length in Book 11,8, 1 6; and there he had been leading up to this central idea of his, which governs his whole interpretation of the creation narrative, practically from the beginning of Book 11. So readers are advised to refresh their memories from there.