see 17, 35 above, and note 23.
296 The Literal Meaning of Genesis through whom the ages were made,27 is before the ages; and that is why, speaking in the person of Wisdom, he says, Before the ages hefounded me (Prv 8:23), so that the one to whom it was said, You have made all things in Wisdom (Ps 104:24), might indeed make all things in her.
39. But that what was hidden is not only made known in God to the angels, but is also apparent to them here when it is published and put into effect, is some thing to which the same apostle bears witness as well: And without a doubt, he says, great is the sacrament ofpiety, which was manifested in theflesh, wasjusti fied in the spirit, appeared to the angels, was preached among the nations, was believed in the world, was taken up in glory (1 Tm 3:16). And it would be surprising, unless l am very much mistaken, ifGod is ever said to know anything at a particular moment in time, without its really meaning that he causes it to be known, whether by angels or by human beings.28 This mannerofspeaking, when what is brought about is signified by what brings it about, is frequent enough in the holy scriptures, especially when something is being said about God, which Truth itself, presiding over our minds, cries out cannot apply to him iftaken liter ally.
How God is still working
20, 40. So now let us come at last to the distinction between the works of God which he is working on up till now, and those works from which he rested on the seventh day. There are people, you see, who reckon that it was only the world itself that was made by God, while everything else is now being made by this very world, as God indeed arranged and commanded, but that he himself does not work at anything.29 Against them we bring that statement of the Lord's: My Father is working until now (Jn 5:17); and in case anyone should suppose he is working on something alone with himself, and not in this world, The Father abiding in me, he says, performs his works; and as the Father raises the dead and brings them to life, so too the Son brings to life whom he will (Jn 5:2 1.30)
Next, to show that it is not only such great and outstanding deeds that God works at, but also these earthly and minor matters, we have the apostle saying: Fool, whatyou sow is not brought to life unless it dies; and asfor whatyou sow, you are not sowing the body that is going to be, but the bare grain of, well, wheat or one of the others; but God gives it a body as he has decided, and every kind of seed its own proper body ( 1 Cor 1 5:36-38). So then, let us believe, or if we are
27. See Heb 1:2. For this concern to distinguish "before the ages," "from the ages," "in the ages,' see 17, 35 above, and note 23. 28. See Book 1V.9,17 above, note 20. 29. Was this, perhaps, a naive Christian variation on the Stoic idea of a "world soul"? 30. With an intrusion from some other similar, half remembered text, like Jn 14:10.1 1.