Chapter I
The Fall of Satan
Chapter I That it is even said to the angels, "What do you have that you have not received?" And from God comes nothing except goodness and being; and every good is a being, and every being a good.
Student. When the Apostle says, *What do you have that you have not received?" is he speaking only to men, or also to angels?
(I Cor. 4: 7) Teacher. No created being has anything from itself. So how can something which doesn't have itself from itself have anything from itself? For since there are only two states of being, one which has created and the other which has been created, it is evident that nothing else can exist except the Creator and His creations.
S.Clear enough.
T. But neither the Creator nor what has been created can have existence except from the Creator Himself.
S. This is no less clear.
T. Therefore, the Creator is the only one who has whatever He has from Himself, while all other things have whatever they have only from Him. And just as created beings have only nothing from themselves, so they have only something from God.
I don't clearly see why you say that creatures have nothing else from God than something. For who but God causes the many things which we see passing from being to not-being to become other than they were—even if they don't become absolutely nothing?^ Or who makes not to be whatever is not, except He who makes to be whatever is? If there is something only because God makes it, then it follows that whatever is not is not because He doesnt make it. Therefore, just as those things which exist have their "being something" from Him, so those things which do not exist, or which pass from being to not-being, seem to have their
"being nothing" from Him.
T. The one who causes something to be other than it was, or something to be different from what it is, is said "to cause something to be" or "to cause something not to be." We also apply these
1 "de esse ad non esse":
"from being to not-being" or "from existence to non-existence."
Truth, Freedom, and Evil same expressions to someone who could cause something not to be, but doesn't, or could cause something to be, but doesn't.^ For example, not only is the man who attacks someone said to make him naked and undressed, but also the man who could restrain such an attacker and yet does not. But we say this of the first one properly, and of the second improperly. For if we say that the second man caused another to be naked or undressed, we mean only tPiat when this man was able to restrain the attacker he didn't do it—and thus did not cause the other not to be naked, or did not cause him to remain clothed. According to this second and improper mode of speaking, even God is said to do many things which He does not do; for example, He is said to lead a man into temptation, since, although He could keep him from temptation. He doesn t. Or again. He is said to make what is-not not be, since, although He is able to make something to be, He doesn't.
However, God Himself does not actually cause the non-existence of those things that are passing from being to not-being. A being only exists by His causing it to exist, and a being only remains what
He has made it be by His preserving it. When He stops preserving what He has made, then that thing returns to not-being, not because He makes it not to be, but because He ceases to make it to be.
For when, as though through anger, God destroys a thing and removes its existence, He is not the cause of its not-being; but by His reclaiming what He had bestowed, then that thing which He had made and was keeping in existence returns into not-being. It had this not-being before it was made, and hence had it from itself and not from Him.
Or again, if you reclaim a tunic which you once loaned to a naked man to use for a time, then he does not have his nakedness from you; for when you take back what is yours, he returns into the state he was in before he was clothed by you. In like manner, just as nothing but good comes from the highest good, so nothing but being comes from the highest being; and just as every good comes only from the highest good, so every being comes only from the highest being. Moreover, since the highest good is the highest being, it follows that every good is a being, and every being is a good. Therefore, just as nothing and not-being are not beings, so 2Cf. DL, Ch. 11.
The Fall of Satan
they are also not good. And thus, nothing and not-being are not from God, because from God come only being and good.
S. I now see clearly that being and good come only from God, and that only being and good come from God.
T. Watch out lest you should think that I am denying the thing on account of which Scripture says that God does cause evil or not-being; or that I would find fault with someone if he, following the use of Scripture, were to say this.^ But we shouldn't so much cling to inappropriate words which conceal the truth, as we should seek to discover the genuine truth which is hidden under the many types of expression.
S. You need only tell these things to the ignorant and the blasphemous.
T. All right. Return to where you began and see whether it can be said to an angel, as well as to a man, that he has nothing which he has not received.
S. It is clear that this applies to an angel as well as to a man.
Chapter II Why it seems that Satan did not receive perseverance because God did not give it.
S. So it is evident that the angel who remained upright in the truth persevered because he had perseverance; moreover, he had perseverance because he received it, and he received it because God gave it. It follows, then, that the angel who did not "remain upright in the truth" (John 8:44) did not persevere because he did not have perseverance; moreover, he did not have perseverance because he did not receive it, and he did not receive it because God did not give it. So if you can, I want you to show me Satan's blame in not persevering when God did not grant him perseverance and when he could have nothing without God's giving it. For I am sure, even if I don't see why, that Satan was damned justly by the One who is supremely just, and that he could not have been justly damned except for something blameworthy in him.
T. Why do you think it follows that if the good angel received ^Isaiah 45:7.