Generation and Creation as One in the Father

For he says 'only wise' of the Father, not having said 'only wise' of any of the created things; for many are those called by a name from which they possess wisdom. But the Father is not called wise by a name from wisdom, since he was no longer alone, there being many participating in wisdom and being called wise from it, but he is called 'only wise' because he springs forth wisdom, begetting wisdom, so that the 'only wise' could not say wisdom and call the wisdom 'only wise', as it is to be wise from the wise.

And here, therefore, again, the Word, desiring to show the essential relationship of the Son to the Father and the generation from him, calls the Father the source of wisdom and the source of life; for he is also called the source of life: 'You abandoned me, the spring of living water' (Jeremiah 2:13). And here, therefore, again, the Word, desiring to show that the Savior is not of another essence than the Father's, says that he himself has drawn a word from the heart: 'for my heart has drawn out a good word' (Psalm 62:8). For God has a heart, and no other heart of his own; for the heart signifies the mind. And he is that very mind. And just as it is said that he has immortality not from another beside him and has life in himself not being another existing of his, so also he has a heart not being another of his; for he is the mind, and the Son is the offspring of the mindthe mind. And the Word is the offspring of mind. Therefore, 'my heart has drawn out a good word'.

And in order that he might show that it is not the heart that begot, and that the offspring is good, he said the offspring; for it is indubitable that if the offspring is good, it is not the case that the begetter must be good. But perhaps it is not always saved. It happens that something begotten from the good is not good when it undergoes a change. But since the Word is unchangeable and does not have as the others a changeable state, so also the good received its generation from the heart of the good Father. Again, since among humans the things brought forth from the womb are genuine offspring, he says again: 'I begot you from the womb before the Morning Star' (Luke 1:31). To beget is a property of the womb, just as to do is a property of the hands. When, therefore, he wishes to introduce God as a genuine maker and truly the creator of creation, he says the works of his hands are the creation: 'I will see the heavens, the works of your fingers' (Psalm 8:3). 'The heavens are the works of my hands'. And since some think that the...

To beget and to create are the same; thus, if one were to say, 'the heavens are the products of my hands,' or to say, 'I begot you from a hand,' it is not that they are different, but that they differ according to thought. Yet the indwelling is manifest through all these from the Father. As I said a little earlier, if someone names one thing only sensually, they name it by the name of the Lord. I say all these things regarding God, so that through all things I may remain apart from those capable of speaking falsely concerning God.

And here, then, the heart of the Father begets. And regarding human beings, I say this—at times they become begetters of thoughts, at other times they receive them from without through instruction. Therefore, they are not called fathers of thoughts if they have been made such by something else alone. For we certainly call the discoverers of the sciences 'fathers of the sciences,' but we do not call those who have learned from others 'fathers of the sciences.'

For they say, for instance, that Moses first became a father of legislation because he did not receive the laws from another, but was himself called by God to this end. 'My heart drew out a good word' (Psalm 40:8). Just as an offspring comes from the womb, so also the good word is in the heart. And a heart toward God and a womb are not one thing and another. 'I declare my works to the king.' A change of person has occurred here.

The good word himself, being begotten and in agreement with the Father, says, 'I declare my works to the king'; for just as when we hear, 'God said, Let there be' (Genesis 1:3), and, 'He said, and they came into being; He commanded, and they were created,' we do not hear these things in a human way; for He is not ignorant of the Son what must come to be and how; He commanded and said, but because of us, so that the agreement of the Father and the Son might be shown, that all things came to be by a single will and all things are provided for. For, 'God said, Let there be' (Genesis 1:3), do you think He used a spoken word? We say that the work reaches the word, and the word is not prior in time to the work, but is in thought alone. If then this is the case, how must it be said that we hear? We do not hear by a passing voice, from a mouth passing into the hearing of the voice. In order that the agreement might be shown, these things are said and...