Theophilus to Autolycus 2 part 2/3

But the fact that he (Hesiod) began from earthly things below and spoke of the making of the things that came into being is human and lowly and very feeble as a notion, as compared with God. For man, being below, begins to build from the ground, and is not able in proper order even to make the roof, unless he first lays the foundation. But the power of God is shown from this: that first He makes the things that come into being out of things that are not, and then as He wills. For the things impossible with men are possible with God; wherefore also the prophet said first that the making of the heaven came into being, holding the place of a roof, saying: 'In the beginning God made the heaven' -- that is, that through the Beginning the heaven came into being, as we have already shown. And by earth he means, in effect, the floor and foundation; and by the deep, the multitude of the waters; and by darkness, because the heaven, which was made by God, covered over the waters together with the earth like a lid. And the spirit which was borne over the water is that which God gave for the quickening of the creation, just as He gave soul to man, blending the fine with the fine; for the spirit is fine and the water is fine, in order that the spirit might nourish the water, and the water together with the spirit might nourish the creation, penetrating everywhere. The one spirit, holding the type of light, mediated between the water and the heaven, so that in a certain way the darkness might not have fellowship with the heaven, which was nearer to God, before God said: Let there be light. Just as a vault, then, the heaven, being such, held together the matter that resembled a clod. For another prophet also, named Isaiah, has said concerning the heaven: 'This is God who made the heaven as a vault, and stretched it out as a tent to be dwelt in.' The ordinance of God, then -- this is His Word -- shining like a lamp in a closed room, illuminated the region under heaven, having made the light separately from the world. And God called the light Day, and the darkness Night; since otherwise man would not have known to call the light Day, or the darkness Night, nor indeed the rest, had he not received the naming from God who made them. In the first hypothesis, then, of the history and the generation of the world, the holy Scripture spoke not of this firmament, but of another heaven which is invisible to us, after which this visible heaven has been called firmament, to which the half of the water was taken up, that it might be for mankind for rains and showers and dews. And the other half of the water was left on the earth for rivers and springs and seas. While, then, the water still covered the earth, especially the hollow places, God by His Word caused the water to be gathered into one gathering, and the dry land to become visible, which formerly had been invisible. The earth, then, having become visible, was still unformed. God therefore formed and adorned it with all kinds of green things and seeds and plants.

Consider now the variety and the diverse beauty and multitude in these things, and that through them the resurrection is shown, as a token of the resurrection of all men which is to come. For who, on considering it, will not marvel that out of a fig's tiny seed comes a fig tree, or that the very least of the other seeds produce trees of enormous size? And we say that the world is in a likeness to us of the sea. For just as the sea, if it had not the inflow and supply of the rivers and springs for nourishment, would long ago have been dried up because of its saltiness, so also the world, if it had not had the law of God and the prophets flowing and welling up with the sweetness and compassion and righteousness and teaching of the holy commandments of God, would already have failed because of the wickedness and sin abounding in it. And just as in the sea there are islands, some habitable and well-watered and fruitful, having anchorages and harbors, so that those storm-tossed may have refuges in them, so God has given to the world, surging and storm-tossed by sins, the gatherings -- we mean the holy churches -- in which, as in well-anchored harbors on islands, are the teachings of the truth; to which flee those who wish to be saved, becoming lovers of the truth and desiring to escape the wrath and judgment of God. And again, just as there are other islands, rocky and waterless and barren and full of wild beasts and uninhabitable, to the harm of those who sail and are storm-tossed, on which ships are battered and those who put in are destroyed -- so are the teachings of error, I mean of the heresies, which destroy those who approach them. For they are not guided by the word of truth, but, like pirates, when they have filled their ships, run them aground on the aforesaid places in order to destroy them; so it happens also to those who wander from the truth, that they are destroyed by error.

On the fourth day the luminaries came into being. Since God, being foreknowing, knew the follies of the vain philosophers -- that they were going to say that the things growing upon the earth come from the heavenly bodies, so as to set God aside -- in order, then, that the truth might be shown, the plants and seeds came into being earlier than the heavenly bodies. For the things later in origin cannot make the things prior to themselves. And these things hold a token and type of a great mystery. For the sun is in the type of God, and the moon of man. And just as the sun far surpasses the moon in power and glory, so far does God surpass mankind; and just as the sun always remains full, not becoming less, so God always remains perfect, being full of all power and understanding and wisdom and immortality and all good things. But the moon wanes month by month, and in a manner dies, being in the type of man; then it is born again and waxes, as a token of the resurrection that is to come. In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries are types of the Trinity -- of God, and of His Word, and of His Wisdom. And in the fourth place is man, who is in need of light; that there might be God, Word, Wisdom, Man. For this reason also on the fourth day the luminaries came into being. And the placing of the stars holds the economy and order of the righteous and pious, and of those who keep the law and the commandments of God. For the conspicuous and bright stars are in imitation of the prophets; therefore they also remain fixed, not passing from place to place. But those holding another order of brightness are types of the people of the righteous. And those again that pass over and flee from place to place, which are also called planets, these too are a type of the men who depart from God, abandoning His law and His ordinances.

And on the fifth day the living creatures from the waters came into being, through which also in these is shown the manifold wisdom of God. For who could number the multitude in them and the all-variegated offspring? Moreover, the things produced from the waters were also blessed by God, that this too might be a token that men were going to receive repentance and remission of sins through water and the washing of regeneration -- all who come to the truth and are born again and receive blessing from God. But the sea-monsters and the flesh-eating birds are in a likeness to the rapacious and the transgressors. For just as, being of one nature, the water creatures and the birds -- some remain in accordance with nature, not wronging their weaker fellows, but keeping the law of God, and eating of the seeds of the earth; while some of them transgress the law of God by eating flesh, and wrong their weaker fellows -- so also the righteous, keeping the law of God, bite or wrong no one, living in holiness and righteousness; but the rapacious and murderers and godless resemble the sea-monsters and wild beasts and the flesh-eating birds. For in a manner they devour those weaker than themselves. The offspring of the water creatures and of the creeping things, then, having shared in the blessing of God, possesses nothing peculiar to itself at all.

And on the sixth day God, having made the four-footed beasts and the wild beasts and the land-creeping things, passed over the blessing for them in silence, reserving the blessing for man, whom He was about to make on the sixth day. At the same time the four-footed beasts and wild beasts came into being also as a type of some men who are ignorant of God and impious, and who mind earthly things and do not repent. For those who turn from lawlessness and live righteously fly up, as it were, like birds in the soul, minding the things above and being pleasing to the will of God. But those who are ignorant of God and impious are like the birds that have wings but cannot fly up, nor run to the heights of divinity. So also such men are indeed called men, but they mind the things that are low and earthly, being weighed down by their sins. And the animals are named wild beasts (thēria) from being hunted (thēreuesthai), not as having been made evil or venomous from the beginning. For nothing evil came into being from God, but all things were good, and very good; but the sin which is about man corrupted them. For when man transgressed, they also transgressed with him. For just as, if the master of a household himself does well, the servants too necessarily live in good order; but if the lord sins, the slaves also sin together with him -- in the same way it has come to pass that, man being lord having sinned, the things subject to him also sinned together with him. Whenever, then, man again runs up to that which is according to nature, no longer doing evil, those creatures too will be restored to their original gentleness.

But as for the things concerning the making of man, the fashioning of him is inexpressible as compared with man, even though the divine Scripture has the account concerning him in brief. For in God's saying, 'Let us make man according to our image and according to our likeness,' He first declares the dignity of man. For having made all things by His Word, and having regarded them all as by-works, God reckons the making of man alone to be the work of His own hands. Moreover, God is also found speaking as though needing help: 'Let us make man according to our image and after our likeness.' But He said 'Let us make' to no other than His own Word and His own Wisdom. And having made him, and blessed him to increase and fill the earth, He subjected all things to him as subordinate and enslaved; and He commanded that man should have his sustenance, from the beginning, from the fruits of the earth and the seeds and the green things and the tree-fruits, at the same time also commanding that the animals should be fellow-dwellers with man, so that they too might eat of all the seeds of the earth.

Thus God, having finished the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them on the sixth day, rested on the seventh day from all His works which He had made. Then thus the holy Scripture recapitulates, saying: 'This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when the day came in which God made the heaven and the earth, and every green thing of the field before it came to be, and all the grass of the field before it sprang up. For God had not rained upon the earth, and there was no man to work the earth.' By this it indicated to us that the whole earth was at that time watered by a divine spring, and had no need of a man to work it; but all things grew up spontaneously by the command of God, so that man might not toil in laboring. And in order that the fashioning might also be shown -- lest it should seem to be a matter among men incapable of being found out, since it had been said by God, 'Let us make man,' and the making of him had not yet been made manifest -- the Scripture teaches us, saying: 'But a spring went up out of the earth and watered the whole face of the earth, and God formed man, dust from the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.' Whence also the soul is named immortal by most people. And after forming man, God chose out for him a region in the eastern parts, distinguished by light, transparent with brighter air, with most beautiful plants, in which He placed the man.

But the express words of the sacred history the Scripture contains thus: 'And God planted the garden (paradise) in Eden toward the east, and there He placed the man whom He had formed. And God made to spring up out of the earth every tree beautiful to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And a river goes out from Eden to water the garden; thence it is parted into four heads. The name of the one is Pheison; this is the one that encircles the whole land of Havilah; there, then, is gold; and the gold of that land is good; and there is the carbuncle and the green stone. And the name of the second river is Geon; this encircles the whole land of Ethiopia. And the third river, Tigris; this is the one that flows over against the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the Lord God took the man whom He had formed, and placed him in the garden, to work it and to keep it. And God commanded Adam, saying: Of every tree that is in the garden you shall surely eat; but of the tree of knowing good and evil, you shall not eat of it. In whatever day you eat of it, you shall die the death. And the Lord God said: It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make for him a helper according to him. And God formed yet out of the earth all the wild beasts of the field, and all the birds of the heaven, and brought them to Adam. And whatever Adam called them, that is, a living soul, this was its name. And Adam gave names to all the cattle, and to all the birds of the heaven, and to all the wild beasts of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper like to him. And God brought a trance upon Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh in its place, and the Lord God built the rib which He had taken from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam. And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of her man; for this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. And the two were naked, both Adam and his wife, and they were not ashamed.'

'Now the serpent was more cunning than all the wild beasts that were upon the earth, which the Lord God had made; and the serpent said to the woman: Why is it that God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent: Of every tree of the garden we shall eat, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman: You shall not die the death. For God knew that in whatever day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes to look at, and was beautiful to contemplate. And taking of its fruit she ate, and gave also to her husband with her, and they ate. And the eyes of the two were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves girdles. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of God in the midst of the tree of the garden. And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where are you? And he said to Him: I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked, and I hid myself. And He said to him: Who told you that you are naked, unless you have eaten of the tree of which alone I commanded you not to eat -- have you eaten of it? And Adam said: The woman whom you gave me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. And God said to the woman: What is this you have done? And the woman said: The serpent deceived me, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts that are upon the earth. Upon your breast and your belly you shall go, and you shall eat earth all the days of your life; and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall watch your head, and you shall watch his heel. And to the woman He said: I will greatly multiply your sorrows and your groaning; in sorrow you shall bring forth children, and your turning shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you. And to Adam He said: Because you listened to the voice of your wife, and ate of the tree of which alone I commanded you not to eat, you have eaten of it; cursed is the ground in your works; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the grass of your field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread, until you return to the earth from which you were taken; for earth you are, and to earth you shall return.'

You will say to me, then: You say that God ought not to be contained in any place, and how do you now say that He walked in the garden? Hear what I say. The God and Father of all things is indeed uncontainable, and is not found in any place; for there is no place of His rest. But His Word, through whom He made all things, being His power and His Wisdom, taking on the person of the Father and Lord of all, this Word came into the garden in the person of God, and conversed with Adam. For the divine Scripture itself teaches us that Adam said he heard the voice. But what else is the voice than the Word of God, who is also His Son? -- not as the poets and mythographers say, that the sons of the gods were begotten of intercourse, but as the truth declares the Word, who is forever indwelling in the heart of God. For before anything came into being, He had Him as counselor, being His own mind and intelligence. But when God willed to make whatsoever He purposed, He begot this Word, uttered forth, the firstborn of all creation -- not Himself being emptied of the Word, but having begotten the Word, and ever conversing with His Word. Whence the holy Scriptures teach us, and all the Spirit-bearers, among whom John says: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God' -- showing that at the first God alone was, and in Him the Word. Then he says: 'And the Word was God; all things came into being through Him, and without Him came into being not even one thing.' The Word, then, being God, and naturally produced from God, whenever the Father of all things wills, He sends Him to some place; and He, coming there, is both heard and seen, being sent by Him, and is found in a place.

God, then, made man on the sixth day, but manifested his fashioning after the seventh day, when also He had made the garden, that he might be in a better place and a more excellent region. And that these things are true, the very fact shows. For how is it not possible to perceive both the birth-pang which women suffer in childbirth, and afterward they make forgetfulness of the pain, that the word of God might be fulfilled, for the increasing and multiplying of the race of men? And why is it not possible to perceive also the condemnation of the serpent, how it is loathsome, creeping on its belly and eating earth? -- so that this too might be for a demonstration to us of the things foretold.

Having, then, made to spring up out of the earth yet every tree beautiful to the sight and good for food. For at the first only the things made on the third day existed -- plants and seeds and green things; but the things in the garden came into being with a different beauty and loveliness, since it was even named a plantation planted by God. And the rest of the plants the world too has like them; but the two trees -- that of life and that of knowledge -- no other land has had, but only the garden. And that the garden too is earth, and is planted upon the earth, the Scripture says: 'And God planted a garden in Eden toward the east, and there He placed the man; and God made to spring up yet out of the earth every tree beautiful to the sight, and good for food.' By the words 'yet out of the earth' and 'toward the east,' the divine Scripture clearly teaches us that the garden is under this heaven, under which also the east and the earth are. And Eden, the term in Hebrew, is interpreted 'delight.' And it indicated that a river goes out from Eden to water the garden, and from there is divided into four heads; of which two, those called Pheison and Geon, water the eastern parts -- especially Geon, which encircles the whole land of Ethiopia, and which they say appears in Egypt, called the Nile. And the other two rivers are clearly known among us, those called Tigris and Euphrates; for these border upon our regions. And God, having placed the man, as we said before, in the garden, to work and to keep it, commanded him to eat of all the fruits, evidently including that of life; but of the tree of knowledge alone He commanded him not to taste. And God transferred him from the earth, out of which he had come into being, into the garden, giving him an occasion for advancement, so that, growing and becoming perfect, and moreover being declared a god, he might thus also ascend into heaven. (For man had been made in a middle state, neither wholly mortal, nor altogether immortal, but capable of either. So also the region, the garden, in respect of beauty, was made between the world and heaven), having immortality. And by saying 'work it,' He indicates no other labor than the keeping of the commandment of God, lest by disobedience he should destroy himself, as indeed he did destroy himself through sin.

Now the tree of knowledge was itself good, and its fruit good. For it was not, as some suppose, the tree that had death, but the disobedience. For there was nothing else in the fruit than only knowledge; and knowledge is good when one uses it fittingly. But in respect of his actual age Adam was still an infant; wherefore he was not yet able worthily to contain knowledge. For even now, when a child is born, it cannot yet eat bread, but is first nourished with milk, and then, with the advance of age, it comes also to solid food. So it would have been with Adam too. Therefore God did not, as some suppose, out of envy toward him, command him not to eat of knowledge. Moreover, He also wished to test him, whether he would be obedient to His commandment; and at the same time He wished man to remain for a longer time simple and guileless, in childlike state. For this is holy, not only with God, but also with men, that in simplicity and innocence one should be subject to one's parents. And if children ought to be subject to their parents, how much more to God and the Father of all things? Moreover, it is unseemly for infant children to think beyond their age. For just as one grows in proper order with age, so also in understanding. But just as, when a law commands abstinence from something, and one does not obey, evidently it is not the law that supplies punishment, but the disobedience and the transgression. For a father also sometimes commands his own child to abstain from certain things, and when he does not obey the paternal command, he is beaten and meets with reproof on account of the disobedience. And the things themselves are not already blows, but it is the disobedience that procures abuse for the disobedient one. So also for the first-formed man the disobedience procured his being cast out of the garden -- not, however, as though the tree of knowledge had anything evil in it, but through the disobedience man drained out toil, pain, grief, and at the last fell under death.

And in this too God conferred a great benefit upon man: that He did not let him remain forever in sin, but in a manner, by way of a kind of banishment, cast him out of the garden, so that, having paid off his sin within the appointed time through the reproof, and having been disciplined, he might afterward be recalled. Wherefore also, man having been fashioned in this world, it is written mysteriously in Genesis, as though he had twice been placed in the garden: that the one might be fulfilled when he was placed there; and the second is to be fulfilled after the resurrection and judgment. For indeed, just as some vessel, when, after being fashioned, it has some fault, is re-melted or re-fashioned, so as to become new and whole, so it happens also to man through death. For in a manner he has been shattered, that in the resurrection he may be found sound -- I mean spotless and righteous and immortal. And the calling and saying of God, 'Where are you, Adam?' -- God did this not as though ignorant of it, but, being long-suffering, He was giving him an occasion for repentance and confession.

But someone will say to us: Was man made mortal by nature? By no means. Was he then immortal? Neither do we say this. But someone will say: Then he was made nothing at all? Not this either. I say, then, that he was made neither mortal by nature nor immortal. For if He had made him immortal from the beginning, He would have made him a god. Again, if He had made him mortal, God would seem to be the cause of his death. He made him, then, neither immortal nor yet mortal, but, as we have said above, capable of both: so that, if he should incline toward the things of immortality, keeping the commandment of God, he might receive immortality as a reward from Him, and become a god; but if, on the other hand, he should turn toward the things of death, having disobeyed God, he might be himself the cause of his own death. For God made man free and self-determining. That, then, which he procured for himself through neglect and disobedience, this God now bestows upon him through His own love for man and His mercy, when man obeys Him. For just as man, by disobeying, drew death upon himself, so by obeying the will of God, whoever wills is able to procure for himself eternal life. For God gave us a law and holy commandments; which everyone who does is able to be saved, and, attaining to the resurrection, to inherit incorruption.