Chapter 38

§ 1.

But if a man say “How is this? Could not God render man perfect from the beginning?” let him know,¹ that although unto God, who is always just the same, and Unoriginated, in respect of Himself all things are possible; yet the things which were made by Him, so far as that, coming afterwards, they have each its own beginning of generation, so far they must also fall short of Him who made them; for the things just brought into being could not be unoriginated; and so far as they are not unoriginated, so far also they fall short of Perfection. And in respect that they are younger, they are also childish, and in the same respect also unpractised², and unexercised for the perfect training. As then the Mother is able indeed to bestow perfect nourishment on her babe, but the Babe is as yet incapable of receiving the nourishment which is too old for itself: so God also was indeed able Himself to bestow on man perfection from the beginning, but man was incapable of receiving it: for he was a babe.

For which cause also our Lord in the last times came unto us,³ having summed up all things in Himself; not as He could, but as we were able to receive Him. For He indeed could have come to us in His own incorruptible glory, but we as yet had no power to endure the greatness of His glory. And therefore to us, as to babes, the perfect Bread of the Father communicates Himself as milk: (For that kind of thing was His human Presence:) in order that we, nourished by His Flesh as by the breast, and accustomed, by this sort of milk diet, to eat and drink the Word of God, might be able to retain in ourselves the Bread of Immortality, which is the Spirit of the Father.

§ 2.

And therefore Paul saith to the Corinthians, I have fed you with milk, not with meat;⁴ for neither were ye able to bear it: i.e., The human Presence indeed of the Lord you have been taught, but not yet doth the Spirit of the Father rest upon you, by reason of your weakness.⁵ For where there is among you, saith he, envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as man? i.e.,—that as yet the Spirit of the Father was not with them, because of the imperfection⁶v and weakness of their conversation. As then the Apostle was able indeed to give them the meat (for on whom they laid hands,⁷ they received the Holy Ghost, which is the meat of life), but they for their part were incapable of receiving it, because they had the organs of their soul’s sensation as yet weak and unpractised in divine exercise: so also at the beginning, God indeed was able to give perfection unto man, but he having just begun to be, was unable to receive it; or rather, to comprehend it received; or again, comprehending, to retain it. And for this cause the Son of God became a babe with man,⁸ perfect as He was: not on His own account, but because of man’s childishness, being so comprehended, as man was able to comprehend Him. Not with God was the weakness and defect, but with the newly formed man, because he was not uncreated⁹.

§ 3.

But in God are together manifested Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness: Power and Goodness in that, when things do not yet exist, He both createth and maketh them of His own Will: Wisdom, again, in His having made what was made in good time and harmony, and well fitted in: which also by His exceeding goodness obtaining increase, and enduring longer, shall receive the glory of the Uncreated One, God ungrudgingly vouchsafing that which is good. While in respect of their production¹⁰, they are not unoriginate,¹¹ yet in respect of their enduring through long ages, they will receive the power of the Unoriginate, God freely bestowing upon them everlasting continuance. And so God for His part is first in all things, Who is alone Unoriginate, and first of all, and to all the cause of their being: while all other things remain in subjection to God. Now subjection to God is incorruption, and the continuance of incorruption is the glory of the Unoriginate.

By this order then, and by measures such as these, and by this kind of training, Man being originated and formed comes to be in the image and likeness of the Unoriginate God: The Father approving and commanding, The Son performing and creating, The Spirit giving nourishment and growth, and Man for his part silently advancing, and going onward to perfection; i.e., coming near the Unoriginate. For the Unoriginate is perfect; and this is God. And it was needful that Man should first be brought into being, and being made should grow, and having grown should come to Manhood, and after Manhood should be multiplied, and being multiplied should grow in strength, and after such growth should be glorified, and being glorified should see his own Lord. For He who is to be seen, is God: and the Vision of God produces incorruption, and incorruption makes one to be near unto God.

§ 4.

These then are every way unreasonable,¹² who not waiting for the time of growth, charge God with the infirmity of their own nature. They know neither God nor themselves, insatiable and ungrateful. They are even unwilling to be that which they are made, i.e., men capable of passions. But they, overstepping the law of mankind, already even before they are made men want to be like unto God their Maker, and that there shall be no difference between the Uncreated God and Man who is just now created. And they are more irrational than the dumb animals: for they do not blame God for not making them men, but each one of them, accordding as he is made gives thanks to God for that he is made. Whereas we blame Him, for that we are not from the beginning made Gods, but first Men and then Gods. And yet God did this in the singleness¹³ of His bounty, that no one might account Him grudging or incommunicative.¹⁴ His Word is, I said, Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. But to us, not enduring to bear the power of His Godhead, He saith,¹⁵ Ye for your part shall die like men: stating both points; the benignity of His own gift, and our infirmity, and how that we are in our own power. For while according to His own benignity He bestowed good in good measure, and made men, like Himself, endowed with free-will; yet in His foreknowledge He was aware of man’s infirmity, and of what would come thereof; and in His love and might He will overcome that which we are by our created nature. Now it was necessary that first nature should be manifested, then afterwards that the mortal should be overcome and absorbed by immortality,¹⁶ and the corruptible by incorruption, and that man should be made in the image and likeness of God, receiving the knowledge of Good and Evil.