become significant and affirmative of God that all the works of God are temporal with him, it is clear that he absurdly supposed that nothing temporal is with him. But when this, having been absurdly supposed, is refuted, the notion that "he has made" is not fitting for God is necessarily refuted along with it. For when this is refuted, its opposite is necessarily posited, that is, that "he has made" is fitting for God. For in every case, it is necessary for either the affirmation or the negation to be true. And when it is established that "he has made" is fitting for God, it is impossible to call a God one who has made nothing; for this follows from that. What then? Would you say that we err in calling God inactive? But we do not say this, but that God has indeed made nothing nor does he make nor will he make anything in time; for he has not made any more than he makes, nor again does he make any more than he will make; but the past with God is in the present and the future in what has already come to be, since God has nothing fluid, but is always doing the same things because of his perfect and immutable power and activity. But to flee the error of calling God inactive, and yet to say about him that he has neither made nor makes nor will he make anything in time, is to fall into the same error. For if you wished to err and call God inactive, what more would you have to say than what you have now said, not wishing to err and call God inactive, than that God has neither made nor makes nor will make? For when the verbs, which denote and have temporal significance, are removed from the activity of God, God will be found to be inactive, and therefore not a creator. If nothing temporal is with God, it is clear that neither the past of time is with him nor the present nor the future. How then does the respondent, while removing temporal things from God, posit temporal things for God and say: "But the past with God is in the present and the future in what has already come to be"? This implies one of two things: either this, not being with God, is in what is not, or this, not being with God, is in what is. But if the first, it is impossible; for to be or not to be in something belongs to what is. But if the second, there is with God what is not in what is, that is, the past of time in the present of time. But with this being established, it becomes a refutation of its not having been correctly said that nothing temporal is with God, seeing that the past is in the present and the future in what has already come to be, which things are temporal. And even if he has changed the manner of how the parts of time are with God, yet he has nevertheless granted that there are with him the past and the present and the future of time; and if "he has made" is not more than "he makes", nor again is "he makes" more than "he will make". Since what need was there of the refutation of "more" from the acts of making which, according to "he has made" and "he makes" and "he will make", differ from one another, when the acts of making are such as not to differ from one an
θεοῦ σημαντικά τε καὶ θετικὰ γίνονται τοῦ πάντα τὰ ποιήματα τοῦ θεοῦ ἔγχρονα εἶναι παρ' αὐτῷ, δῆλον ὅτι ἀτόπως ὑπέθηκε τὸ μηδὲν ἔγχρονον εἶναι παρ' αὐτῷ. Τούτου δὲ ὡς ἀτόπως ὑποτεθέντος ἀναιρουμένου, συναναιρεῖται ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ τὸ μὴ ἁρμόττειν τῷ θεῷ τὸ πεποίηκε. Καὶ τούτου γὰρ ἀναιρε θέντος, ἐξ ἀνάγκης τίθεται τὸ τούτου ἐναντίον, τουτέστι τὸ ἁρμόζειν τῷ θεῷ τὸ πεποίηκεν. Ἐπὶ παντὸς γὰρ χρὴ ἢ τὴν φάσιν εἶναι ἀληθῆ ἢ τὴν ἀπόφασιν. Κειμένου δὲ τοῦ ἁρμότ τειν τῷ θεῷ τὸ πεποίηκεν, ἀδύνατον λέγειν θεὸν τὸν μηδὲν πεποιηκότα· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ἐκείνῳ ἑπόμενον. Τί οὖν; Φαίης ἀνενέργητον ἡμᾶς τὸν θεὸν λέγοντας ἁμαρτάνειν; Ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦτό φαμεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι οὐ πεποίηκε μὲν ὁ θεὸς οὐδὲν οὔτε ποιεῖ οὔτε ποιήσει ἐν χρόνῳ· οὐδὲν γὰρ μᾶλλον πεποίηκεν ἢ ποιεῖ, οὐδ' αὖ ποιεῖ ἢ ποιήσει· ἀλλὰ τό τε παρελθὸν παρὰ τῷ θεῷ ἐν τῷ ἐνεστῶτι καὶ τὸ μέλλον ἐν τῷ ἤδη γεγονέναι, ὡς οὐδὲν μὲν ῥευστὸν ἔχοντος τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀεὶ δὲ τὰ αὐτὰ ποιοῦντος διὰ τὴν τελείαν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀμετάβλητον δύναμίν τε καὶ ἐνέργειαν. Ἀλλὰ τὸ φεύγειν μὲν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν λέγουσαν τὸν θεὸν ἀνενέργητον, λέγειν δὲ περὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ οὔτε πεποίηκεν οὔτε ποιεῖ οὔτε ποιήσει ἐν χρόνῳ, εἰς τὴν αὐτήν ἐστιν ἁμαρτίαν ἐμπεσεῖν. Eἰ γὰρ ἠβουλήθης ἁμαρτανεῖν καὶ λέγειν τὸν θεὸν ἀνενέργητον, τί πλέον εἶχες λέγειν ὧν νῦν εἴ ρηκας, μὴ βουλόμενος ἁμαρτάνειν καὶ λέγειν ἀνενέργητον τὸν θεόν, τοῦ μήτε πεποιηκέναι τὸν θεὸν μήτε ποιεῖν μήτε ποιή σειν; Τῶν γὰρ ·ημάτων, τῶν χρονικὴν ἔμφασιν δηλούντων καὶ ἐχόντων, ἐκ τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ θεοῦ ἀναιρουμένων εὑρεθήσεται ὁ θεὸς ἀνενέργητος, διὸ οὔτε ποιητής. Eἰ μηδὲν ἔγχρονόν ἐστι παρὰ τῷ θεῷ, δῆλον ὅτι οὔτε τὸ παρεληλυθὸς τοῦ χρόνου ἐστὶ παρ' αὐτῷ οὔτε τὸ ἐνεστὼς οὔτε τὸ μέλλον. Πῶς οὖν ὁ ἀποκρινάμενος, ἀναιρῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ ἔγχρονα, τίθησιν ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ ἔγχρονα καί φησιν· Ἀλλὰ τό τε παρελθὸν παρὰ τῷ θεῷ ἐν τῷ ἐνεστῶτι καὶ τὸ μέλλον ἐν τῷ ἤδη γεγονέναι; Τοῦτο δυεῖν τινων ἔχει τὴν ἔμ φασιν, ἢ τοῦτο μὴ ὂν παρὰ τῷ θεῷ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ μὴ ὄντι, ἢ τοῦτο μὴ ὂν παρὰ τῷ θεῷ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ ὄντι. Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν τὸ πρῶτον, ἔστιν ἀδύνατον· τὸ γὰρ ἔν τινι εἶναι ἢ μὴ εἶναι τοῦ ὄντος ἐστίν. Eἰ δὲ τὸ δεύτερον, ἔστι παρὰ τῷ θεῷ τὸ μὴ ὂν ἐν τῷ ὄντι, τουτέστι τὸ παρεληλυθὸς τοῦ χρόνου ἐν τῷ ἐνεστῶτι τοῦ χρόνου. Τούτου δὲ κειμένου, ἔλεγχος γίνεται τοῦ μὴ ὀρθῶς εἰρῆσθαι τὸ οὐδὲν ἔγχρονον παρὰ τῷ θεῷ τὸ παρ εληλυθὸς ἐν τῷ ἐνεστῶτι καὶ τὸ μέλλον ἐν τῷ ἤδη γεγονέναι, ἅτινά ἐστιν ἔγχρονα. Καὶ εἰ ἐνήλλαξε τὸν τρόπον τοῦ πῶς ἐστι παρὰ τῷ θεῷ τὰ τοῦ χρόνου μέρη, ἀλλ' ὅμως δέδωκεν εἶναι παρ' αὐτῷ τοῦ χρόνου τὸ παρεληλυθὸς καὶ τὸ ἐνεστὼς καὶ τὸ μέλλον· καὶ εἰ μὴ μᾶλλον τὸ πεποίηκε τοῦ ποιεῖ, οὐδ' αὖ τὸ ποιεῖ τοῦ ποιήσει. Ἐπεὶ τίς ἦν χρεία τῆς τοῦ μᾶλλον ἀναιρέσεως ἀπὸ τῶν ποιήσεων τῶν κατὰ τὸ πεποίηκε καὶ ποιεῖ καὶ ποιήσει ἀλλήλων διαφερουσῶν, τῶν ποιήσεων οὐσῶν τῶν κατὰ τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον μὴ διαφερουσῶν ἀλ