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mind did not come forth from him, being Word and God and being wisdom, 43.2 then the Father is lacking in wisdom in himself. How then "to the only wise, invisible God" * and all these things are incomprehensible and infinite to humans? God gave wisdom to Solomon and filled 43.3 Bezalel with wisdom and "wise men hide shame." And concerning wisdom, there is much to say. But that wisdom of the Father is of a single form, 43.4 having no other comparison. Yet, even if the celebrated passage were about wisdom itself, I neither agree nor disagree, but I concede to God the knowing; but I see what is said to be violently contrasted. "He created," it says, "the beginning of his ways for his works, before the 43.5 age he founded me; and before all hills he begets me." How then is that which is begotten founded? And how is that which is created begotten? For if 43.6 it is created, it is not truly begotten. For what we beget we do not create, and what we create we do not beget; for we are created and the things begotten by us 43.7 are created. But in the uncreated God, the offspring is not created. For if he begot, he did not create; but if after creating he again begot, 43.8 how then is what was first created later begotten? If, therefore, what is said is about him, it is fulfilled in the incarnate economy. And for this reason, he speaks first of the nearer things and later recounts the more ancient. 43.9 For wishing to persuade the nearest men, he begins from the flesh, for the beginning of the ways of righteousness of the gospel is that the Word became flesh for us in Mary and a soul has been founded in her flesh, 43.10 so that he might later show the higher things. But we say that from the paternal bosom from the heavens he came to be upon the earth, since he came to us later, having completed the entire economy. Therefore, the Word is not created—may it never be!—and the divine scripture has engendered nothing crooked for us in any way at all. 44.1 But both in nature and among the interpreters, the phrase has not been published in this way. For Aquila says, "The Lord possessed me," since in Hebrew it says, "Adonai qanani"; which is interpreted as we have said. And we too, according to custom, say of those who are 44.2 born, "he acquired children." But not even so did he seal the meaning of the interpretation. For Adonai qanani can also be interpreted thus: "The Lord nested me." And for this reason Peter clearly proclaims, saying, "this Jesus, whom you crucified." He did not say the Word who is God from above, but "this Jesus," that is, the flesh conceived with the Word from above in the womb of Mary, 44.3 this being said on account of the Lord's man from Mary. For in this also what is † created is fulfilled, as Peter says, "being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit," and again, "Christ therefore having suffered for us in the flesh," and again, "from whom is the Christ 44.4 according to the flesh," as Paul says. And the Savior himself said in the gospel, "but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from the Father," in order to show that the suffering is from his humanity and from the lower things, but that he is the natural 44.5 Son of the Father from the things above. And Paul the holy apostle also agrees with this saying, stating, "one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ," "who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave." 44.6 You see how he declared him a man, but not a mere one. For "mediator between God and men," since he mediates for both, toward his Father being God by nature, genuinely begotten, and toward men being a man by nature, genuinely born of Mary without the seed of a man. For thus he is mediator between God and men, being God and having become man, not having changed his nature, but mediating for both sides in respect of each.

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νοῦν οὐ προῆλθεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ, Λόγος καὶ θεὸς ὢν καὶ σοφία 43.2 ὤν, ἄρα ὁ πατὴρ λείπεται σοφίας ἐν ἑαυτῷ. πῶς οὖν «θεῷ μόνῳ σοφῷ ἀοράτῳ» * καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ἐστὶν ἀκατάληπτα καὶ ἄπειρα ἀνθρώποις; ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς σοφίαν τῷ Σολομῶντι καὶ ἐνέπλησε σοφίας 43.3 τὸν Βεσελεὴλ καί «σοφοὶ ἄνθρωποι κρύπτουσιν αἰσχύνην». καὶ περὶ σοφίας πολλὰ ἔστι λέγειν. ἐκείνη δὲ ἡ σοφία τοῦ πατρὸς μονοειδής 43.4 ἐστι, μὴ ἔχουσα ἀντιπαράθεσιν ἄλλην. ὅμως δὲ εἰ καὶ περὶ αὐτῆς ἦν ὁ λόγος ᾀδόμενος, οὔτε συντίθεμαι οὔτε ἀποτάσσομαι, θεῷ δὲ συγχωρῶ τὸ εἰδέναι· βεβιασμένως δὲ ὁρῶ ἀντιπαράθετα τὰ λεγόμενα. «ἔκτισε», γάρ φησιν, «ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ, πρὸ τοῦ αἰ43.5 ῶνος ἐθεμελίωσέ με· πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με». πῶς οὖν τὸ γεννώμενον θεμελιοῦται; πῶς δὲ τὸ κτιζόμενον γεννᾶται; εἰ γὰρ 43.6 κτιστόν, οὐ γεννητὸν ὄντως. ἡμεῖς γὰρ ἃ γεννῶμεν οὐ κτίζομεν καὶ ἃ κτίζομεν οὐ γεννῶμεν· ἐσμὲν γὰρ κτιστοὶ καὶ τὰ ὑφ' ἡμῶν 43.7 γεννώμενα κτιστά. ἐν θεῷ δὲ τῷ ἀκτίστῳ τὸ γέννημα οὐ κτιστόν. εἰ γὰρ ἐγέννησεν, οὐκ ἔκτισεν· εἰ δὲ μετὰ τὸ κτίσαι πάλιν γεγέννηκε, 43.8 πῶς ἄρα τὸ πρῶτον κτισθὲν ὕστερον γεννᾶται; εἰ τοίνυν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐστι τὰ λεγόμενα, εἰς τὴν ἔνσαρκον οἰκονομίαν πληροῦται. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὰ ἐγγύτερα πρῶτον λέγει καὶ τὰ ἀρχαιότερα ὕστερον διηγεῖται. 43.9 πεῖσαι γὰρ ἀνθρώπους τοὺς ἐγγυτάτω βουλόμενος ἀπὸ σαρκὸς ἄρχεται ἀρχὴ γὰρ ὁδῶν τῆς δικαιοσύνης τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ὅτι σὰρξ ἡμῖν ὁ Λόγος ἐν Μαρίᾳ ἐγένετο ψυχή τε ἐν τῇ αὐτῆς σαρκὶ τεθεμελίωται, 43.10 ἵνα τὰ ἀνώτερα ὕστερα δείξῃ. λέγομεν δὲ ἐκ κόλπων πατρῴων ἀπὸ τῶν οὐρανῶν γενέσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ἐπεὶ ἦλθεν ἡμῖν ὕστερον τὴν πᾶσαν οἰκονομίαν τελέσας. οὐκ ἄρα τοίνυν κτιστὸς ὁ Λόγος μὴ γένοιτο καὶ οὐδὲν ἡμῖν σκολιὸν ἐνεγέννησεν ἡ θεία γραφὴ εἰς οὐδὲν τὸ παράπαν. 44.1 Ἀλλὰ καὶ φύσει καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἑρμηνευταῖς οὐχ οὕτως ἐκδέδοται ἡ λέξις. Ἀκύλας μὲν γάρ φησι «κύριος ἐκτήσατό με», ἐπειδήπερ ἐν τῷ Ἑβραϊκῷ λέγει «ἀδωναὶ κανανί»· ὅπερ τοῦτο ἑρμηνεύεται ὅπερ εἰρήκαμεν. καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ κατὰ τὴν συνήθειαν λέγομεν περὶ τῶν γεν44.2 νωμένων «ἐκτήσατο τέκνα». ἀλλ' οὐδὲ οὕτω τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἐσφράγισε. τὸ γὰρ ἀδωναῒ κανανὶ καὶ οὕτω δύναται ἑρμηνεύεσθαι «κύριος ἐνόσσευσέ με». καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὁ Πέτρος σαφῶς διαγορεύει λέγων «τοῦτον τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε». οὐκ εἶπε τὸν ἄνωθεν θεὸν Λόγον, ἀλλὰ «τοῦτον τὸν Ἰησοῦν» τουτέστιν τὴν σάρκα τὴν σὺν τῷ ἄνωθεν Λόγῳ ἐν γαστρὶ Μαρίας συνειλημμένην, 44.3 τοῦτον δὲ λεγομένην διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ Μαρίας κυριακὸν ἄνθρωπον. ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ καὶ τὸ † ἀποκτιζόμενον πληροῦται, ὥς φησι Πέτρος «θανατωθεὶς σαρκί, ζωοποιηθεὶς δὲ πνεύματι» καὶ πάλιν «Χριστοῦ οὖν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν παθόντος σαρκί» καὶ πάλιν «ἐξ ὧν ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ 44.4 κατὰ σάρκα», ὥς φησι Παῦλος. καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ σωτὴρ ἔλεγεν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ «νῦν δέ με ζητεῖτε ἀποκτεῖναι ἄνθρωπον, ὃς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὑμῖν λελάληκα, ἣν ἤκουσα παρὰ τοῦ πατρός», ἵνα δείξῃ τὸ πάθος ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος καὶ τῶν κατωτέρω, αὐτὸν δὲ εἶναι φυσικὸν 44.5 υἱὸν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄνωθεν. συνᾴδει δὲ καὶ τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ Παῦλος ὁ ἅγιος ἀπόστολος φάσκων «εἷς θεός, εἷς καὶ μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός», «ὃς οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ, ἀλλ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε, μορφὴν δούλου λαβών». 44.6 ὁρᾷς ὡς ἄνθρωπον αὐτὸν ἀπεφήνατο, ἀλλ' οὐ ψιλόν. τὸ γάρ «μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων», ἐπειδὴ τοῖς ἑκατέροις μεσιτεύει, πρὸς τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ θεὸς ὢν φύσει γνήσιος γεγεννημένος, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἄνθρωπος φυσικὸς γνήσιος ἐκ Μαρίας δίχα σπέρματος ἀνδρὸς γεγεννημένος. οὕτω γάρ ἐστι μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, θεὸς ὢν καὶ ἄνθρωπος γεγονώς, οὐ τραπεὶς τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἑκάτερα πρὸς τὰ ἀμφότερα μεσιτεύων.