Chapter XIII.—Remarks on the Creation of the World.

Moreover, his [Hesiod’s] human, and mean, and very weak conception, so far as regards God, is discovered in his beginning to relate the creation of all things from the earthly things here below. For man, being below, begins to build from the earth, and cannot in order make the roof, unless he has first laid the foundation. But the power of God is shown in this, that, first of all, He creates out of nothing, according to His will, the things that are made. “For the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”49    Luke xviii. 27. Wherefore, also, the prophet mentioned that the creation of the heavens first of all took place, as a kind of roof, saying: “At the first God created the heavens”—that is, that by means of the “first” principle the heavens were made, as we have already shown. And by “earth” he means the ground and foundation, as by “the deep” he means the multitude of waters; and “darkness” he speaks of, on account of the heaven which God made covering the waters and the earth like a lid. And by the Spirit which is borne above the waters, he means that which God gave for animating the creation, as he gave life to man,50    [See book i. cap. v., supra, note 4; also, the important remark of Kaye, Justin Martyr, p. 179.] mixing what is fine with what is fine. For the Spirit is fine, and the water is fine, that the Spirit may nourish the water, and the water penetrating everywhere along with the Spirit, may nourish creation. For the Spirit being one, and holding the place of light,51    This follows the Benedicting reading. Other editors, as Humphrey, read [φωτὸς] τὼπον, “resembling light.” was between the water and the heaven, in order that the darkness might not in any way communicate with the heaven, which was nearer God, before God said, “Let there be light.” The heaven, therefore, being like a dome-shaped covering, comprehended matter which was like a clod. And so another prophet, Isaiah by name, spoke in these words: “It is God who made the heavens as a vault, and stretched them as a tent to dwell in.”52    Isa. xl. 22. The command, then, of God, that is, His Word, shining as a lamp in an enclosed chamber, lit up all that was under heaven, when He had made light apart from the world.53    Following Wolf’s rendering. And the light God called Day, and the darkness Night. Since man would not have been able to call the light Day, or the darkness Night, nor, indeed, to have given names to the other things, had not he received the nomenclature from God, who made the things themselves. In the very beginning, therefore, of the history and genesis of the world, the holy Scripture spoke not concerning this firmament [which we see], but concerning another heaven, which is to us invisible, after which this heaven which we see has been called “firmament,” and to which half the water was taken up that it might serve for rains, and showers, and dews to mankind. And half the water was left on earth for rivers, and fountains, and seas. The water, then, covering all the earth, and specially its hollow places, God, through His Word, next caused the waters to be collected into one collection, and the dry land to become visible, which formerly had been invisible. The earth thus becoming visible, was yet without form. God therefore formed and adorned it54    Or, suitably arranged and appointed it. with all kinds of herbs, and seeds and plants.

Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐκ τῶν ἐπιγείων κάτωθεν ἄρξασθαι λέγειν τὴν ποίησιν τῶν γεγενημένων ἀνθρώπινον καὶ ταπεινὸν καὶ πάνυ ἀσθενὲς τὸ ἐννόημα αὐτοῦ ὡς πρὸς θεόν ἐστιν. ἄνθρωπος γὰρ κάτω ὢν ἄρχεται ἐκ τῆς γῆς οἰκοδομεῖν, καὶ οὐ πρὸς τάξιν δύναται καὶ τὴν ὀροφὴν ποιῆσαι ἐὰν μὴ τὸν θεμέλιον ὑπόθηται. θεοῦ δὲ τὸ δυνατὸν ἐν τούτῳ δείκνυται ἵνα πρῶτον μὲν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ποιῇ τὰ γινόμενα, καὶ ὡς βούλεται. τὰ γὰρ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατα δυνατά ἐστιν παρὰ θεῷ. διὸ καὶ ὁ προφήτης πρῶτον εἴρηκεν τὴν ποίησιν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ γεγενῆσθαι τρόπον ἐπέχοντα ὀροφῆς, λέγων· “Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανόν”, τουτέστιν διὰ τῆς ἀρχῆς γεγενῆσθαι τὸν οὐρανόν, καθὼς ἔφθημεν δεδηλωκέναι. Γῆν δὲ λέγει δυνάμει ἔδαφος καὶ θεμέλιον, ἄβυσσον δὲ τὴν πληθὺν τῶν ὑδάτων, καὶ σκότος διὰ τὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν γεγονότα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐσκεπακέναι καθαπερεὶ πῶμα τὰ ὕδατα σὺν τῇ γῇ, πνεῦμα δὲ τὸ ἐπιφερόμενον ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος ὃ ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς εἰς ζωογόνησιν τῇ κτίσει, καθάπερ ἀνθρώπῳ ψυχήν, τῷ λεπτῷ τὸ λεπτὸν συγκεράσας (τὸ γὰρ πνεῦμα λεπτὸν καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ λεπτόν), ὅπως τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα τρέφῃ τὸ ὕδωρ, τὸ δὲ ὕδωρ σὺν τῷ πνεύματι τρέφῃ τὴν κτίσιν διϊκνούμενον πανταχόσε. ἓν μὲν τὸ πνεῦμα φωτὸς τόπον ἐπέχον ἐμεσίτευεν τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἵνα τρόπῳ τινὶ μὴ κοινωνῇ τὸ σκότος τῷ οὐρανῷ ἐγγυτέρῳ ὄντι τοῦ θεοῦ, πρὸ τοῦ εἰπεῖν τὸν θεόν· “Γενηθήτω φῶς.” ὥσπερ οὖν καμάρα ὁ οὐρανὸς ὢν συνεῖχε τὴν ὕλην βώλῳ ἐοικυῖαν. καὶ γὰρ εἴρηκεν περὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἕτερος προφήτης ὀνόματι Ἠσαΐας, λέγων· “Θεὸς οὗτος ὁ ποιήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡς καμάραν καὶ διατείνας ὡς σκηνὴν κατοικεῖσθαι.” Ἡ διάταξις οὖν τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦτό ἐστιν ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ, φαίνων ὥσπερ λύχνος ἐν οἰκήματι συνεχομένῳ, ἐφώτισεν τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανόν, χωρὶς μὲν τοῦ κόσμου ποιήσας. καὶ τὸ μὲν φῶς ὁ θεὸς ἐκάλεσεν ἡμέραν, τὸ δὲ σκότος νύκτα· ἐπεί τοί γε ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἂν ᾔδει καλεῖν τὸ φῶς ἡμέραν ἢ τὸ σκότος νύκτα, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ μὲν τὰ λοιπά, εἰ μὴ τὴν ὀνομασίαν εἰλήφει ἀπὸ τοῦ ποιήσαντος αὐτὰ θεοῦ. Τῇ μὲν οὖν πρώτῃ ὑποθέσει τῆς ἱστορίας, καὶ γενέσεως τοῦ κόσμου, εἴρηκεν ἡ ἁγία γραφὴ οὐ περὶ τούτου τοῦ στερεώματος ἀλλὰ περὶ ἑτέρου οὐρανοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου ἡμῖν ὄντος, μεθ' ὃν οὗτος ὁ ὁρατὸς ἡμῖν οὐρανὸς κέκληται στερέωμα, ἐφ' ᾧ ἀνείληπται τὸ ἥμισυ τοῦ ὕδατος, ὅπως ᾖ τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι εἰς ὑετοὺς καὶ ὄμβρους καὶ δρόσους. τὸ δὲ ἥμισυ ὕδατος ὑπελείφθη ἐν τῇ γῇ εἰς ποτάμους καὶ πηγὰς καὶ θαλάσσας. ἔτι οὖν συνέχοντος τοῦ ὕδατος τὴν γῆν, μάλιστα κοίλους τόπους, ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς διὰ τοῦ λόγου αὐτοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ συναχθῆναι εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν, καὶ ὁρατὴν γενηθῆναι τὴν ξηράν, πρότερον γεγονυῖαν αὐτὴν ἀόρατον. ὁρατὴ οὖν ἡ γῆ γενομένη ἔτι ὑπῆρχεν ἀκατασκεύαστος. κατεσκεύασεν οὖν αὐτὴν καὶ κατεκόσμησεν ὁ θεὸς διὰ παντοδαπῶν χλοῶν καὶ σπερμάτων καὶ φυτῶν.