§28. But neither can the cosmic organism be God. For that would make God consist of dissimilar parts, and subject Him to possible dissolution.

How then can these things be gods, seeing that they need one another’s assistance? Or how is it proper to ask anything of them when they too ask help for themselves one from another? For if it is an admitted truth about God that He stands in need of nothing, but is self-sufficient and self-contained, and that in Him all things have their being, and that He ministers to all rather than they to Him, how is it right to proclaim as gods the sun and moon and other parts of creation, which are of no such kind, but which even stand in need of one another’s help? 2. But, perhaps, if divided and taken by themselves, our opponents themselves will admit that they are dependent, the demonstration being an ocular one. But they will combine all together, as constituting a single body, and will say that the whole is God. For the whole once put together, they will no longer need external help, but the whole will be sufficient for itself and independent in all respects; so at least the would-be philosophers will tell us, only to be refuted here once more. 3. Now this argument, not one whit less than those previously dealt with, will demonstrate their impiety coupled with great ignorance. For if the combination of the parts makes up the whole, and the whole is combined out of the parts, then the whole consists of the parts, and each of them is a portion of the whole. But this is very far removed from the conception of God. For God is a whole and not a number of parts, and does not consist of diverse elements, but is Himself the Maker of the system of the universe. For see what impiety they utter against the Deity when they say this. For if He consists of parts, certainly it will follow that He is unlike Himself, and made up of unlike parts. For if He is sun, He is not moon, and if He is moon, He is not earth, and if He is earth, He cannot be sea: and so on, taking the parts one by one, one may discover the absurdity of this theory of theirs. 4. But the following point, drawn from the observation of our human body, is enough to refute them. For just as the eye is not the sense of hearing, nor is the latter a hand: nor is the belly the breast, nor again is the neck a foot, but each of these has its own function, and a single body is composed of these distinct parts,—having its parts combined for use, but destined to be divided in course of time when nature, that brought them together, shall divide them at the will of God, Who so ordered it;—thus (but may He that is above pardon the argument44    Cf. Orat. i. 25, note 2.), if they combine the parts of creation into one body and proclaim it God, it follows, firstly, that He is unlike Himself, as shewn above; secondly, that He is destined to be divided again, in accordance with the natural tendency of the parts to separation.

28 Πῶς οὖν ταῦτα ἂν εἶεν θεοὶ δεόμενα τῆς παρ' ἑτέρων ἐπι κουρίας; ἢ πῶς παρὰ τούτων αἰτεῖσθαί τι προσῆκεν, καὶ αὐτῶν ἀπαιτούντων παρ' ἀλλήλων τὴν εἰς ἑαυτὰ χρείαν; εἰ γὰρ περὶ Θεοῦ λόγος ἐστὶ μηδενὸς αὐτὸν ἐπιδεᾶ εἶναι, ἀλλ' αὐτάρκη καὶ πλήρη ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα συστήκειν, καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτὸν τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐπιδιδόναι· πῶς ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα μέρη τῆς κτίσεως οὐκ ὄντα τοιαῦτα, ἀλλὰ καὶ λειπόμενα τῆς ἀλλήλων χρείας, ἀναγορεύειν ἄξιον θεούς; ἀλλ' ἴσως διαιρούμενα μὲν καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὰ λαμβανόμενα, ἐπιδεῆ εἶναι αὐτὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ συνομολογοῦσι, τῆς ἀπο δείξεως ἐπ' ὀφθαλμῶν οὔσης· ὁμοῦ δὲ πάντα συνάπτοντες, καὶ ὡς ἓν ἀποτελοῦντες μέγα σῶμα, τὸ ὅλον Θεὸν εἶναι φήσουσι. συστάντος γὰρ τοῦ ὅλου, οὐκ ἔτι μὲν ἔξωθεν αὐτοῖς χρεία γενήσεται· ἑαυτῷ δὲ τὸ ὅλον ἱκανὸν καὶ αὔταρκες γενήσεται πρὸς πάντα, λέξουσιν οἱ δοκησίσοφοι, ἵνα καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἐλεγχθῶσιν· οὗτος δὲ ὁ λόγος καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτῶν τὴν ἀσέβειαν μετὰ μεγάλης ἀπαιδευσίας οὐκ ἔλαττον τῶν πρόσθεν ἀποδείξει. εἰ γὰρ τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον συναφθὲν τὸ ὅλον ἀναπληροῖ, καὶ τὸ ὅλον ἐκ τῶν καθ' ἓν συνίσταται· τὸ ὅλον ἄρα ἐκ μερῶν συνέστη, καὶ ἕκαστον τοῦ ὅλου μέρος τυγχάνει. τοῦτο δὲ τῶν περὶ Θεοῦ ἐννοιῶν πολὺ πόρρωθεν καθέστηκεν. ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς ὅλον ἐστὶ καὶ οὐ μέρη, καὶ οὐκ ἐκ διαφόρων συνέστηκεν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς τῆς πάντων συστάσεώς ἐστι ποιητής. θέα γὰρ ὅσην ἀσέβειαν κατὰ τοῦ Θείου ταῦτα λέγοντες ἐξηγοῦνται. εἰ γὰρ ἐκ μερῶν συνέστηκε, πάντως αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ ἀνόμοιος φανήσεται, καὶ ἐξ ἀνομοίων ἔχων τὴν συμπλήρωσιν. εἰ γὰρ ἥλιός ἐστιν, οὐκ ἔστι σελήνη· καὶ εἰ σελήνη ἐστίν, οὐκ ἔστι γῆ· καὶ εἰ γῆ τυγχάνει, οὐκ ἂν εἴη θάλασσα· καὶ οὕτως ἐφ' ἑκάστου λαμβάνων ἄν τις εὑρήσει τὴν ἀτοπίαν τοῦ τοιούτου αὐτῶν λόγου. Τοῦτο δ' ἄν τις καὶ ἐκ τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀνθρωπείου σώματος ἰδὼν καταγνοίη τούτων. ὡς γὰρ ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀκοή, οὐδὲ ἡ ἀκοὴ χείρ, οὐδὲ ἡ γαστήρ ἐστι στέρνα, οὐδ' αὖ πάλιν ὁ αὐχήν ἐστι ποῦς· ἀλλ' ἕκαστον τούτων ἰδίαν ἔχει τὴν ἐνέργειαν, καὶ ἐκ τούτων διαφόρων ὄντων ἓν συνίσταται σῶμα, συνημμένα μὲν ἔχον τὰ μέρη κατὰ τὴν χρείαν, διαιρούμενα δὲ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ χρόνου παρουσίαν, ὅταν ἡ φύσις ἡ συνάξασα ταῦτα διέλῃ, ὡς ὁ προστάξας Θεὸς βούλεται· οὕτω (συγγνώμην δὲ ὁ λόγος ἐχέτω παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ κρείττονος), εἰ τὰ μέρη τῆς κτίσεως συνάπτοντες εἰς ἓν σῶμα θεὸν ἀναγορεύουσιν, ἀνάγκη αὐτὸν μὲν καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀνόμοιον ἑαυτῷ εἶναι, ὥσπερ ἐδείχθη, διαιρεῖσθαι δὲ πάλιν κατὰ τὴν τῶν μερῶν εἰς τὸ μερίζεσθαι γενομένην φύσιν.