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46 Therefore, having done away with the godlessness of the gentiles or of idols, has the inspired teaching fallen silent and simply left the race of men to be carried along destitute of the knowledge of the Divine? By no means, but it even anticipates the thought, saying: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one; and again: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your strength; and again: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve, and to him you shall cleave. But that the providence and ordering of the Word through all things and unto all things is testified by all divinely-inspired scripture, what is now said is sufficient to show the faithfulness of the word, as the theological men say: You founded the earth, and it remains; by your ordinance the day remains; and again: Sing to our God with the harp, who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who brings forth grass on the mountains and green herb for the service of men, and gives food to the cattle. But through whom does he give, if not through whom all things also were made? For through whom it was made, through him also is consistently the providence of all things. Who then might this be but the Word of God, concerning whom it also says in another place: By the word of the Lord were the heavens made firm, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power? For it speaks of all things made in him and through him, from which it also persuades us, saying: He spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created; just as also the all-great Moses at the beginning of the creation of the world confirms what is said, explaining and saying: And God said: Let us make man in our image and after our likeness. since also, when establishing the creation of heaven and earth and all things, the Father said to him: Let there be a heaven, and let the waters be gathered together, and let the dry land appear; and let the earth bring forth vegetation and every living creature. From which one might also convict the Jews of not genuinely attending to the scriptures. For to whom, one might say to them, was God conversing, that he should also speak in command? If, then, he was commanding and conversing with the things being made, the speech was superfluous; for they did not yet exist, but were about to be made; and no one speaks to what does not exist, nor does one command and speak to what has not yet been made in order for it to be made. For if God were commanding the things that were to be, he ought to have said: Become, O heaven, and become, O earth, and come forth, O vegetation, and be made, O man; but as it is, he did not do this, but he commands, saying: Let us make man, and let vegetation come forth; from which it is shown that God was conversing about these things as with someone near him. Therefore, it is necessary that someone was with him, to whom he was also speaking when he made all things. Who then could it be but his Word? For to whom might one say God speaks but to his own Word? Or who was with him when he made all created substance but his wisdom, which says: When he made the heaven and the earth, I was with him? And in the naming of heaven and earth, it includes all created things in heaven and on earth. And being with him as wisdom, and as Word beholding the Father, he created, and established, and ordered the universe; and being the power of the Father, he strengthens all things into being, as the Savior also says: All things that I see the Father doing, I also do likewise; and his holy disciples teach that all things were made through him and for him, and that being a good offspring from a good Father and the true Son, he is the power of the Father and wisdom and Word, not being these things by participation, nor these things coming to him from without, as with those who participate in him and are made wise through him, and become powerful and rational in him, but he is self-wisdom, self-word, the Father's own self-power, self-light, self-truth, self-righteousness, self-virtue, and indeed also the character and effulgence and image. And, to speak concisely, he is the all-perfect fruit of the Father, and is the only Son, the exact image of the Father.

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46 Ἆρ' οὖν, ἀνελὼν τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἢ εἰδώλων ἀθεότητα, σεσιώ-πηκεν ἡ ἔνθεος διδασκαλία καὶ ἁπλῶς ἀφῆκε τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος ἄμοιρον τῆς τοῦ Θείου γνώσεως φέρεσθαι; οὐχί γε, ἀλλὰ καὶ προαπαντᾷ τῇ διανοίᾳ λέγουσα· Ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ, Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου, Κύριος εἷς ἐστι· καὶ πάλιν· Ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ καρδίᾳ σου, καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ἰσχύϊ σου· καὶ πάλιν· Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις, καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν κολληθήσῃ. ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἡ διὰ πάντων καὶ ἡ εἰς πάντα τοῦ Λόγου πρόνοια καὶ διακόσμησις ἀπὸ πάσης θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς μαρτυρεῖται, ἀρκεῖ τὰ νῦν λεγόμενα δεῖξαι τοῦ λόγου τὴν πίστιν, ᾗ φασιν οἱ θεολόγοι ἄνδρες· Ἐθε-μελίωσας τὴν γῆν, καὶ διαμένει· τῇ διατάξει σου διαμένει ἡ ἡμέρα· καὶ πάλιν· Ψάλατε τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν ἐν κιθάρᾳ, τῷ περιβάλλοντι τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐν νεφέλαις, τῷ ἑτοιμάζοντι τῇ γῇ ὑετόν, τῷ ἐξαγαγόντι ἐν ὄρεσι χόρτον καὶ χλόην τῇ δουλείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ διδόντι τοῖς κτήνεσι τροφήν. διὰ τίνος δὲ δίδωσιν ἢ δι' οὗ καὶ τὰ πάντα γέγονε; δι' οὗ γὰρ γέγονε, δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ τῶν πάντων ἀκολούθως ἐστὶ πρόνοια. τίς οὖν ἂν εἴη οὗτος ἢ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, περὶ οὗ καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ λέγει· Τῷ λόγῳ Κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν; καὶ γὰρ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ γενόμενα διαλέγεται, ἀφ' ὧν καὶ ἡμᾶς πείθει λέγουσα· Αὐτὸς εἶπε, καὶ ἐγενήθησαν· αὐτὸς ἐνετείλατο, καὶ ἐκτίσθησαν· καθὼς καὶ ὁ πάντα μέγας Μωϋσῆς ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς κοσμοποιίας βεβαιοῖ τὸ λεγόμενον ἐξηγούμενος καὶ λέγων· Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν. ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς καὶ πάντων ὑφιστὰς γένεσιν, αὐτῷ εἶπεν ὁ Πατήρ· Γενηθήτω οὐρανός, καὶ συναχθήτω τὰ ὕδατα, καὶ ὀφθήτω ἡ ξηρά· καὶ ἐξαγαγέτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην καὶ πᾶν ζῶον. Ἀφ' ὧν καὶ Ἰουδαίους ἄν τις ἐλέγξειεν οὐ γνησίως ἐφιστάνοντας ταῖς γραφαῖς. τίνι γάρ, ἄν τις εἴποι πρὸς αὐτούς, ὡμίλει ὁ Θεός, ἵνα καὶ προστάττων λαλῇ; εἰ μὲν οὖν τοῖς γιγνομένοις προσέταττε καὶ ὡμίλει, περιττὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος· οὔπω γὰρ ἦν, ἀλλ' ἔμελλε γίγνεσθαι· οὐδεὶς δὲ τῷ μὴ ὄντι λαλεῖ, οὐδὲ εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι τῷ μηδέπω γενομένῳ προστάττει καὶ λαλεῖ. εἰ γὰρ τοῖς ἐσομένοις προσέταττεν ὁ Θεός, ἔδει λέγειν αὐτόν· Γενοῦ, οὐρανέ, καὶ γενοῦ, γῆ, καὶ ἔξελθε, βοτάνη, καὶ ποιήθητι, ἄνθρωπε· νῦν δὲ τοῦτο μὲν οὐκ ἐποίησε, προστάττει δὲ λέγων· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἐξελθέτω βοτάνη· ἀφ' ὧν δείκνυται ὁ Θεὸς ὡς πλησίον τινὶ διαλεγόμενος περὶ τούτων. οὐκοῦν ἀνάγκη συνεῖναί τινα τούτῳ, ᾧ καὶ ὁμιλῶν ἐποίει τὰ ὅλα. τίς οὖν ἂν εἴη εἰ μὴ ὁ τούτου Λόγος; τίνι γὰρ ἄν τις φαίη Θεὸν ὁμιλεῖν ἢ τῷ ἑαυτοῦ Λόγῳ; ἢ τίς τούτῳ συνῆν ποιοῦντι τὴν γενητὴν πᾶσαν οὐσίαν ἢ ἡ τούτου σοφία, ἡ λέγουσα· Ἡνίκα ἐποίει τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, συμπαρήμην αὐτῷ; ἐν δὲ τῇ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ὀνομασίᾳ, πάντα τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ γῇ γενητὰ συμπεριλαμβάνει. συνὼν δὲ ὡς σοφία, καὶ ὡς Λόγος τὸν Πατέρα βλέπων, ἐδημιούργει τὸ πᾶν καὶ συνίστη καὶ διεκόσμει· καὶ δύναμις δὲ ὢν τοῦ Πατρός, τὰ ὅλα εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἰσχυροποίει, ᾗ φησι καὶ ὁ Σωτήρ· Πάντα ὅσα βλέπω τὸν Πατέρα ποιοῦντα, κἀγὼ ὁμοίως ποιῶ· καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ δὲ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα γεγονέναι οἱ ἱεροὶ τούτου διδάσκουσι μαθηταί, καὶ ὅτι ἀγαθὸν ἐξ ἀγαθοῦ γέννημα καὶ ἀληθινὸς Υἱὸς ὑπάρχων, δύναμίς ἐστι τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ σοφία καὶ Λόγος, οὐ κατὰ μετοχὴν ταῦτα ὤν, οὐδὲ ἔξωθεν ἐπιγενο-μένων τούτων αὐτῷ κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοῦ μετέχοντας καὶ σοφιζομένους δι' αὐτοῦ, καὶ δυνατοὺς καὶ λογικοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ γινομένους, ἀλλ' αὐτο- σοφία, αὐτολόγος, αὐτοδύναμις ἰδία τοῦ Πατρός ἐστιν, αὐτοφῶς, αὐτοαλήθεια, αὐτοδικαιοσύνη, αὐτοαρετή, καὶ μὴν καὶ χαρακτὴρ καὶ ἀπαύγασμα καὶ εἰκών. καὶ συνελόντι φράσαι, καρπὸς παντέλειος τοῦ Πατρὸς ὑπάρχει, καὶ μόνος ἐστὶν Υἱός, εἰκὼν ἀπαράλλακτος τοῦ Πατρός.