4. Again, all things originate were not and have come into being. For, ‘He made the earth as nothing’; and, ‘Who calleth the things that are not as though they were’; and they are also ‘works’ and ‘creatures’. Therefore they have a beginning from which they come to be. For ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth’, and all that in them is; and again: ‘All these things hath mine hand made.’ But the Son, like the Father, is ‘One that is’ and ‘God over all things’, as we have shown. He is not made, he makes; he is not created, but creates and makes the works of the Father. Through him ‘the ages’ came to be; and, ‘All things have come to be through him, and without him has not anything come to be’. And, as the Apostle has expounded the contents of the Psalm, he himself at the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of his hands. Again, none of the creatures is by nature God. Each thing that comes into being has been called whatever it has come to be: one heaven, another earth; some planets, others stars; yet others seas, depths, fourfooted things; and finally, man. And previous to these, angels and archangels, cherubim, virtues, principalities, powers, dominions, paradise. And so each remains. But if some have been called gods,u they are not so by nature, but by participation in the Son. Thus he himself said, ‘If he called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came . . .’ Hence, because they are not gods by nature, there comes a time when some of them suffer a change and hear him say: ‘I said, Ye are gods and sons of the Most High. Nevertheless, ye die like men.’ Such was he who heard God say: ‘Thou art a man and not god.’ But the Son, like the Father, is true God. For he is in him, and the Father in the Son. John wrote it, as we have shown; and David sings: ‘Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom.’ And the prophet Isaiah cries: ‘Egypt was overwhelmed and the commerce of the Ethiopians; and the Sabaeans, men of stature, shall come over to thee, and they shall follow behind thee bound with fetters, and they shall worship thee, because God is in thee. For thou art the God of Israel, and we knew thee not.’ Who is this God in whom God is, except the Son who said: ‘I am in the Father and the Father in me’?

Καὶ πάλιν τὰ γενητὰ πάντα οὐκ ἦν, καὶ γέγονε. Τὴν γὰρ γῆν, ὡς οὐδὲν, ἐποίησε· καὶ, «ὁ καλῶν τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ὄντα·» καὶ ποιήματα δέ ἐστι καὶ κτίσματα· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἀρχὴν ἔχει τοῦ γενέσθαι. «Ἐν ἀρχῇ» γὰρ «ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν,» καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς· καὶ πάλιν· «Ἡ χείρ μου ἐποίησε ταῦτα πάντα.» Ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς ὤν ἐστι καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς, ὡς ὁ Πατήρ· καὶ τοῦτο οὕτω δέδεικται· καὶ οὐ ποιούμενός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ ποιῶν· καὶ οὐ κτιζόμενος, ἀλλὰ κτίζων καὶ ποιῶν τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Πατρός. ∆ι' αὐτοῦ γὰρ οἱ αἰῶνες γεγόνασι· καὶ πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο· καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν· ὡς δὲ Ἀπόστολος ἐδίδαξε τὸ ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ, αὐτὸς κατ' ἀρχὰς τὴν γῆν ἐθεμε λίωσε, καὶ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ εἰσιν οἱ οὐρανοί. Καὶ πάλιν τῶν κτισμάτων οὐδέν ἐστι τῇ φύσει Θεός· ἀλλ' ἕκαστον τῶν γενομένων ὃ καὶ γέγονε, τοῦτο καὶ ἐκλήθη· τὸ μὲν οὐρανὸς, ἄλλο δὲ γῆ· καὶ οἱ μὲν φωστῆρες, τὰ δὲ ἄστρα· καὶ ἄλλα θάλασσα, καὶ ἄβυσσοι, καὶ τετράποδα· καὶ λοιπὸν, ἄνθρωπος· καὶ πρὸ τούτων ἄγγελοι, καὶ ἀρχάγγελοι, χερου βὶμ, σεραφὶμ, καὶ δυνάμεις, ἀρχαὶ, ἐξουσίαι, κυριότητες, παράδεισος· καὶ οὕτως ἕκαστον διαμένει. Εἰ δὲ καὶ θεοί τινες ἐκλήθησαν, ἀλλ' οὐ τῇ φύσει, ἀλλὰ τῇ μετουσίᾳ τοῦ Υἱοῦ. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς εἶπεν· «Εἰ ἐκείνους εἶπεν θεοὺς, πρὸς οὓς ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐγένετο.» ∆ιὸ, μὴ ὄντες τῇ φύσει θεοὶ, ἔστιν ὅτε τινὲς τρέπονται, ἀκούοντες· «Ἐγὼ εἶπα· Θεοί ἐστε καὶ υἱοὶ Ὑψίστου πάντες Ὑμεῖς δὲ, ὡς ἄνθρωποι, ἀποθνήσκετε.» Τοιοῦτος ἦν ὁ ἀκούσας· «Σὺ δὲ εἶ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ οὐ Θεός.» Ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς Θεὸς ἀλη θινός ἐστιν, ὡς ὁ Πατήρ. Ἐν αὐτῷ γάρ ἐστιν, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ· καὶ ὁ μὲν Ἰωάννης ἔγραψεν, ὡς δέδεικται· ὁ δὲ ∆αβὶδ ψάλλει· «Ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος· ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου·» καὶ ὁ προφήτης δὲ Ἡσαΐας βοᾷ· «Ἐκοπίασεν Αἴγυπτος καὶ ἐμπορία Αἰθιόπων· καὶ οἱ Σαβαεὶμ ἄνδρες ὑψηλοὶ ἐπὶ σὲ διαβήσονται, καὶ ἀκολουθήσουσιν οἱ ὀπίσω σου δεδε μένοι χειροπέδαις, καὶ προσκυνήσουσί σοι, ὅτι ἐν σοὶ ὁ Θεός. Σὺ γὰρ εἶ ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ οὐκ ᾔδει μεν.» Τίς δή ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν ᾧ ὁ Θεὸς, εἰ μὴ ὁ Υἱὸς ὁ λέγων· «Ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν;»