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the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, the name of 'creation' could not reasonably be applied to any of the things contemplated in God, so as to say of the Son in the Father, or the Word in the beginning, or the Light in the light, or the Life in the life, or the Wisdom in wisdom 3.1.49 that 'The Lord created me.' For if the wisdom of God is created, and Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, then God certainly acquired wisdom as something brought in from outside, later taking on by construction what He did not have at the first. But indeed, He who is in the bosom of the Father never allows the paternal bosom to be thought of as empty of Himself. Therefore He is not one of the things that came to be in the bosom from without, but as the fullness of all good He is always conceived in the Father, He who was in the beginning, not waiting to come to be in Him through creation, lest the Father should ever be conceived as void of good things, but He who is conceived as being in the eternity of the paternal Godhead is always in Him, being power and life and truth and light and wisdom and 3.1.50 such things. Therefore the phrase 'created me' does not come from the divine and undefiled nature, but, as has been said, from that which was mingled, according to the economy, from our created nature. How then does the same one both found the earth and prepare the heavens and break up the abysses, being called wisdom and prudence and divine perception, and here is 'created' for the beginning of works? Not without, he says, a great cause is such 3.1.51 an economy worked together. But since men, having received the commandment we were to keep, cast out the grace from memory, through disobedience coming to be in forgetfulness of good things, for this reason, 'that I might declare to you again the things that happen daily for salvation and remind you by recounting the things from of old which you have forgotten; for I do not now proclaim a new gospel, but I am working out your restoration to the ancient state; for this reason I was created, I who am ever-existing and in no need of being created in order to exist, so that I might become a beginning of ways for the works of God,' I mean, men. For since the first way was corrupted, it was necessary for a new and living way to be inaugurated again for those who were wandering, I myself who am the way. 3.1.52 And that the meaning of 'created me' looks to the human aspect, the divine apostle makes this clearer to us through his own words, in which he commands, 'Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,' and in addition to this where, repeating the same word, he says, 'Put on the new man who was created according to God.' For if the garment of salvation is one, and this is Christ, one could not say that the new man created according to God is other than Christ, but it is clear that he who has put on Christ has put on the new man who was created according to God. 3.1.53 For this one alone is truly and properly named new man, who appeared in the life of men not through the known and customary ways of nature, but a certain altered and peculiar creation was innovated for this one alone. For this reason, looking to the paradox of his birth, he names him the new man created according to God, and looking to the divine nature which was mingled in the creation of this new man, he calls him Christ, so that both terms apply to one and the same, I mean that of Christ and that of the new man created according to God. 3.1.54 Since, then, Christ is wisdom, let the intelligent hearer examine the argument of those who oppose us and our own, and judge which is more pious, which one better preserves the God-befitting concepts in the saying: the one who defines the creator and Lord of all as having been made, and makes him of equal rank with the servile creation, or rather the one who looks to the economy and preserves what is fitting for the conception of both the divine and the human, with the great Paul bearing witness with the doctrine, who sees creation in the new man, but in the true wisdom 3.1.55 the authority over creation. And the order of the word also agrees with the theory of the doctrine. For if not

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μονογενὴς θεός, ὁ ὢν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ πατρός, οὐκ ἄν τινι τῶν ἐν τῷ θεῷ θεω ρουμένων εὐλόγως ἐφαρμοσθείη τὸ τῆς κτίσεως ὄνομα, ὥστε εἰπεῖν τὸν ἐν τῷ πατρὶ υἱὸν ἢ τὸν ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ λόγον ἢ τὸ ἐν τῷ φωτὶ φῶς ἢ τὴν ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ζωὴν ἢ τὴν ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ 3.1.49 σοφίαν ὅτι Κύριος ἔκτισέ με. εἰ γὰρ κτιστὴ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ σοφία, Χριστὸς δὲ θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ θεοῦ σοφία, ἐπείσακτον ἔσχε πάντως ὁ θεὸς τὴν σοφίαν, ὕστερον ἐκ κατασκευῆς προσλαβὼν ὃ μὴ παρὰ τὴν πρώτην εἶχεν. ἀλλὰ μὴν ὁ ἐν τοῖς κόλποις ὢν τοῦ πατρὸς οὐδέποτε κενὸν ἑαυτοῦ δίδωσι νοεῖν τὸν πατρῷον κόλπον. ἄρα οὐ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐγγενο μένων ἐστὶ τῷ κόλπῳ, ἀλλὰ παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ πλήρωμα ὢν πάντοτε ἐν τῷ πατρὶ νοεῖται ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὤν, οὐκ ἀναμένων τὸ διὰ κτίσεως ἐν αὐτῷ γενέσθαι, ὡς ἂν μήποτε κενὸς ἀγαθῶν ὁ πατὴρ νοηθείη, ἀλλ' ὁ ἐν τῇ ἀϊδιότητι τῆς πατρικῆς θεότητος εἶναι νοούμενος ἀεὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐστι, δύ ναμις ὢν καὶ ζωὴ καὶ ἀλήθεια καὶ φῶς καὶ σοφία καὶ τὰ 3.1.50 τοιαῦτα. οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ θείου τε καὶ ἀκηράτου ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ ἔκτισέ με φωνή, ἀλλά, καθὼς εἴρηται, ἐκ τοῦ ἀνα κραθέντος κατ' οἰκονομίαν ἀπὸ τῆς κτιστῆς ἡμῶν φύσεως. πῶς οὖν ἡ αὐτὴ καὶ τὴν γῆν θεμελιοῖ καὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἑτοιμάζει καὶ τὰς ἀβύσσους ἀναρρήγνυσι, σοφία καὶ φρό νησις καὶ θεία αἴσθησις καλουμένη, καὶ ἐνταῦθα κτίζεται εἰς ἔργων ἀρχήν; οὐκ ἄνευ, φησίν, αἰτίας μεγάλης ἡ τοι 3.1.51 αύτη συνεργεῖται οἰκονομία. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τῶν παραφυλα κτέων ἡμῖν τὴν ἐντολὴν λαβόντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἐξέβαλον τῆς μνήμης τὴν χάριν, διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς ἐν τῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν λήθῃ γενόμενοι, διὰ τοῦτο, ἵνα ἀναγγείλω πάλιν ὑμῖν τὰ καθ' ἡμέραν ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ γινόμενα καὶ ἀναμνήσω τὰ ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀπαριθμησάμενος ὧν ἐπελάθεσθε· οὐ γὰρ καινόν τι καταγγέλλω νῦν εὐαγγέλιον, ἀλλὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀποκατάστασιν ὑμῶν πραγματεύομαι· τούτου χάριν ἐκτίσθην ὁ ἀεὶ ὢν καὶ μηδὲν τοῦ κτισθῆναι πρὸς τὸ εἶναι δεόμενος, ὥστε με γενέσθαι ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν εἰς τὰ ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους λέγω. τῆς γὰρ ὁδοῦ τῆς πρώτης καταφθαρείσης, ἔδει πάλιν ἐγκαινισθῆναι τοῖς πλανωμένοις ὁδὸν πρόσφατόν τε καὶ ζῶσαν, αὐτὸν ἐμὲ ὅς εἰμι ἡ ὁδός. 3.1.52 Καὶ ὅτι πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἡ τοῦ ἔκτισέ με διάνοια βλέπει, σαφέστερον ἡμῖν τοῦτο παρίστησι διὰ τῶν ἰδίων λόγων ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος, ἐν οἷς διακελεύεται ὅτι Ἐνδύσασθε τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ὅπου τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπαναλαβὼν λόγον φησὶν Ἐνδύσασθε τὸν καινὸν ἄν θρωπον τὸν κατὰ θεὸν κτισθέντα. εἰ γὰρ ἓν μέν ἐστι τὸ σωτήριον ἔνδυμα, τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός, οὐκ ἂν ἄλλον τις εἴποι παρὰ τὸν Χριστὸν εἶναι τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν κατὰ θεὸν κτισθέντα, ἀλλὰ δῆλον ὅτι ὁ τὸν Χριστὸν ἐν δυσάμενος τὸν καινὸν ἐνδέδυται ἄνθρωπον τὸν κατὰ θεὸν 3.1.53 κτισθέντα. μόνος γὰρ οὗτος ὡς ἀληθῶς καινὸς κυρίως ὀνομάζεται ἄνθρωπος, ὃς οὐχὶ διὰ τῶν γνωρίμων τε καὶ συνήθων τῆς φύσεως ὁδῶν ἐν τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐφάνη βίῳ, ἀλλ' ἐξηλλαγμένη τις καὶ ἰδιάζουσα ἐπὶ μόνου τούτου ἐκαινοτομήθη ἡ κτίσις. διὰ τοῦτο τὸν αὐτὸν πρός τε τὸ παράδοξον τῆς γεννήσεως βλέπων καινὸν ἄνθρωπον κατὰ θεὸν κτισθέντα κατονομάζει, καὶ πρὸς τὴν θείαν φύσιν ὁρῶν τὴν ἐγκραθεῖσαν τῇ κτίσει τοῦ καινοῦ τούτου ἀν θρώπου Χριστὸν προσαγορεύει, ὡς καθ' ἑνὸς καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ τὰς δύο κεῖσθαι φωνάς, τήν τε τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγω καὶ τὴν τοῦ καινοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ κατὰ θεὸν κτισθέντος. 3.1.54 Ἐπεὶ οὖν ὁ Χριστὸς ἡ σοφία ἐστίν, ὁ συνετὸς ἀκροατὴς ἐπισκεψάσθω τὸν λόγον τῶν τε προσμαχομένων ἡμῖν καὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον καὶ κρινάτω τὸν εὐσεβέστερον, τίς μᾶλλον τὰς θεοπρεπεῖς ἐννοίας ἐν τῷ ῥητῷ διασῴζει, ὁ τὸν τοῦ παντὸς κτίστην καὶ κύριον πεποιῆσθαι διοριζόμενος καὶ τῇ δουλευ ούσῃ κτίσει κατασκευάζων ὁμότιμον, ἢ μᾶλλον ὁ πρὸς τὴν οἰκονομίαν ὁρῶν καὶ φυλάσσων τῇ τε περὶ τὸ θεῖον καὶ τῇ περὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ὑπολήψει τὸ πρόσφορον, συμμαρτυ ροῦντος τοῦ μεγάλου Παύλου τῷ δόγματι, ὃς ἐν μὲν τῷ καινῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὴν κτίσιν βλέπει, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀληθινῇ σοφίᾳ 3.1.55 τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῆς κτίσεως. συμβαίνει δὲ καὶ ἡ τάξις τοῦ λόγου τῇ θεωρίᾳ τοῦ δόγματος. εἰ γὰρ μὴ