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“For who,” he says, “shall separate us from the love of Christ,” who is interpreted as the hand of the Father and the Word? “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter; but in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Most truly; so that it might be fulfilled, as I said, “I kill and I make alive, I wound and I will heal, and there is none who can deliver” “us from the love of God which is in Christ” to destruction. Therefore also “we were accounted as sheep for the slaughter,” so that “being dead to sin, we might live to God.” Let these things be considered up to this point; but the things that follow these must be set forth here again. 2.460 39. If everything that is begotten is sick—for so the opponent proposes—both in its generation and in its nourishment—for from what comes in, he says, it grows and from what goes out it diminishes, but what is not begotten is healthy, because it is not sick, nor does it need or desire, but begotten things desire both intercourse and food, and to desire is to be sick, but not to need nor to desire is to be healthy, and begotten things are sick because they desire, but what is not begotten is not sick, and sick things suffer either from excess or lack of what is added and what is taken away, and that which suffers both wastes away and perishes, for which reason it is also begotten, and man is begotten, —therefore man cannot be impassible and immortal. The argument, therefore, falls even on these very points. For if everything that comes into being or is begotten perishes—for it makes no difference to say it thus, since even the first-formed were not begotten, but came into being, and the angels and souls also came into being, “for He makes,” it says, “His angels spirits,”—therefore, according to them, the angels and souls perish. But neither angels nor souls perish. For these are immortal and indestructible, as the one who made them to be has willed. Therefore man is also immortal. Nor is that pleasing, to say that the universe will be utterly destroyed, and that earth and air and heaven will not exist. For the whole world will be consumed by fire for purification and renewal, being overwhelmed by a descending fire, yet it will not come to utter destruction and corruption. For if it were better for the world not to be than to be, why did God choose the worse by making the world? But God did nothing in vain or for the worse. 2.461 Therefore, God arranged creation to exist and to remain, just as Wisdom also confirms, saying, “For God created all things to be, and the generations of the world are wholesome, and there is no poison of destruction in them.” And Paul clearly testifies, saying, “For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope, that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” “For the creation was subjected to vanity,” he says, but it expects to be freed from such bondage, wishing now to call this world “creation;” for it is not the things which are not seen that are in bondage to corruption, but indeed these things which are seen. Therefore creation remains, having been renewed to something better and more beautiful, exulting and rejoicing in the children of God at the resurrection, for whom it groans and travails in pain now, itself also awaiting our redemption from the corruption of the body, so that when we have been raised and have shaken off the deadness of the flesh, according to what is written, “Shake yourself from the dust and arise and sit down, O Jerusalem,” and when we are freed from sin, it itself will also be freed from corruption, no longer in bondage to vanity, but to righteousness. “For we know,” he says, “that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves in

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«τίς γὰρ ἡμᾶς» φησίν «χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ» ὃς ἑρμηνεύεται χεὶρ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ λόγος; «θλίψις ἢ στενοχωρία ἢ διωγμὸς ἢ λιμὸς ἢ γυμνότης ἢ κίνδυνος ἢ μάχαιρα; καθὼς γέγραπται· ἕνεκεν σοῦ θανατούμεθα ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς· ἀλλ' ἐν τούτοις πᾶσιν ὑπερνικῶμεν διὰ τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς». ἀληθέστατα· ἵνα πληρωθῇ, καθὼς ἔφην, τό «ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω, πατάξω κἀγὼ ἰάσομαι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς ἐξελεῖται» «ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ θεοῦ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ» πρὸς ἀπώλειαν. διὸ καὶ «ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς», ἵνα «ἀποθανόντες τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ζήσωμεν τῷ θεῷ». καὶ ταῦτα μὲν μέχρι τοσούτου διεσκέφθω· τὰ δὲ συνεχῆ τούτοις ὧδε πάλιν προχειριστέον. 2.460 39. Εἰ πᾶν τὸ γεννώμενον νοσεῖ προτείνει γὰρ οὕτως ὁ ἐξ ἐναντίας καὶ κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν καὶ κατὰ τὴν τροφήν ἀπὸ τῶν προσιόντων γάρ, φησίν, αὔξεται καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπιόντων ἐλαττοῦται, τὰ δὲ μὴ γεννώμενα ὑγιαίνει, ὅτι μὴ νοσεῖ, μηδὲ προσδεῖται ἢ ἐπιθυμεῖ, ἐπιθυμεῖ δὲ τὰ γεννώμενα καὶ συνουσίας καὶ τροφῆς, τὸ δὲ ἐπιθυμεῖν νοσεῖν ἐστι, τὸ δὲ μὴ δεῖσθαι μηδὲ ἐπιθυμεῖν ὑγιαίνειν, νοσεῖ δὲ τὰ γεννώμενα ὅτι ἐπιθυμεῖ, τὰ δὲ μὴ γεννώμενα οὐ νοσεῖ, πάσχει δὲ τὰ νοσοῦντα ἢ κατὰ πλῆθος ἢ ἔνδειαν τῶν προσγιγνομένων καὶ ἀπογιγνομένων, τὸ δὲ πάσχον καὶ φθίνει καὶ ἀπόλλυται, διόπερ καὶ γεννᾶται, γεννᾶται δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, -οὐ δύναται ἄρα ἀπαθὴς εἶναι ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἀθάνατος. καταπίπτει μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις αὐτοῖς ὁ λόγος. εἰ γὰρ πᾶν τὸ γιγνόμενον ἢ γεννώμενον ἀπόλλυται διαφέρει γὰρ οὐδὲν οὕτως εἰπεῖν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ οἱ πρωτόπλαστοι οὐκ ἐγεννήθησαν, ἀλλ' ἐγενήθησαν, γενητοὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι καὶ αἱ ψυχαὶ «ὁ ποιῶν, γάρ φησιν, τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα», ἀπόλλυνται ἄρα οἱ ἄγγελοι κατ' αὐτοὺς καὶ αἱ ψυχαί. ἀλλ' οὔτε οἱ ἄγγελοι οὔτε αἱ ψυχαὶ ἀπόλλυνται. ἀθάνατα γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ ἀδάμαστα, καθὼς ὁ ποιήσας εἶναι βεβούλευται. ἀθάνατος ἄρα καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος. οὐκ ἀρεστὸν δὲ οὐδ' ἐκεῖνο, τὸ λέγειν εἰς ἄρδην ἀπολεῖσθαι τὸ πᾶν, καὶ γῆν καὶ ἀέρα καὶ οὐρανὸν μὴ ἔσεσθαι. ἐκπυρωθήσεται μὲν γὰρ πρὸς κάθαρσιν καὶ ἀνακαινισμὸν καταβασίῳ πᾶς ὁ κόσμος κατακλυζόμενος πυρί, οὐ μὴν εἰς ἀπώλειαν ἐλεύσεται παντελῆ καὶ φθοράν. εἰ γὰρ κρεῖττον τὸ μὴ εἶναι τοῦ εἶναι τὸν κόσμον, διὰ τί τὸ χεῖρον ᾑρεῖτο ποιήσας τὸν κόσμον ὁ θεός; ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ὁ θεὸς ματαίως ἢ χεῖρον ἐποίει. 2.461 οὐκοῦν εἰς τὸ εἶναι καὶ μένειν τὴν κτίσιν ὁ θεὸς διεκοσμήσατο, καθάπερ καὶ ἡ σοφία συνίστησιν «ἔκτισε γὰρ εἰς τὸ εἶναι» λέγουσα «τὰ πάντα ὁ θεὸς καὶ σωτήριοι αἱ γενέσεις τοῦ κόσμου καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐταῖς φάρμακον ὀλέθρου». καὶ ὁ Παῦλος δὲ σαφῶς μαρτυρεῖ λέγων «ἡ γὰρ ἀποκαραδοκία τῆς κτίσεως τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπεκδέχεται. τῇ γὰρ ματαιότητι ἡ κτίσις ὑπετάγη οὐχ ἑκοῦσα, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν ὑποτάξαντα ἐπ' ἐλπίδι, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ κτίσις ἐλευθερωθήσεται ἀπὸ τῆς δουλείας τῆς φθορᾶς εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ θεοῦ». «τῇ γὰρ ματαιότητι, φησίν, ἡ κτίσις ὑπετάγη», ἐλευθερωθήσεσθαι δὲ τῆς τοιαύτης δουλείας προσδοκᾷ, κτίσιν τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον βουλόμενος νῦν καλεῖν· οὐ γὰρ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα τῇ φθορᾷ δουλεύει, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα δὴ τὰ βλεπόμενα. μένει ἄρα ἡ κτίσις εἰς τὸ ἄμεινον ἀνακαινοποιηθεῖσα καὶ εὐπρεπέστερον, ἀγαλλομένη καὶ χαίρουσα ἐπὶ τοῖς τέκνοις τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει, δι' οὓς στενάζει καὶ συνωδίνει νῦν, τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν ἡμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς φθορᾶς καὶ αὐτὴ τοῦ σώματος ἐκδεχομένη, ὅπως ἡμῶν ἐγερθέντων καὶ ἀποτιναξαμένων τὴν νεκρότητα τῆς σαρκὸς κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον «ἐκτίναξαι τὸν χοῦν καὶ ἀνάστηθι καὶ κάθισον, Ἱερουσαλήμ», ἐλευθερωθέντων τε τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐλευθερωθήσεται καὶ αὐτὴ τῆς φθορᾶς, μηκέτι τῇ ματαιότητι δουλεύουσα, ἀλλὰ τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ. «οἴδαμεν γάρ, φησίν, ὅτι πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις συστενάζει καὶ συνωδίνει ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν. οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοί, τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ πνεύματος ἔχοντες, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν