Chapter LXI.

Again, not understanding the meaning of the words, “And God ended1518    [συνετέλεσεν, complevit.  S.] on the sixth day His works which He had made, and ceased1519    κατέπαυσεν. on the seventh day from all His works which He had made:  and God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it, because on it He had ceased1520    κατέπαυσεν. from all His works which He had begun to make;”1521    Cf. Gen. ii. 2, 3. and imagining the expression, “He ceased on the seventh day,” to be the same as this, “He rested1522    ἀνεπαύσατο. on the seventh day,” he makes the remark:  “After this, indeed, he is weary, like a very bad workman, who stands in need of rest to refresh himself!”  For he knows nothing of the day of the Sabbath and rest of God, which follows the completion of the world’s creation, and which lasts during the duration of the world, and in which all those will keep festival with God who have done all their works in their six days, and who, because they have omitted none of their duties,1523    τῶν ἐπιβαλλόντων. will ascend to the contemplation (of celestial things), and to the assembly of righteous and blessed beings.  In the next place, as if either the Scriptures made such a statement, or as if we ourselves so spoke of God as having rested from fatigue, he continues:  “It is not in keeping with the fitness of things1524    οὐ θέμις. that the first God should feel fatigue, or work with His hands,1525    χειρουργεῖν. or give forth commands.”  Celsus says, that “it is not in keeping with the fitness of things that the first God should feel fatigue.  Now we would say that neither does God the Word feel fatigue, nor any of those beings who belong to a better and diviner order of things, because the sensation of fatigue is peculiar to those who are in the body.  You can examine whether this is true of those who possess a body of any kind, or of those who have an earthly body, or one a little better than this.  But “neither is it consistent with the fitness of things that the first God should work with His own hands.”  If you understand the words “work with His own hands” literally, then neither are they applicable to the second God, nor to any other being partaking of divinity.  But suppose that they are spoken in an improper and figurative sense, so that we may translate the following expressions, “And the firmament showeth forth His handywork,”1526    Cf. Ps. xix. 1. and “the heavens are the work of Thy hands,”1527    Cf. Ps. cii. 25. and any other similar phrases, in a figurative manner, so far as respects the “hands” and “limbs” of Deity, where is the absurdity in the words, “God thus working with His own hands?”  And as there is no absurdity in God thus working, so neither is there in His issuing “commands;” so that what is done at His bidding should be beautiful and praiseworthy, because it was God who commanded it to be performed.

Εἶτα πάλιν μὴ κατακούσας τοῦ "Καὶ συνετέλεσεν ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἕκτῃ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ, ἃ ἐποίησε· καὶ κατέπαυσεν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ, ὧν ἐποίησε. Καὶ εὐλόγησεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν ἑβδόμην καὶ ἡγίασεν αὐτήν, ὅτι ἐν αὐτῇ κατέπαυσεν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ, ὧν ἤρξατο ὁ θεὸς ποιῆσαι" καὶ οἰηθεὶς ταὐτὸν εἶναι τὸ "κατέπαυσε τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ" καὶ τὸ "ἀνεπαύσατο τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ" φησί· Μετὰ τοῦτο μὴν ὥσπερ τις ἀτεχνῶς πονηρὸς χειροτέχνης ἐκκαμὼν καὶ πρὸς ἀνάπαυσιν ἀργίας δεηθείς. Οὐδὲ γὰρ οἶδε, τίς ἡ μετὰ τὴν ὅσον ὁ κόσμος συνέστηκεν ἐνεργουμένην κοσμο ποιΐαν τοῦ σαββάτου καὶ τῆς καταπαύσεως τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμέρα, ἐν ᾗ ἑορτάσουσιν ἅμα τῷ θεῷ οἱ πάντα τὰ ἔργα ἑαυτῶν ταῖς ἓξ ἡμέραις πεποιηκότες καὶ διὰ τὸ μηδὲν παραλελοιπέναι τῶν ἐπιβαλλόντων ἀναβαίνοντες ἐπὶ τὴν θεωρίαν καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτῇ τῶν δικαίων καὶ μακαρίων πανήγυριν. Εἶτα ὡς ἤτοι τῶν γραφῶν οὕτω λεγουσῶν ἢ καὶ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν οὕτως διηγουμένων περὶ θεοῦ, ὅτι καμὼν ἀνεπαύσατο, φησὶν ὅτι οὐ θέμις τὸν πρῶτον θεὸν κάμνειν οὔτε χειρουργεῖν οὔτε κελεύειν. Ὁ μὲν οὖν Κέλσος φησὶν ὅτι οὐ θέμις τὸν πρῶτον θεὸν κάμνειν· ἡμεῖς δὲ εἴποιμεν ἂν ὅτι οὐδ' ὁ θεὸς λόγος κάμνει οὐδ' ὅσοι τῆς κρείττονος ἤδη καὶ θειοτέρας τάξεως ἔχονται· τὸ γὰρ κάμνειν ἐστὶ τῶν ἐν σώματι. Ζητήσεις δέ, πότερον ἢ τῶν ἐν οἱῳποτοῦν σώματι ἢ τῶν ἐν τῷ γηΐνῳ καὶ ὀλίγον τούτου βελτίονι. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ θέμις τὸν πρῶτον θεὸν χειρουργεῖν· ἐὰν δὲ κυρίως ἀκούῃς τοῦ χειρουργεῖν, οὐδὲ τὸν δεύτερον οὐδ' ἄλλο τι τῶν θειοτέρων. Ἀλλ' ἔστω καταχρηστικῶς λέγεσθαι τὸ χειρουργεῖν ἢ τροπικῶς, ἵνα διηγησώμεθα καὶ τὸ "Ποίησιν δὲ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἀναγγέλλει τὸ στερέωμα" καὶ "Αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἔστησαν τὸν οὐρανὸν" καὶ εἴ τι τούτοις εἴρηται παραπλη σίως, τροπολογούντων ἡμῶν χεῖρας καὶ μέλη τοῦ θεοῦ· τί οὖν ἄτοπον οὕτω χειρουργεῖν θεόν; Ὡς οὐκ ἄτοπον δὲ οὕτω χειρουργεῖν θεόν, οὕτως οὐδὲ τὸ κελεύειν αὐτόν, ἵνα καλὰ καὶ ἐπαινετὰ ᾖ τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ κελευομένου ἐπιτελούμενα τῷ θεὸν εἶναι τὸν κεκελευκότα περὶ αὐτῶν.