17.  But, to resume:  let us speak of the Unbegotten, the Begotten, and the Proceeding, if anyone likes to create names:  for we shall have no fear of bodily conceptions attaching to Those who are not embodied, as the calumniators of the Godhead think.  For the creature must be called God’s, and this is for us a great thing, but God never.  Otherwise I shall admit that God is a creature, if I become God, in the strict sense of the term.  For this is the truth.  If God, He is not a creature; for the creature ranks with us who are not Gods.  And if a creature, he is not God, for he had a beginning in time.  And there was a time when he who had a beginning was not.  And that of which non-existence was its prior condition, has not being in the strict sense of the term.  And how can that, which strictly has not being, be God?  Not one single one, then, of the Three is a creature, nor, what is worse, came into being for my sake; for in that case he would be not only a creature, but inferior in honour to us.  For, if I am for the glory of God, and he is for my sake, as the tongs for the waggon, the saw for the door, I am his superior in causality.  For in whatever degree God is superior to creatures, in the same degree is he, who came into being for my sake, inferior to me who exist for God’s sake.

ΙΖʹ. Ἀλλ' ἐπανιτέον μοι πάλιν πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀγέννητον, καὶ τὸ γεννητὸν, καὶ τὸ ἐκπορευτὸν λεγέσθω τε καὶ νοείσθω, εἴ τῳ φίλον δημιουργεῖν ὀνόματα: οὐ γὰρ δείσομεν, μή ποτε νοῆται σωματικῶς τὰ ἀσώματα, ὅπερ δοκεῖ τοῖς ἐπηρεασταῖς θεότητος. Κτίσμα δὲ, Θεοῦ μὲν λεγέσθω: μέγα γὰρ ἡμῖν καὶ τοῦτο: Θεὸς δὲ, μηδαμῶς. Ἢ τότε δέξομαι κτίσμα εἶναι Θεὸν, ὅταν κἀγὼ γένωμαι κυρίως Θεός. Ἔχει γὰρ οὕτως. Εἰ μὲν Θεὸς, οὐ κτίσμα: μεθ' ἡμῶν γὰρ τὸ κτίσμα, τῶν οὐ θεῶν. Εἰ κτίσμα δὲ, οὐ Θεός: ἤρξατο γὰρ χρονικῶς. Ὃ δὲ ἤρξατο, ἦν ὅτε οὐκ ἦν. Οὗ δὲ πρεσβύτερον τὸ οὐκ ἦν, τοῦτο οὐ κυρίως ὄν. Τὸ δὲ μὴ κυρίως ὂν, πῶς Θεός; Οὔτε οὖν κτίσμα τῶν τριῶν, οὐδὲ ἕν: οὔτε, ὃ τούτου χεῖρον, δι' ἐμὲ γενόμενον: ἵνα μὴ κτίσμα ᾖ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμῶν ἀτιμότερον. Εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ μὲν εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ, τοῦτο δὲ δι' ἐμὲ (ἡ πυράγρα διὰ τὴν ἅμαξαν, ἢ ὁ πρίων διὰ τὴν θύραν), νικῶ τῇ αἰτίᾳ. Ὅσῳ γὰρ κτισμάτων Θεὸς ὑψηλότερος, τοσοῦτον τοῦ διὰ Θεὸν ὑποστάντος ἐμοῦ, τὸ δι' ἐμὲ γινόμενον, ἀτιμότερον.