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| Chapter IX.—There is but one Creator of the world, God the Father: this the constant belief of the Church.
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Chapter IX.—There is but one Creator
of the world, God the Father: this the constant belief of the Church.
1. That God is the Creator of the world is
accepted even by those very persons who in many ways speak against Him,
and yet acknowledge Him, styling Him the Creator, and an angel, not to
mention that all the Scriptures call out [to the same effect], and the
Lord teaches us of this Father3027
who is in heaven, and no other, as I shall show in the
sequel of this work. For the present, however, that proof which is
derived from those who allege doctrines opposite to ours, is of itself
sufficient,—all men, in fact, consenting to this truth: the
ancients on their part preserving with special care, from the tradition
of the first-formed man, this persuasion, while they celebrate the
praises of one God, the Maker of heaven and earth; others, again, after
them, being reminded of this fact by the prophets of God, while the very
heathen learned it from creation itself. For even creation reveals Him
who formed it, and the very work made suggests Him who made it, and the
world manifests Him who ordered it. The Universal Church, moreover,
through the whole world, has received this tradition from the
apostles.
2. This God, then, being acknowledged, as I have said,
and receiving testimony from all to the fact of His existence, that
Father whom they conjure into existence is beyond doubt untenable, and
has no witnesses [to his existence]. Simon Magus was the first who said
that he himself was God over all, and that the world was formed by his
angels. Then those who succeeded him, as I have shown in the first
book,3028
| 3028 See chap xxiii.
etc. | by their several opinions, still further depraved [his
teaching] through their impious and irreligious doctrines against the
Creator. These [heretics now referred to],3029
| 3029 Viz., the Valentinians. | being the disciples
of those mentioned, render such as assent to them worse than the heathen.
For the former “serve the creature rather than the
Creator,”3030
and “those which are
not gods,”3031
notwithstanding that they
ascribe the first place in Deity to that God who was the Maker of this
universe. But the latter maintain that He, [i.e., the Creator of this
world,] is the fruit of a defect, and describe Him as being of an animal
nature, and as not knowing that Power which is above Him, while He also
exclaims, “I am God, and besides Me there is no other
God.”3032
Affirming that He lies,
they are themselves liars, attributing all sorts of wickedness to Him;
and conceiving of one who is not above this Being as really having an
existence, they are thus convicted by their own views of blasphemy
against that God who really exists, while they conjure into existence a
god who has no existence, to their own condemnation. And thus those who
declare themselves “perfect,” and as being possessed of the
knowledge of all things, are found to be worse than the heathen, and to
entertain more blasphemous opinions even against their own Creator.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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