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| Chapter IV.—Those persons are deceived who feign another God the Father besides the Creator of the world; for he must have been feeble and useless, or else malignant and full of envy, if he be either unable or unwilling to extend external life to our bodies. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter IV.—Those persons are
deceived who feign another God the Father besides the Creator of the world; for
he must have been feeble and useless, or else malignant and full of envy, if he
be either unable or unwilling to extend external life to our bodies.
1. Those persons who feign the
existence of another Father beyond the Creator, and who term him the good
God, do deceive themselves; for they introduce him as a feeble,
worthless, and negligent being, not to say malign and full of envy,
inasmuch as they affirm that our bodies are not quickened by him. For
when they say of things which it is manifest to all do remain immortal,
such as the spirit and the soul, and such other things, that they are
quickened by the Father, but that another thing [viz. the body] which is
quickened in no different manner than by God granting [life] to it, is
abandoned by life,—[they must either confess] that this proves
their Father to be weak and powerless, or else envious and malignant. For
since the Creator does even here quicken our mortal bodies, and promises
them resurrection by the prophets, as I have pointed out; who [in that
case] is shown to be more powerful, stronger, or truly good? Whether is
it the Creator who vivifies the whole man, or is it their Father, falsely
so called? He feigns to be the quickener of those things which are
immortal by nature, to which things life is always present by their very
nature; but he does not benevolently quicken those things which required
his assistance, that they might live, but leaves them carelessly to fall
under the power of death. Whether is it the case, then, that their Father
does not bestow life upon them when he has the power of so doing, or is
it that he does not possess the power? If, on the one hand, it is because
he cannot, he is, upon that supposition, not a powerful being, nor is he
more perfect than the Creator; for the Creator grants, as we must
perceive, what He is unable to afford. But if, on the other hand,
[it be that he does not grant this] when he has the power of so doing,
then he is proved to be not a good, but an envious and malignant
Father.
2. If, again, they refer to any cause on account of
which their Father does not impart life to bodies, then that cause must
necessarily appear superior to the Father, since it restrains Him from
the exercise of His benevolence; and His benevolence will thus be proved
weak, on account of that cause which they bring forward. Now every one
must perceive that bodies are capable of receiving life. For they live to
the extent that God pleases that they should live; and that being so, the
[heretics] cannot maintain that [these bodies] are utterly incapable of
receiving life. If, therefore, on account of necessity and any other
cause, those [bodies] which are capable of participating in life are not
vivified, their Father shall be the slave of necessity and that cause,
and not therefore a free agent, having His will under His own
control. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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