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| Chapter XXII.—Why God is Said to Have Walked.
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Chapter XXII.—Why God is Said to Have Walked.
You will say, then, to me: “You said that
God ought not to be contained in a place, and how do you now say that
He walked in Paradise?” Hear what I say. The God and Father,
indeed, of all cannot be contained, and is not found in a place,
for there is no place of His rest; but His Word, through whom He made
all things, being His power and His wisdom, assuming the person594
| 594 The annotators here warn
us against supposing that “person” is used as it was
afterwards employed in discussing the doctrine of the Trinity, and
show that the word is used in its original meaning, and with reference
to an actor taking up a mask and personating a character. |
of the Father and Lord of all, went to the garden in the person of God,
and conversed with Adam. For the divine writing itself teaches us that
Adam said that he had heard the voice. But what else is this voice but
the Word of God, who is also His Son? Not as the poets and writers of
myths talk of the sons of gods begotten from intercourse [with women],
but as truth expounds, the Word, that always exists, residing within
the heart of God. For before anything came into being He had Him as
a counsellor, being His own mind and thought. But when God wished
to make all that He determined on, He begot this Word, uttered,595
| 595 Προφορικός,
the term used of the Logos as manifested; the Word
as uttered by the Father, in distinction from the
Word immanent in Him. [Theophilus is the first author who
distinguishes between the Logos ἐνδιάθετος
(cap. x, supra) and the Logos προφορικός;
the Word internal, and the Word emitted. Kaye’s
Justin, p. 171.] | the first-born of all creation,
not Himself being emptied of the Word [Reason], but having begotten
Reason, and always conversing with His Reason. And hence the holy
writings teach us, and all the spirit-bearing [inspired] men, one of
whom, John, says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God,”596
showing that at first God was alone, and the
Word in Him. Then he says, “The Word was God; all things came
into existence through Him; and apart from Him not one thing came into
existence.” The Word, then, being God, and being naturally597
| 597 That is, being produced by
generation, not by creation. | produced from God, whenever the
Father of the universe wills, He sends Him to any place; and He, coming,
is both heard and seen, being sent by Him, and is found in a place.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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