For in that case too, argumentative men might by plausible reasoning upset our faith, so that we should not think that statement true which Holy Scripture delivers concerning the material creation, when it asserts that all existing things have their beginning of being from God. For those who abide by the contrary view maintain that matter is co-eternal with God, and employ in support of their own doctrine some such arguments as these. If God is in His nature simple and immaterial, without quantity , or size, or combination, and removed from the idea of circumscription by way of figure, while all matter is apprehended in extension measured by intervals, and does not escape the apprehension of our senses, but becomes known to us in colour, and figure, and bulk, and size, and resistance, and the other attributes belonging to it, none of which it is possible to conceive in the Divine nature,-what method is there for the production of matter from the immaterial, or of the nature that has dimensions from that which is unextended? for if these things are believed to have their existence from that source, they clearly come into existence after being in Him in some mysterious way; but if material existence was in Him, how can He be immaterial while including matter in Himself? and similarly with all the other marks by which the material nature is differentiated; if quantity exists in God, how is God without quantity? if the compound nature exists in Him, how is He simple, without parts and without combination? so that the argument forces us to think either that He is material, because matter has its existence from Him as a source; or, if one avoids this, it is necessary to suppose that matter was imported by Him ab extra for the making of the universe.

Ἐξῆν γὰρ κἀκεῖ τοῖς ἐριστικοῖς ἐκ τῶν εὐλόγων κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἀνατρέπειν τὴν πίστιν͵ πρὸς τὸ μὴ νομίζειν ἀληθῆ τὸν περὶ τῆς ὑλικῆς κτίσεως εἶναι λόγον͵ ὃν ἡ ἁγία πρεσβεύει Γραφή͵ πάντων τῶν ὄντων ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶναι διαβεβαιουμένη τὴν γένεσιν. Οἱ γὰρ τῷ ἐναντίῳ παριστάμενοι λόγῳ͵ συναΐδιον εἶναι τῷ Θεῷ τὴν ὕλην κατασκευάζουσι͵ τοιούτοις ἐπιχειρήμασι πρὸς τὸ δόγμα χρώμενοι· Εἰ ἁπλοῦς ὁ Θεὸς τῇ φύσει καὶ ἄϋλος͵ ἄποιός τε καὶ ἀμεγέθης καὶ ἀσύνθετος καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸ σχῆμα περιγραφῆς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχων, πᾶσα δὲ ὕλη ἐν διαστηματικῇ παρατάσει καταλαμβάνεται καὶ τὰς διὰ τῶν αἰσθητηρίων καταλήψεις οὐ διαπέφευγεν͵ ἐν χρώματι καὶ σχήματι καὶ ὄγκῳ καὶ πηλικότητι καὶ ἀντιτυπίᾳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς τοῖς περὶ αὐτὴν θεωρουμένοις γινωσκομένη͵ ὧν οὐδὲν ἐν τῇ θεία [212] φύσει δυνατόν ἐστι κατανοῆσαι, τίς μηχανὴ ἐκ τοῦ ἀύλου τὴν ὕλην ἀποτεχθῆναι, ἐκ τοῦ ἀδιαστάτου τὴν διαστηματικὴν φύσιν; Εἰ γὰρ ἐκεῖθεν ὑποστῆναι ταῦτα πεπίστευται͵ δηλονότι ἐν αὐτῷ ὄντα κατὰ τὸν ἄῤῥητον λόγον οὕτω προῆλθεν εἰς γένεσιν. Εἰ δὲ ἐν ἐκείνῳ τὸ ὑλῶδες ἦν͵ πῶς ἄϋλος ὁ ἐν αὑτῷ τὴν ὕλην ἔχων; Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα͵ δι' ὧν ἡ ὑλικὴ φύσις χαρακτηρίζεται· εἰ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ ἡ ποσότης͵ πῶς ἄποσος ὁ Θεός; εἰ ἐν ἐκείνῳ τὸ σύνθετον͵ πῶς ἀπλοῦς καὶ ἀμερὴς καὶ ἀσύνθετος, ὥστε ἢ ὑλικὸν εἶναι κατ' ἀνάγκην αὐτόν͵ διὰ τὸ ἐκεῖθεν ὑποστῆναι τὴν ὕλην͵ ὁ λόγος βιάζεται, ἤ, εἰ τοῦτό τις φεύγοι͵ ἔξωθεν ἐπεισενεχθῆναι τὴν ὕλην αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν κατασκευὴν τοῦ παντὸς ὑπολαμβάνειν ἐπάναγκες. Εἰ οὖν ἔξω τοῦ Θεοῦ ἦν͵ ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὸν Θεὸν πάντως ἦν συνεπινοούμενον κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀϊδιότητος λόγον τῷ ἀγεννήτως ὄντι, ὥστε δύο ἄναρχα καὶ ἀγέννητα κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἀλλήλοις τῷ λόγῳ συγκαταλαμβάνεσθαι͵ τοῦ τεχνικῶς ἐνεργοῦντος καὶ τοῦ δεχομένου τὴν ἐπιστημονικὴν ταύτην ἐνέργειαν.