The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 3: The Beginning of Time • 91

from eternally existing matter. 4 Let us recall the Church’s teaching in response to that heresy.” Mentor called on the first speaker, who stood and said, “The authors of Scripture taught us with one consent that God made all things ex nihilo, 5 for nothing was coequal to God. Before all things, God had his own Word within, and his Wisdom as a helper in the things that were created by him.” 6 “Thank you brother Theophilus,” said Mentor, “and who else will testify to this doctrine?” Several witnesses saluted. 7 Mentor called on Tertullian. “As Theophilus testifies, if any material was necessary to God in the creation of the world, then God had a far nobler and more suitable material—His own Wisdom.” 8 4 These included various Gnostic philosophers of the 2nd century AD who taught that a “demiurge”—a god-like creature who was “powerful but not all powerful, and not always good”—was responsible for organizing chaotic, uncreated matter (their understanding of Genesis 1:2) into the world we now see (Irène Fernandez, “Creation: Historical and Systematic Theology” in Jean-Yves Lacoste (ed.), Encyclopedia of Christian Theology , Vol.1 380-381). 6 Theophilus to Autolycus , II.10. (ANF 2, 97-98). The Ante-Nicene Father says “coeval with God”meaning “coequal;”“nothing is coequal with God” means nothing existed before God’s act of creating. 7 To be recognized to speak, an ancient witness would not raise his hand as is our modern custom, but would offer a modified Roman salute: touching his right hand to his chest, he would then extend his right arm. In answer to Mentor’s question, several men saluted, namely Clement of Alexandria, Athenagoras, Irenaeus, and Tertullian. 5 Latin for “out of nothing.”

8 Tertullian, Against Hermogenes , 18.1 (ANF 3, 487).