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Against Hermogenes

Tertullian

Chapter 6

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter VI.—The Shifts to Which Hermogenes is Reduced, Who Deifies Matter, and Yet is Unwilling to Hold Him Equal with the Divine Creator.

He declares that God’s attribute is still safe to Him,

‹ Chapter 5 Chapter 7 ›

of

being

the

only

God

,

and

the

First

,

and

the

Author

of

all

things

,

and

the

Lord

of

all

things

,

and

being

incomparable

to

any

—

qualities

which

he

straightway

ascribes

to

Matter

also

.

He

is

God

,

to

be

sure

.

God

shall

also

attest

the

same

;

but

He

has

also

sworn

sometimes

by

Himself

,

that

there

is

no

other

God

like

Him

.

Hermogenes

,

however

,

will

make

Him

a

liar

.

For

Matter

will

be

such

a

God

as

He

—

being

unmade

,

unborn

,

without

beginning

,

and

without

end

.

God

will

say

,

“

I

am

the

first

!

”

Yet

how

is

He

the

first

,

when

Matter

is

co

-

eternal

with

Him

?

Between

co

-

eternals

and

contemporaries

there

is

no

sequence

of

rank

.

Is

then

,

Matter

also

the

first

?

“

I

,

”

says

the

Lord

,

“

have

stretched

out

the

heavens

alone

.

”

But

indeed

He

was

not

alone

,

when

that

likewise

stretched

them

out

,

of

which

He

made

the

expanse

.

When

he

asserts

the

position

that

Matter

was

eternal

,

without

any

encroachment

on

the

condition

of

God

,

let

him

see

to

it

that

we

do

not

in

ridicule

turn

the

tables

on

him

,

that

God

similarly

was

eternal

without

any

encroachment

on

the

condition

of

Matter

—

the

condition

of

Both

being

still

common

to

Them

.

The

position

,

therefore

,

remains

unimpugned

both

in

the

case

of

Matter

,

that

it

did

itself

exist

,

only

along

with

God

;

and

that

God

existed

alone

,

but

with

Matter

.

It

also

was

first

with

God

,

as

God

,

too

,

was

first

with

it

;

it

,

however

,

is

not

comparable

with

God

,

as

God

,

too

,

is

not

to

be

compared

with

it

;

with

God

also

it

was

the

Author

(

of

all

things

)

,

and

with

God

their

Sovereign

.

In

this

way

he

proposes

that

God

has

something

,

and

yet

not

the

whole

,

of

Matter

.

For

Him

,

accordingly

,

Hermogenes

has

reserved

nothing

which

he

had

not

equally

conferred

on

Matter

,

so

that

it

is

not

Matter

which

is

compared

with

God

,

but

rather

God

who

is

compared

with

Matter

.

Now

,

inasmuch

as

those

qualities

which

we

claim

as

peculiar

to

God

—

to

have

always

existed

,

without

a

beginning

,

without

an

end

,

and

to

have

been

the

First

,

and

Alone

,

and

the

Author

of

all

things

—

are

also

compatible

to

Matter

,

I

want

to

know

what

property

Matter

possesses

different

and

alien

from

God

,

and

hereby

special

to

itself

,

by

reason

of

which

it

is

incapable

of

being

compared

with

God

?

That

Being

,

in

which

occur

all

the

properties

of

God

,

is

sufficiently

predetermined

without

any

further

comparison

.

Notes

1
Isa. xlv. 23.
2
Isa. xli. 4; xliv. 6; xlviii. 12.
3
Ordo.
4
Isa. xliv. 24.
5
Salvum ergo erit.
6
Recensentur.