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Against Hermogenes

Tertullian

Chapter 30

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter XXX.—Another Passage in the Sacred History of the Creation, Released from the Mishandling of Hermogenes.

The following words will in like manner apparently corroborate the conjecture

‹ Chapter 29 Chapter 31 ›

of

Hermogenes

,

“

And

darkness

was

upon

the

face

of

the

deep

,

and

the

Spirit

of

God

moved

upon

the

face

of

the

water

;

”

as

if

these

blended

substances

,

presented

us

with

arguments

for

his

massive

pile

of

Matter

.

Now

,

so

discriminating

an

enumeration

of

certain

and

distinct

elements

(

as

we

have

in

this

passage

)

,

which

severally

designates

“

darkness

,

”

“

the

deep

,

”

“

the

Spirit

of

God

,

”

“

the

waters

,

”

forbids

the

inference

that

anything

confused

or

(

from

such

confusion

)

uncertain

is

meant

.

Still

more

,

when

He

ascribed

to

them

their

own

places

,

“

darkness

on

the

face

of

the

deep

,

”

“

the

Spirit

upon

the

face

of

the

waters

,

”

He

repudiated

all

confusion

in

the

substances

;

and

by

demonstrating

their

separate

position

,

He

demonstrated

also

their

distinction

.

Most

absurd

,

indeed

,

would

it

be

that

Matter

,

which

is

introduced

to

our

view

as

“

without

form

,

”

should

have

its

“

formless

”

condition

maintained

by

so

many

words

indicative

of

form

,

without

any

intimation

of

what

that

confused

body

is

,

which

must

of

course

be

supposed

to

be

unique

,

since

it

is

without

form

.

For

that

which

is

without

form

is

uniform

;

but

even

that

which

is

without

form

,

when

it

is

blended

together

from

various

component

parts

,

must

necessarily

have

one

outward

appearance

;

and

it

has

not

any

appearance

,

until

it

has

the

one

appearance

(

which

comes

)

from

many

parts

combined

.

Now

Matter

either

had

those

specific

parts

within

itself

,

from

the

words

indicative

of

which

it

had

to

be

understood

—

I

mean

“

darkness

,

”

and

“

the

deep

,

”

and

“

the

Spirit

,

”

and

“

the

waters

”

—

or

it

had

them

not

.

If

it

had

them

,

how

is

it

introduced

as

being

“

without

form

?

”

If

it

had

them

not

,

how

does

it

become

known

?

Notes

1
Gen. i. 2.
2
Confusæ.
3
Massalis illius molis.
4
Situs.
5
Dispositionem.
6
Tot formarum vocabulis.
7
Corpus confusionis.
8
Unicum.
9
Informe.
10
Autem.
11
Confusum.
12
Ex varietate.
13
Unam speciem.
14
Unam ex multis speciem.
15
Istas species.
16
Non habens formas.
17
Agnoscitur.