Against Heresies: Book II

If, however, we cannot find explanations for all those things in Scripture that are investigated, let us not for that reason seek any other God than the One who truly exists. For this is the greatest impiety. We should leave such things to God who created us, firmly assured that the Scriptures are indeed perfect, as they were spoken by the Word of God and His Spirit. Since we are inferior to and later in existence than the Word of God and His Spirit, we lack the knowledge of His mysteries.

It is no surprise if this is the case for us concerning spiritual and heavenly things that require revelation, since many things in this world, which we handle, see, and are close to, also surpass our understanding, so we must leave these to God. It is fitting that He should surpass all in knowledge.

For example, if we try to explain the cause of the Nile's rising, we may say much, plausible or not, but what is true, certain, and undeniable about it belongs only to God.

Then, the dwelling place of birds—those that come to us in spring and fly away in autumn—escapes our knowledge, even though it is a worldly matter. What explanation can we give for the ocean's tides, though everyone agrees there must be a cause? Or what can we say about things beyond? What about the formation of rain, lightning, thunder, clouds, vapors, and winds, or the storehouses of snow and hail? What do we know about the conditions for cloud formation, or the nature of sky vapors? Why does the moon wax and wane, or what causes differences among waters, metals, stones, and similar things? We may say much while searching their causes, but only God who made them can declare the truth about them.

3. If, therefore, even with respect to creation, there are some things whose knowledge belongs only to God, and others that fall within our own understanding, then what reason do we have to complain if, regarding what we investigate in the Scriptures (which are entirely spiritual), we can explain some of them by the grace of God, while we must leave others to God, and that not only in this world, but also in the world to come? This way, God will forever teach, and humans will forever learn from God.

As the apostle has said on this point, when other things have come to an end, these three, “faith, hope, and love, shall endure.” Faith, which concerns our Master, remains unchanged, assuring us there is but one true God, and that we should truly love Him forever, since He alone is our Father. We hope to continually receive more from God and to learn from Him, because He is good and possesses boundless riches, a kingdom without end, and instruction that is inexhaustible.

If, therefore, according to the principle I have stated, we leave some questions in God's hands, we shall preserve our faith unharmed and remain secure. All Scripture, given to us by God, will be found perfectly consistent; parables will align with those passages that are clear; and statements with clear meaning will help explain the parables. Through Scripture's varied expressions, one harmonious melody will be heard in us, praising in hymns the God who created everything. If, for example, someone asks, “What was God doing before He made the world?” we reply that the answer to such a question lies with God Himself.

The Scriptures teach us that God formed this world perfectly, beginning in time, but no Scripture reveals what God was doing before this.

Thus, the answer remains with God, and it is not right for us to propose foolish, rash, and blasphemous suppositions in reply, as this might lead one to dismiss God Himself who created all things.

Consider all of you who create such opinions: the Father Himself is alone called God, who truly exists, but you call Him the Demiurge. The Scriptures acknowledge Him alone as God, and the Lord acknowledges Him alone as His own Father and knows no other, which I will show from His own words. When you call this very Being the product of defect and the offspring of ignorance, and describe Him as unaware of things above Him, along with the various other claims you make about Him, consider the terrible blasphemy you are guilty of against Him who truly is God.

You seem to assert sincerely enough that you believe in God, but as you are utterly unable to reveal any other God, you claim that this very Being in whom you profess to believe is the product of defect and the offspring of ignorance. This blindness and foolish talk come from the fact that you reserve nothing for God, but you wish to proclaim the birth and creation of God Himself, of His Ennœa, of His Logos, and Life, and Christ, forming these ideas from merely human experience.

You do not understand, as I said before, that it is possible, in humans, who are composite beings, to speak in this way of the human mind and human thought: to say that thought (ennœa) springs from mind (sensus), intention (enthymesis) springs from thought, and word (logos) from intention.

But which logos? Among the Greeks, there is one logos which is the principle that thinks and another which is the tool through which thought is expressed. And to say that a person sometimes rests and is silent, while at other times speaks and acts.

But since God is all mind, all reason, all active spirit, all light, and always exists as one and the same, as it is both beneficial for us to conceive of God, and as we learn about Him from the Scriptures, such feelings and divisions of operation cannot fittingly be attributed to Him. For our tongue, being physical, is not sufficient to serve the speed of the human mind, which is spiritual in nature. For this reason, our word is held within us and is not immediately expressed as it is conceived by the mind, but is spoken by successive efforts, just as the tongue is able to serve it.

But God, being all Mind and all Logos, both speaks exactly what He thinks and thinks exactly what He speaks. For His thought is Logos, and Logos is Mind, and Mind comprehending all things is the Father Himself. Therefore, anyone who speaks of the mind of God and ascribes to it a separate origin makes God a compound Being, as if God were one thing and the original Mind another. Similarly, regarding Logos, when someone assigns him the third place of production from the Father, they misunderstand His greatness; thus, Logos has been separated from God. As for the prophet, he declares about Him, "Who shall describe His generation?" But you claim to explain His generation from the Father and transfer the creation of human words, which happens through a tongue, to the Word of God, and thus you are justly exposed by yourselves as knowing neither things human nor divine.

But, beyond reason inflated with your own wisdom, you presumptuously claim that you are acquainted with the unspeakable mysteries of God; while even the Lord, the very Son of God, allowed that the Father alone knows the exact day and hour of judgment, when He clearly states, “But no one knows that day and hour, not even the Son, but only the Father.” If, then, the Son was not ashamed to attribute the knowledge of that day to the Father alone and declared the truth regarding the matter, let us not be ashamed to leave those greater questions to God.

For no person is superior to their master. If anyone, therefore, asks us, “How then was the Son produced by the Father?” we respond that no one understands that production, or generation, or calling, or revelation, or whatever name one may use to describe His generation, which is truly indescribable. Neither Valentinus, nor Marcion, nor Saturninus, nor Basilides, nor angels, nor archangels, nor principalities, nor powers have this knowledge, but only the Father who begat, and the Son who was begotten.

Since His generation is unspeakable, those who try to explain generations and productions cannot be in their right mind, as they attempt to describe things which are indescribable. For it is well understood by all that a word is spoken by the command of thought and mind. Those who have developed the theory of emissions have not discovered anything great or revealed any hidden mystery, when they have merely applied what all understand to the only-begotten Word of God; and while they call Him unspeakable and unnameable, they nevertheless describe the production and formation of His first generation, as if they themselves had witnessed His birth, thus comparing Him to the word of humanity formed by emissions.

We would not be mistaken if we claim the same thing about the substance of matter—that God created it. For the Scriptures teach us that God holds authority over all things.

However, from where or how He created it, Scripture does not reveal, nor should we speculate based on our own opinions, creating endless guesses about God. Instead, we should leave such knowledge to God Himself. Similarly, we must leave the reason why, although all things were made by God, some of His creations sinned and turned away from obeying God, while others, the majority, continued and still continue to willingly submit to Him who created them.

We should leave the reason for these things to God and His Word, to whom alone it is said, “Sit at my right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool.” As for us, we still live on earth and have not yet sat on His throne. Although the Spirit of the Savior searches all things, even the deep things of God, for us there are different gifts, administrations, and operations; and while on earth, as Paul states, we know in part and prophesy in part.

Since we only partially know, we should leave difficult questions in the hands of Him who only to some extent grants us grace.

For example, eternal fire is prepared for sinners, as the Lord has clearly stated and the Scriptures show. The Scriptures also show that God foreknew this would happen, since He prepared eternal fire from the beginning for those who would later break His commandments.

But the cause of the nature of such transgressors is not explained in any Scripture, nor by an apostle, nor has the Lord taught us.

Therefore, we should leave the knowledge of this matter to God, just as the Lord does with the day and hour of judgment. We should not risk such a danger as to leave nothing in God's hands, even though we have received only a measure of grace from Him in this world. When we investigate matters that are beyond us and cannot find satisfaction, it is unreasonable to show such presumption as to claim we fully understand God and undiscovered things, as if we have already found out, through empty words, God Himself, the Creator of all things, and to assert that He came from apostasy and ignorance, ultimately creating an impious belief against God.

They have no proof of their system, which they recently invented, sometimes relying on numbers, sometimes on syllables, and sometimes on names. There are also times when, by using letters within letters, by misinterpreting parables, or through baseless guesses, they try to support the fictional account they've created. If someone asks why the Father, who shares everything with the Son, is known only by the Lord to know the hour and day of judgment, they will currently find no more appropriate, fitting, or safe reason than this: that we should learn through Him that the Father is above all things. For "the Father," He says, "is greater than I." The Father, therefore, has been declared by our Lord to excel in knowledge; so that we, while we are part of this world's system, should leave perfect knowledge and such questions to God, and not, in trying to explore the Father's profound nature, accidentally question whether there is another God above God.

But if anyone who loves conflict contradicts what I have said, and also what the apostle affirms, that "we know in part, and prophesy in part," and believes that they have gained not just partial, but complete knowledge of everything that exists—being like Valentinus, or Ptolemy, or Basilides, or any others who claim to have uncovered the deep things of God—let them not boast (full of pride) that they have greater knowledge than others about things that are invisible or beyond our observation.

Instead, let them, by diligently inquiring and obtaining information from the Father, explain to us the reasons (which we do not know) for things in this world—like, for example, the number of hairs on their own head, and how many sparrows are caught daily, and other such facts with which we are unfamiliar—so that we might believe them in more significant matters.

But if even those who are perfect do not yet understand the very things in their hands, at their feet, before their eyes, and on the earth, and especially the order concerning the hairs on their head, how can we trust them about spiritual matters and things above the heavens, which they confidently and arrogantly claim to be beyond God? That is all I have to say about numbers, names, syllables, and questions about things beyond our understanding, and about their incorrect interpretations of the parables.

I shall add nothing further on these topics, since you yourself may expand on them.