Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenæus

Some men, driven by reasons I do not know, take away half of God's creative power by claiming that He is only responsible for the qualities present in matter and arguing that matter itself is uncreated. Let us now consider this question: What exists at any time is unchangeable. Therefore, matter is unchangeable. But if matter is unchangeable, and the unchangeable undergoes no change in quality, it cannot form the substance of the world. For this reason, it seems unnecessary to them that God has attached qualities to matter, since matter itself cannot change, being uncreated. Furthermore, if matter is uncreated, it must have been made with a specific, unchangeable quality, meaning it cannot receive additional qualities or be the substance from which the world is made. If the world is not made from it, this theory completely removes God's power in creating the world.