Chapters
Hortatory Address to the Greeks
Chapters
More
Chapter 22: Analyzing Plato's Deliberate Ambiguity.
PLATO: after learning this in Egypt and being greatly impressed by the idea of one God, carefully avoided mentioning Moses because of Moses' teaching about the one true God. Plato feared repercussions from the Areopagus. Nonetheless, in his detailed work, the *Timaeus*, he expresses similar ideas about God, not as if he had learned them from Moses, but as if they were his own thoughts. Plato says, "In my opinion, we must first define what exists eternally and has no origin, and what is always being formed but never truly is." Doesn't this statement, people of Greece, appear to those who understand to be essentially the same, differing only in phrasing? Moses said, "He who is," while Plato said, "That which is." Both expressions seem to refer to the ever-existent God, who alone exists eternally without beginning.
We must carefully consider what this second concept is, which contrasts with the ever-existent, that Plato describes as, "always being generated, but never really is." We find that he clearly states that one who is uncreated is eternal, while those that are created come into being and perish—as he described, "gods of gods, of whom I am maker." He elaborates, saying, "We must first define what is always existent and has no birth, and what is always being generated but never really is.
The former is understood through reflection combined with reason, always existing in the same way; the latter is perceived by opinion formed through the senses without reason, never truly existing but coming into being and perishing." These statements reveal, to those who can understand, the mortality and decline of the gods that have been created. I think it's important to note that Plato never calls Him the creator but the fashioner of the gods, showing there is a considerable difference in Plato's view.
The creator makes by his own power and needs nothing else, while the fashioner shapes his work with materials he has received.