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On Genesis: Two Books on Genesis against the Manichees; And, on the Literal Interpretation of Genesis, an Unfinished Book

By: Saint Augustine; Roland J. S. J. Teske | Book details

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has a cause, there is something that surpasses the will of God—and this we may not believe. Hence, one who asks, "Why did God make heaven and earth?" should be told, "Because he willed to." For the will of God is the cause of heaven and earth, and the will of God, therefore, is greater than heaven and earth. One who asks, "Why did God will to create heaven and earth?" is looking for something greater than the will of God, though nothing greater can be found. Hence, let human temerity hold itself in check, and let it not seek what is not lest it not find what is. 17. If anyone desires to know the will of God, let him become a friend of God. For, if anyone wanted to know the will of a man of whom he was not a friend, everyone would laugh at his impudence and folly. But one becomes a friend of God only by the highest purity of morals and by that goal of the command, of which the Apostle speaks, "The goal of the command is charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned," 18. and if they had this, they would not be heretics.


CHAPTER 3

Verse Two Is Defended

5. The Manichees, in finding fault with what follows in the Book of Genesis, "But the earth was invisible and without form," 19. ask, "How did God make heaven and earth in the beginning if the earth was already invisible and without form?" 20. Since they want to attack the divine Scriptures be‐

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17.
The expression "that which is" is a reference to the God Who Is of Exod 3.14. In searching for something greater than the will of God—that which is not, the Manichees risk failing to find God, He Who Is. Augustine never, despite his enthusiasm for Neoplatonism, placed God above being, but identified God with being or essence—so much so that in comparison to God other things are not. Cf. EnP 134.4, EnP 101, S 2, 10, and C 7.11.17. Cf. Emilie Zum Brunn, St. Augustine: Being and Nothingness (New York: Paragon House, 1988), 97-118, for the Augustinian exegesis of Exod 3.14.
18.
1 Tim 1.5.
19.
Gen 1.2.
20.
The Manichees used this text to argue that God did not create matter; cf. DGnI 4.11. However, besides the Manichees, the ancient philosophers too held the doctrine of the eternity of matter, and Augustine had heard Ambrose preach against this doctrine; cf. his Hexaemeron 1.7.25.

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