Chapter IV.
Various kinds of principles: and in what way God is to be understood as having made the heavens and the earth.
12. Therefore, it teaches that the one who says, 'In the beginning God created heaven and earth,' is the beginning. And this beginning is referred to time, or to number, or to foundation; just as in building a house, the beginning is the foundation. We also know that the beginning of conversion and corruption can be said to be the authority of the Scriptures. The art itself is also the beginning of art, from which the operation of various artists subsequently began. The best end is also the beginning of good works, such as mercy, which is the beginning, pleasing to God what you do. For we are most prompted to bring assistance to men by this consideration. There is also a divine power, which is expressed by this appellation. It is referred to a time, if you wish to say at what time God made the heavens and the earth, that is, at the beginning of the world, when it began to be made, as Wisdom says: When he prepared the heavens, I was there (Prov. 8:27). But if you refer it to number, it is such that you take it first that God made the heavens and the earth, then the hills, the regions, the uninhabitable places. And so, before the rest of the visible creatures, He made day, night, fruitful trees, diverse kinds of animals, heaven and earth. But if you refer to the foundation, you have read that the beginning of the earth is its foundations, as Wisdom says: When He established the foundations of the earth, I was with Him, arranging all things (Wisdom 8:29). It is also the beginning of good discipline, as it is written: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7); for those who fear the Lord turn away from error and direct their ways to the path of virtue. For unless someone fears God, they cannot renounce sin.
13. And we can also understand the same about this: 'This month shall be to you the beginning of months' (Exod. XII, 2); although it is understood as the 7th in terms of time, because it spoke of the Lord's Passover, which is celebrated at the beginning of spring. Therefore, in this beginning of months, He made the heavens and the earth, which was fitting for the beginning of the world, where a suitable spring season was for everyone. Hence, the year of the world also expressed the image of its birth, so that after winter's ice and winter's mists, the brighter splendor of the usual springtime may shine forth. Therefore, the first rising of the world gave form to the courses of future years, so that by this law the cycles of years would arise and at the beginning of each year the earth would bring forth new shoots of seeds, in accordance with what the Lord God had first commanded: Let the earth bring forth grass, yielding seed according to its kind, and yielding fruit with its seed in it (Gen. 1:11). And immediately the earth brought forth grass and fruit-bearing trees; in which both the divine providence of perpetual moderation and the swift growth of the earth in springtime contribute to our estimation of the passing of time. For although at any time and by God's command it was ready to obey the earthly nature, so that amidst winter's ice and wintry frost it would produce offspring with the nourishing warmth of the heavenly kingdom; nevertheless, it was not fitting to suddenly release the fields, bound by the rigid cold of eternal order, into green crops, and to mingle flowery shoots with the dreadful frost. Therefore, in order to show that the times were written in the constitution of the world, He says: 'This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first in the months of the year' (Exodus 12:2), calling the first month the springtime. For it was fitting that the beginning of the year be the beginning of generation, and that generation itself be nurtured by gentler breezes. For tender beginnings of things could not endure the hardship of harsh cold, nor withstand the injury of raging heat.
14. At the same time, it is possible to notice this, because it converges by law, so that at that time it seems to belong to this generation and to these uses, at the time when there is a legitimate transition from this generation to the next. Indeed, in the springtime, the children of Israel left Egypt and crossed the sea, baptized in the cloud and in the sea, as the Apostle said (1 Corinthians 10:1ff): and at that time, the yearly Passover of the Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated, that is, the passage of souls from vices to virtues, from the passions of the flesh to grace and sobriety of mind, and from the leaven of malice and wickedness to truth and sincerity. Therefore, it is said to be regenerated: This month is the beginning of months for you; it is the first for you in the months of the year (Exod. XII, 2). For he forsakes and abandons, who is washed, that understanding prince of this world, saying: I renounce you, devil, and your angels, and your works, and your powers. Nor does he now serve him, either the earthly passions of this body, or the errors of a corrupted mind, who, having plunged into all evil, desires, fortified by good works on both the right and left, to pass over the waves of this present world unharmed. In the book also, which is titled On Numbers, Scripture says: 'The beginning of the nations is Amalek, and his seed shall perish' (Num. XXIV, 20). And indeed, Amalek is not the first of all nations; but because by interpretation Amalek is taken to mean the king of the wicked, and the wicked are the nations: beware lest we should take the prince of this world, who commands the nations doing his will, whose seed shall perish. But his seed are the wicked and the unbelievers, to whom the Lord says: 'You are of your father the devil' (John VIII, 24).
15. It is also a mystical beginning, as it is said, I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:8). And that in the Gospel especially, when the Lord was asked who he was, he replied: The beginning, that is also what I speak to you (John 8:25). He who truly and according to his divinity is the beginning of all things, because there is no one before him; and the end, because there is no one beyond him: and according to Solomon (Prov. 8:22) he is the beginning of the ways of the Lord in his works; so that through him the human race might learn to follow the ways of the Lord and to do the works of God. In this beginning, that is, in Christ, God made heaven and earth; because through him all things were made, and without him nothing was made. What was made, in him was life; because in him all things consist. And he himself is the firstborn of all creation, either because before every creature; or because he is holy, because the firstborn of the holy ones are, like the firstborn of Israel, not because before all, but because holier than the rest. But the Lord is holy above all creation and according to the reception of the body; because alone without sin, alone without vanity. But every creature is subject to vanity.
We can also understand: In the beginning God created heaven and earth; that is, before time: just as the beginning of a road is not yet a road, and the beginning of a house is not yet a house. Finally, others have said, ἐν κεφαλαίῳ, as in the head, by which the completion of the work is signified in a brief and small moment. Therefore, there are those who do not understand the beginning as pertaining to time, but before time, καὶ κεφαλαῖον or the head; so that we may say in Latin, as it were, the sum of the work; because the sum of visible things is heaven and earth, which seem to pertain not only to the adornment of this world, but also to a sign of invisible things and a certain proof of those things which are not seen, as is this prophetic statement: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands (Ps. 18:1). The Apostle, following others, concluded in the same sentiment, saying: Because His invisible things are understood through the things that are made (Rom. I, 20). For we easily understand that the author of the Angels and Dominations and Powers, who in the moment of His command made this great beauty of the world exist out of nothing, which did not exist before; and He did not give substance to existing things or causes.