On the Divine Generation (to Marius Victorinus)

Contents

1. 1Candidus argues that begetting is change, that God is unchangeable and nothing preceded him, and that God is therefore unbegotten.
2. 2Candidus argues that neither substance nor existence could have preceded God, because God is simple and gives substance rather than receiving it.
3. 3Candidus argues that God, the simple first cause in whom being, living and understanding are one, is without beginning or end and so can neither beget nor be begotten.
4. 4Candidus lists the proposed modes of divine begetting and argues that effulgence, the first of them, implies alteration and a second, different substance.
5. 5Candidus rejects begetting by a ray, by the flow of a point, and by emission, each of which would change or diminish God or produce two gods.
6. 6Candidus argues that neither image nor imprint can be consubstantial with God, and that begetting by procession leads to absurdities.
7. 7Candidus rejects begetting by motion and by overflow, arguing that an ever-overflowing God would produce endless new beings and that what is poured out is not consubstantial.
8. 8Candidus argues that a work made by will and action is not consubstantial with its maker, and that God, being simple, is beyond substance, so nothing can be consubstantial with him.
9. 9Candidus rejects the theory that the Son arose from a self-directed motion of the divine Spirit, concluding that what is second was made, not born.
10. 10Candidus concludes that Christ the Word is God's first and chief work, made from nothing by God's operation, and points to his submission, ignorance of the day, and sufferings as marks of a creature.
11. 11Candidus cites Acts 2:36, Proverbs, and John 1:3–4 for the claim that God made Christ, and ends by praising Christ as the first substance and the maker of all things.