Three Church Fathers on Genesis 1:3-5
St. Ambrose of Milan, St. John Chrysostom, and St. John of Damascus
I’ve been revising and redoing my translation of Genesis 1:20 and will post it soon, with examples of failed early attempts. The more I look at it, the more unsatisfied I am with my work on it, and I may revise my translations of the earlier days in the light of this verse. In the meantime, here are comments from three Church Fathers on the first day of creation. First, St. Ambrose of Milan:
And not only is one operation of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost found in Peter, but the oneness of the divine operation is revealed also in all the Apostles, also a kind of authority over heavenly dispensations. For the divine operation consists of command; it does not consist of ministry, for, when God operates, He does not work something out by labor or skill, but ‘He spoke, and they were made.’ He said: ‘Be light made. And light was made’; for in the commandment of God is the effecting of the operation.
Ambrose of Milan, Saint Ambrose: Theological and Dogmatic Works (ed. R. J. Deferrari) (The Fathers of the Church; Washington, DC 1963) XLIV, 148-149.
Next, St. Ambrose’s contemporary, St. John Chrysostom:
So, when the shapeless mass of all that could be seen lay about on all sides, God the mighty artificer issued his command and the shapeless mass took on form, the surpassing beauty of this blinding light appeared and dissipated the palpable gloom, illuminating everything. “God said,” the text reads, “ ‘Let light be created,’ and light was created.” He spoke: it was created; he gave his command: darkness was scattered and light produced. See his ineffable power? Yet there are those who ignore the sequence of the text, caught up as they are in their error, and who pay no heed to the words of blessed Moses, “In the beginning God made heaven and earth,” and the following verse, “The land was invisible and lacking all shape” on account of its being obscured by the darkness and the waters, the Lord having decided (you see) to create it in the beginning like this. These people say that matter was the basis for creation, and that darkness preexisted. What could be worse than this madness? You heard that “in the beginning God made heaven and earth,” and that from nothing things were created, and do you say that matter was the basis for creation? Who in their right minds would come up with such idiocy? Surely the creator is not human, needing some basis for creation so as to reveal his artistry? God it is to whom all things respond as he creates them by word and command. Remember how he merely spoke, and light was created and darkness dissipated.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 1–17 (ed. T. P. Halton) (The Fathers of the Church; Washington, DC 1986) LXXIV, 41-42.
Finally, from three centuries later, St. John of Damascus:
Fire is one of the four elements. It is light and more buoyant than the others, and it both burns and gives light. It was made by the Creator on the first day, for sacred Scripture says: ‘And God said: Be light made. And light was made.’ According to what some say, fire is the same thing as light. Others speak of the cosmic fire above the air and they call it ether. ‘In the beginning,’ then, which is to say, on the first day, God made the light to adorn and enhance all visible creation. For, remove the light and everything will be in darkness and will be indistinguishable and incapable of displaying its inherent comeliness. ‘And God called the light day, and the darkness night.’ Darkness, moreover, is not a substance, but an accident, because it is the absence of light. For light is no part of the substance of the air. Hence, it was just the absence of light in the air that God called darkness; and darkness is not the substance of the air but the absence of light—which indicates an accident rather than a substance. Furthermore, it was not night that was called first, but day, so that day is first and night last. Accordingly, the night follows the day, and we have a period of a day and a night from the beginning of one day to that of the next—for Scripture says: ‘And there was evening and morning one day.’
John Damascene, Writings (ed. H. Dressler) (The Fathers of the Church; Washington, DC 1958) XXXVII, 215.
Also forthcoming: Leo Strauss’ reading of Genesis 1.
As ever, please: