Folia Theologica 18. (2007)

László Perendy: The Outlines of Systematic Theology in the Ad Autolycum of Theophilus of Antioch

172

L. PERENDY

Enumerating some appellations of the Creator, Theophilus gives a basic doctrine of God: "He has no beginning because he is uncreated; he is immutable because he is immortal. ... He is Lord because he is master of the universe, Father because he is before the universe, Demiurge and Maker because he is creator and maker of the universe, Most High because he is above everything, Almighty because he controls and surrounds everything."5 But his God is not alien to this world, which serves as means for mankind to know his oneness and greatness: he "is seen and apprehended through his providence and his works."6

God revealed himself also in a special way to mankind. In his providential care he also "gave a law and sent holy prophets to proclaim and to teach the human race so that each one of us might become sober and recognize that God is one."7 Their source of information is reliable: "Through Wisdom they spoke about the creation of the world and about everything else;"8 That is why there is no contradiction in their teaching: "in complete harmony they taught us that he made everything out of the non-existent. For there was nothing coeval with God;..."9 In other words: "The world is not uncreated nor is there spontaneous production of everything, as Pythagoras and the others have babbled [III. 7]; instead the world is created and is providentially governed by the God who made everything [III. 9]."10 11 These statements about God and his creation are not isolated ones, but they appear in several places, especially in the first book.11

So God is the absolute monarch of the cosmos, which was created ex nihilo. The created world was originally completely good: "...nothing was originally created evil by God; everything was good and very good [Gen. I. 31]."12 God's creating activity involves that he set things in order.13

5 1.4.

6 1.5.

7 2.34.

8 2.9.

9 2.10.

10 3.26.

11 1.4, 6, 7.

12 2.17.

13 2.1 1.