§6. False views of the nature of evil: viz., that evil is something in the nature of things, and has substantive existence. (a) Heathen thinkers: (evil resides in matter). Their refutation. (b) Heretical teachers: (Dualism). Refutation from Scripture.

Now certain of the Greeks, having erred from the right way, and not having known Christ, have ascribed to evil a substantive and independent existence. In this they make a double mistake: either in denying the Creator to be maker of all things, if evil had an independent subsistence and being of its own; or again, if they mean that He is maker of all things, they will of necessity admit Him to be maker of evil also. For evil, according to them, is included among existing things. 2. But this must appear paradoxical and impossible. For evil does not come from good, nor is it in, or the result of, good, since in that case it would not be good, being mixed in its nature or a cause of evil. 3. But the sectaries, who have fallen away from the teaching of the Church, and made shipwreck concerning the Faith13    1 Tim. i. 19., they also wrongly think that evil has a substantive existence. But they arbitrarily imagine another god besides the true One, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he is the unmade producer of evil and the head of wickedness, who is also artificer of Creation. But these men one can easily refute, not only from the divine Scriptures, but also from the human understanding itself, the very source of these their insane imaginations. 4. To begin with, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ says in His own gospels confirming the words of Moses: “The Lord God is one;” and “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth14    Mark xii. 29; Matt. xi. 25..” But if God is one, and at the same time Lord of heaven and earth, how could there be another God beside Him? or what room will there be for the God whom they suppose, if the one true God fills all things in the compass of heaven and earth? or how could there be another creator of that, whereof, according to the Saviour’s utterance, the God and Father of Christ is Himself Lord? 5. Unless indeed they would say that it were, so to speak, in an equipoise, and the evil god capable of getting the better of the good God. But if they say this, see to what a pitch of impiety they descend. For when powers are equal, the superior and better cannot be discovered. For if the one exist even if the other will it not, both are equally strong and equally weak equally, because the very existence of either is a defeat of the other’s will: weak, because what happens is counter to their wills: for while the good God exists in spite of the evil one, the evil god exists equally in spite of the good.

6 Ἑλλήνων μὲν οὖν τινες, πλανηθέντες τῆς ὁδοῦ, καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν οὐκ ἐγνωκότες, ἐν ὑποστάσει καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὴν εἶναι τὴν κακίαν ἀπεφήναντο, ἁμαρτάνοντες κατὰ δύο ταῦτα· ἢ τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν ἀποστεροῦντες τοῦ εἶναι ποιητὴν τῶν ὄντων· οὐκ ἂν γὰρ εἴη τῶν ὄντων Κύριος, εἴ γε κατ' αὐτοὺς ἡ κακία ὑπόστασιν ἔχει καθ' ἑαυτὴν καὶ οὐσίαν· ἢ πάλιν, θέλοντες αὐτὸν ποιητὴν εἶναι τῶν ὅλων, ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ τοῦ κακοῦ δώσουσιν εἶναι· ἐν γὰρ τοῖς οὖσι καὶ τὸ κακὸν κατ' αὐτούς ἐστι. τοῦτο δὲ ἄτοπον καὶ ἀδύνατον ἂν φανείη· οὐ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦ τὸ κακόν, οὐδὲ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐστιν, οὐδὲ δι' αὐτοῦ· ἐπεὶ οὐκέτι καλὸν ἂν εἴη μεμιγμένην ἔχον τὴν φύσιν, ἢ αἴτιον γινόμενον κακοῦ. Οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν αἱρέσεων, ἐκπεσόντες τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς διδα σκαλίας, καὶ περὶ τὴν πίστιν ναυαγήσαντες, καὶ οὗτοι μὲν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ κακοῦ παραφρονοῦσιν εἶναι· ἀναπλάττονται δὲ ἑαυτοῖς παρὰ τὸν ἀληθινὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ Πατέρα θεὸν ἕτερον, καὶ τοῦτον ἀγέννητον τοῦ κακοῦ ποιητὴν καὶ τῆς κακίας ἀρχηγόν, τὸν καὶ τῆς κτίσεως δημιουργόν. τούτους δὲ εὐχερῶς ἄν τις ἐλέγξειεν ἔκ τε τῶν γραφῶν καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις διανοίας, ἀφ' ἧς καὶ ταῦτα ἀναπλα σάμενοι μαίνονται. ὁ μὲν οὖν Κύριος καὶ Σωτὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ εὐαγγελίοις φησὶ βεβαιῶν τὰ Μωϋσέως ῥήματα, ὅτι Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς εἷς ἐστι· καί, Ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι, Πάτερ, Κύριε τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς. εἰ δὲ εἷς ἐστιν ὁ Θεός, καὶ οὗτος οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς Κύριος, πῶς ἄλλος ἂν εἴη θεὸς παρὰ τοῦτον; ποῦ δὲ καὶ ἔσται ὁ κατ' αὐτοὺς θεός, τὰ πάντα τοῦ μόνου καὶ ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ πληροῦντος κατὰ τὴν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς περίληψιν; πῶς δὲ καὶ ἄλλος ἂν εἴη ποιητής, ὧν αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστι Κύριος κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος φωνήν; εἰ μὴ ἄρα, ὡς ἐν ἰσοστασίῳ, καὶ τῶν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν φαῦλον δύνασθαι γενέσθαι κύριον εἴποιεν. ἀλλ' ἐὰν τοῦτο λέγωσιν, ὅρα εἰς ὅσην ἀσέβειαν ἐκπίπτουσιν· ἐν γὰρ τοῖς τὰ ἴσα δυναμένοις τὸ ὑπερέχον καὶ κρεῖττον οὐκ ἂν εὑρεθείη. καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὴ θέλοντος τοῦ ἑτέρου, τὸ ἕτερον ἔστιν· ἴση ἀμφοτέρων ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ ἀσθένειά ἐστιν· ἴση μέν, ὅτι νικῶσιν ἀλλήλων τὴν βούλησιν ἐν τῷ εἶναι· ἀσθένεια δὲ ἀμφοτέρων ἐστίν, ὅτι μὴ βουλομένοις αὐτοῖς παρὰ γνώμην ἀποβαίνει τὰ πράγματα· ἔστι γὰρ καὶ ὁ ἀγαθὸς παρὰ γνώμην τοῦ φαύλου, ἔστι καὶ ὁ φαῦλος παρὰ βούλησιν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ.