Commentary on John

Theodore of Mopsuestia (350–428)

In a word, they have shown in their use of terms and exposition of their doctrines that they call "beginning" that which is before everything. Indeed, you will not find that the divine Scriptures say anything different. Even among common people the name "beginning" is used in a similar sense. Let me now give a suitable example: the blessed Moses, intending to instruct the Jewish nation both about God and created things—how God alone was the one who existed, while they were made—and wishing to explain to us the order of the creation of those things, said, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." He did not say "they were in the beginning," because he believed that expression was not suitable for things that did not exist by themselves and were created. This is because he knew that the Creator, God, existed before them. Nor was he content only to say "in the beginning." Rather, he said, "In the beginning God created," thinking that it would be better to mention their creator first and then add what had been created in the beginning. He first mentioned God their creator in order to raise the mind of his audience toward him, and then he related the things that were…

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• More works by Theodore of Mopsuestia

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