'For there was never a time when God was not a father.' And he acknowledges this in what follows, 'that Christ is forever, being Word and Wisdom and Power. For it must not be supposed that God, having at first no such offspring, later begot a Son, but that the Son has His being not from Himself but from the Father.' And a little further on he adds on the same subject, 'But being the brightness of eternal light, He is certainly eternal Himself; for since the light always exists, it is evident that the brightness must always exist as well. For it is by its shining that the existence of light is perceived, and there cannot be light that does not give light. Let us come back to our examples. If there is sun, there is sunlight, there is day. If there is none of these things, it is quite impossible for there to be a sun. If, then, the sun were eternal, the day too would never cease. But in fact, since that is not so, the day begins and ends with the sun. But God is eternal light, never beginning nor ceasing. So the brightness lies before Him eternally, and is with Him without beginning and ever-begotten, shining in His Presence, being that Wisdom which said, I was the one in whom he rejoiced, and daily I was glad in his presence at all times.' And again after a little he takes up the same subject with the words, 'Since the Father, then, is eternal, the Son is eternal, being Light from Light; for if there is a parent, there is also a child. But if there were no child, how and of whom could there be a parent? But there are both, and eternally.' Then again he adds, 'Since God, then, is light, Christ is brightness; and since He is Spirit, for God is a Spirit — in the same way Christ is called the breath, for He is the breath of the power of God.'⁠a And again, to quote the second book, he says, 'But only the Son, who is always with the Father and is filled with Him who IS, Himself also IS from the Father.'