Since, then, the Apostle's words, One God the Father, from Whom are all things, and one Jesus Christ, our Lord, through Whom are all things, form an accurate and complete confession about God, let us see what Moses has to say about the beginning of the world. His words are, And God said, Let there be a firmament in the middle of the water, and let it divide the water from the water. And it was so, and God made the firmament and God divided the water through the middle. Here, then, you have the God from Whom, and the God through Whom. If you deny it, you must tell us through whom God's work in creation was done, or else explain it by pointing to an obedience in things not yet created, which, when God said Let there be a firmament, drove the firmament to establish itself. Suggestions like these are inconsistent with the clear sense of Scripture. For all things, as the Prophet says, were made out of nothing; it was not a transformation of existing things, but the creation of what did not exist into a perfect form.⁠a Through whom? Listen to the Evangelist: All things were made through Him. If you ask Who this is, the same Evangelist will tell you: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. If you are inclined to dispute the view that it was the Father Who said, Let there be a firmament, the prophet will answer you: He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created. The recorded words, Let there be a firmament, show us that the Father spoke. But in the words that follow, And it was so, in the statement that God did this thing, we must recognize the Person of the Agent. He spoke, and they were made; the Scripture does not say that He willed it and did it. He commanded, and they were created; notice that it does not say they came into existence because it pleased Him. In that case there would be no role for a Mediator between God and the world that was waiting to be created. God, from Whom are all things, gives the order for creation, and God, through Whom are all things, carries it out. Under one and the same Name we confess Him Who gave the command and Him Who fulfilled it. If you dare to deny that God made is said of the Son, how do you explain All things were made through Him? Or the Apostle's words, One Jesus Christ, our Lord, through Whom are all things? Or, He spoke, and they were made? If these inspired words manage to convince your stubborn mind, you will stop regarding that text, Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is One, as a denial of Divinity to the Son of God, since at the very foundation of the world He Who spoke it proclaimed that His Son also is God. But let us see what further benefit we can draw from this distinction between God Who commands and God Who carries out the command. For although even our natural reason rejects the idea that in the words, He commanded, and they were made, one single and isolated Person is meant, still, to remove all doubt, we must set out the events that followed the creation of the world.