Rather, such wording is used only when what is under discussion does not inhere in the object itself but subsists in something else, or when it is something that comes into existence after previously not being—like the ray of light that strikes the ground or the walls. That ray does not subsist in its originating source, but in something else; it comes into existence and is generated from two sources, not from a single source.

As for the attributes of a created being that inhere in him and are inseparable from him, no rational person says that they are generated from him.

The Christians, however, claim that the Word of God—which they explain as His knowledge or His wisdom—and the Holy Spirit—which they explain as His life and His power—are divine attributes, eternal and without beginning, with which He has always been and will always be described. Yet they also say that the Word is begotten of Him, thus treating His eternal, pre-existent knowledge as something generated from Him, while refusing to regard His eternal, pre-existent life as generated from Him.

They are correct in not considering His life to be generated from Him, but that very admission exposes some of their contradictions and errors, which take many forms. For if one may say of an eternal, inherent attribute of the subject that it is his “son,” “child,” or “something generated from him,” then His life would also have to be His son, His child, and something generated from Him. If that cannot be said of life, then it cannot be said of knowledge either.

Still more astonishing is their assertion that the Holy Spirit—separate from Him yet dwelling within the prophets and the righteous—is His child, though not something generated from Him; rather, they reserve