But if you mean that nothing proceeds from Him after there had been nothing at all proceeding from Him—and this is what he intends—then the response is:

The most this establishes is that His action is everlasting. This does not entail that any particular effect is everlasting, whether the celestial sphere or anything else. Rather, there may be a succession of acts subsisting in Him, a succession of effects brought into being one after another, as you maintain, or both successions together.

On all three possibilities, the celestial spheres may have come into being, so your argument for their eternity is invalid.

[The second ground]

It may be said:

The successive occurrence of temporal events distinct from Him, without any act subsisting in Him, is either possible or impossible.

If it is impossible, your assertion that the motions of the celestial sphere cause temporal events is invalid.

If it is possible, then a succession of temporal events may occur, with the celestial sphere being one of them, as the prophets have reported. This is also the position of the ancient philosophers and their leading authorities.

[The third ground]

It may be said:

An everlasting succession of temporal events is either impossible or possible, as you have stated.

If it is impossible, bodies and their motions must have come into being, including the celestial sphere and everything else.

If it is possible, the celestial sphere need not be everlasting. Rather, it may have come into being after earlier temporal events, as explained above.

[The fourth ground]

It may be said:

You state: “Whether the determining factor is His essence or one of His attributes, as posited, it is everlasting. Therefore, the determination must be everlasting, as must the existence of the effect. And if He did not act and then acted, something requisite must have come into being.”

The adherents of the revealed religions have two answers here: