imperfection in Him—that is, before they came into existence. Relations have no existence in concrete entities, thereby avoiding an infinite regress, so they do not entail imperfection.”

One might reply:

This argument has already been discussed. The disputant does not call this an attribute, even if he describes the subject as possessing that general kind of attribute. You cannot therefore claim that an individual instance is an attribute of perfection that must be beginningless, such that its absence before all time would constitute an imperfection. Whatever wisdom requires to come into existence at a particular time, its absence before that time is not an imperfection. Rather, perfection consists in its absence when wisdom does not require it to come into existence, and in its existence when wisdom requires it—just as with things that come into existence separately from Him. Thus, the absence of something is not always an imperfection in that from which it is absent.

Moreover, things that come into existence can exist only in succession, and their being beginningless is impossible. Whatever cannot exist, its absence is not an imperfection. The infinite regress mentioned here concerns effects, conditions, and the like. There are two well-known positions on this, and the disputant may hold that it is possible, especially one who says that the Lord has always acted and spoken whenever He wills.

“Second: If His essence were receptive to things that come into existence, that receptivity would be among