Ibn al-Batriq (1) said: Such, then, was the doctrine of Arius; yet the three hundred (and eighteen) (2) bishops overstepped the mark and distorted it out of sheer injustice and aggression. They answered him by banishing him from Alexandria, declaring, “As for Arius, the three hundred and eighteen bishops did not lie about him nor did they wrong him, for what he actually said was that the Son alone is the Creator of all things, not the Father. If, therefore, all things were created by the Son while the Father was not their Creator, this would concede that the Father created nothing at all. That, however, contradicts His statement, ‘The Father creates, and I create’ (4); His saying, ‘If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me’ (5); and His saying, ‘Just as the Father gives life to whom He wills and causes death, so too the Son gives life to whom He wills and causes death’ (6).”

They argued that these texts prove He gives life and creates, thereby refuting anyone who claims that He is not a Creator and that things were merely created through Him without His actually creating them.

As for your assertion that “things came to be through him,” once we have agreed—without any doubt—that Christ is living and active (7), and since He affirmed, “I am the One who effects creation and life,” then your statement that things were brought into being through Him must necessarily mean that He Himself created them and that they were created by Him; were this not the case, the two statements would contradict one another (8).