the Lord could not do this. They therefore committed themselves to the position that the Lord could not have always spoken by His will, nor could He have always had the power to act and speak by His will.

They then divided into different groups. Some said:

His speech can only be temporally originated, because speech can only be an object of power and will, and whatever is such can only be temporally originated. Whatever is temporally originated must be created and separate from Him, because, in their view, it is impossible for temporal events to subsist in Him or to form an infinite succession.

Others said:

Rather, His speech can only subsist in Him. Whatever subsists in Him cannot be subject to His will and volition, but must be eternal in its particular existence. For if it were an object of power and will, it would be temporally originated, and temporal events would thus subsist in Him. If they subsisted in Him, He would neither precede them nor be free of them. Whatever is not free of temporal events is itself temporally originated, because a succession of temporal events without a beginning is impossible.

Still others said:

Rather, He speaks by His will and power, but it is impossible for Him to have spoken in eternity, or to have always spoken by His will and power, because this would entail the existence of temporal events without a beginning, which is impossible.

“These groups” said:

Through this method we came to know that the world is temporally originated. We inferred that bodies are temporally originated from the fact that they are neither free of temporal events nor prior to them; and whatever does not precede temporal events is itself temporally originated. Then some of them supposed that this