The created thing that is separate from the Lord is not His act of creating it. Rather, His act of creating the heavens (1) and the earth is not identical to the heavens and the earth themselves.

Those who said, “The act of creating is identical to the created thing,” sought to escape certain implications that they deemed objectionable, yet what they fled to was worse than what they fled from. They argued: “If the act of creating were distinct from the created thing, it would have to be either eternal or originated. If it were eternal, the created thing would necessarily be eternal; and if it were originated, it would require another act of creating, thereby entailing an infinite regress.”

Others replied: “Rather, this objection also refutes your own principle (2). You maintain that He wills by an eternal will, whereas all the things willed are originated. If this is possible, why can the act of creating not be eternal while the created thing is originated? But if this is impossible and the will must instead coincide with the thing willed, it follows that originated events may subsist in Him. It would then be possible for an act of creating that coincides with the created thing to subsist in Him. Thus, your position is untenable under either supposition.

“Likewise, if it is said that the act of creating is originated, why do you claim that it requires another act of creating? You maintain that all created things are originated, yet they do not require an originated act of creating. Why, then, can they not be created through an originated act of creating that itself requires no further act of creating?

“It is well known that their coming into existence through an originated act of creating is more readily accepted by reason than their all coming into existence without any act of creating whatsoever. Thus, if every originated thing requires an act of creating, your position is invalid; and if—”