But I must return once more to the same argument. Let us speak and think of the Unbegotten, the Begotten, and the One who proceeds, if anyone likes to coin terms. We need not fear that what is bodiless will therefore be understood in a bodily way, as those who attack the Godhead imagine.
A creature may indeed be called God’s creature; even that is a great thing for us. But it must never be called God. I will accept that a creature is God only when I too become God in the strict sense. The matter is simple. If He is God, He is not a creature, because a creature belongs with us, who are not gods. If He is a creature, He is not God, because He had a beginning in time. Whatever had a beginning once did not exist. If nonexistence came before something, it does not possess being in the full sense. How, then, can what does not possess being in the full sense be God?
So not one of the Three is a creature—not even one of Them. Still less did any of Them come into being for my sake, which would make Him not only a creature but lower in honor than we are. I exist for the glory of God. Suppose He existed for my sake, like a pair of tongs made for a wagon or a saw made for a door. In that case I would outrank Him as the purpose for which He exists. For as much as God is higher than creatures, so much would something made for my sake be lower than I, who came into being for God’s sake.