286、神若不是一位人，就无法创造宇宙及其万物，聪明人能从以下分析清楚明白这一点：他无法否认，神里面有爱和智慧，怜悯和仁慈，以及良善本身和真理本身，因为这些都来源于神。他既无法否认这一点，也就无法否认，神是一位人。这些品质无一能脱离人而存在，因为人是它们的主体，把它们与其主体分离，等于说它们不存在。想想智慧，把它置于人之外，它还是个东西吗？你能将它想象为某种空灵之物或燃烧之物吗？不能，除非你设想它在这些实体里面；若是这样思想，那么它必是在一个诸如人所拥有的那种形式中的智慧。它必须完全在人的形式中，智慧若在这个形式中，一个元素都不可能缺乏。总之，智慧的形式就是人；人因是智慧的形式，故也是爱、怜悯、仁慈、良善和真理的形式，因为这些与智慧构成一体。爱和智慧若不在某个形式中，是无法存在的(参看40-43节)。
286. As for God's inability to create the universe and everything in it except as a person, this is something a discerning individual can grasp very clearly on the following basis. Inwardly, we cannot deny that love and wisdom, mercy and forgiveness exist in God. God, as the source of what is good and true, is their essence. Since we cannot deny this, we cannot deny that God is a person, since none of these things can exist apart from a person. The person is their subject, and to separate them from their subject is to say that they do not exist.
Think of wisdom, and posit it outside a person. Is it anything? Can you conceive of it as something ethereal or flamelike? No, unless perhaps you think of it as within these things; and if it is within them, it must be wisdom in a form like ours. It must be in every aspect of that form. Nothing can be lacking if wisdom is to be within it.
In brief, the form of wisdom is human, and because a person is a form of wisdom, a person is also a form of love, mercy, forgiveness--of whatever is good and true, because these act in complete unison with wisdom.
On the fact that love and wisdom cannot occur except in some form, see above, 40-43.
286. The assertion that God could not have created the universe and all its constituents without His being human may be quite clearly comprehended by any intelligent person from this consideration, that he cannot deny to himself that God encompasses in Him love and wisdom, mercy and clemency, and absolute good and truth, because these originate from Him. And because he cannot deny this, he also cannot deny that God is human. For none of these qualities can exist apart from a human being, since the human being is the underlying vessel of which they are predicated, and to divorce them from that vessel is to say they have no reality.
Think of wisdom and envision it apart from any person. Does it have any reality? Can you conceive of it as something ethereal or as something flame-like? You cannot, unless perhaps you conceive of it in such entities, and if you do, it must be wisdom in a form like that possessed by the human being. It must be altogether in his form. Not one element can be missing for wisdom to exist in it.
In a word, the form of wisdom is human; and because the form of wisdom is human, so, too, is the form of love, of mercy, of clemency, of goodness and of truth, since these go hand in hand with wisdom.
It may be seen in nos. 40-43 above that love and wisdom cannot exist except in some form.
286. That God could not have created the universe and all things thereof unless He were a Man may be very clearly understood by an intelligent person from the fact that he cannot deny within himself that in God there is Love and Wisdom, mercy and compassion, also Good itself and Truth itself because these are from Him. And because he cannot deny these things, neither can he deny that God is a Man. For not one of these qualities is possible, abstracted from a man, for man is their subject, and to separate them from their subject, is to say that they are not. Think of wisdom, and place it outside man. Is it anything? Can you conceive of it as something ethereal, or as something flaming? You cannot, unless perhaps you think of it as being within these, and if within these, it must be wisdom in a form such as man has, it must be wholly in his form, with nothing lacking for wisdom to be in it. In a word, the form of wisdom is man. And because man is the form of wisdom, he is also the form of love, mercy, compassion, good and truth, because these make one with wisdom. It may be seen above (40-43) that love and wisdom are not possible except in a form.
286. That God unless He were a Man could not have created the universe and all things thereof, may be clearly apprehended by any intelligent person from this, that he cannot deny that in God there is Love and Wisdom, mercy and clemency, and also goodness itself and truth itself, inasmuch as these are from God. And because he cannot deny this, neither can he deny that God is a Man; for abstractly from man not one of these is possible; for man is their subject, and to separate them from their subject is to say that they are not. Think of wisdom, and place it outside of man - is it anything? Can you conceive of it as something ethereal, or as something flaming? You cannot; unless perchance you conceive of it as being within these; and if within these, it must be wisdom in a form such as man has; it must be wholly in the form of man, not one thing can be lacking if wisdom is to be in that form. In a word, the form of wisdom is man; and because man is the form of wisdom, he is also the form of love, mercy, clemency, good and truth, because these make one with wisdom. That love and wisdom are not possible except in a form, see above (n. 5 40-43).
286. Quod Deus non potuerit creare Universum et omnia ejus nisi esset Homo, ab intelligente perquam clare comprehendi potest ex eo, quod apud se non negare possit, quin in Deo sit Amor et Sapientia, quod sit Misericordia et Clementia, tum quod sit ipsum Bonum et Verum, quia illa ab Ipso sunt; et quia haec non negare potest, nec potest negare quin Deus sit Homo; non enim dari potest ullum ex illis abstractum ab homine, est enim homo subjectum eorum, ac separare illa a suo subjecto, est dicere quod non sint. Cogita de Sapientia, et pone illam extra hominem; num est aliquid; num potes concipere illam ut quoddam aethereum, 1 vel ut quoddam flammeum; non potes nisi forte in illis, et si in illis, erit Sapientia in forma, qualis est homini[;] erit in omni forma ejus[;] non potest unum deesse, ut sapientia sit in illa; verbo, forma Sapientiae est homo; et quia homo est forma Sapientiae, est etiam forma amoris, misericordiae, clementiae, boni et veri, quia haec cum Sapientia unum agunt. Quod Amor et Sapientia non dari queant nisi in forma, videatur supra 40-43.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: aethercum,