Methodius — Concerning Free Will (On God and Matter 11)

Methodius of Olympus · Concerning Free Will · c. 300

How then do you say he left the qualities of the worthless as they were? Was he able to remove them too, but unwilling — or did he lack the power?

If you say he was able but unwilling, you must call him their cause: able to make them not be bad, he allowed them to remain as they were — especially when he began to craft the matter. If he had no care for matter at all, he would not be cause of what he let remain; but since he crafts one part and leaves another as it is, though able to turn that too toward the better, he seems to me to incur blame for leaving a wicked part of matter to the ruin of what he crafted.

← Fate and Foreknowledge