ＴＨＥＯＰＨＩＬＵＳ： ”Ｔｈｅ Ｆｏｕｒｔｈ Ｄａｙ”

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Genesis 1:14-19

Theophilus of Antioch on the Fourth Day of Creation (Gen 1:14-19)

Theophilus of Antioch (ca. 100 – ca. 182 AD) was the Patriarch of Antioch from 169 until 182. In his only surviving work, an apology to a pagan named Autolycus, Theophilus devoted a significant amount of space to the creation week. In the following two excerpts, Theophilus discussed and gives some additional comments on the fourth day of creation. According to Theophilus, scripture reports that God made the luminaries on the fourth day, not to make it clear that the entire creation account was allegorical, but rather to confound the worldly minded. Theophilus explains:

On the fourth day the luminaries were made; because God, who possesses foreknowledge, knew the follies of the vain philosophers, that they were going to say, that the things which grow on the earth are produced from the heavenly bodies, so as to exclude God. In order, therefore, that the truth might be obvious, the plants and seeds were produced prior to the heavenly bodies, for what is posterior cannot produce that which is prior.

Theophilus to Autolycus: Book II, Chapter 15.

Unlike many in our own day, Theophilus would be perplexed by an either/or literal versus typological dichotomy. For Theophilus, this would be a false dilemma. The literal and the typological were mutually inclusive. Having just discussed the literal meaning of the text, Theophilus goes on to explore the deeper theological meaning. He writes:

And these contain the pattern and type of a great mystery.

For the sun is a type of God, and the moon of man. And as the sun far surpasses the moon in power and glory, so far does God surpass man. And as the sun remains ever full, never becoming less, so does God always abide perfect, being full of all power, and understanding, and wisdom, and immortality, and all good. But the moon wanes monthly, and in a manner dies, being a type of man; then it is born again, and is crescent, for a pattern of the future resurrection.

In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth is the type of man, who needs light, that so there may be God, the Word, wisdom, man.

Wherefore also on the fourth day the lights were made. The disposition of the stars, too, contains a type of the arrangement and order of the righteous and pious, and of those who keep the law and commandments of God. For the brilliant and bright stars are an imitation of the prophets, and therefore they remain fixed, not declining, nor passing from place to place. And those which hold the second place in brightness, are types of the people of the righteous. And those, again, which change their position, and flee from place to place, which also are called planets, they too are a type of the men who have wandered from God, abandoning His law and commandments.

Theophilus to Autolycus: Book II, Chapter 15.

It is worth noting here Theophilus’ use of what many scholars believe is the earliest recorded mention of the word “Trinity” (Τριάδος). The manner in which he just casually drops the term into his discussion without much explanation also implies that it was already in common use at the time.