man becomes
righteous and a partaker of the highest bliss. This knowledge, which has
the character of divine instruction,[421] rests on faith in the divine
revelation. This revelation has the nature and power of redemption in so
far as the fact is undoubted that without it men cannot free themselves
from the tyranny of the demons, whilst believers in revelation are
enabled by the Spirit of God to put them to flight. Accordingly, the
dogmas of Christian philosophy theoretically contain the monotheistic
cosmology, and practically the rules for a holy life, which appears as a
renunciation of the world and as a new order of society.[422] The goal
is immortal life, which consists in the full knowledge and contemplation
of God. The dogmas of revelation lie between the cosmology and ethics;
they are indefinitely expressed so far as they contain the idea of
salvation; but they are very precisely worded in so far as they
guarantee the truth of the cosmology and ethics.

1. The dogmas which express the knowledge of God and the world are
dominated by the fundamental idea that the world as the created,
conditioned, and transient is contrasted with something self-existing,
unchangeable and eternal, which is the first cause of the world. This
self-existing Being has none of the attributes which belong to the
world; hence he is exalted above every name and has in himself no
distinctions. This implies, first, the unity and uniqueness of this
eternal Being; secondly, his spiritual nature, for everything bodily is
subject to change; and, finally, his perfection, for the self-existent
and eternal requires nothing. Since, however, he is the cause of all
being, himself being unconditioned, he is the fulness of all being or
true being itself (Tatian 5: [Greek: katho pasa dunamis oraton te kai
aoraton autos hupostasis en, sun auto ta panta]). As the living and
spiritual Being he reveals himself in free creations, which make known
his omnipotence and wisdom, i.e., his operative reason. These creations
are, moreover, a proof of the goodness of the Deity, for they can be no
result of necessities, in so far as God is in himself perfect. Just
because he is perfect, the Eternal Essence is also the Father of all
virtues, in so far as he contains no admixture of what is defective.
These virtues include both the goodness which manifests itself in his
creations, and the righteousness which gives to the creature what
belongs to him, in accordance with