Augustine explains the word somewhat otherwise. For he interprets the expression "said" in this manner. "Said;" that is, it was so defined from all eternity by the word of the Father; it was so appointed of God. Because the Son is the mind, the image and the wisdom of God. But the true and simple meaning is to be retained. "God said;" that is, God by the Word made and created all things. This meaning the apostle also confirms when he says, "By whom also he made the worlds," Heb. 1:2. And again, "All things were made by Him and for Him," Col. 1:16. And within these limits ought to be confined every thought of the creation; our duty is to proceed no further; if we do, we fall headlong into certain darkness and destruction. Let these facts therefore be sufficient for us in any question concerning the world and its creation. With respect to the material of the world that it was made out of nothing; as the light was made out of that which was not light, so the whole heavens and the whole earth were made out of nothing; as the Apostle says, "He calleth those things that are not, as though they were," Rom. 4:17. With respect to the instrument or medium which God used, it was his omnipotent word which was with God from the beginning, and as Paul speaks, "before the foundation of the world," Eph. 1:4. Therefore when Paul says in Col. 1:16, "All things were made by him," for he uses the preposition, after the Hebrew manner, for per; the Hebrews thus use their letter BETH; this and all similar passages are taken from this verse of Moses, who is here speaking of the Word uttered, by which anything is commanded or demanded. This Word was God, and was an omnipotent Word, spoken in the divine essence. No one heard this Word uttered but God himself; that is, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. While it was uttered the light was generated; not out of the material of the Word nor out of the material of the speaker, but out of darkness itself. The Father spoke within, the work was immediately wrought without, and the light existed. In the same manner also were all things afterwards created. These facts, I say, concerning the manner of the creation are amply sufficient for us.