1
Aristides addresses the ruler and begins from the order of creation rather than from inherited civic cult.
2
He says that when he considered heaven, earth, sea, sun, moon, and the ordered world, he recognized that what is moved is moved by another and what is governed stands beneath a governor.
3
From this he reasons toward the One who moves and orders the whole without Himself being merely another moved thing inside it.
4
He describes this One as without beginning and without end, immortal, self-sufficient, complete, beyond deficiency, and not dependent upon offerings supplied by Adam.
5
The Creator is not male or female, not divided into bodily members, not contained by the heavens; rather visible and invisible things are contained within His rule.
6
He is not overcome by anger, ignorance, forgetfulness, rivalry, or any stronger adversary.
7
All beings stand in need of Him; He stands in need of none.
8
Aristides therefore states the practical beginning of his argument: fear the Creator and do not injure Adam.