Athanasius of Alexandria, on Ps 89:1

“A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation.”

“It is plain then from the above that the Scriptures declare the Son's eternity; it is equally plain from what follows that the Arian phrases "he was not" and "before" and "when" are in the same Scriptures predicated of creatures. Moses, for instance, in his account of the generation of our world, says, "And every plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." And in Deuteronomy, "When the most High gave to the nations their inheritance." And the Lord said, "If you love me, you will rejoice because I said, I go to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass, you might believe." And concerning the creation he says in the words of Solomon, "Before the world existed, when there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth." And, "Before Abraham was, I am." And concerning Jeremiah he says, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." And David in the psalm says, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, you are God from everlasting and world without end." And in Daniel, "Susanna cried out with a loud voice and said, O everlasting God, you know the secrets, and know all things before they are." Thus it appears that the phrases "once was not," and "before it came to be," and "when" and the like, belong to things that have an origin and were created, which come out of nothing but are alien to the Word.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.