His activity is his will — and his essence is to will all things to be
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ἡ γὰρ τούτου ἐνέργεια ἡ θέλησίς ἐστι καὶ ἡ οὐσία αὐτοῦ τὸ θέλειν πάντα εἶναι. τί γάρ ἐστι θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ καὶ τὸ ἀγαθόν, ἢ τὸ τῶν πάντων εἶναι οὐκέτι ὄντων ἀλλὰ ὕπαρξιν αὐτὴν τῶν ὄντων; τοῦτο ὁ θεός, τοῦτο ὁ πατήρ, τοῦτο τὸ ἀγαθόν, ᾧ μηδὲν πρόσεστι τῶν ἄλλων. ὁ μὲν γὰρ κόσμος καὶ ὁ ἥλιος, τῶν κατὰ μετουσίαν καὶ αὐτὸς πατήρ, οὐκέτι δὲ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τοῖς ζῴοις ἴσως αἴτιός ἐστιν, οὐδὲ τοῦ ζῆν. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχει, πάντως μέντοι ἀναγκαζόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θελήματος, οὗ χωρὶς οὔτε εἶναι οὔτε γενέσθαι
For his activity is his will, and his essence is to will all things to be. For what is God and Father and the Good, but the being of all — no longer of things that are, but the very existence itself of the things that are? This is God, this the Father, this the Good, to which nothing else belongs. For the cosmos and the sun, being a father by participation, is himself also a father — yet is not, perhaps, a cause of the Good to living things, nor of life. And if this is so, he is nonetheless altogether constrained by the good will, apart from which neither to be nor to come to be is possible.
Hermes presses the identity further. God's activity IS his will, and his very essence is to will all things to be. For what is God and Father and the Good but the being of all that is — not of things that no longer are, but the very existence (ὕπαρξις) of the things that are? This is God, this the Father, this the Good, to which nothing else belongs. The cosmos and the sun are fathers too, but only by participation (κατὰ μετουσίαν) — and not, perhaps, causes of the Good or of life to living things; and if they are, they are wholly constrained by the good will, apart from which neither being nor becoming is possible.
Here 'The Key' turns its own lock: 'his activity is his will (ἡ… ἐνέργεια ἡ θέλησίς ἐστι), and his essence is to will all things to be (ἡ οὐσία αὐτοῦ τὸ θέλειν πάντα εἶναι).' This is one of the boldest sentences in the Hermetica. In most theology God's will is something God has; here God's will is what God is — willing-all-to-be is not an act God performs but the very content of the divine essence. There is no gap between God's being and God's giving of being. The formula answers a question the tradition kept asking (why is there anything at all?): things are because God's essence is the willing of their being.
The definition of God that follows is deliberately strange in the Greek: God is 'the being of all — no longer of things that are (οὐκέτι ὄντων), but the very existence (ὕπαρξιν) itself of the things that are.' The distinction is between beings (the many things that exist) and Being/existence itself (ὕπαρξις), which is what God is — not one more entity in the inventory but the sheer is-ness underlying the inventory. Then the careful demotion of the visible 'gods': the cosmos and the sun are 'fathers' too, but only 'by participation (κατὰ μετουσίαν)' — a Platonic term. They generate, but they are not the source of the Good or of life; and even their generative work is 'constrained (ἀναγκαζόμενος) by the good will' of God, 'apart from which neither being nor becoming is possible.' The sun, worshipped across the ancient world as the giver of life, is here quietly subordinated: it fathers by permission, not by right.
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