|
2. Wherefore, although we hold most firmly, concerning our Lord
Jesus Christ, what may be called the canonical rule, as it is both
disseminated through the Scriptures, and has been demonstrated by
learned and Catholic handlers of the same Scriptures, namely, that
the Son of God is both understood to be equal to the Father according
to the form of God in which He is, and less than the Father
according to the form of a servant which He took; in which form He
was found to be not only less than the Father, but also less than the
Holy Spirit; and not only so, but less even than Himself, not than
Himself who was, but than Himself who is; because, by taking the
form of a servant, He did not lose the form of God, as the
testimonies of the Scriptures taught us, to which we have referred in
the former book: yet there are some things in the sacred text so put as
to leave it ambiguous to which rule they are rather to be referred;
whether to that by which we understand the Son as less, in that He
has taken upon Him the creature, or to that by which we understand
that the Son is not indeed less than, but equal to the Father, but
yet that He is from Him, God of God, Light of light. For we
call the Son God of God; but the Father, God only; not of God.
Whence it is plain that the Son has another of whom He is, and to
whom He is Son; but that the Father has not a Son of whom He is,
but only to whom He is father. For every son is what he is, of his
father, and is son to his father; but no father is what he is, of his
son, but is father to his son.
3. Some things, then, are so put in the Scriptures concerning the
Father and the Son, as to intimate the unity and equality of their
substance; as, for instance, "I and the Father are one;" and,
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God;" and whatever ether texts there are of the kind. And
some, again, are so put that they show the Son as less on account of
the form of a servant, that is, of His having taken upon Him the
creature of a changeable and human substance; as, for instance, that
which says, "For my Father is greater than I;" and, "The
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son." For a little after he goes on to say, "And hath given Him
authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man."
And further, some are so put, as to show Him at that time neither as
less nor as equal, but only to intimate that He is of the Father;
as, for instance, that which says, "For as the Father hath life in
Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;"
and that other: "The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He
seeth the Father do." For if we shall take this to be therefore so
said, because the Son is less in the form taken from the creature, it
will follow that the Father must have walked on the water, or opened
the eyes with clay and spittle of some other one born blind, and have
done the other things which the Son appearing in the flesh did among
men, before the Son did them; in order that He might be able to do
those things, who said that the Son was not able to do anything of
Himself, except what He hath seen the Father do. Yet who, even
though he were mad, would think this? It remains, therefore, that
these texts are so expressed, because the life of the Son is
unchangeable as that of the Father is, and yet He is of the Father;
and the working of the Father and of the Son is indivisible, and yet
so to work is given to the Son from Him of whom He Himself is, that
is, from the Father; and the Son so sees the Father, as that He
is the Son in the very seeing Him. For to be of the Father, that
is, to be born of the Father. is to Him nothing else than to see the
Father; and to see Him working, is nothing else than to work with
Him: but therefore not from Himself, because He is not from
Himself. And, therefore, those things which "He sees the Father
do, these also doeth the Son likewise," because He is of the
Father. For He neither does other things in like manner, as a
painter paints other pictures, in the same way aS he sees others to
have been painted by another man; nor the same things in a different
manner, as the body expresses the same letters, which the mind has
thought; but "whatsoever things," saith He, "the Father doeth,
these same things also doeth the Son likewise." He has said both
these same things," and "likewise;" and hence the working of both
the Father and the Son is indivisible and equal, but it is from the
Father to the Son. Therefore the Son cannot do anything of
Himself, except what He seeth the Father do. From this rule,
then, whereby the Scriptures so speak as to mean, not to set forth
one as less than another, but only to show which is of which, some
have drawn this meaning, as if the Son were said to be less. And
some among ourselves who are more unlearned and least instructed in
these things, endeavoring to take these texts according to the form of
a servant, and so mis-interpreting them, are troubled. And to
prevent this, the rule in question is to be observed whereby the Son
is not less, but it is simply intimated that He is of the Father, in
which words not His inequality but His birth is declared.
|
|