§4. The text John xvi. 15, shews clearly the essential relation of the Son to the Father.
As then the light from the Sun which illumines
the world could never be supposed, by men of sound mind, to do so
without the Sun, since the Sun’s light is united to the Sun by
nature; and as, if the Light were to say: I have
received from the Sun the power of illumining all things, and of giving
growth and strength to them by the heat that is in me, no one will be
mad enough to think that the mention of the Sun is meant to separate
him from what is his nature, namely the light; so piety would have us
perceive that the Divine Essence of the Word is united by nature to His
own Father. For the text before us will put our problem in the clearest
possible light, seeing that the Saviour said, ‘All things
whatsoever the Father hath are Mine;’ which shews that He is ever
with the Father. For ‘whatsoever He hath’ shews that the
Father wields the Lordship, while ‘are Mine’ shews the
inseparable union. It is necessary, then, that we should perceive that
in the Father reside Everlastingness, Eternity, Immortality. Now these
reside in Him not as adventitious attributes, but, as it were, in a
well-spring they reside in Him, and in the Son. When then you wish to
perceive what relates to the Son, learn what is in the Father, for this
is what you must believe to be in the Son. If then the Father is a
thing created or made, these qualities belong also to the Son. And if
it is permissible to say of the Father ‘there was once a time
when He was not,’ or ‘made of nothing,’ let these
words be applied also to the Son. But if it is impious to ascribe these
attributes to the Father, grant that it is impious also to ascribe them
to the Son. For what belongs to the Father, belongs to the Son. For he
that honoureth the Son, honoureth the Father that sent Him, and he that
receiveth the Son, receiveth the Father with Him, because he that hath
seen the Son hath seen the Father (Matt. x. 40; John xiv. 9). As then the Father is not a creature, so neither is the Son; and as it is not possible to say of Him ‘there was a time when He was not,’ nor ‘made of nothing,’ so it is not proper to say the like of the Son either. But rather, as the Father’s attributes are Everlastingness, Immortality, Eternity, and the being no creature, it follows that thus also we must think of the Son. For as it is written (Joh. v. 26), ‘As the Father hath life in Himself, so gave He to the Son also to have life in Himself.’ But He uses the word ‘gave’ in order to point to the Father who gives. As, again, life is in the Father, so also is it in the Son, so as to shew Him to be inseparable and everlasting. For this is why He speaks with exactness, ‘whatsoever the Father hath,’ in order namely that by thus mentioning the Father He may avoid being thought to be the Father Himself. For He does not say ‘I am the Father,’ but ‘whatsoever the Father hath.’