Chapter
11.—By What Rule in the Scriptures It is Understood that the Son
is Now Equal and Now Less.
22. Wherefore, having mastered this
rule for interpreting the Scriptures concerning the Son of God,
that we are to distinguish in them what relates to the form of God,
in which He is equal to the Father, and what to the form of a
servant which He took, in which He is less than the Father; we
shall not be disquieted by apparently contrary and mutually
repugnant sayings of the sacred books. For both the Son and the
Holy Spirit, according to the form of God, are equal to the Father,
because neither of them is a creature, as we have already shown:
but according to the form of a servant He is less than the Father,
because He Himself has said, “My Father is greater than I;”
120
and He is
less than Himself, because it is said of Him, He emptied
Himself;”
121
and He is
less than the Holy Spirit, because He Himself says, “Whosoever
speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him;
but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be
forgiven Him.”
122
And in the
Spirit too He wrought miracles, saying: “But if I with the Spirit
of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon
you.”
123
And in
Isaiah He says,—in the lesson which He Himself read in the
synagogue, and showed without a scruple of doubt to be fulfilled
concerning Himself,—“The Spirit of the Lord God,” He says,
“is upon me: because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek He hath sent me to proclaim liberty to the
captives,”
124
etc.: for
the doing of which things He therefore declares Himself to be
“sent,” because the Spirit of God is upon Him. According to the
form of God, all things were made by Him;
125
according to the form of a servant,
He was Himself made of a woman, made under the law.
126
According to
the form of God, He and the Father are one;
127
according to the form of a servant,
He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent
Him.
128
According to
the form of God, “As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He
given to the Son to have life in Himself;”
129
according to the form of a servant,
His “soul is sorrowful even unto death;” and, “O my
Father,” He says, “if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me.”
130
According to
the form of God, “He is the True God, and eternal life;”
131
according to
the form of a servant, “He became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross.”
132
—23. According to the form of God,
all things that the Father hath are His,
133
and “All mine,” He says, “are
Thine, and Thine are mine;”
134
according to the form of a servant,
the doctrine is not His own, but His that sent Him.
135
120
John xiv. 28
121
Phil. ii. 7
122
Matt. xii. 32
123
Matt. xii. 28
124
Isa. lxi. 1
;
Luke iv. 18,
19
125
John i. 3
126
Gal. iv. 4
127
John x. 30
128
John vi. 38
129
John v. 26
. [In
communicating the Divine Essence to the Son, in eternal generation,
the essence is communicated with all its attributes. Self existence
is one of these attributes. In this way, the Father “gives to the
Son to have life in himself,” when he makes common (
κοινωνεῖν
), between Himself and the Son, the one Divine
Essence.—W.G.T.S.]
130
Matt. xxvi. 38, 39
131
1 John v. 20
132
Phil. ii. 8
133
John xvii. 15
134
John xvii. 10
135
John vii. 16