20. Since, then, all things were made through Him, come to our help and tell us what it was that was made not without Him. That which was made in Him is life. That which was made in Him was certainly not made without Him; for that which was made in Him was also made through Him. All things were created in Him and through Him Cf. Col. i. 16.. They were created in Him I.e. potentially., for He was born as God the Creator. Again, nothing that was made in Him was made without Him, for the reason that God the Begotten was life, and was born as Life, not made life after His birth; for there are not two elements in Him, one inborn and one afterwards conferred. There is no interval in His case between birth and maturity. None of the things that were created in Him was made without Him, for He is the Life which made their creation possible. Moreover God, the Son of God, became God by virtue of His birth, not after He was born. Being born the Living from the Living, the True from the True, the Perfect from the Perfect, He was born in full possession of His powers. He needed not to learn in after time what His birth was, but was conscious of His Godhead by the very fact that He was born as God of God. I and the Father are One St. John x. 30., are the words of the Only-begotten Son of the Unbegotten. It is the voice of the One God proclaiming Himself to be Father and Son; Father speaking in the Son and Son in the Father. Hence also He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father also Ib. xiv. 9.; hence All that the Father hath, He hath given to the Son Ib. xvi. 15.; hence As the Father hath life in Himself so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself Ib. v. 26.; hence No one knoweth the Father save the Son, nor the Son save the Father St. Matt. xi. 27.; hence In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. ii. 9. The argument of §§ 18–20 is not easy. They begin with the possible objection to All things were made through Him, that this would include the Father among the Son’s creations. The answer is found in the following words, Without Him was not anything made. These show that the Son was not alone in His work; the Father is co-existent. But they raise another difficulty. What if the Father were the sole agent in creation, the Son only His inseparable Companion, yet taking no share in the work? The answer is found in the preceding words, All things were made through Him, amplified and explained by St. Paul when He says that it was through Him and in Him. In Him, because when the Son, the future Creator, was born, the world was potentially created; in Him also because He is Life, and thus the condition of all existence. Again, the truth of the words, All things were made through Him, is shewn by the manner of His birth. It was instantaneous, and He was born endowed with all His powers. We may say therefore that He was the author of His own existence; All things were made through Him, with the necessary exception of the Father..