ACC ~ John 1 v3a
CREATING WHILE IN THE BOSOM OF THE FATHER
PRUDENTIUS:
Though you came from the mouth of God,
Born as his Word on earth below,
Yet as his Wisdom you lived
Forever in the Father’s heart.
This Wisdom uttered made the sky,
The sky and light and all besides;[1]
All by the Word’s almighty power
Were fashioned, for the Word was God.
But when the universe was formed
And ordered by unchanging laws,
The Cause and architect divine
In the Father’s bosom still remained,[2]
Until the slow revolving years
In centuries at length had passed,[3]
And he himself condescended to come
Down to the world grown old in sin….
But such destruction of humankind
The heart of Christ could not endure;
And lest his Father’s handiwork,
Unvindicated, should be lost,
He clothed himself in mortal flesh,
That by arising from the tomb
He might unlock the chains of death
And bring man to his Father’s house.
This is your natal day, on which
The high Creator sent you forth,[4]
And gave to you a form of clay,
Uniting flesh with his own Word.
HYMNS FOR EVERY DAY 11, A HYMN FOR CHRISTMAS DAY.[5]
THE SON COMPARED WITH CREATED THINGS
THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Intending to make the divinity of the Only Begotten clearer, [the Evangelist] wanted to show the difference [of the Son] not only by indicating his dignity but also by demonstrating that he has no participation with the created order. He says, “[The Word] was with God in the beginning,” and “All things were made through him.” By saying this, he has opposed [1] himself to “all things made.” He was, he says, in the beginning with God, all creatures were made through him. And clearly he made a comparison with “in the beginning was,” and its opposite, “all things were made through him.” Therefore he was not made, because in the beginning he was; they were made because they did not exist before. He himself is the explanation of the precedents. He shows what he means through the words “In the beginning was,” clearly asserting his eternity. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 1.1.2-3. [2]
[1] Contrasted himself with.
[2] CSCO 4 3:24.
JOHN MOVES BEYOND MOSES AND CREATION TO THE CREATOR
CHRYSOSTOM: Moses in the beginning of the history and writings of the Old Testament speaks to us of the objects of sense and enumerates them to us at length. For “in the beginning,” he says, “God made the heaven and the earth,” and then he adds that light was created, and a second heaven and the stars, the various kinds of living creatures, and (that we may not delay by going through particulars) everything else. But this Evangelist, cutting to the quick, includes both these things and the things that are above these in a single sentence. He does this because they were known to his hearers and because he is hurrying on to a greater subject. His treatise is not so much about the works as about the Creator and him who produced them all. And therefore Moses, though he has selected the smaller portion of the creation (for he has spoken nothing to us concerning the invisible powers), dwells on these things; [1] while John, as hurrying to ascend to the Creator himself, passes over both of these things and those on which Moses was silent, having comprised them in one little saying: “All things were made by him.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 5.1. [2]
[1] The visible creation.
[2] NPNF 1 14:21*.
THE WORD WAS NOT MADE
AUGUSTINE: Let someone of the unbelieving Arians come forward now and say that the Word of God was made. [1] How can it happen that the Word of God was made when God made all things through the Word? If even the Word of God itself was made, through what other Word was it made? If you say that there is a Word of the Word, through which that [Word] was made, I say that this itself is the only Son of God. If you deny there is a Word of the Word, grant that that through which all things were made was itself not made. For that through which all things were made could not be made through itself. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1.11.1. [2]
[1] See also Ambrose’s refutation, On the Christian Faith 1.14.88.
[2] FC 78:50. On the Spirit not being created, see Chrysostom below on Jn 1:4.
THE WORD IS OF ONE SUBSTANCE WITH THE FATHER
AUGUSTINE: And if he was not made, then he is not a creature; but if he is not a creature, then he is of the same substance with the Father. For all substance that is not God is creature, and all that is not creature is God. [1] And if the Son is not of the same substance with the Father, then he is a substance that was made; and if he is a substance that was made, then all things were not made by him; but “all things were made by him,” therefore he is of one and the same substance with the Father. And so, he is not only God but also very God. ON THE TRINITY 1.6 [9]. [2]
[1] Augustine here postulates the theistic doctrines of two substances—infinite and finite; in contradiction to the postulate of pantheism, that there is only one substance—the infinite.
[2] NPNF 1 3:21-22*.
IS CHRIST ONLY AN AGENT OF CREATION?
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The fact that “all things were made through him,” will not, I think, cause any damage concerning what is said about the Son. For the Son is not introduced here as an employee or servant of someone else’s will just because it says that the things that exist were made through him, implying that he should be no longer conceived of as being by nature Creator. Nor is he someone who was given the power of creation by someone else, but rather being himself alone the strength of God the Father, as Son, as only begotten, he works all things, the Father and the Holy Spirit co-working and coexisting with him. For all things are from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. And we conceive of the Father as coexisting with the Son, not as though he were powerless to bring anything into existence but rather as one who is wholly in [the Son] because of the unchangeableness of essence. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1.5. [1]
[1] LF 43:52**.
THE WORD “THROUGH” [1] SHOULD NOT OVERLY PERPLEX US
CHRYSOSTOM: Paul, inspired by the same grace, said, “For by him were all things created.” [2] … But if you think that the expression “through” is a mark of inferiority (as making Christ an instrument), listen to what [David] says: “You, Lord, in the beginning, have laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” [3] He says of the Son what is said of the Father in his character of Creator. This is something he would not have said unless he had thought of him as he thought of a Creator and yet not subservient to any. And if the expression “through him” is used here, it is for no other reason than to prevent anyone from thinking that Son is unbegotten. For listen to Christ himself tell how, with respect to the title of Creator, he is nothing inferior to the Father: “As the Father raises up the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom he will.” [4] If now in the Old Testament it is said of the Son, “You, Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth,” his title of Creator is plain. But if you say that the prophet spoke this of the Father and that Paul attributed to the Son what was said of the Father, even so the conclusion is the same. For Paul would not have decided that the same expression suited the Son, unless he had been very confident that between Father and Son there was an equality of honor. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 5.2. [5]
[1] Gk dia, which with the genitive can also mean “by.”
[2] Col 1:16.
[3] Ps 102:25 (101:26 LXX).
[4] Jn 5:21.
[5] NPNF 1 14:22-23**.
THE SON IS BY NO MEANS SEPARATED FROM THE FATHER
AMBROSE: He himself who calls the Son of God the maker even of heavenly things has also plainly said that all things were made in the Son, that in the renewal of his works he might by no means separate the Son from the Father but unite him to the Father. ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 3.11.83. [1]
[1] NPNF 2 10:147*. See also his Hexameron 1.29 and Augustine Sermon 52.4.
Jn
[1]Prov 8:28-30.
[2]Jn 1:18.
[3]See Virgil Aeneid 6.748.
[4]Lat te spiravit, literally,“breathed you forth.”
[5]FC 43:78-80*.