ACC ~ John 10 v38
THE FATHER IS IN AND WITH THE SON BY HIS WORKS
TERTULLIAN: It must therefore be by the works that the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father; and so it is by the works that we understand that the Father is one with the Son. All along he therefore strenuously aimed at this conclusion, that while they were of one power and essence, they should still be believed to be two. For otherwise, unless they were believed to be two, the Son could not possibly be believed to have any existence at all. AGAINST PRAXEAS 22. [1]
[1] ANF 3:618.
WORKS PROVE JESUSâ DIVINITY
ATHANASIUS: By the works he did in the body [he] showed himself to be not man but God the Word. But these things are said about him because the actual body that ate, was born and suffered belonged to none other but the Lord. And he had become a man; it was proper for these things to be predicated of him as a man in order to show that he really had a body, and not just one in appearance. But just as from these things he was known to be bodily present, so from the works he did in the body he made himself known to be the Son of GodâŚ. For just as, though invisible, he is known through the works of creation; so, having become man and being in the body unseen, it may be known from his works that he who can do these is not man but the power and Word of God. ON THE INCARNATION 18.1-3. [1]
[1] NPNF 2 4:46.
THE WORKS ARE NOT HIS OWN BUT THE FATHERâS
HILARY OF POITIERS: What room is there here for adoption, or for permission to use the name or for denial that he was born from the nature of God when the proof that he is Godâs Son is that he does the works that belong to the Fatherâs nature? No creature is equal or similar to God, no nature external to his is comparable in might to him. It is only the Son, born from himself, whom we can without blasphemy liken and make equal to himâŚ. The Son performs the Fatherâs works and on that ground demands that we should believe that he is Godâs Son. This is no claim of mere arrogance; for he bases it on his works and asks us to examine them. And he bears witness that these works are not his own but his Fatherâs. He would not have our thoughts distracted by the splendor of the deeds from the evidence for his birth. And because the Jews could not penetrate the mystery of the body that he had taken, the humanity born of Mary, and recognize the Son of God, he appeals to his deeds for confirmation of his right to the nameâŚ. First, he would not have them believe that he is the Son of God, except on the evidence of Godâs works, which he does. Next, if he does the works yet seems unworthy in his bodily humility to bear the divine name, he demands that they believe the works. Why should the mystery of his human birth hinder our recognition of his birth as God when he that is divinely born fulfills every divine task by the agency of that manhood that he has assumed? If we do not believe the man for the worksâ sake when he tells us that he is the Son of God, let us believe the works when theyâwhich are beyond a doubt the works of Godâare clearly done by the Son of God. For the Son of God possesses by virtue of his birth everything that is Godâs. Therefore the Sonâs work is the Fatherâs work because his birth has not excluded him from that nature that is his source and in which he abides, and because he has in himself that nature to which he owes his eternal existence. ON THE TRINITY 7.26. [1]
[1] NPNF 2 9:129-30*.
AN EQUAL IN AN EQUAL
AUGUSTINE: The Son does not say, âThe Father is in me, and I in him,â in the sense in which we say it. For if our thinking is in line with him, then we are in God. And if we live the way he wants us to, then God is in us. Believers, by participating in his grace and being illuminated by him, are said to be in him and he in us. But this is not how it is with the only begotten Son. He is in the Father, and the Father is in him as one who is equal is in him whose equal he is. In short, we can sometimes say, âWe are in God, and God is in us,â but can we say I and God are one? You are in God because God contains you. God is in you because you have become the temple of GodâŚ. Recognize the prerogative of the Lord and the privilege of the servant. The prerogative of the Lord is equality with the Father; the privilege of the servant is fellowship with the Savior. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 48.10. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 7:269*.
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