ACC ~ John 14 v10a

THE MUTUAL INDWELLING IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE

HILARY OF POITIERS: The words of the Lord, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me,” confuse many minds, and this is only natural since the powers of human reason cannot provide them with any intelligible meaning. It seems impossible that one object should be both within and without another, or that—since it is laid down that the beings of whom we are treating, although they do not dwell apart, retain their separate existence and condition—these beings can reciprocally contain one another so that one should permanently envelope and be permanently enveloped by the other whom yet he envelopes. This is a problem that human wisdom will never solve, nor will human research ever find an analogy for this condition of divine existence. But God can be what human beings cannot understand. ON THE TRINITY 3.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:62**.

FATHER AND SON ARE IN EACH OTHER

GREGORY OF NYSSA: The Lord speaks the truth who says, “I am in the Father and the Father in me”—plainly, the one in his entirety is in the other in his entirety. The Father does not have an overwhelming presence in the Son. The Son is not deficient in the Father. And the Lord also says that the Son should be honored. [1] And, “The one who has seen me has seen the Father,” and, “No one fully knows the Father except the Son.” [2] In all of this, there is no hint … of any variation in glory or of essence or anything else between the Father and the Son. AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2.4. [3]

[1] Jn 5:23.

[2] Mt 11:27.

[3] NPNF 2 5:105*.

THE SON IS GOD’S ENVOY ACCORDING TO NATURE

AMBROSIASTER: For the Son is the envoy of God the Father in accordance with nature. And so he says … “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” For the Father is understood through this to be in the Son, because their substance is one. For where there is unity, there is no differentiation. And they are interchangeable, because both their appearance and likeness are the same, with the consequence that he who sees the Son is said to have seen the Father too. As the Lord himself says, “He who has seen me has seen the Father too.” Therefore it is correct to say, God was in Christ. COMMENTARY ON 2 CORINTHIANS 5.19-21.2. [1]

[1] CSEL 81 2:237.

THE SON IS NOT FALSELY CONCEALING THAT HE IS THE FATHER

HILARY OF POITIERS: In no other words than these that the Son has used can the fact be stated that Father and Son, being alike in nature, are inseparable. The Son, who is the way and the truth and the life, [1] is not deceiving us by some theatrical transformation of names and aspects when he, while wearing manhood, styles himself the Son of God. He is not falsely concealing the fact that he is God the Father. [2] He is not a single person who hides his features under a mask so that we might imagine that two are present. He is not a solitary being, now posing as his own Son, and then again calling himself the Father, adorning the one unchanging nature with varying names. … It is the height of impiety to believe that Father and Son are two gods. It is sacrilege to assert that Father and Son are singularly God. [3] It is blasphemy to deny the unity, consisting in sameness of kind, of God from God. ON THE TRINITY 7.39. [4]

[1] Jn 14:6.

[2] Sabellianism.

[3] Lat singularem Deum. Hilary is still asserting the oneness of God. Here, however, he is also guarding against those who denigrate the distinction of person within the monarchy of God. For example, the Sabellians spoke of Father, Son and Spirit as different modes or manifestations of the one God.

[4] NPNF 2 9:134-35*; CCL 62:306-7.

NO SEPARATION OR DIVISION

HILARY OF POITIERS: That the Father dwells in the Son proves that the Father is not isolated and alone. That the Father works through the Son proves that the Son is not an alien or a stranger. There cannot be one person only, for he speaks not of himself. And, conversely, they cannot be separate and divided when the one speaks through the voice of the other. These words are the revelation of the mystery of their unity. ON THE TRINITY 7.40. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:135*; CCL 62:308-9.