ACC ~ John 17 v10a

CHRIST EQUAL TO THE FATHER

AUGUSTINE: It is sufficiently apparent how it is that all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son because the Son himself is also God and, born of the Father, is the Father’s equal. It is not in the sense in which the elder son is told, “You are always with me, and all that I have is yours.” [1] For that was said of all those creatures that are inferior to the holy rational creature [2] and are certainly subordinate to the church. … But here it means that even the rational creature itself is included, which is subject only to God, so that all beneath the rational heavenly creature are also subject to him. Since then such a creature belongs to God the Father, it would not at the same time be the Son’s unless he were equal to the Father. … For it is impossible that the saints, of whom this is said, should belong to anyone except the one who created and sanctified them. And for the same reason, everything also that is theirs must of necessity be the Son’s also to whom they themselves belong. Since, then, they belong both to the Father and to the Son, they demonstrate the equality of those to whom they equally belong. But when he says, speaking of the Holy Spirit, “All things that the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you,” [3] he referred to those things that pertain to the divinity of the Father and in which he is equal to him in having all that he has because he adds, “he [the Holy Spirit] shall receive of mine.” And the Holy Spirit would never receive from a creature what was subject to the Father and the Son. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 107.2. [4]

[1] Lk 15:31.

[2] The holy angels, for example.

[3] Jn 16:15.

[4] CCL 36:613-14; NPNF 1 7:402-3**.

CHRIST CARRIES OUT HIS FATHER’S PLAN

BASIL THE GREAT: The Lord says “all mine are yours,” as if he were submitting his lordship over creation to the Father, but he also adds “yours are mine,” to show that the creating command came from the Father to him. The Son did not need help to accomplish his work, nor are we to believe that he received a separate commandment for each portion of his work. Such extreme inferiority would be entirely inadequate to his divine glory. Rather, the Word was full of his Father’s grace. He shines forth from the Father and accomplishes everything according to his parent’s plan. He is not different in essence, nor is he different in power from his Father, and if their power is equal, then their works are the same. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. [1] All things were made through him, [2] and all things were created through him and for him, [3] not as if he were discharging the service of a slave, but instead he creatively fulfills the will of his Father. ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 8.19. [4]

[1] 1 Cor 1:24.

[2] Jn 1:3.

[3] Col 1:16.

[4] OHS 39-40*.

THE SON DOES NOT DIVIDE GLORY WITH THE FATHER

GREGORY OF NYSSA: For if the Son were not of the same nature as the Father, how could he have had in himself that which was different? Or how could he have shown in himself what was dissimilar if the foreign and alien nature did not receive the stamp of what was of a different kind from itself? But [Eunomius] [1] says, “Neither does he have a divider of his glory.” Here he speaks truly even though he does not know what he is saying. For the Son does not divide the glory with the Father but has the glory of the Father in its entirety, even as the Father has all the glory of the Son. For this is what he said to the Father, “All mine are yours and yours are mine.” Notice how Christ also says that he will appear on the judgment day “in the glory of the Father,” [2] when he will render to every one according to his works. And by this phrase he shows the unity of nature that subsists between them. For as “there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon,” [3] because of the difference between the natures of those luminaries (since if both had the same glory we would think there was any difference in their nature), so he who foretold of himself that he would appear in the glory of the Father indicated by the identity of glory their community of nature. AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2.6. [4]

[1] An Arian opponent of orthodoxy

[2] Mk 8:38.

[3] 1 Cor 15:41.

[4] NPNF 2 5:107**.

ALL OF CREATION IS THE SON’S

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Angels did not create the world, but the only-begotten Son, begotten, as I have said, before all ages, by whom all things were made, [1] nothing having been excepted from his creation. … “For all mine are yours and yours are mine,” the Lord says in the Gospels. And this we may certainly know from the Old and New Testaments. For he who said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness” [2] was certainly speaking to someone present. But clearest of all are the psalmist’s words, “He spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created,” [3] as if the Father commanded and spoke and the Son made all things at the Father’s bidding. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 11.22-23. [4]

[1] See the Nicene Creed.

[2] Gen 1:26.

[3] Ps 148:5.

[4] NPNF 2 7:70**.

Jn