{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/204/2040171.htm","path":"chr/ecf/204/2040171.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/204/2040171.htm","text":"\u00a74. The text John xvi. 15, shews clearly the essential relation of the Son to the Father.\nAs then the light from the Sun which illumines the world could never be supposed, by men of sound mind, to do so without the Sun, since the Sun\u2019s light is united to the Sun by nature; and as, if the Light 442 were to say: I have received from the Sun the power of illumining all things, and of giving growth and strength to them by the heat that is in me, no one will be mad enough to think that the mention of the Sun is meant to separate him from what is his nature, namely the light; so piety would have us perceive that the Divine Essence of the Word is united by nature to His own Father. For the text before us will put our problem in the clearest possible light, seeing that the Saviour said, \u2018All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine;\u2019 which shews that He is ever with the Father. For \u2018whatsoever He hath\u2019 shews that the Father wields the Lordship, while \u2018are Mine\u2019 shews the inseparable union. It is necessary, then, that we should perceive that in the Father reside Everlastingness, Eternity, Immortality. Now these reside in Him not as adventitious attributes, but, as it were, in a well-spring they reside in Him, and in the Son. When then you wish to perceive what relates to the Son, learn what is in the Father, for this is what you must believe to be in the Son. If then the Father is a thing created or made, these qualities belong also to the Son. And if it is permissible to say of the Father \u2018there was once a time when He was not,\u2019 or \u2018made of nothing,\u2019 let these words be applied also to the Son. But if it is impious to ascribe these attributes to the Father, grant that it is impious also to ascribe them to the Son. For what belongs to the Father, belongs to the Son. For he that honoureth the Son, honoureth the Father that sent Him, and he that receiveth the Son, receiveth the Father with Him, because he that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father (Matt. 10:40, John 14:9). As then the Father is not a creature, so neither is the Son; and as it is not possible to say of Him \u2018there was a time when He was not,\u2019 nor \u2018made of nothing,\u2019 so it is not proper to say the like of the Son either. But rather, as the Father\u2019s attributes are Everlastingness, Immortality, Eternity, and the being no creature, it follows that thus also we must think of the Son. For as it is written (Joh. v. 26), \u2018As the Father hath life in Himself, so gave He to the Son also to have life in Himself.\u2019 But He uses the word \u2018gave\u2019 in order to point to the Father who gives. As, again, life is in the Father, so also is it in the Son, so as to shew Him to be inseparable and everlasting. For this is why He speaks with exactness, \u2018whatsoever the Father hath,\u2019 in order namely that by thus mentioning the Father He may avoid being thought to be the Father Himself. For He does not say \u2018I am the Father,\u2019 but \u2018whatsoever the Father hath.\u2019","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: On Luke x. 22. (Illud Omnia, &c.): The text John xvi. 15, shews clearly the essential relation of the Son to the Father.","type":"page"}