Chapter 6. What Is the Meaning of “No One Knows the Father Except the Son,” and on What Occasions Did the Son Reveal the
Chapter 6
1. To explain, when the Lord manifested himself to the disciples as the Word who makes known the Father and rebuked the Jews who thought that they possessed God, though they even set aside the Word through whom God is known, he said, No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal. Both Matthew and Luke wrote the same thing, and Mark did too. John passed up this passage. Now these men who wish to be wiser than the apostles write it thus, No one knew the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father, and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal; namely, they interpret it as if the true God had not been known by anyone before our Lord’s coming. They assert, too, that the God who was heralded by the Prophets is not the Father of Christ.
2. Now, if Christ began to exist only when he came as man, and if [only] from the time of Tiberius Caesar the Father had been mindful of providing for men, and if it were shown that his Word was not always with his handiwork, not even then was it necessary to preach another god but to investigate the reasons for so great carelessness and neglect. For there should be no such question, one that would grow to such proportions as even to change God and destroy our faith in the Maker who nourishes us by means of his creation. For just as we direct our faith toward the Son, so too we ought to have a firm and unchangeable love toward the Father. Well does Justin say in his book Against Marcion: “I would not have believed the Lord himself, if he had announced any other than our Maker and Creator and Nourisher. But since the Only-begotten Son came to us from the one God who made this world and fashioned us, and contains and administers all things—thus recapitulating in himself his own handiwork—my faith towards him is firm, and my love toward the Father is unchangeable, since God grants us both.”
3. For neither can anyone know the Father, unless through the Word of God, that is, unless the Son reveals; nor the Son, unless through the good pleasure of the Father. But the Son fulfills the good pleasure of the Father; for the Father does the sending, but the Son is sent and comes. The Word of the Father himself, on the one hand, knows the Father who, as far as we are concerned, is invisible; and since he is ineffable, the Son declares him to us. On the other hand, the Father alone knows his Word. That both of these are so, the Lord revealed to us. For this reason the Son reveals the knowledge of the Father by the manifestation of himself, because the manifestation of the Son is the knowledge of the Father, since all things are manifested by the Word. In order, therefore, that we might know that the Son who came is the one who brings the knowledge of the Father to those who believe in him, he said to the disciples: No one knows the Son except the Father, nor the Father except the Son, and to whomever the Son reveals. Thereby he taught himself and the Father what he is, that we might not accept any other Father except the one who is revealed by the Son.
4. But this (Father) is the Maker of heaven and earth, as is shown from his [the Lord’s] words; he is not a false Father who was thought up by Marcion or Valentinus or Basilides or Carpocrates or Simon, or the rest of the falsely called Gnostics. To be sure, none of these was God’s Son, but Christ Jesus Our Lord is, against whom they level their contrary teaching by daring to preach an unknown God. But they ought to hear it said against themselves: How is he unknown if he is known by them? For whatever is known by even a few is not unknown! The Lord, however, did not say that the Father and the Son could not be known at all; for then his coming would have been useless. For why did he come hither? Was it perhaps to tell us, “Don’t look for God, he is unknown; you will not find him,” as the disciples of Valentinus falsely assert that Christ said to their Aeons? But what a vain assertion! The Lord taught us that no one can know God unless God teaches him; that is, without God, God cannot be known; on the other hand, [the Lord taught] that it is the Father’s will that God should be known. For those to whom the Son reveals him know him.
5. For this purpose the Father revealed the Son, that through him he [Father] might be manifested to all and might receive into imperishability and eternal rest the just who believe in him. Now, to believe in him is to do his will. But he will justly shut up in the darkness those who do not believe and so shun his light and of their own accord choose the darkness. The Father, therefore, has revealed himself to all by making his Word visible to all; and, in turn, the Word, since he may be seen by all, has shown the Father and the Son to all. And so the just judgment of God will be upon all who in like manner saw but did not believe in like manner.
6. It is by creation itself that the Word reveals God the Creator; and by the world, the Lord and Maker of the world; and by the handiwork, the Artificer who fashioned it; and by the Son, the Father who begot the Son. All speak of these things in the same manner, but all do not believe them in the same manner. The Word, moreover, announced himself and the Father in like manner through the Law and the Prophets, and all the people heard in like manner; but not all believed in like manner. Besides, through the Word himself, when he had become visible and tangible, the Father was manifested, although all did not in like manner believe in him; but all saw the Father in the Son. For the Father is whatever is invisible of the Son, while the Son is whatever is visible of the Father. For this reason, when he was present, all addressed him as Christ and named him God. Why, even the demons, on seeing the Son, said, We know who you are, Holy One of God. The Devil, too, when he saw him and tempted him, said, If you are the Son of God. So, all saw and spoke of the Son and of the Father, but not all believed.
7. Indeed, it was necessary that Truth should receive testimony from all and be a judgment for salvation for believers but for condemnation for disbelievers, that all might be judged justly. [It was necessary,] moreover, that faith in the Father and the Son be witnessed to by all, that is, be strengthened by all by receiving testimony from all—from those of the household [of the faith] because they are friends, and from foreigners because they are enemies. Really, the true and incontrovertible test is that which bears the seals of testimony from even the enemies. For they had been convinced of the present matter by a clear vision of him, both testifying to him and pointing him out. Later, however, they broke out into enmity and made accusations and held that their own testimony is not true.
There was, therefore, not one who was known and another who said, No one knows the Father; but one and the same, to whom the Father has made all things subject. And he receives testimony from all, that he is truly man and truly God from the Father, from the Spirit, from the angels, from creation itself, from men, from the rebel spirits, from the demons, even from the Enemy, and last of all from death itself. The Son, however, administering all things for the Father, works from the beginning even to the end. Without him no one can know God. For the Son is the knowledge of the Father, but the knowledge of the Son is in the Father, and it has been revealed through the Son. For this reason the Lord said, No one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son may reveal. “May reveal” was not said only for the future, as if the Word began to manifest the Father then when he was born of Mary; it was meant in general for all time. For the Son, being present with his handiwork from the beginning, reveals the Father to all to whom the Father wills and when he wills and how he wills. And so in all things and through all things there is one God the Father, and one Word, and one Spirit, and one salvation for all who believe in him.