as such, except that which is spoken of Him the begetter of His own greatness, that is,
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. [Book VI.
that there are many sons of God, over and above the adoption of the creature, co-eternal with the Father, if He be the begetter of His own greatness, and goodness, and eternity, and omnipotence. Because it is easy to reply to this cavil, that it does not at all follow, because many things are named, that He should be the Father of many co-eternal soms ; just as it does not follow that He is the 'Father of two sons, because Christ is said to /be the power of God, and the wisdom of God. / For that certainly is the power which is the
Son together, as though both were one Word (for He is the Word in the same way as He is the Image, but the Father and Son are not both togetber the Image, but the Son alone is the Image of the Father: just as He is also the Son of the Father, for both together are not the Son). But in that which is added, ''And the Word was with God,'' there is much reason to understand thus: '' The Word," which is the Son alone, '* was with God," which is not the Father alone, but God the Father and the Son together.* But what wonder is there, if this can be said in the case of some twofold things widely different from each other? For what are so different as soul and body? Yet we can say the soul was with a man, that is, ina man; although the soul is not the body, and man is both soul and body together. So that what follows in the Scripture, ''And the Word was God," ? may be understood thus: The Word, which is not the Father, was God together with the Father. Are we then to say thus, that the Father is the begetter of His own greatness, that is, the begetter of His own power, or the begetter of His own wisdom; and that the Son is greatness, and power, and wisdom; but that the great, omnipotent, and wise God, is both together? How then God of God, Light of Light? For not both together are God of God, but only the Son is of God, that is to say, of the Father; nor are both together Light of Light, but the Son only is of Light, that is, of the Father. Unless, perhaps, it was in order to intimate and inculcate briefly that the Son is co-eternal with the Father, that it is said, God of God, and Light of Light, or anything else of the like kind: as if to say, This which is not the Son without the Father, of this which is not the Father without the Son; that is, this Light which is not Light without the Father, of that Light, vez. the Father, which is not Light without the Son; so that, when it is said, God which is not the Son without the Father, and of God which is not the Father without the Son, it may be perfectly understood that the Begetter did not precede that which He begot. And if this be so, then this alone cannot be said of them, namely, this or that of this or that, which they are not both together. Just as the Word cannot be said to be of the
' wisdom, and that is the wisdom which is the
- power; and in like manner, therefore, of the rest also; so that that is the greatness which is the power, or any other of those things which either have been mentioned above, or may hereafter be mentioned.
CHAP. 2.— WHAT IS SAID OF THE FATHER AND
SON TOGETHER, AND WHAT NOT.
3. But if nothing is-spoken of the Father as such, except that which is spoken of Him in relation to the Son, that is, that He is His father, or begetter, or beginning; and if also the begetter is by consequence a beginning to that which he begets of himself; but whatever else is spoken of Him is so spoken as wilh the Son, or rather zz the Son; whether that He is great with that greatness which He begat, or just with that justice which He begat, or good with that goodness which He begat, or powerful with that force or power which He begat, or wise with that wisdom which He begat: yet the Father is not said to be greatness itself, but the begetter of greatness; but the Son, as He is called the Son as such, is not so called wth the Father but in relation fo the Father, so is not great in and by himself, but wth the Father, of whom He is the greatness; and so also is called wise wth the Father, of whom He Himself is the wisdom; just as the Father is called wise zz¢h the Son, because He is wise with that wisdom which He begat; therefore the one is not called without the other, whatever they are called in respect to themselves; that is, whatever they are called that manifests their essential nature, both are so called together;—if these things are so, then the Father is not God without the Son, nor the Son God without the Father, but both together are God. And that which is said, '' In the beginning was the Word,'' means that the Word was in the Father, Or if ''In the beginning'' is intended to mean, Before all things; then in that which follows, ''And the Word was with God," the Son alone is understood to be the Word, not the Father and
1 [The term '' God," in the proposition, '' the Word was with God,' must refer to the Father, not to 'tthe Father and Son together,'' because the Son could not be said to be '' with' himself, St. John says that '' the word was God"' (eds). The absence of the article with 6e0s denotes the abstract deity, or the divine nature without reference to the persons init. Healso says that
the Word was with God "' (rov @eov). The presence of the article in this instance denotes one of the divine persons in the essence: namely, the Father, with whom the Word was from eternity, and upon whose '' bosom"' he was frometernity. (Johni, 18).—W. G. Las 2 Johni. x,