ready to pray for us to the Father. Could anything be more certain than our good
SERMON 217
ON THE WORDS OF THE LORD IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN:
THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE, THAT THEY SHOULD KNOW YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST WHOM YOU HAVE SENT:
AND ON THE TRINITY
Date:418l
Christ prays as man; he gives what he prays for as God
1. The Lord Jesus Christ, who listens to us with the Father, was also quite ready to pray for us to the Father. Could anything be more certain than our good fortune, when the one who prays for us is the very one who gives us what he prays for? Christ, you see, is man and God; he prays as man, he gives what he prays for as God. Now what you have to grasp is that he assigns everything to the Father for the simple reason that the Father is not from him, but he is from the Father. He gives everything to the fount from which he is derived. But he too is the fount bom of the Father; he is himself the fountain of life (Ps 36:9). So the Father as fount begot the fountain; fountain indeed begot fountain; but begetting fountain and begotten fountain are one fountain. Just as God begetting and God begotten, namely the Son bom of the Father, are one God.2 The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father; the Father is not from the Son, the Son is from the Father; but still Father and Son are one thing3 because of their one substance, and they are one God because of their inseparable divinity.
Accordingly, as regards what you heard him say, This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (Jn
17:3), see that you don't take it in such a way that you suppose the Father alone is true God, while the Son is not true God. We have, after all, divine testimony on this point, with John himself saying in his letter, That we may be in his true Son Jesus Christ; for he is true God and life everlasting (1 Jn 5:20). Hold onto that, that Christ is true God and life everlasting. So when you hear, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent, you should supply the words "the only true God"; that is, "that they may know you, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent, the only true God."