About Sons

Sed Ecclesiastica fide et Dei Patris et David idem atque unus est Filius; quia incarnationis Dei mysterium universae salus est creaturae; secundum quod scriptum est: Ut sine Deo pro omnibus gustaret mortem, id est, quod creatura omnis sine passione aliqua divinitatis Dominici sanguinis redimenda sit pretio, ut alibi habet: Omnis creatura liberabitur a servitute corruptionis. Aliud est igitur secundum divinam substantiam, aliud secundum susceptionem carnis Filium nominari: nam secundum generationem divinam Deo Patri aequalis est Filius, et secundum susceptionem corporis Deo Patri servus est; quia formam servi, inquit, accepit: unus tamen atque idem est Filius. Contra autem sancto patriarchae David secundum gloriam suam Dominus est, secundum corporalis successionis seriem filius est, non deficiens a se, sed nostrae ius sibi adoptionis acquirens. Nec solum ex genere David servitutem suscepit in persona hominis; sed etiam ex nomine, sicut habes: Inveni David servum meum; et alibi: Ecce ego mittam ad vos servum meum, Oriens nomen est ei. Et ipse Filius ait: Sic dicit Dominus, qui finxit me ex utero servum sibi, et dixit mihi: Magnum tibi est vocari puerum meum. Ecce posui te in testamentum generis mei, in lucem gentium; ut sis in salutem usque ad extremum terrae. Cui hoc dicitur, nisi Christo? Qui cum in forma Dei esset, exinanivit se, et formam servi accepit. Quid est in Dei forma, nisi in divinitatis plenitudine? Disce igitur quid sit: Formam servi accepit, id est, plenitudinem perfectionis humanae, plenitudinem obedientiae. Ideoque dicit in Psalmo trigesimo: Statuisti in loco spatioso pedes meos. Super omnes inimicos meos factus sum opprobrium. Illustra faciem tuam super servum tuum. Servus dictus est homo, in quo sanctificatus est: servus homo, in quo unctus est: servus homo, in quo factus sub Lege, factus ex Virgine est; et ut compendio dicam, servus dictus est, in quo matrem habet, sicut scriptum est: O Domine, ego servus tuus, ego servus tuus, et filius ancillae tuae; et alibi: Afflictus sum et humiliatus sum nimis. Quis nimis humiliatus est, nisi Christus, qui venit ut omnes liberaret per obedientiam? Sicut enim per inobedientiam unius hominis peccatores constituti sunt plurimi, ita et per unius obedientiam iusti constituentur multi. Quis calicem salutarem accepit, Christus princeps sacerdotum, an David, qui neque sacerdotium habuit, neque passionem subiit? Quis sacrificavit hostiam laudis? Sed si hoc parum est, accipe aliud: Custodi animam meam, quoniam ego sanctus sum. Numquid de se hoc diceret David? Sed ille dicit, qui ait: Non derelinques animam meam in inferno, nec dabis sanctum tuum videre corruptionem. Idem ergo utrumque dicit. Addidit vero: Salvum fac servum tuum; et infra: Da postestatem puero tuo, et filio ancillae tuae; et alibi, id est, in Ezechiele: Et suscitabo super eos pastorem unum, et reget eos servus meus David. Ipse pascet eos, et erit eorum pastor: et ego Dominus ero illis in Deum, et servus meus David in medio eorum princeps. Utique David iam defunctus erat, filius Iesse. De Christo itaque dicit, qui propter nos filius ancillae factus est, secundum formam hominis; nam secundum divinam generationem non matrem habet, sed Patrem: nec corporalis ventris est fructus, sed sempiterna Dei virtus. Ergo etiam illud cum legimus quia dixit Dominus: Tempus meum nundum impletum est, et: Adhuc modicum vobiscum sum, et: Vado ad eum qui misit me, et: Clarificatus est Filius hominis, ad incarnationis sacramentum referre debemus. Cum autem legimus: Et Deus clarificatus est in eo, et Deus clarificavit eum; quid ibi est quaestionis, ubi et Filius clarificatur a Patre, et Pater clarificatur a Filio? Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Fide Ad Gratianum Augustum Liber V, Caput VIII Source: Migne PL 16.670b-672a

But in the faith of the Church of God the son of the Father and David is one and the same. For the mystery of the Incarnation of God is the salvation of every created thing, according to which it is written: 'That without God for all He should taste death;' 1 that is, that every creature might be redeemed without any suffering with the price of the blood of the Lord's Divinity, as it has elsewhere: 'Every created thing shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption.' 2 It is one thing to be named Son according to the Divine Substance, another to be so named according to the adoption of human flesh, for according to the Divine Generation, the Son is equal to God the Father, and, according to the adoption of a body, He is a servant to God the Father. 'For,' it says, 'He took upon Him the form of a servant.' 3 However one and the same is the Son. On one hand, according to His glory, He is Lord to the holy patriarch David, but according to bodily descent his Son, not thus abandoning anything of His own, but acquiring for Himself the rights that go with the adoption of our race. Not only does He take up servitude in the character of man by His descent from David, but also by His name, as it says: 'I have found David My Servant;' 4 and elsewhere: 'Behold I will send to you My Servant, the Orient is His name.' 5 And the Son Himself says: 'Thus says the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be His servant, and said to me: It is a great thing for you to be called my Son. Behold I have set you up as a witness for My people, a light to the Gentiles, that You may be for salvation to the ends of the earth.' 6 To whom is this said, unless Christ? He who being in the form of God, emptied Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant. 7 And what is 'in the form of God,' if not in the fullness of the Godhead? Learn, then, what this means: 'He took upon Himself the form of a servant.' That is, the completeness of the perfections of humanity, and completeness of obedience. And so it says in the thirtieth Psalm: 'You have set my feet in a wide space. I am made a reproach over all my enemies. Make Your face shine upon Your servant.' 8 Servant means the Man in whom He was sanctified, the servant Man in whom He was anointed, the servant Man in whom He was made under the law, made from the Virgin, and, to be brief, it means the servant in whom He has a mother, as it is written: 'O Lord, I am Your Servant, I am Your Servant, and the Son of Your hand-maid;' 9 and elsewhere: 'I am cast down and greatly humbled.' 10 Who is greatly humbled but Christ, who came to free all through His obedience? 'For as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one many will be made righteous.' 11 Who received the cup of salvation? Christ the High Priest, or David who never held the priesthood, nor endured suffering? Who offered the sacrifice of praise? But if this is insufficient, receive this: 'Preserve My soul, for I am holy.' 12 Did David say this of himself? No, He says it, who also says: 'You will not leave My soul in hell, neither will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.' 13 The same one then says both of these. He then adds: 'Save Your Servant;' and, further on: 'Give strength to your servant, and to the son of your handmaid;' 14 and, elsewhere, that is, in Ezekiel: 'And I will set up one shepherd over them, and my servant David shall rule them. He shall feed them, and He shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them.' 15 Yet David the Son of Jesse was already dead. Therefore it speaks of Christ, He who for us was made the son of a handmaiden according to the form of man, for according to His Divine Generation He has no mother, only a Father, nor is He the fruit of a bodily womb, but the eternal Power of God. And therefore when we read that the Lord said: 'My time has not yet come;' and: 'Yet a little while I am with you;' and: 'I go to Him that sent Me;' and: 'Now is the Son of Man glorified;' we should refer all this to the mystery of the Incarnation. 16 But when we read: 'And God is glorified in Him, and God has glorified Him;' 17 what doubt is there here, where the Son is glorified by the Father and the Father is glorified by the Son? Saint Ambrose, from On The Faith, To The Emperor Gratian, Book 5, Chapter 8 1 Heb 2.9 2 Romans 8.21 3 Philipp 2.7 4 Ps 88.21 5. Zech 3.8 6 Isaiah 49.5-6 7 Philipp 2.6-7 8 Ps 30.9, 12,17 9 Ps 115.16 10 Ps 37.9 11 Rom 5.19 12 Ps 85.2 13 Ps 15.10 14 Ps 85. 2,16 15 Ezekiel 34.23-24 16 Jn 7.8, 7.33, 13.31 17 Jn 13.31