The Father And The Son

Affert plerisque obscuritatem sermo Domini, cum dicit: Ego in Patre, et Pater in me, et non immerito; natura enim intelligentiae humanae rationem dicti istius non capit. Videtur namque non posse effici, ut quod in altero sit, aeque id ipsum extra alterum sit; et cum necesse sit ea, de quibus agitur, non solitaria sibi esse, numerum ac statum tamen suum, in quo sint, conservantia, non posse se invicem continere, ut qui aliquid aliud intra se habeat, atque ita maneat manensque semper exterior, ei vicissim, quem intra se habeat, maneat aeque semper interior. Haec quidem sensus hominum non consequetur, nec exemplum aliquod rebus divinis comparatio humana praestabit: sed quod inintelligibile est homini, Deo esse possibile est. Hoc non a me ita dictum sit, ut ad rationem dicti ea tantum sufficiat auctoritas, quod a Deo dictum sit. Cognoscendum itaque atque intelligendum est quid sit illud: Ego in Patre, et Pater in me; si tamen comprehendere hoc ita ut est valebimus: ut quod natura rerum pati non posse existimatur, id divinae veritatis ratio consequatur. Atque ut facilius intelligentiam difficillimae istius quaestionis consequi possimus, prius Patrem et Filium secundum divinarum Scripturarum doctrinam cognosci a nobis oportet, ut de cognitis ac familiaribus absolutior sermo sit. Aeternitas Patris, ut libro anteriore tractavimus, locos, tempora, speciem, et quidquid illud humano sensu concipi poterit, excedit. Ipse extra omnia et in omnibus, capiens universa et capiendus a nemine, non accessu decessuve mutabilis; sed invisibilis est, incomprehensibilis, plenus, perfectus, aeternus, non aliunde quid sumens, sed ad id quod ita manet sibi ipse sufficiens. Hic ergo ingenitus ante omne tempus ex se filium genuit, non ex aliqua subjacente materia, quia per Filium omnia; non ex nihilo, quia ex se filium: non ut partum, quia nihil in Deo demutabile aut vacuum est; non partem sui vel divisam vel discissam vel extensam; quia impassibilis et incorporeus Deus est, haec autem passionis et carnis sunt, et, secundum Apostolum, in Christo inhabitat omnis plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter. Sed incomprehensibiliter, inenarrabiliter, ante omne tempus et saecula, Unigenitum ex his quae ingenita in se erant procreavit, omne quod Deus est per charitatem atque virtutem nativitati ejus impertiens: ac sic ab ingenito, perfecto, aeternoque Patre, unigenitus et perfectus et aeternus est Filius. Ea autem, quae ei sunt secundum corpus quod assumpsit, bonitatis ejus ad salutem nostram voluntas est. Invisibilis enim et incorporeus et incomprehensibilis, utpote a Deo genitus, tantum in se et materiae et humilitatis recepit, quantum in nobis erat virtutis ad intelligendum se et sentiendum et contuendum; imbecillitati nostrae potius obtemperans, quam de his in quibus erat ipse deficiens.Igitur perfecti patris perfectus filius, et ingeniti Dei unigenita progenies, qui ab eo qui habet omnia accepit omnia, Deus a Deo, spiritus a spiritu, lumen a lumine, confidenter ait: Pater in me, et ego in Patre: quia ut spiritus Pater, ita et Filius Spiritus; ut Deus Pater, ita et Filius Deus; ut lumen Pater, ita et Filius lumen. Ex iis ergo, quae in Patre, sunt ea in quibus est Filius, id est, ex toto Patre totus Filius natus est; non aliunde, quia nihil ante quam Filius; non ex nihilo, quia ex Deo Filius; non in parte, quia plenitudo deitatis in filio; neque in aliquibus, quia in omnibus: sed ut voluit qui potuit, ut scit qui genuit. Quod in Patre est, hoc et in Filio est; quod in ingenito, hoc et in unigenito; alter ab altero, et uterque unum; non duo unus, sed alius in alio, quia non aliud in utroque; Pater in Filio, quia ex eo Filius; Filius in Patre, quia non aliunde quod Filius; unigenitus in ingenito, quia ab ingenito unigenitus. Ita in se invicem; quia ut omnia in ingenito patre perfecta sunt, ita omnia in filio unigenito perfecta sunt. Haec in Filio et Patre unitas, haec virtus, haec charitas, haec spes, haec fides, haec veritas, via, vita, non calumniari de virtutibus suis Deo, nec per secretum ac potestatem nativitatis obtrectare Filio; Patri ingenito nihil comparare, Unigenitum ab eo nec tempore nec virtute discernere, Deum filium quia ex Deo est confiteri. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, De Trinitate, Liber Tertius Source: Migne PL 10.76a-78a

The words of the Lord bear much obscurity when He says, 'I in the Father, and the Father in Me,' 1 and with merit, because the nature of the human intellect cannot grasp the meaning of what has been said. It does not seem possible that one thing should be both within another and also outside that other, or, since they do not dwell apart but retain their separate existence and condition and number, that they can reciprocally contain one another, so that the one who has the other within Himself, because of which He is always on the outside, is also enclosed by the one whom He has, and always remains within. This is something that the mind of man cannot follow, nor will any human comparison find an example for this condition of Divinity, but what is unintelligible to man is possible for God. 2 I do not mean that this which is said, because it was said by God, is thus reasonable because of its authority. One must think and try to understand what this might be, 'I in the Father and the Father in me,' if however we shall be able to comprehend this at all, since what the universe does not allow to be possible, the reason of Divine truth may establish. That we might more easily understand this difficult question, it is necessary that we first come to know the Father and Son according to the teaching of the Divine Scriptures, which knowledge will thus allow us to speak of known and familiar matters. The eternity of the Father, as we wrote toward the end of the last book, transcends space and time and appearance and whatever can be conceived by the human mind. He is outside everything and inside everything, He contains the universe and is contained by nothing, He does not change by increase or loss, and is invisible and incomprehensible, and full, perfect, eternal, not taking anything else from another, but if anything should be derived from Him, He remains self-sufficing. He, therefore, who is the Unbegotten, before time begot a Son from Himself, not from any underlying matter, for all things are through the Son, and not from nothing, for the Son is from the Father, and not by childbirth, for there is nothing changeable or empty in God, and not as a part of Himself cut or torn off or extended, because God is passionless and bodiless, and such things are of passion and of the flesh, and according to the Apostle, 'In Christ dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily.' 3 But incomprehensibly, ineffably, before all time and the ages, He begot the Only Begotten from His own unbegotteness, through love and power imparting upon that birth everything which is God, and so He who is from the only unbegotten and perfect and eternal Father is the Only Begotten, the perfect and eternal Son. But these things which He took up according to the body are on account of His benevolence for our salvation. For He who is invisible and bodiless and incomprehensible, as the Son of God, took upon Himself only that matter and humility which was needed to make Him intelligible and perceivable and open to contemplation according to the power that is in us, this being rather a stooping to our weakness rather than a failing of those things that are His. Therefore the perfect Son of the perfect Father, and the only begotten offspring of the unbegotten God, who from Him who has everything has received everything, God from God, spirit from spirit, light from light, says confidently: 'The Father in me and I in the Father,' 4 because as the Father is spirit, so the Son is spirit, as the Father is God, so the Son is God, and as the Father is light so the Son is light. Therefore those things which are in the Father, those are the things in which the Son is, that is, the whole Son is born from the whole Father, not from somewhere else, because there was nothing before the Son, and not from nothing because the Son is from God, and not in part, since the fullness of the deity is in the Son, and not in some things, but in all, things, as He wished who was able, as He knows who begot. What is in the Father is in the Son also, what is in the Unbegotten is in the Only Begotten. One is from the other and the two are one, not as two made one, but as one in the other, for there is not something else in both. The Father is in the Son because the Son is from Him, and the Son is in the Father because the Father is His only source. The Only Begotten is in the Unbegotten, because He is the Only Begotten from the Unbegotten. Thus they are each in each other, for as everything in the Unbegotten Father is perfect, so everything in the Only Begotten Son is perfect. This is the unity of the Son and the Father, this the power, the love, the hope, the faith, the truth, the way, the life, not to dispute with God concerning His own powers, nor disparage the mystery and power of His nativity, but to compare nothing to the Unbegotten Father and to grasp the Only Begotten as differing neither in time or power, and to confess God the Son because He is from God. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, On The Trinity, Book 3 1 Jn 14.11 2 cf Mt 19.26 3 Colos 2.9 4 Jn 10.38