A Digest on the Trinity - Part 7: The Son

This article is the sixth in a series called A Digest on the Trinity.

- Nicene Creed

If the portion on the Father was the shortest part of the Nicene Creed, the portion on the Son is its longest. That would be perfectly understandable, given the kind of controversy that swept the church in her early years about the deity of the Son; if the deity of the Father was the incontrovertible fact, the deity of the Son was just as, if not more, controvertible.

As explained the third article, the Son is called the Son because He is the Son of the Father by way of eternal generation. This article will examine the Son in relation to Himself, in relation to the other two persons, and in relation towards creation.

The Son in relation to Himself

In relation to Himself, the Son is God – in Him is the whole simple divine essence and whatever it means to be God. He does not share His essence with the other two persons as though they each have a third of the essence but is wholly and fully the entire divine essence in Himself. Simply put, the Son in Himself is fully and truly God. He is whatever the Father is, except being the Father. Therefore, since the Father is autotheos (as explained in the previous article), the Son is also autotheos.

The Son in relation to the Father

There are several names the Son holds in relation to the Father. The first is the name “Son”. He is the Son of God not simply in a messianic sense, but also in a metaphysical sense – He is the eternal Son of the eternal Father by way of eternal generation. Because He is generated or begotten by the Father, He is the Son of God in a natural sense, far elevated above angels (Heb 1:4).

The second is the name “Word” (John 1:1). The Scriptures consistently teach that the Father does everything through His word. He created through His word, having spoken things into existence (Gen 1:3). He reveals Himself through His word, having spoken to the people of ancient Israel (Heb 1:1). When John in his gospel writes that all things were made through the Word (John 1:3), he makes it clear that the word through which the Father created (Gen 1:3), was none other than a distinct person, a “Him” (John 1:3) and not an “it”. The author of Hebrews makes it clear that God as revealed through His Son is a far superior revelation than His speech to the prophets (Heb 1:2). Therefore, the Son is also the Word of the Father, the fullest revelation of who the Father is because He is everything the Father is.

Of which ties into the third name: “image”. Because He is whatever the Father is, the Son is described as the “image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). Humanity as created in the image of God, was patterned after the Son, who is the true image of the Father. Because He is the image of the Father, the exact likeness of Him, He is able to say that whoever sees Him has seen the Father (John 14:9).

As the Word and the image of the Father, the Son reveals the Father not just by mere demonstration nor theophany, but by an actual metaphysical appearance before Man. He is the fullest revelation of the Father and the Father is known through Him. Because He is the Son and not the Father, we note that we can only say that the Son is the image of the Father and never that the Father is the image of the Son. 

The curious language of the Nicene Creed warrants some explanation: “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God”. Simply put, because the Father is God, the Son is God and the Son belongs to the Father, the Son is God of God. The logic applies as well to calling Him “Light of Light” and “very God of very God”. The Greek for “of” is ek, which indicates possession – because the Son who is God is the Son of the Father who is God, He is correctly called God of God.

The Son in relation to the Spirit

The Son stands in relation with the Spirit as the Breather of the Spirit. We could say that the Father breathes the Spirit through the Son. Therefore, it is correct to say that the Spirit proceeds from Father and Son as a single relative origin. The breathing of the Father and the breathing of the Son are not different breathings, but a single one.

Just as the Father is not the Father of the Spirit but His Breather, the Son is not the Son of the Spirit, but His Breather. For the Spirit is called the Spirit of God (Gen 1:2; Exo 35:31; Isa 61:1; Matt 3:16) and also the Spirit of the Son (Rom 8:9; Gal 4:6; 1 Pet 1:11). Therefore, the Spirit is the Son’s Breath and as such, the Son stands in relation with the Spirit by way of eternal spiration.

The Son in relation to the Trinity

Since the Son is from the Father and from the Father breathes the Spirit, He is the second person of the Trinity. In the irreversible order, He occupies second place not in terms of existence or hierarchy, but in terms of relation. He is generated by the Father and is thus the Father’s Son, and breathes the Spirit and is thus the Spirit’s Breather. Although He is coeternal with the Father and Spirit and is worshipped together with them, He is from the Father while the Father is from none and the Spirit is from them both.

The Son in relation to His creation

Because the Son is from the Father, He always acts externally from the Father. Therefore, as the Generated or Begotten, He is the mediating presence of God, through whom all things come, through whom all things exist (1 Cor 8:6); John says that all things were made through Him and not by Him. The Father does everything through Him, which is why the Son is just as involved in creation and providence as the Father is. Whatever comes from the Father comes through the Son in an undivided way – the Father created through the Son not by choice, but by the fact that they are the one Creator God.

By way of appropriation, we appropriate the work of salvation to the Son particularly, even though all three persons are just as involved in the entire process of salvation. This is because as the mediating presence of God, the Son in becoming the Mediator for Man (1 Tim 2:5) is doing everything proper to His person; in becoming the Mediator for Man, there is no change to what He has been doing eternally. The Father accomplishes salvation of His people through His Son, who visibly takes on a human essence, lives a righteous life, dies on the cross and rises from the grave. Although all three persons are involved in the planning, execution and application of salvation, by appropriation we can say that the Father planned salvation and then executed it through His Son. Thus, the Son is accurately called the Saviour and salvation is accurately appropriated to Him specifically.

Through His mediatorial salvific work, the Son now stands in relation to His people individually as their Elder Brother, the firstborn amongst many (Rom 8:29). If all things coming from the Father come through the Son, then all things going to the Father go through the Son. The eternal relation He has with the Father is the ground for Him bringing His people into the same Father-Son relation He has enjoyed from all eternity. Therefore, the Father is the heavenly Father of His people only through the Son who is the heavenly Brother of His Father’s people. After all, there is only one Mediator (or Great High Priest) between God and Man (1 Tim 2:5) and no one comes to the Father except through the Son (John 14:6). As their Elder Brother, He also intercedes for them individually as their Great High Priest (Rom 8:34; Heb 4:14).

In addition, He now stands in relation to His people collectively, the Church, as her Bridegroom, the one who gave Himself up for her and sanctified her by the washing of water (Eph 5:25-26). From heaven He came and sought her, paying her bride price with His blood and redeeming her from bondage under sin and to marriage with Him.

Finally, in relation to the entire created order, He now stands as its King, having subdued His enemies under His almighty rule and established the kingdom of God that awaits its consummation upon His return.

Begotten and never independent

As the begotten Son, He is never independent from the Father. Though God in and of Himself, autotheos as the Father is autotheos, He is from God and is very God of very God. However, though the Father originates and the Son mediates, the Trinity is not complete without He who perfects and brings every work from the Father through the Son into its full and complete effect. To that person of the Holy Spirit, does the next article turn.