1. Dependence of the Son. — The name implies the Son's dependence on the Father, and this relation of dependence lies also at the basis of other scriptural ex- pressions relating to Father and Son, e. g. " Image of the invisible God," " Word of God," etc. The depen- dence of Jesus on the Father is expressly taught in 1 Cor. iii, 23 and xi, 3: "Ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's;" "The head of Christ is God." But it would be opposed to the central idea of Christian doctrine to maintain a dependence of tlie Son on the Father incon- sistent with his true divinity. By "dependence" in this relation is only meant that relation b}^ which the second Person in the Trinity derives his godhead in virtue of his unity of nature with the Father. It is because he is the Son of God that he is himself likewise fully and truly God. There is no inequality or inferi- ority implied in this expression. The dependence is one of essence, of nature, and not of creation, production, or emanation. Precisely in the same way the Holj- Spirit is said to " proceed" from the Father and the Son ; i. e. he is an outflow of the same essential being, but a different personality. The language em])loyed on this subject must necessarily be mysterious, as the theme itself transcends human thought. See Person.
2. ConsithstantiuUty. — Here we set out with the words of Christ himself, "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" (I John V, 26). As the fountain of life, as the inde- pendent dispenser of life, the Son is entitled to the ap- pellation of Lord in conjunction with the Father. The world has its existence onlj' in him who upholds and fills it with his gifts; in God only man lives, moves, and has his being (Acts xvii, 28). But the world has its being in the son. He is not only living, but the fountain of life. Sonship we understand to mean simi- larity of essence, and not a procreation as among men. Not only is the Son of the same essence with the Father, but he is also avrobioq — God in and from himself. Sonsliip appears to mean not a distinction of essence, but of existence — not of being in itself, but of being in its relations. The term does not characterize a separa- tion of nature so much as personality. But such differ- ence of position is not inequality of essence, and when rightly understood will be found as remote from the calumnious imputation of Tritheism as from the heresy of Modalism or Sabellianism.
SOOFES
882
SOPIIERIM
3. Eterttity of Sonship. — Th\s element in the sub- stance i>f the Sun is exprcs^sevl in Clirists own words: "And now, () Father, t;lorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (.lohu xvii, 5). 'J'iiese words evidently im- ply that Christ was conscious of having a life that had mi iK'giiuiin';, and the self-designation of Jesus, "1 am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending" (Kev. i. »<), teaches the same truth. The Son. as superior to lime, is distinct from the world in a threefold sense : («) he is above ilie necessity of change, while the world is in a constant cliange; (6) he knows no end, while the world will come to an end; (c) his existence has not lieen preceded by a state of non-existence, as has been the case with the world. The life of the Son is exalted ab«>ve time, without beginning, exempt from subjection to change and decay.
4. Jiti/fltiiii/ of' the Son. — A misconception of the eternal generation of the Son must be guarded against. .\ccoriling to our present mode of thinking, generation seems to be identical with calling into existence what did not exist before. But how is it with the thoughts and self-consciousness of (iodV They are called forth bv (jod, and yet there never was a time when (iod was without self-consciousness an<l without thoughts. Hence it must be evident that there must be in God a jiroducing not subject to time, and productions which iiave no beginning; and, if so, the eternal generation or(>od offers no insurmountable dilHculties. That Je- sus Clirist was not called the "Son of (iod" because of the miraculous conception seems to be clearly shown bj' Watson ( KrjMsitioii, at Luke i, 35): "First, we have the act of the Holy Ghost, producing that J/o/y Thimi which was to be born of the Virgin, and we have the distinct act of the power of the llu/hest uniting himself, the eternal Word, to that which was so formed in the womb of the Virgin. From these two acts all that the angel mentions followed. It followed that that should be a Holy Thing which should be born of l\Iary, as be- ing pro(luced immediately by the Holy (ihosi; and it followed that this Holy Thing should be called the Son of (J(h1. '\'\mt potrer of the lliijhesl which overshad- owed, exerted his influence upon the Virgin, took the Holy Thing into personal union with himself, who was in his divine nature the Son of (iod, and this became the appellation of the one undivided Christ, but wholly by virtue of the hypostatical union. The mode of ex- pression by which the concluding clause is introduced leads also to the same conclusion. The particle ^lo, ' therefore,' is consetpiential, and is not to be understood as if the angel were giving a reason why Christ should become the Son of (iod, but why he should be owned and acknowledged as such. We have also the addition of Km in the sense of iiho; 'Therefore, also, that llolv 'I'liing which shall be born of thee shall be called the .S.u of (iod;' it shall not merely be called hobj, which would follow from its being the immediate production of the Holy Ghost, but, more than that, it shall be called the .Son of (iod, because of another and an additional circmnstance— the union rif the two natures. For since human nature was uiiite<l to the Son of (iod, it was to U-ar the same naiiK; as being in indissolulile luiion with liim." It is the eternal Logos, and not merely the hu- man Jesus, that is and ever was the Son of (iod. See Gess, I'l-mon ofChri.it (transl. by .1. A. Keubelt, Ando- ver, l«7(i) ; Kitid, ChrUtophdiiy (Lond. XHlrl, «vo) ; Sar- loriuH, /,./;/«• run Chiiuli /'eriton uiiil Wort (Hamb. 1K41, ><vo; Ijigl. trnnsl. Ikiston, 184'.), 12mo). Sec Tkisity.