When we discuss the Son of God, begotten of God the Father, it is easy for our thoughts to drift to Jesus' birth without human father from the Virgin Mary . But when theologians speak of the Trinity and of the Son being "begotten" of God, they are not speaking of any event in this world or in human history. They refer to the Word of God which existed not only before Jesus' human conception, but before this world was formed.
When we turn our attention to questions about the Trinity before the world was formed, we find ourselves without direct information either from God or from human witnesses: we are at a disadvantage for solid facts. I would like to review some of the previous thought on the matter, and will quote a section of the online Catholic Encyclopedia (article about the Holy Spirit which considers the bigger picture) :
The Son is, in the language of Scripture, the image of the Invisible God, His Word, His uncreated wisdom. God contemplates Himself and knows Himself from all eternity, and, knowing Himself, He forms within Himself a substantial idea of Himself, and this substantial thought is His Word. Now every act of knowledge is accomplished by the production in the intellect of a representation of the object known; from this head, then the process offers a certain analogy with generation, which is the production by a living being of a being partaking of the same nature; and the analogy is only so much the more striking when there is question of this act of Divine knowledge, the eternal term of which is a substantial being, consubstantial within the knowing subject. [Note: they credit Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo for the development of thought to that point.]
In the Bible, does "image of God" mean God's self-image? I'm not convinced of that, but for the most part their argument is independent of whether that was an appropriate application of the text. So let's watch the line of thought that is being developed.
Their starting point is that God has a self-image. That's something we can understand. For example, would King Solomon's self-image have been something like "I desire wisdom" at one point? Did King David's self-image include "I'm a musician"? So we can understand self-image. Does God have a self-image? If we grant that God has intellect and wisdom, if we grant that God is sentient, then it follows that God has a self-image, even they haven't yet demonstrated that's the answer to the question on the table. As for God having a self-image, there are some interesting side-questions there. Does God have infinite capability to decide his own character? Is that a meaningful question for God? And I expect that God's self-reflection is faithful and true to his character.
I'll also grant that we tend to understand things by producing a model, map, or other image of the object in our minds, though sometimes we also use words or various symbols as tools for understanding. For the sake of evaluating the argument we'll suppose that God's mind did something similar on self-reflection: that God is capable of self-understanding and some sort of self-image. But is God's self-reflection distinct from God who does the reflecting? Does that reflection have existence in a meaningful sense? Is it independent? Is it equal? While I am fully persuaded that the Word of God is eternal, it leaves more to discuss on the questions of whether this Word of God or Image of God is meaningfully distinct from God before the act of creation, before anything existed besides God.
That question -- "Is it meaningfully distinct?" -- becomes clearer after creation exists, and particularly after people exist. At that point there is someone besides God, and so communication becomes part of the picture. If we continue to grant that we generally understand what is outside us by producing a model or image in our minds, then our human understanding of God depends on how (or if) we form an image of God. An image of God is the source of all idolatry -- and the source of a relationship that is not blind. Christianity is tightly attached to this idea: there is such a thing as a true image of God.
To be continued
1 comment:
As always, interesting. Thank you.
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