Jan 26 Mon
How can I know about God the Father?
As the Church teaches, the Son is begotten by the Father.
God the Father infinitely knows himself.
The action of the intellect produces a concept, which is a likeness of the known thing, in this case, the Word (or Logos). Being the effect of the intellect, it is different from the intellect itself.
Thus, the Word is:
- God, like the Father, because God’s being and understanding are one and the same;
- eternal, because God knows himself eternally; God’s concept of himself is his real self.
- differing from the Father only because He proceeds from him; and He is the only-begotten Son of God.
God knows himself and loves himself. God the Father, upon knowing himself, engenders the Son, who is a perfect image of the Father. When He loves himself as the Ultimate Good, He loves the Son, and the Son necessarily loves the Father. There is a bond between them, an infinite Love, which is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This is a central point of Catholic dogma, solemnly taught by the Church according to the common stance of the Greek and Latin Fathers. Even though the formulas used in the East (a Patre per Filium) and West (ex Patre Filioque) differ, they express the same doctrinal content.
No one can know the Father apart from God’s Word, that is, unless the Son reveals him, and no one can know the Son unless the Father so wills. The Father sends, the Son is sent, and He comes. The Father is beyond our sight and comprehension, but we know him through his Word, who tells us of him.
In turn, the Father alone knows his Word. And the Lord has revealed both truths. Therefore, the Son reveals the knowledge of the Father by revealing himself. Knowledge of the Father consists in the self-revelation of the Son, for all is revealed through the Word.
The Father’s purpose in revealing the Son was to make himself known to us and so to welcome into eternal rest those who believe in him. To believe in him means to do his will.
Through creation, the Word reveals God the Creator. Through the world, He reveals the Lord who made the world.
Through the law and the prophets, the Word revealed himself and his Father in the same way, and though all the people equally heard the message, not all equally believed it. Through the Word, made visible and palpable, the Father was revealed, though not all equally believed in him. But all saw the Father in the Son, for the Father of the Son cannot be seen, but the Son of the Father can be seen.
The Son performs everything as a ministry to the Father, from beginning to end, and without the Son, no one can know God. The way to know the Father is the Son.
Thus, there is one God the Father, one Word and Son, and one Spirit, and one salvation for all who believe in him.
With excerpts from the treatise "Against the Heresies" by St Irenaeus