 Gnosis of the Creed –by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
Chapter Seven—The Only-begotten Son of God,
Begotten of the Father before all ages.
Light from Light,
True God from true God.
Begotten not made,
Being of one substance with the Father;
By Whom all things were made.
 True Understanding Of Christ
Now we come to: “the Only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light from Light; true God from true God; begotten not made; of one substance with the Father. By Whom all things were made.”
Right here let us pause to expand on the fact that “Christ” is the term for the infinite Consciousness which is the second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Only-begotten of the transcendent Father, Who has been manifested wherever individuals have attained to union with Him by becoming one with Him and thereby becoming themselves sons of God and Christs.
Many ask: “Isn’t Jesus the Only-begotten Son of God?” The answer is yes, but it must be understood correctly–insofar as that is possible for our unillumined intellects. The Trinity In Unity
First, we must realize that God is one, that the terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are indicative of three modes of a single Being. That is, there are not three gods that together make a super-God, but rather the one Divinity has an essentially threefold state that is yet one.
The one God is: (1) existing transcendentally beyond all relative existence or manifestation, (2) existing immanently within all manifested existence as its inmost spirit and guiding consciousness, and (3) existing as divine light-energy, the very substance of manifested existence itself, the dynamic evolving power engaged in the dance of creation. The first mode we call “Father,” the second we call “Son,” and the third we call the “Holy Spirit.” But it is one God alone Who is all three. Sharing And Becoming
Yet this triune God has wished to share the experiencing of His being with the individual spirits–not that they can actually become infinite, but they can expand their capacities beyond their original condition to truly “sit in the throne of God” and experience what the infinite unique God experiences. This attainment is what makes us “heirs of the kingdom.”
In other words, we cannot become God, but we can enter into the status of God experientially. Therefore, the individual spirit that has ascended and attained the experiential status of any or all of these Aspects of Divine Being can in a very real sense be considered that Aspect since he will be able to manifest that state of Being and function with the plenitude of that Aspect’s powers. Practically speaking, he will be that Aspect, while yet remaining himself.
In other words, an intelligence incarnating in a human body after attaining that capacity will be both God and Man–which was (and is) the status of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Thus He is in truth the Only-begotten of the Father, God Himself having said unto Him: “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” The expression “today” shows that Jesus became or was made the Son of God at some point in time. This is most important to realize, for then it makes the following passage from Saint Paul quite comprehensible: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:…wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.” The term “form” is employed here to mean a configuration of consciousness rather than a visual shape, for God has no such thing, not being an embodied being.
Having attained that mode of consciousness, Jesus has been exalted and given the supreme status within relative manifestation as the Only-begotten Son. The same is our destiny as well. This is the crown of the authentic Christian Gospel. Many Only-begotten Sons
Yes, Jesus Christ of Nazareth is indeed the Only-begotten Son; but He is not the only Only-begotten. Any spirit that has ascended to that status has also undergone the divine “begetting” and heard the words: “Thou art My Son,” the Christ of God.
A person who cannot believe in Jesus and be faithful to Him unless he erroneously believes that Jesus is the only Christ, is like a man who cannot love his wife unless he convinces himself that she is the only female human in the world, or who cannot believe the money in his pocket is worth anything if he does not make himself believe that it is the only money in the world. It would be madness to hold such attitudes, and in the spiritual realms they are just as insane.
To draw water from one well and then deny that any other wells exist is hardly intelligence, much less wisdom. To deny Christ in any form is to deny Him in all. Conversely, to accept Christ in any form is to accept Him in all. In the oldest text of the Gospels–which is in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke–we find a significant difference between His words recorded there and in the accepted Greek text. In the Greek text we find: “You believe in God; believe also in Me.” But in the Aramaic it is: “Believe in God, and you are believing in Me.”
He who believes in God automatically is believing in Christ Jesus. And how could it be otherwise, since Jesus is God? People are worshipping God throughout the world. Whatever name they may attribute to Him, they are worshipping Jesus the Christ–some of them more truly than those who call themselves Christians.
Every human being who believes in and seeks for the transcendental God is believing and seeking for the Christ and is a brother to any true Christian. This principle works both ways, as well: he who believes truly in Jesus Christ and worships Him in spirit is also honoring and worshipping all the other Christs that have appeared in the world: Rama, Krishna, Gotama, Amida, Kuan-Yin, Chaitanya, Ramakrishna, and a multitude whose names we do not know. As Gandhi said: “He who is at the heart of his own religion is at the heart of all other religions,” for the heart of true religion is GOD.
Though we honor all Sons of God, Gnostic Christians especially look to Jesus of Nazareth as our Guide and Mediator. But never can we reject or ignore the other faces of Christ. If we cannot love the Lord Jesus Christ while recognizing the validity of other names and forms of the universal Christ, then we simply cannot love at all, and our religion and seeking is vain–for we are seeking only our egoistic satisfaction, not the freedom He bestows.
A Christian is one who chooses to follow Jesus Christ because his heart responds to Him, not because he thinks he has no other choice. The true Christian can address Jesus in the words of the prayer: “O Son of God, Who showest Thyself this day upon a thousand altars, and yet art one and indivisible….” The Lumen Christi, the Light of Christ, shines wherever one single spirit says: “O Lord, I would know Thee.”
Destiny Of Christians
Those who worship Christ as revealed in Jesus will themselves become Christs, although the majority of those who today call themselves Christians reject this truth just as did the pagans of old. But it is nevertheless true that the destiny of each genuine Christian is theosis, “deification.” That is the real passing from death unto life, the true “resurrection of the dead.”
How ironic! In Apostolic days the pagans came to believe in the wondrous Gospel of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Then later on, after the false conversion of Constantine and the inflooding of political “converts” into the Church, the old Greco-Roman superstitions about the Elysian Fields and Tartarus as rewards and punishments, which should have been laid aside, were recast as Heaven and Hell and presented as Christian beliefs, slowly through the centuries covering up the true Christian teaching of theosis, until today millions of Christians reject the very truth that their name implies.
Who Is Jesus?
Who is Jesus of Nazareth? In essence He is Who we really are. When He came two thousand years ago He showed us the truth about our potential as sons of God. Therefore He could say: “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” This would be impossible if we were not What He is. Therefore Jesus Himself tells us: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.” And more: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” This hardly sounds like the “heavenly home” promised by the revivalists!
The Lord Jesus’ intended destiny for us was set forth at the close of His earthly life when He prayed to the Father: “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” He was not praying for an ecumenical unity of organizations, but the oneness of identity of spirit, of oneness of being between the individual and God. When the Lord said to the Apostles: “Because I live, ye shall live also,” He was not making a statement of cause and effect, but of nature. He lives, and we shall live by becoming one with Him. Proof That Christians Are Christs
The book of Acts is not a mere historical record of the beginning of the Church, but a depiction of the truth that Christians are Christs. It is in fact the continuation of the Gospel of Christ. Saint Luke wrote about the life of Jesus the Christ, and in Acts he shows the truth of Peter the Christ, Paul the Christ, Philip the Christ, etc. The miracles recorded therein are to show the fulfillment of the afore-mentioned promise that the followers of Christ would do His works, and greater. At the touch of the Savior, the sick were healed. The mere shadow of Saint Peter healed the sick. Cloths touched to Saint Paul’s body healed and exorcised. Saint Philip materialized and dematerialized his body according to need, and his children were prophets.
How could the term “Body of Christ” be properly used to designate the Church unless Christ is within it as the enlivening spirit? The Church is not made of dead stones or offices, but of us, His living members (another term used by Saint Paul). Our bodies constitute the Church, the body of Christ, because Christ dwells in us as our very spirit. We are the members, the limbs, of Christ, because He is our indwelling Spirit. He is the Whole; we are the parts.
The Gospel of Christ never ends, but continues today in the life of each true Christian. Who is a Christian? He who strives to become Christ–and succeeds. Otherwise: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you,” for to “know” is to be one with that which is known. If we have not attained (or reclaimed) that unity, we will be strangers to the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore be rejected, turned away to again wander in the regions of constant birth and death until we do so attain and “put on Christ.” “Christian” Idolatry!
How much is contained in these two small words: Jesus Christ! If we do not have the understanding and aspiration implied by these terms, then we do not believe in Jesus Christ, but in an idol created by our minds. In this way, most churches are unfortunately “temples of idols” no matter how many missionaries they may send around the world to annoy “the heathen.” The mind-idols they erect in the name of Christ are no more Christ than the ugly little red plaster incense burners sold in dime stores are the Buddha.
A religion which feeds the egos of its adherents rather than freeing their spirits is a curse. Therefore we must be careful that our belief in Jesus Christ causes our ascension to Light and Freedom, not our descent to egoic darkness and bondage, for “if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
There is really only one Light behind all the spectrum of colors–colors which we should love and enjoy while never losing sight of the Unity that is God. For he who has seen Christ in the face of Jesus will see Christ in every face–his own, as well. The Oriental View
Christianity is an Oriental religion. A common expression in the East at the time of Jesus was: “The father is born in his son,” or: “The father lives in his son.” Some held that immortality was accomplished for the individual through a succession of sons through many generations. But the essential idea is that of the identity of the father and the son. In the East they are looked upon as one, not two. This is why when Jesus said that God was His Father, He was accused of blasphemy. “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.” “The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”“The Jews answered him [Pilate], We have a law, and by our law he [Jesus] ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
To be the Son of God was to actually be God–that is, to be the Son was to be the Father, as well. This was the understanding at the time of Christ and at the time of the formulation of the Creed. This fact was dramatically underlined when, shortly before His death, Jesus said: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” The Two That Are One
In our consideration we must keep in mind what has already been covered–that there is a very real distinction in nature between Jesus Christ of Nazareth and the eternal Only-begotten Son of God. Although in Jesus Christ the two are united–even one–they are nevertheless not the same.
Here the Creed is expounding the state of consciousness of Jesus of Nazareth, Who is the Christ, the Son of God–by divine fiat, not by eternal nature. This is thoroughly incomprehensible to our minds but happily will one day be experienced by us when we, too, overcome as did Jesus and are made to sit in His throne with Him, identical with God the Son in consciousness, though not in essential being. The Nature Of The Only-begotten Son
And now, having said that it is incomprehensible, let us try to make the Mystery somewhat graspable to our minds–minds hopefully clarified by meditation and therefore more intuitive than intellectual.
As we have said, the father is born in the son. We understand from this that the Son of God is an emanation and extension of God the Father, that He is part and parcel of the Father’s being. The terms “Father” and “Son” are abstract symbols we have to use to speak of the Unspeakable in Its unmanifest and manifest modes of being. They should never be interpreted in the human way, for that would only lead to confusion and even absurdity.
The Only-begotten was begotten before all ages, before there was time, in eternity. He is Light from Light. The Fathers were truly inspired in their use of that term, for light is a wave and also a particle–or, more accurately, light is something that behaves as a wave and a particle simultaneously. It is something whose true nature no one has yet figured out. So by using the word “light” for God, the Fathers are saying that God is Something that is both one thing and another. As light manifests as both wave and particle, so God is both immanent as the Son and transcendent as the Father.
The Son is designated as: “the Only-begotten…, begotten of the Father before all ages.” That is, the Father emanated Himself as the Son before any worlds (aeons–ages) had come to be. Since this emanation is the only act ever done by the Father, the Son is truly “the Only-Begotten of the Father.” All else is made or manifested by the Son and the Holy Spirit together. This “begetting” or emanating of the Son is a process within the Divine Nature which we cannot understand. It is a mode of existence, of being, of life, as well as a process–just as light is both particle and wave.
“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” God the Father is not really the Creator in the active sense, but in the sense of willing the Creation. Everything that is actively done in the Bible is the work of the Only-begotten of the Father. It was the Only-begotten of the Father Who spoke with Moses, Who was seen by Daniel, Who was seen by Joshua, and Who wrestled with Jacob.
The Only-begotten of the Father had been in Paradise, had come to earth, spoken, worked, and moved with man many times in a visionary form. Then when He who had been Adam entered into full union with the Only-begotten, became a sharer of His “throne” (consciousness and power), and descended to earth to be incarnate in Nazareth as Jesus the Christ, He came into the world as truly the Son of God. That is, the consciousness which is the Son of God, the Only-begotten of the Father, dwelt in Him in Its fulness, making Jesus truly an incarnation–an embodiment–of God. The “I” Of Jesus
The “I” of Jesus of Nazareth was the greater “I” of the Only-begotten, bestowed on Him by the Father in His overcoming. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” is not a statement about a single appearance on the earth, but is a higher, more far-reaching statement about the nature of the Only-begotten, eternal Son.
Laughable “Christianity”
No wonder ignorant Christianity is a universal laughing-stock. It dares to go before the whole world, say: “We alone know…,” and then enunciate simple principles known tens of thousands of years before the Church came into existence. The Lord Jesus Christ came to revive and renew the ancient truth, the Gospel which, as Saint Paul said, had been already preached to the entire world. This is extremely necessary to realize, for we do not honor Jesus by denying the other manifestations and works of the Only-begotten of the Father Whose manifestation Jesus also was. The Son Is God
The Only-begotten Son is “Light from Light.” That is, He is actually God, “true God from true God.” The expression “true” affirms his total identity of being with God. He is not like God, but is God, the True. The lesser creators and guides of the evolution of the world and its life-forms, the Elohim, are vastly less than the Only-begotten, though they, too, like everything that exists, are part of the One Life that is God. Although we cannot fully understand, it is important for us to at least dimly realize that the immanent God, the Only-begotten, and the transcendent God the Father are one and the same. The differentiation is a mystery. But since it is a mystery of love we will not be in trouble with God if we do not comprehend it.
A Far Eastern Expression
There is a Sanskrit verse, recited daily by Hindus throughout the world, that really illuminates this matter, and with which the Lord Jesus would have been conversant, for He spent the so-called “lost years” of His life in India. Also, it confirms the Fathers’ assurance that the truth of Christianity was not new, but the revival and enlivening of the universal, ancient wisdom.
Purnamidah, purnamidang,
purnat purnamadachyate;
Purnasya purnamadayah,
purnam ewawashishyate.
Purna means “total, full, complete,” which is what our English term “perfect” used to mean, rather than just “without fault.” The original Christian Gnostics used the Greek term Pleroma as the equivalent of Purna to designate the Absolute. In this verse, the word “Complete” refers to God. Here, as best I can, is a translation into English:
This is the Complete; That is the Complete.
The Complete has come out of the Complete.
If we take the Complete away from the Complete,
Only the Complete remains.
When something is purna, it is the whole thing. There is nothing else beside it. And yet somehow the purna, the total, has come out of the total, according to this verse. And both “this” relative purna and “that” transcendent purna are absolutely total, full, and complete. They are the same, not different. They are two, but always one.
The Interpretation
“This” means the relative, “existent,” personal God, the Son, the Only-begotten of the Father, the Kyrios. “That” refers to the Theos, the transcendent, impersonal God, the Father, Who is beyond all scope of what we know as “existence.” Therefore, as the Upanishads (which Jesus quoted on occasion) state, He cannot be said either to exist or not to exist–our language and concepts simply cannot approach His being.
Now, “This” and “That” are not two perfect beings; that is impossible, for each is designated as the Whole. “This” is infinite, and “That” is infinite. Therefore they are ONE while being Two. The All-containing is “here” and the All-containing is “there,” which of course is impossible, but there you are. Further, the Complete has come out of–been emanated from–the Complete, without loss or diminishing of either Completes.
This emanates from That without That becoming any less than it is, nor is This in any way being less than That. This is That, and That is This, for if we take either of Them away from the other, only the Complete remains! Therefore they are always the same, always one, while at the same time being two, distinct from one another. It is no understatement to call this a Mystery! Yet at the same time it makes perfect sense when applied to the Father and the Son–and the Holy Spirit, as well, for “This” is composed of both the Son and the Holy Spirit while remaining One. Moreover, it makes sense regarding our own relationship as individual spirits with the one infinite Spirit, God.
Another Way Of Saying It
Let us say it another way: the Absolute is the Totality; the Relative is the Totality. The Relative has emanated from the Absolute. Yet if we “take away” either of these and consider only the one or the other, we will find that each is the Totality; even more, we will discover that the Absolute is the Relative, and the Relative is the Absolute.
Shall we say it still another way? The Son is infinite God, the Father is infinite God. The Son has emanated from the Father. If we “isolate” the Father, consider Him alone, we will discover He is all there is of the Godhead, and is the Son as well. If we do the same with the Son, we will find that He is all there is of the Godhead, and is the Father.
It may tend to make our heads spin, but we have to realize that the Unity and the Duality (or Trinity) are equally true, and that to ascribe either unity or duality (or trinity) to God exclusive of the other is to be mistaken. When we really know the Son, we know the Son is the Father, and when we really know the Father, we know the Father is the Son. To reject one is to reject the other, to accept one is to accept the other. For they are truly ONE.
Another point brought out by this is the truth that there can never really be any conflict between the views of God as Personal or Impersonal. The person who knows the Impersonal knows That also is the Personal. And those who know the Personal, know He (and She) is also the Impersonal. The Body Of Jesus: “Frozen” Divinity
An additional point, usually overlooked by most, is the fact that Jesus said: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He did not say: “If you have known Me,” or “If you have heard Me,” or even “If you have been with Me.” Instead He said that if a person had merely seen His body, he had actually seen the Father. This demonstrates that the very body of Jesus Christ was divine, was itself the Father! You cannot possibly have a more absolute degree of identity than that.
No simile is perfect, but that of water (which is frequently used as a symbol for the divine) can perhaps help us get a general grasp of the relationship of the Only-begotten to the Father. Water in its normal state is formless, without a natural shape of its own. But when water is in the state of ice (which is not another substance, but only a different mode of water’s existence, though we commonly say it “becomes” ice), it then takes on shape easily and can even be manipulated by hands and tools, which is impossible when water is in its liquid condition. Yet, though divided into manifold shapes as ice, when returned to it usual fluid state, all forms disappear and it is one again, without distinction. For this reason, at the climax of many Hindu festivals the images of the gods are immersed in lakes or rivers as a sign that the Form comes out of the Formless and ultimately returns to the Formless.
When the Only-begotten was speaking with Moses, who wanted to know His name, He simply called Himself: I AM. That is, though manifesting as relative, He was nevertheless the Absolute, not a being, but the Being. And, just as the Only-begotten is one in essential being with the Father, so also is He one with the Holy Spirit. Yet, He is also distinct.
Both the identity and the difference are incomprehensible to us because the mode of God’s being and existence is totally different from the relative being and existence to which we have become conditioned through the forgetfulness of our original state. By mystical union it is possible to experience and know this, but never to understand it with the intellect. Why Only-begotten?
As already said, the Second Person of the Trinity is called Only-begotten because in the chain of emanation from the Godhead, the Son alone emanates directly from the Father; everything else emanates from Him, the Son. And that is why the scripture text says: “All things were made [the more correct translation is “manifested”] by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” The expression does not mean that Jesus alone is an Incarnation of God, but rather that the Only-begotten alone has come directly from the being of the Father by an act of the Father’s creative will. Also, this is why the Lord Jesus said that no one could see the Father but the Only-begotten. Moreover, this is why no one can come to the Father but by means of the Son. The intermediation of the Son is thus seen to be an eternal, cosmic status and not merely one of relative intercession.
Once again we see how much is contained in these few terms. And even this analysis is far from the final word. Before All Ages
Aeon, the word translated “ages” in the phrase “begotten of the Father before all ages,” has a twofold meaning. It is a great span of creational time and is also the designation for units in the emanation of creation. The “many mansions” of the Father were created in an orderly mode of succession, from the lowest to the highest, each area or segment in this series of emanations being called an aeon. In our English versions this word is often translated “world.” But since time and relative existence are inextricably bound up with one another, this word has the dual meaning within itself.
“Before all ages” means that the Son is emanated from the Father before all time, in eternity, before any creation comes into manifestation. It is an eternal process within the Godhead, for the Son is not external to the Father. We can even say that the begetting of the Son is not an act, but rather an eternal attribute or status of the Godhead. And we must keep in mind at all times that anything we say about the Godhead is only approximate, and that all similes are also only approximate.
The Son Is God
The other point brought out by the use of “aeons” is that the Son is not Himself an aeon, but is “true God,” and further that He was not begotten in any “place,” but in eternity, which is Itself the Being of God.
These phrases are affirming over and over that the Son of God IS God. If we miss the point from one phrase, we should be able to catch it from a later one. The Fathers were concerned because “begotten” is a verb, denoting action, and has the idea of past, present, and future, but the Begetting is not an action in the relative sense, and, being an eternal Process, has neither past, present, nor future as do the changing objects and processes within the creation.
Again we see that when we attempt to speak about God we must be extremely cautious, for while we may be able to reflect the truth of things, at the same time we are likely to be implying something utterly incorrect. This is why in the final analysis only the mystic, in direct spiritual union with God, can really know about divine matters and thereby be a true “theologian,” a knower of the truth of God.
Christianity is based on direct revelation, upon the vision of God attained through spiritual ascension. Naturally, in the beginning our acceptance of any spiritual view outside of our own experience must be with the understanding that eventually we shall indeed come to know the truth of things for ourselves. Any church or spiritual organization, group, or teacher that does not tell us this fact from the beginning and does not guarantee that we shall in time come to know for ourself is not worthy of our attention.
Again, we must be sure to keep in mind the difference between the begetting of the Son “before all ages” and the begetting of Jesus the Christ in a cycle of time–“today”–as an act of the Father rather than a beginningless eternal state of being.
One day we shall see God for ourself–not with earthly eyes but with the direct Gnosis of our immortal spirit. Then we will realize that the terms “Father,” “Son,” and “Holy Spirit” are symbolic terms, far, far from conveying the truth of the Divine Nature, and also how Jesus Christ can be both God and Man, two yet one. The Creed: A Mystical Test
For this reason the Creed has been kept so carefully without change through the centuries. Not because it tells us the absolute truth, but because it is a test by which we will know whether our mystical visions are right or not. It is a kind of mystic-theological touchstone.
Every proposition in the Creed corresponds to a mystical state, and the believing in and accepting of the propositions of the Creed–with the right understanding–condition the mind to be able to attain the same mystical experience upon which they were based. This is why the Creed is so precious to us and must be kept inviolate. It is actually a mystical password and safeguard to higher experience. For we, too, must see this Father, Son, and Holy Spirit within our own being in mystical union. If we distort what symbolic formulation we have, we will block our seeing of the True, or we will lead ourselves into seeing a false vision. Therefore it is imperative to preserve what the Fathers have laid down for us in these matters of the nature of God and the Incarnation. Light From Light
Next in the Creed, in speaking of the Only-begotten, we say: “Light from Light.” These words mean that there is an absolute identity of the Two. The one Light is not moving, whereas the other Light perpetually flows from It and relates to the relative world, to creation. Again, by use of the word “Light” we emphasize the seemingly contradictory mode of God’s existence. God is immanent and transcendent. God is tangible and intangible. God is seeable and unseeable. True God From True God
The expression “true God from true God” tells us that the Only-begotten is not the Son of God by likeness or approximation or that He is so immeasurably great and perfect and powerful that “in a sense” He can be called God. This expression means that He is God Himself–none other. Saint John spoke as plainly as possible when he wrote: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “Begotten, Not Made”
We need to briefly look at the expression, “begotten, not made.” This simply reinforces what we have already been discussing at length: that the Son is an emanation of the Father, one with the Father’s very Being, and not a creation. Obviously, “begotten” is a symbolic term for an eternal process within the Godhead that cannot possibly be conceived by any relative intelligence.
This also applies to creation itself and to us who are presently within creation. Neither we nor the cosmos around us are creations out of nothing and therefore alien to God. Rather we, too, are emanations begotten by the Father, living streams of Life. Only within this context can we order and direct our lives in a fully meaningful way. The Practical Application
What, though, is the practical application if we believe this? We will worship and seek to know this Person through spiritual union with Him that is accomplished through the mediation of Jesus Christ. We join ourselves to Jesus Christ and He joins us unto the eternal Son, causing us to live in God just as He lives in God. God and our spirit must be made one, for He is the Reality in Whose life alone we can be made real. This sacred union is accomplished through our union with Jesus, but we must always keep in mind that becoming one with God is not becoming the same as God and ceasing to exist as an individual.
There is another aspect of this which is very important. We cannot directly communicate with or “touch” the transcendent God. Instead, we must grasp hold of and be lifted up to the transcendent Deity by the immanent God, Who is knowable and communicable. This is the principle behind His words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The Intention Of The Fathers
“One Lord,…the Only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. Light from Light, true God from true God. Begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father; by Whom all things were made” refers to that eternal mode of God known as the Son. The insertion of the name “Jesus Christ” indicated that Jesus was–and is–participating fully in that mode of being, though not by eternal nature.
But starting with the words “Who for us men, and for our salvation,” the Fathers are centering their attention on Jesus Christ our Lord and his status as Savior. But first they had to describe the mode of divine Being known as the Son of God, in which Jesus of Nazareth was existing in His incarnation and through which He was able to become the Savior of the entire human race, which status He was also revealing as obtainable by us all.
More chapters of the Gnosis of the Creed:
• Chapter One—The Nicene Creed
• Chapter Two—I believe
• Chapter Three—In one God, the Father almighty
• Chapter Four—Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible
• Chapter Five—And in one Lord
• Chapter Six—Jesus Christ
• Chapter Seven—The Only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all ages. Light from Light, True God from true God. Begotten not made, Being of one substance with the Father; By Whom all things were made.
• Chapter Eight—Who for us men, and for our salvation
• Chapter Nine—Came down from heaven
• Chapter Ten—And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit
• Chapter Eleven—Of the Virgin Mary. And was made Man.
• Chapter Twelve—He was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. Suffered and was buried.
• Chapter Thirteen—And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven. He sitteth at the right hand of the Father.
• Chapter Fourteen—And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead.
• Chapter Fifteen—Of Whose kingdom there shall be no end.
• Chapter Sixteen—And in the Holy Spirit, the Lady and Giver of life: Who proceedeth from the Father. Who together with the Father and the Son Is worshipped and glorified. Who spoke by the prophets.
• Chapter Seventeen—And in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
• Chapter Eighteen—I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.
• Chapter Nineteen—And I look for the resurrection of the dead. And the life of the age to come. Amen.
1) James 2:5 [Go back]
2) Psalm 2:7 [Go back]
3) Philippians 2:5,6,9 [Go back]
4) John 14:1 [Go back]
5) The miracle-working stigmatist, Teresa Neuman of Bavaria, said to an acquaintance of mine: “I am so glad you are a Catholic.” When he protested that he was not, she told him: “You do not understand what I mean. There are people who go to Mass every Sunday, but their hearts are closed to God. They are not Catholics. And there are people in the world who have never even heard the Name of Jesus, but their hearts are open to God. They are Catholics. And you are a Catholic!” How could he then deny the wisdom of a saint? Nor should we. [Go back]
6) Colossians 1:27 [Go back]
7) John 14:12 [Go back]
8) Revelation 3:12 [Go back]
9) Revelation 3:21 [Go back]
10) John 11,21,22 [Go back]
11) John 14:19 [Go back]
12) “They brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.” (Acts 5:15) [Go back]
13) “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.” (Acts 19:11,12) [Go back]
14) “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.” (Acts 8:39,40) [Go back]
15) “We entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” (Acts 21:8,9) [Go back]
16) “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?” (I Corinthians 6:15) “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” (I Corinthians 12:27) “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” (Ephesians). [Go back]
17) Matthew 7:22,23 [Go back]
18) Galatians 3:27 [Go back]
19) Matthew 6:23 [Go back]
20) John 5:18 [Go back]
21) John 10:33 [Go back]
22) John 19:7 [Go back]
23) John 14:9 [Go back]
24) John 1:3 [Go back]
25) “And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” (Exodus 33:11) [Go back]
26) “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.” (Daniel 7:9,10) [Go back]
27) “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand.” (Joshua 5:13) [Go back]
28) “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” (Genesis 32:24-30) [Go back]
29) See Robe of Light about the past lives of Jesus the Messiah. [Go back]
30) “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell” (Colossians 1:19), showing that it was not a matter of nature but of divine fiat; and: “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9) [Go back]
31) John 14:6 [Go back]
32) “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world.” (Colossians 1:5,6) [Go back]
33) John 14:9 [Go back]
34) Exodus 3:14 [Go back]
35) John 1:3 [Go back]
36) “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he [i.e., the Only-begotten Son] which is of God, he hath seen the Father.” (John 6:46) [Go back]
37) “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) [Go back]
38) John 1:1 [Go back]
39) John 14:6 [Go back]
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