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John 5:26
“As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
Since the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are “one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 6), the distinctions between Them cannot be at the level of the divine essence. In other words, the three persons of the Godhead cannot each possess different divine attributes that the other persons do not. Also, the divine attributes that They do possess must be identical. For example, the omnipotence of the Father is identical to the omnipotence of the Son is identical to the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit. Rather, the distinctions between the Trinitarian persons are found in Their relations to each other (also called relations of origin or unique personal properties).
The unique personal property of the Father is often called paternity because in the Godhead He is first in order, just as in the family the father is typically regarded as first in order, whether by giving his name to his wife and children or by representing them in some way. God the Father, however, is not first among the divine persons in authority or in any quality that characterizes the divine essence. He is “before” the Son and the Spirit because He eternally communicates His essence to the Son and Spirit. From all eternity, both the Son and the Holy Spirit are from the Father, but the Father is not from Them. Another way to say this is that God the Father is eternally unbegotten.
This understanding of the Father as being unbegotten is a consequence of texts such as John 3:16, which speaks of the only begotten Son of the Father. If the Son is begotten of the Father, the Father cannot be begotten, but rather, He must be unbegotten. In begetting the Son (and, as we will see, eternally spirating the Spirit), the Father communicates all that He is as God to the Son, but He does not communicate His personal property of paternity. We see this, for example, in John 5:26, where Jesus says that the Father, who has life in Himself, has granted the Son to have life in Himself. Having life in Himself—self-existence—is something that the Son (and Spirit) receives from the Father, but not in such a way as to make the Son (and Spirit) any less God or less self-existent than the Father. The Son and the Holy Spirit are from the Father, but They are not products or creations of the Father.
To be sure, we do not understand all that this means. We can say that the Father has always communicated His divine essence fully such that it is also the divine essence of the Son and the Spirit.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
In begetting or generating the Son and (with the Son) spirating the Spirit, God the Father does not give up any of His deity but remains fully God. In receiving from the Father, the Son and the Spirit are not constituted as lesser gods but are fully equal to the Father in power, glory, and every other divine attribute. Let us marvel at the life in the Godhead that is so full and complete that it can be shared without being diminished or increased.
For further study
- Psalm 89:26
- Malachi 2:10
- Matthew 6:9
- James 1:17
The bible in a year
- Leviticus 15–17
- Matthew 27:1–31