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| “And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
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Book II.
1. “And the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.” In the preceding section, my revered
brother Ambrosius, brother formed according to the Gospel, we have
discussed, as far as is at present in our power, what the Gospel is,
and what is the beginning in which the Word was, and what the Word is
which was in the beginning. We now come to consider the next
point in the work before us, How the Word was with God. To this
end it will be of service to remember that what is called the Word came
to certain persons; as “The Word of the Lord4659
which came to Hosea, the son of
Beeri,” and “The Word4660
which came to
Isaiah, the son of Amos, concerning Judah and concerning
Jerusalem,” and “The Word which came to Jeremiah4661
concerning the drought.” We must
enquire how this Word came to Hosea, and how it came also to Isaiah the
son of Amos, and again to Jeremiah concerning the drought; the
comparison may enable us to find out how the Word was with God.
The generality will simply look at what the prophets said, as if that
were the Word of the Lord or the Word, that came to them. May it
not be, however, that as we say that this person comes to that, so the
Son, the Word, of whom we are now theologizing, came to Hosea, sent to
him by the Father; historically, that is to say, to the son of Beeri,
the prophet Hosea, but mystically to him who is saved, for Hosea means,
etymologically, Saved; and to the son of Beeri, which
etymologically means wells, since every one who is saved becomes a son
of that spring which gushes forth out of the depths, the wisdom of
God. And it is nowise marvellous that the saint should be a son
of wells. From his brave deeds he is often called a son, whether,
from his works shining before men, of light, or from his possessing the
peace of God which passes all understanding, of peace, or, once more,
from the help which wisdom brings him, a child of wisdom; for
wisdom,4662
it says, is
justified of her children. Thus he who by the divine spirit
searches all things, and even the deep things of God, so that he can
exclaim,4663
“O the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!” he
can be a son of wells, to whom the Word of the Lord comes.
Similarly the Word comes also to Isaiah, teaching the things which are
coming upon Judæa and Jerusalem in the last days; and so also it
comes to Jeremiah lifted up by a divine elation. For Iao means etymologically lifting up, elation. Now the
Word comes to men who formerly could not receive the advent of the Son
of God who is the Word; but to God it does not come, as if it had not
been with Him before. The Word was always with the Father; and so
it is said, “And the Word was with God.” He did not
come to God, and this same word “was” is used of the Word
because He was in the beginning at the same time when He was with God,
neither being separated from the beginning nor being bereft of His
Father. And again, neither did He come to be in the beginning
after He had not been in it, nor did He come to be with God after not
having been with Him. For before all time and the remotest
age4664
| 4664 Omitting τὸ, with Jacobi. | the Word was in the beginning, and the Word
was with God. Thus to find out what is meant by the phrase,
“The Word was with God,” we have adduced the words used
about the prophets, how He came to Hosea, to Isaiah, to Jeremiah, and
we have noticed the difference, by no means accidental, between
“became” and “was.” We have to add that
in His coming to the prophets He illuminates the prophets with the
light of knowledge, causing them to see things which had been before
them, but which they had not understood till then. With God,
however, He is God, just because He
is with Him. And perhaps it was because he saw some such order in
the Logos, that John did not place the clause “The Word was
God” before the clause “The Word was with God.”
The series in which he places his different sentences does not prevent
the force of each axiom from being separately and fully seen. One
axiom is, “In the beginning was the Word,” a second,
“The Word was with God,” and then comes, “And the
Word was God.” The arrangement of the sentences might be
thought to indicate an order; we have first “In the beginning was
the Word,” then, “And the Word was with God,” and
thirdly, “And the Word was God,” so that it might be seen
that the Word being with God makes Him God.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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