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Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

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e observed in the meaning of the terms. <strong>The</strong> word unbegotten is predicated of that which<br />

has origin of itself, <strong>and</strong> no cause of its being: the word eternal is predicated of that which<br />

is in being beyond all time <strong>and</strong> age. 359 Wherefore the Son is both not unbegotten <strong>and</strong><br />

eternal. 360 Eunomius was ready to give great dignity to the Son as a supreme creature. He<br />

did not hold the essence of the Son to be common to that of the things created out of nothing.<br />

361 He would give Him as great a preëminence as the Creator has over His own created<br />

works. 362 Basil attributes little importance to this concession, <strong>and</strong> thinks it only leads to<br />

confusion <strong>and</strong> contradiction. If the God of the universe, being unbegotten, necessarily differs<br />

from things begotten, <strong>and</strong> all things begotten have their common hypostasis of the nonexistent,<br />

what alternative is there to a natural conjunction of all such things? Just as in the<br />

one case the unapproachable effects a distinction between the natures, so in the other<br />

equality of condition brings them into mutual contact. <strong>The</strong>y say that the Son <strong>and</strong> all things<br />

that came into being under Him are of the non-existent, <strong>and</strong> so far they make those natures<br />

common, <strong>and</strong> yet they deny that they give Him a nature of the non-existent. For again, as<br />

though Eunomius were Lord himself, <strong>and</strong> able to give to the Only Begotten what rank <strong>and</strong><br />

dignity he chooses, he goes on to argue,—We attribute to Him so much supereminence as<br />

the Creator must of necessity have over His own creature. He does not say, “We conceive,”<br />

or “We are of opinion,” as would be befitting when treating of God, but he says “We attribute,”<br />

as though he himself could control the measure of the attribution. And how much<br />

supereminence does he give? As much as the Creator must necessarily have over His own<br />

creatures. This has not yet reached a statement of difference of substance. Human beings<br />

in art surpass their own works, <strong>and</strong> yet are consubstantial with them, as the potter with his<br />

clay, <strong>and</strong> the shipwright with his timber. For both are alike bodies, subject to sense, <strong>and</strong><br />

earthy. 363 Eunomius explained the title “Only Begotten” to mean that the Son alone was<br />

begotten <strong>and</strong> created by the Father alone, <strong>and</strong> therefore was made the most perfect minister.<br />

“If,” rejoins Basil, “He does not possess His glory in being perfect God, if it lies only in His<br />

being an exact <strong>and</strong> obedient subordinate, in what does He differ from the ministering spirits<br />

who perform the work of their service without blame? 364 Indeed Eunomius joins ‘created’<br />

to ‘begotten’ with the express object of shewing that there is no distinction between the Son<br />

<strong>and</strong> a creature! 365 And how unworthy a conception of the Father that He should need a<br />

359 ἀΐδιον δὲ τὸ χρόνου παντὸς καὶ αἰ& 242·νος κατὰ τὸ εἶναι πρεσβύτερον.<br />

360 Id. ii. 18.<br />

361 Eunomius is therefore not to be ranked with the extreme “Exucontians.” cf. Soc. H.E. ii. 45.<br />

362 Id. ii. 19.<br />

363 Id. ii. 19.<br />

364 So. R.V. distinguishes between the words λειτουργικὰ <strong>and</strong> διακονίαν which are confused in A.V.<br />

365 Id. i. 21.<br />

Dogmatic.<br />

61<br />

xxxvii

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