What Are You Looking For? Part 1: The Nicene Creed

Born Of The Father Before All Ages

Born of the Father before all ages

                   “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1 NABRE)  That is who was born of the Father, the Word.  The Son of God is the same as the Word of God.  Just as God has always existed, so the eternal Word has always existed. 

            “So then this one and only God is not Wordless.  And possessing the Word, He will have it not as without a subsistence, nor as having had a beginning, nor as destined to cease to be.  For there never was a time when God was not Word: but He ever possesses His own Word, begotten of Himself, not, as our word is, without a subsistence and dissolving into air, but having a subsistence in Him and life and perfection, not proceeding out of Himself but ever existing within Himself.” (St. John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition Of The Orthodox Faith)

            Our words have no subsistence.  That’s what St. John is saying here.  We think them, we say them.  They convey thoughts and ideas.  But while I can think, “dog” and say, “dog”, no dog will appear.  No dog will live just because I say “dog”.  There is no subsistence to my word.

            On the other hand, the eternal Word is all subsistence.  In Genesis, God spoke (his Word) and all creation came to be.  Only a Word with subsistence could create everything out of nothing.           

            The reason this is so hard for us to grasp is because we think in terms of time.  I was born, I grew, and my son was born and so on.  With God, there is no time.  There is only eternity, which is a concept we can’t grasp.  Before time began, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were.    

            God fully knew all of his perfections.  And he spoke the Word.  And because he spoke the Word, the Word also became complete with all of the Father’s perfections.  No division.  No separation.  His own unique person, but of exactly the same substance (consubstantial) as the Father.  He is equally eternal, because if he were not, he would, of necessity have a beginning.  If the Word had a beginning, then it follows that he would, of necessity have an end.  Maybe an end that hasn’t come yet, but an end none the less.  In which case the Word would not be the Eternal Word.  He would not be co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  There would be no Holy Trinity, no Divine Unity. 

            The Word truly was born of the Father before all ages.  Not as we understand being “born” but as a complete expression of all the Father is, uniquely Son, completely God.