Novatian, On the Trinity 28

I must also address the section where the heretic thinks he sees clearly but has actually lost all truth and light, so that he may finally recognize the total blindness of his error. He repeatedly throws up the words: "I have been with you for a long time, and still you do not know me? Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). He needs to learn what he fails to understand. Philip is rebuked, and justly so, because he said, "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." When had Philip ever heard or learned from Christ that Christ was the Father? On the contrary, he had heard and learned far more often that He was the Son, not the Father. When the Lord said, "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; from now on you know him and have seen him" (John 14:7), He did not mean to be understood as the Father Himself. He meant that whoever approaches the Son of God with total faith and total devotion will come to the Father through the Son in whom he believes, and will see Him. Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Therefore, the one who comes to God the Father will not only come to know Him, but ought also to hold fast in mind and heart as if he already knows and sees the Father. Divine Scripture often announces things not yet done as if they were already accomplished, because they are certain to happen. It does not merely predict them as future; it narrates them as already fulfilled. Long before Christ was born in Isaiah's time, it was said, "A child is born to us" (Isaiah 9:6). Before He came to Mary, the prophet was told, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son" (Isaiah 7:14). Before Christ revealed the Father's heart, it was said, "His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6). Before He suffered, it was proclaimed, "He was led like a lamb to the slaughter" (Isaiah 53:7). Before the cross existed, God said, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient people" (Isaiah 65:2; Romans 10:21). Before He was given vinegar, it was written, "They gave me vinegar for my thirst" (Psalm 69:21). Before He was stripped, it was said, "They cast lots for my garment" (Psalm 22:18), "They numbered my bones" (Psalm 22:17), "They pierced my hands and feet" (Psalm 22:16). Divine Scripture speaks of future events as accomplished, and of future perfections as already perfect, because their coming is beyond doubt. That is why the Lord said in this passage, "From now on you know him and have seen him" (John 14:7). He declared that the Father would be seen by anyone who followed the Son — not that the Son Himself was the Father seen, but that the reward for following Him and becoming His disciple would be the vision of the Father. The Son is the image of God the Father (John 14:9; Colossians 1:15), so that, just as the Father works, so also the Son works, and the Son imitates all the Father's works (John 5:19). Thus each person may have it as if he had already seen the Father, while seeing the One who always imitates the invisible Father in every work. But if Christ Himself were the Father, how could He immediately add, "Whoever believes in me will do the works I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12)? And He goes on: "If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate" (John 14:15–16). Then: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23). And: "The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said" (John 14:26). He anticipates this passage to show He is the Son, and rightly adds: "If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I" (John 14:28). What about when He also says: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit" (John 15:1–2)? He insists: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love" (John 15:9–10). He also says: "I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15). And He adds: "They will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me" (John 15:21). The Lord would never have appended these words, which plainly testify that He is not the Father but the Son, if He had thought of Himself as the Father or wanted to be understood as the Father — unless He meant to express that each believer ought to possess, as if he had already seen the Father, the vision of God's image through the Son. For everyone who believes in the Son is exercised in contemplating that image, so that, growing accustomed to seeing the divine through the image, he may advance and grow until he reaches the perfect contemplation of God the Father Almighty. Since the one who embraces this with mind and heart, believing all this will come to pass, already possesses in a real sense the Father he will one day see, and already holds as certain what he knows he will obtain. But if Christ were the Father, what future reward would He promise that He had already given and bestowed? He says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). He thereby promises the contemplation and vision of the Father. So He had not yet given it; why promise what is already given? If He were the Father, He would have been seen and touched. Yet while Christ was being touched and seen, He still promised that the pure in heart would see God. This proves He is not the Father — the One who, though present and visible, promised that the pure in heart would see the Father. Therefore, it was the Son, not the Father, who made this promise. As the Son, He promised what He had yet to be seen: a promise that would have been pointless if He were not the Son. Why promise the pure in heart that they would see the Father, if those present were already seeing Christ as the Father? But because He was the Son, not the Father, and the Son is the image of God, He was seen then, while the Father — being invisible — is promised to the pure in heart as the one they will see. This is enough said against this heretic, though it is only a few points out of many. A broad and extensive field would open if we wished to engage him more fully. Deprived of the light from these two passages, he is completely overcome by the blindness of his own doctrine.