20. When then He says, “I have not spoken of myself,”  68  John xii. 49. and again, “As the Father said unto me, so I speak,”  69  John xii. 50. and “The word which ye hear is not mine, but [the Father’s] which sent me,”  70  John xiv. 24. and in another place, “As the Father gave me commandment, even so I do,”  71  John xiv. 31. it is not because He lacks deliberate purpose or power of initiation, nor yet because He has to wait for the preconcerted key-note, that he employs language of this kind. His object is to make it plain that His own will is connected in indissoluble union with the Father. Do not then let us understand by what is called a “commandment” a peremptory mandate delivered by organs of speech, and giving orders to the Son, as to a subordinate, concerning what He ought to do. Let us rather, in a sense befitting the Godhead, perceive a transmission of will, like the reflexion of an object in a mirror, passing without note of time from Father to Son. “For the Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things,”  72  John v. 20. so that “all things that the Father hath” belong to the Son, not gradually accruing to Him little by little, but with Him all together and at once. Among men, the workman who has been thoroughly taught his craft, and, through long training, has sure and established experience in it, is able, in accordance with the scientific methods which now he has in store, to work for the future by himself. And are we to suppose that the wisdom of God, the Maker of all creation, He who is eternally perfect, who is wise, without a teacher, the Power of God, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,”  73  Col. ii. 3, A.V. cf. the amendment of R.V., “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden,” and Bp. Lightfoot on St. Paul’s use of the gnostic term ἀπόκρυφος needs piecemeal instruction to mark out the manner and measure of His operations? I presume that in the vanity of your calculations, you mean to open a school; you will make the one take His seat in the teacher’s place, and the other stand by in a scholar’s ignorance, gradually learning wisdom and advancing to perfection, by lessons given Him bit by bit. Hence, if you have sense to abide by what logically follows, you will find the Son being eternally taught, nor yet ever able to reach the end of perfection, inasmuch as the wisdom of the Father is infinite, and the end of the infinite is beyond apprehension. It results that whoever refuses to grant that the Son has all things from the beginning will never grant that He will reach perfection. But I am ashamed at the degraded conception to which, by the course of the argument, I have been brought down. Let us therefore revert to the loftier themes of our discussion.

[20] Ὅταν οὖν λέγῃ: «Ἐγὼ ἐξ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐκ ἐλάλησα», καὶ πάλιν: «Καθὼς εἴρηκέ μοι ὁ Πατήρ, οὕτω λαλῶ», καί: «Ὁ λόγος ὃν ἀκούετε, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμός, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πέμψαντός με», καὶ ἑτέρωθι: «Καθὼς ἐνετείλατό μοι ὁ Πατήρ, οὕτω ποιῶ», οὐκ ἀπροαίρετος ὤν, οὐδὲ ἀνόρμητος, οὐδὲ τὸ ἐκ τῶν συνθημάτων ἐνδόσιμον ἀναμένων, ταῖς τοιαύταις χρῆται φωναῖς, ἀλλὰ δηλῶν τὴν οἰκείαν γνώμην ἡνωμένως καὶ ἀδιαστάτως τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐχομένην. Ἆρα οὖν καὶ τὴν λεγομένην ἐντολὴν μὴ λόγον προστακτικὸν διὰ τῶν φωνητικῶν ὀργάνων ἐξαγγελλόμενον ἐκδεχώμεθα, περὶ τῶν ποιητέων τῷ Υἱῷ, ὡς ὑπηκόῳ, νομοθετοῦντα, ἀλλὰ θεοπρεπῶς νοῶμεν θελήματος διάδοσιν οἷόν τινος μορφῆς ἔμφασιν ἐν κατόπτρῳ, ἐκ Πατρὸς εἰς Υἱὸν ἀχρόνως διικνουμένην. «Ὁ γὰρ Πατὴρ ἀγαπᾷ τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ πάντα δείκνυσιν αὐτῷ.» Ὥστε πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ Πατήρ, τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐστιν, οὐ κατὰ μικρὸν προσγινόμενα, ἀλλ' ἀθρόως παρόντα. Οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἐν μὲν ἀνθρώποις ὁ τὴν τέχνην ἐκδιδαχθεὶς καὶ παγίαν αὐτῆς διὰ τῆς χρονίας μελέτης ἔχων τὴν ἕξιν ἐνιδρυμένην, δύναται λοιπὸν κατὰ τοὺς ἐναποκειμένους αὐτῷ τῆς ἐπιστήμης λόγους καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐνεργεῖν: ἡ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφία, ὁ δημιουργὸς πάσης κτίσεως, ὁ ἀεὶ τέλειος, ὁ ἀδιδάκτως σοφός, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμις, «ἐν ᾧ πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι», τῆς κατὰ μέρος ἐπιστασίας προσδεῖται, τὸν τρόπον αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ μέτρον τῶν ἐνεργειῶν ὁριζούσης. Ἦπου σύ γε καὶ παιδαγωγεῖον ἀνοίξεις ἐν τῇ ματαιότητί σου τῶν λογισμῶν, καὶ τὸν μὲν προκαθῆσθαι ποιήσεις ἐν διδασκάλου τάξει, τὸν δὲ παρεστάναι ἐν μαθητοῦ ἀπειρίᾳ: εἶτα ταῖς κατὰ μικρὸν προσθήκαις τῶν διδαγμάτων ἐκμανθάνοντα τὴν σοφίαν καὶ προβιβαζόμενον εἰς τὸ τέλειον. Ἐκ δὲ τούτου, ἐὰν ἄρα εἰδῇς τὸ ἐν λογισμοῖς ἀκόλουθον διασῴζειν, εὑρήσεις ἀεὶ μὲν τὸν Υἱὸν διδασκόμενον, οὐδέ ποτε δὲ φθάσαι πρὸς τὸ τέλειον δυνάμενον, διὰ τὸ ἄπειρον μὲν εἶναι τοῦ Πατρὸς τὴν σοφίαν, ἀπείρου δὲ τέλος καταληφθῆναι μὴ δύνασθαι. Ὥστε ὁ μὴ διδοὺς πάντα ἔχειν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸν Υἱόν, οὐδέποτε δώσει πρὸς τὸ τέλειον ἥξειν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ αἰσχύνομαι τὸ ταπεινὸν τῆς ἐννοίας, εἰς ἣν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ λόγου ἀκολουθίας ὑπήχθην. Ἐπὶ οὖν τὰ ὑψηλὰ τοῦ λόγου πάλιν ἐπανέλθωμεν.