28. And indeed the Son never makes for Himself a lower claim than is contained in this designation, given Him by His Father. The Father’s words, This is My Son, reveal His nature; those which follow, Hear Him, are a summons to us to listen to the mystery and the faith which He came down from heaven to bring; to learn that, if we would be saved, our confession must be a copy of His teaching. And in like manner the Son Himself teaches us, in words of His own, that He was truly born and truly came;—Ye neither know Me, nor know ye whence I am, for I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true, Whom ye know not, but I know Him, for I am from Him, and He hath sent Me295    St. John vii. 28, 29.. No man knows the Father; the Son often assures us of this. The reason why He says that none knows Him but Himself, is that He is from the Father. Is it, I ask, as the result of an act of creation, or of a genuine birth, that He is from Him? If it be an act of creation, then all created things are from God. How then is it that none of them know the Father, when the Son says that the reason why He has this knowledge is that He is from Him? If He be created, not born, we shall observe in Him a resemblance to other beings who are from God. Since all, on this supposition, are from God, why is He not as ignorant of the Father as are the others? But if this knowledge of the Father be peculiar to Him, Who is from the Father, must not this circumstance also, that He is from the Father, be peculiar to Him? That is, must He not be the true Son born from the nature of God? For the reason why He alone knows God is that He alone is from God. You observe, then, a knowledge, which is peculiar to Himself, resulting from a birth which also is peculiar to Himself. You recognise that it is not by an act of creative power, but through a true birth, that He is from the Father; and that this is why He alone knows the Father, Who is unknown to all other beings which are from Him.

28. Filii a Deo nativitas, et adventus ad nos ostenditur. Qui solus novit Patrem quia ab eo est, creatus 0179B non est.---Nec sane quidquam de se minus Filius hac paternae significationis proprietate testatur. Ut enim in eo quod ait Pater, Hic est filius meus, naturae demonstratio est, et in eo quod subjecit, Hunc audite, sacramenti et fidei, ob quam e coelis venit, auditio est, cum eum ad salutarem confessionis doctrinam admonemur audire: ita in eo Filius et nativitatis veritatem docuit et adventus, dicens: Neque me scitis, neque unde sim nostis: nec enim a me veni, sed est verax qui misit me, quem vos nescitis; sed ego novi eum, quoniam ab eo sum, et ipse me misit (Joan. VII, 28 et 29). Patrem nemo novit, et frequens hinc professio Filii est (Matth. XI, 27). Idcirco autem soli sibi esse cognitum dicit, quia ab eo sit. Quaero autem utrum id, quod ab eo est, opus in eo creationis an naturam generationis ostendat. Si opus creationis 0179C est, universa quoque, quae creantur, a Deo sunt. Et quomodo Patrem non universa noverunt, cum Filius 0180A eum idcirco, quia ab eo est, non nesciat? Quod si creatus potius, quam natus, videbitur in eo quod a Deo est; cum a Deo cuncta sint, quomodo non cum caeteris Patrem quae ab eo sunt ignorat? Sin vero idcirco ei, quia ab eo sit, cum nosse sit proprium; quomodo non hoc ei, quod ab eo est, erit proprium? scilicet ut verus filius ex natura sit Dei; cum idcirco Deum solus noverit, quia solus ab eo sit. Habes igitur proprietatem cognitionis de proprietate generationis: et quod ab eo est, non creaturae in eo virtutem (nam omnia ad eo per virtutem creationis exsistunt), sed nativitatis veritatem (supple, habes), per quam solus Patrem novit, 154 cum caetera eum quae ab eo sunt ignorent.